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Birds of the Paterson, Allyn and Williams Valley
Held 21st May 2016 at Mary St Allyn Church Hall, Allynbrook 9.30am to 2.00pm.
70 people met on a beautiful Saturday morning at 9.30 to hear Bill Dowling speak on birds of the area.
Bill gave the attendees a list of the Common Birds of the area. He was helpful in providing information on Equipment to look for birds and when was a good time to see/hear them….late in the afternoon when they are all having their last meal.
The message was, as expected, there are many bird varieties in decline, with more aggressive bigger birds – Galahs, Corellas, Noisy Minors, Magpies and Crows. Some because of habitat decline such as the rainbow bee-eater that used to be common on the sandy banks of the river…as the rivers have eroded there has been the loss of sandy banks. Some of the ground laying birds: Warblers, Stone Curlew and Pippits have faced predators such a cats and foxes and are going or gone.
Bill covered what can we do – revegetate for both larger birds and smaller birds. This is for food, for protection and for nesting. Local nurseries are often helpful with plants that are useful for this purpose. As well as trees, shrubs and flowers – Old Man’s Beard, Dog’s hair and River Oak’s all provide nesting material.
There was plenty of time for the attendees to share their bird observations.
We were very pleased with the attendance. Promotion had been by email, through our database, plus the Hunter Bird Association, the Landcare Network and the local garden club. There were fliers handed out at Tocal Field day, as well as being in the local businesses. An advertisement was paid for in the Gresford new and we were able to get a good article in the Dungog Chronicle.
Our expectations were for about 40 attendees – we were exceptionally pleased with the 70 – albeit that there was extra trips for food! It is hard to say whether it was the publicity or the topic.
Our objective was to have a field day that attracted a wide audience and that was informative and fun – these objectives were achieved and we were able to get additional contact details so we can invite these people to additional events. How successful we were we will know at our next Field day!
We appreciated the support of the Hunter Region Landcare Network. The support in the form of funds & handing out leaflets at Tocal and having Adan Dwyer tweak the flyer & promoting the event through your channels.
Julia Wokes
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