On Wednesday 2nd September, more than 30 people attended  an open day at the Tolderol Game Reserve Wetlands to celebrate the upcoming watering of the wetland and the anticipated arrival of thousands of water birds.

Tolderol wetlands are located about 3 km east of Langhorne Creek. The wetland is an artificial system constructed in the 1960s by a group of people interested in birds, including the late John Eckert, who voluntarily managed the wetland for many years. The system is 423 ha, including 111 ha of  Lake Alexandrina and is managed by Natural Resources, SA Murray Darling Basin.

Tolderol has 18 artificially constructed bays, three of which are manually flooded from Lake Alexandrina to create habitat for water birds. The reserve had been dry for 8 years, until last season when a trial was conducted see if flooding would still attract birds. Three of the 18 bays were flooded and the result was thousands of birds coming to the site, including rare species such as Glossy Ibis.

This year, Birds SA has committed to make a contribution of $10,000 towards on ground works at Tolderol Wetland Reserve to make it an important feeding ground for water and migratory birds over the Spring and Summer season. The funding will help provide infrastructure to enable efficient flooding of an extra 5 bays, to make a total of 8 bays available for birds to use.

Tolderol is set to become an excellent birdwatching location and conservation area again, attracting birdwatchers from around Australia and overseas as part of the internationally significant Ramsar wetlands system.

Interested groups including Birds SA, Fleurieu birdwatchers will conduct bird monitoring on behalf of Natural Resources, SAMDB and Goolwa to Wellington LAP. Regina Durbridge (GWLAP) and Gareth Oerman (NR SAMDB) are coordinating fish and frog monitoring and have involved the Green Army in various monitoring projects at Tolderol.

The open day was very successful, starting with early morning bird monitoring, followed by an information session about the proposed on ground works and other information about Tolderol by Kate Mason and Gareth Oerman, (NR SAMDB), John Gitsham (Birds SA/GWLAP), Regina Durbridge and Kerry Bartley (GWLAP).

Kate Mason, Wetlands Officer at Natural Resources, SAMDB appreciated the enthusiastic roll up of interested birdwatchers and general public, showing great support for this important wetland project.

For more information on Tolderol Game Reserve Wetlands, please email [email protected]

Kerri Bartley presenting at Tolderol Open Day