A warm still morning where we saw five new species and large numbers of birds flocking. The most spectacular sight was to see seven whistling kites spiralling high above, who made themselves scarce when a lone wedge tailed eagle muscled into their space.

The dam was bustling with activity. Pacific herons around the edge, cormorants, lapwing, a flotilla of mountain duck and eurasian coots - the latter two species both firsts for ImLal. In the small pocket  of gorse left next to the dam were the usual superb fairy wrens, along with our first sighting of white fronted chats in their distinctive 'dinner suits.'

Noisy miner numbers were down with none sighted in the remnant directly north of the dam. Only two for the day along the channel adjacent to ImLal North.

Despite last spring's replanting, ImLal North plant coverage is still looking  sparse compared with the south site.

Tim Simpson from Ballarat Uni and his wife Andrea joined Tanya and me for the two hour long transect.

Imerys Environmental Manager, Brad Haywood, reports that spray contractor Jensans have at last brought on site their 'ecoblade' machine, which cuts and sprays in one pass. 

The results of their work can be seen on the grass-covered hill pictured that was until recently covered in gorse. Compare view of hill with previous blog post.

On the direct seeding site, all that Brad could see were some wattles, some up to 30cm high. He counted 15 of these.




On the north site, he noted that some of the surviving redwoods have had a growth spurt (pictured left).