Rushworth Field and Game project update

Clean-up of rubbish early in January at Reedy Lake and Doctors swamp was carried out with members of Shepparton, Rushworth and Seymour with help from Greater Shepparton Council with rubbish tip passes.

Unfortunately, someone had dumped rubbish at Doctors swamp within one km of the transfer station.

There were plant cuttings in the rubbish, which could shoot and spread undesirable weeds into the wetland.

Our hen house and nesting box program has been successful, and we are looking forward to providing more nesting sites for various birds.

This year we had a successful hatching of two Kookaburra chicks along with Eastern rosellas and numerous ducks in wetlands, which are privately owned, and we would like to thank those owners for their cooperation and in some cases hay for nesting material.

As part of World Wetlands Day, we combined with members of Shepparton to install 10 new nest boxes at Gaynor’s Swamp, which were made by Berry Street school students with a grant from the Lighthouse foundation and 10 hen houses made at the manufacturing area at Nagambie.

Hen houses and nesting boxes provide a safe nesting area for waterbirds and while erecting these in Gaynor’s Swamp we saw a fox in 200mm of water looking for eggs or young waterbirds for an easy feed.

There were old plastic nest boxes in the wetland, which were removed in an earlier project as they had started to break down and were not being utilised because of their condition.

While at Gaynor’s Swamp with Parks’ blessing and thanks we picked up building material rubbish that had been dumped some time ago.

There have been donations of labour and materials and a tip pass from Campaspe Shire

It is always hard to thank all those involved with these projects, so to anyone involved in anyway thanks for your support.

Photos show the installation of hen houses, nest boxes and the loading of dumped rubbish.