Is it the case that Ash Island is still off-limits to birders? John Clifton-Everest ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
John (and others who have enquired about Ash Island),
Technically the answer to your question is ‘no’, Ash Island is not “off limits” to birders (or anyone else). But having said that, access to the main ponds (ie Wader / Swan Ponds etc) is currently very difficult due to a bridge that is out on one of the creeks. To access the ponds would require a long walk from where the bridge is out or elsewhere on the island. I cannot say how long this bridge will be out, but I suggest it will be for the majority of the remaining summer / autumn.
There is probably little point trying to access Ash Island anyway. For quite some time now it has been almost devoid of “interesting” birds that people often visit to see. The monthly shorebird / waterbird surveys were conducted on Saturday just gone, and very few shorebirds were recorded (a few Eastern Curlew and lone Greenshank). For shorebirds I would suggest a visit to Stockton Sandspit / Fern Bay foreshore etc would be your best bet (and to answer Mark’s earlier question, yes the Kooragang Dykes were surveyed by boat last Saturday – about 800 Barwit, 100 Blackwit, 70 Greenshank, 100 Curlew Sands, 240 Golden Plovers, 2 Red Knot, 2 Common Sands amongst others).
I was fortunate enough to have access to Deep Pond (being my monthly survey site in the estuary), which is the large freshwater swamp to the east of the railway tracks on Ash Island (no public access to this pond is possible from either end of Ash / Kooragang Island). On Deep Pond there was a single Wood Sandpiper, about a dozen Greenshank / Marshies, 20-odd Black-tailed Godwits and 40-odd Black-winged Stilt. A Lewin’s Rail was also calling and there were Shovelers (2) for the first time in nearly a year.
On a related matter, a good part of Ash Island was gazetted last Friday as part of the Hunter Wetlands National Park (minus infrastructure corridors and the like). Whilst there was initial plans by NPWS to restrict access to the reserve anywhere further than the radar huts near Ramsar Road, recent negotiations between them and the Hunter Bird Observers Club have secured access to the main ponds (ie beyond Ramsar Road) at all times except for particularly high tide events, when the road will be temporarily closed and signs displayed.
In future, it might pay to check tide sizes before visiting the island.
We will keep you posted re: the Dead Mangrove Creek bridge situation.
Cheers
Mick
________________________________ Sent: Thu, 24 February, 2011 9:53:17 AM
Is it the case that Ash Island is still off-limits to birders? John Clifton-Everest ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================