Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands
Encyclopedia
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s of Aspendale
Aspendale, Victoria
Aspendale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 27 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Kingston...
, Edithvale
Edithvale, Victoria
Edithvale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Kingston. At the 2006 Census, Edithvale had a population of 4991.-Public transport:...
, and Seaford
Seaford, Victoria
Seaford is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 36 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Frankston...
in south-eastern Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Victoria, Australia. Together they form the Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands Ramsar Site. With the nearby Eastern Treatment Plant
Eastern Treatment Plant
The Eastern Treatment Plant of Melbourne Water is a sewage treatment plant that serves much of the city of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, south-eastern Australia. The plant is at Bangholme, 31 km south-east of Melbourne’s central business district and adjacent to its south-eastern...
, they form the Carrum Wetlands Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
.
Description
The wetland group is divided into the northern Edithvale Wetland 103 hectares (254.5 acre), and the southern Seaford Wetland 158 hectares (390.4 acre), by the Patterson RiverPatterson River
The Patterson River is a partly man-made waterway located approximately 35km south-east of Melbourne, Australia in Patterson Lakes, Carrum and Bonbeach....
and the Patterson Lakes
Patterson Lakes, Victoria
Patterson Lakes is a suburb in outer south-east Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and is located 32 km south-east of Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Kingston. In the 2006 Census Patterson Lakes had a population of 7,235 people.Patterson Lakes consists...
housing development. They lie about 30 km south-east of Melbourne City Centre
Melbourne city centre
Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...
, close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
, between the coastal Nepean Highway
Nepean Highway
Nepean Highway runs south from the centre of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia to Portsea, along the eastern shore of Port Phillip. It is the primary road route to central Melbourne from Melbourne's southern suburbs.- History :...
to the west and the Frankston
Frankston Freeway
Frankston Freeway is a very short stretch of Melbourne freeway that was designed to upgrade Wells Road to freeway standard in the 1970s and provides a link from suburban Melbourne to Frankston...
and Mornington Peninsula Freeway
Mornington Peninsula Freeway
Mornington Peninsula Freeway is an incomplete freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that provides a link from outer suburban Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula.- History :...
s to the east, and are largely surrounded by house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
s and golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
s.
Both wetlands are seasonal floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
systems deriving most of their water as runoff from their local catchments, the areas of which are no more than 500 ha each. They are mainly freshwater
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
wetlands underlain by peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
beds that limit the entry of saline
Salinity
Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
. They are essential components of the regional drainage system in receiving, retaining and naturally treating stormwater
Stormwater
Stormwater is water that originates during precipitation events. It may also be used to apply to water that originates with snowmelt that enters the stormwater system...
and other surface runoff, thus protecting surrounding areas from flooding as well as helping to protect the water quality of Port Phillip. Hydrological management of the wetlands is aimed at enhancing their natural values and controlling the ingress of saline groundwater.
History
Before European settlement of the area around Port Phillip in the mid 19th Century, the historic Carrum Carrum Swamp stretched from what is now MordiallocMordialloc, Victoria
Mordialloc is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Kingston...
in the north to Frankston
Frankston, Victoria
Frankston is a suburb within the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area in Victoria, Australia. It is located 40 km southeast of the state capital Melbourne at the southernmost edge of Greater Melbourne, near the beginnings of the Mornington Peninsula...
in the south. The 4000 ha Swamp’s freshwater and brackish wetlands supported many animals and plants, including Brolga
Brolga
The Brolga , formerly known as the "Native Companion", is a bird in the crane family. The bird has also been given the name "Australian Crane", a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithological artist John Gould in his Birds of Australia.The Brolga is a common gregarious wetland bird species in...
s and Magpie Geese which are now locally extinct.
During the second half of the 19th century the Swamp was progressively drained for farming. In 1879 the Patterson River, an artificial waterway, was cut through the Swamp to the coast as part of the drainage program. The remaining wetland areas were retained to provide critical flood protection. They are the largest natural wetlands of their type left in the catchments of Port Phillip and Western Port
Western Port
Western Port, is sometimes called "Western Port Bay", is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in Victoria. Geographically, it is dominated by the two large islands; French Island and Phillip Island. Contrary to its name, it lies to...
.
Ramsar listing
Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...
, as Ramsar site 1096, Australia’s 11th site, in recognition of their international importance, and specifically because they:
- are the last remaining examples of the Carrum Carrum Swamp, containing a variety of permanent and seasonal, freshwater and saline wetlands,
- support populations of the Australasian BitternAustralasian BitternThe Australasian Bittern , also known as the Brown Bittern, is found in south-western and south-eastern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea. Populations in Australia and New Zealand have declined in the 20th century.It is a large bittern, patterned and streaked brown, buff...
, considered to be of State significance and threatened in Victoria, and - support more than 1% of the East Asian – Australasian Flyway population of Sharp-tailed SandpiperSharp-tailed SandpiperThe Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Calidris acuminata is a small wader.- Taxonomy :More recently, a review of new data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus Philomachus- as P...
s (or over 2000 birds) in up to one year in three.
They are also considered to be of exceptional significance as examples of cost-effective management of wetlands in an urban setting to provide conservation benefits, manage storm water, and encourage environmental education
Environmental education
Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behavior and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. The term is often used to imply education within the school system, from primary to...
and research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
.
Plants
The wetlands contain 14 ecological vegetation types. Three of State significance are Plains SedgeyCyperaceae
Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...
Wetland, Tall Marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
dominated by Common Reeds
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...
, and Brackish Aquatic Herbland. There are several regionally significant populations of plant species, such as Southern Water-ribbons
Triglochin alcockiae
Triglochin alcockiae, also known as Southern Water-ribbons, Alcock’s Water-ribbons or Dwarf Water-ribbons, is a plant in the Arrowgrass family native to south-eastern Australia, where it has been recorded from South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria...
, only previously known in the state from western Victoria; as well as one of State significance – the Large River Buttercup
Ranunculus papulentus
Ranunculus papulentus is a buttercup that is endemic to south-eastern Australia.-Description:The Large River Buttercup is an upright perennial herb 10-25 cm in height with underground stolons. The flowering stems are slender and erect, 3-30 cm in height. It has 2-4 flowers with spreading, glossy...
. A dryland vegetation association present, though degraded by invasive
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
weed
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
s, is River Red Gum Dune Woodland, a community that has not been recorded elsewhere in Victoria and is of high conservation significance.
Animals
At any one time, up to 7000 individual birds make the Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands their home. Some 190 species have been recorded, including many migratoryBird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
wader
Wader
Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups. The latter are the skuas , gulls , terns , skimmers , and auks...
s. Species listed as protected under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 are the Great Egret
Great Egret
The Great Egret , also known as the Great White Egret or Common Egret, White Heron, or Great White Heron, is a large, widely-distributed egret. Distributed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions of the world, in southern Europe it is rather localized...
, Australasian Bittern
Australasian Bittern
The Australasian Bittern , also known as the Brown Bittern, is found in south-western and south-eastern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea. Populations in Australia and New Zealand have declined in the 20th century.It is a large bittern, patterned and streaked brown, buff...
, Baillon's Crake
Baillon's Crake
The Baillon's Crake is a very small waterbird of the family Rallidae.-Distribution:Their breeding habitat is sedge beds in Europe, mainly in the east, and across Asia. They used to breed in Great Britain up to the mid-19th century, but the western European population declined through drainage....
, Lewin's Rail
Lewin's Rail
The Lewin's Rail is a species of bird in the Rallidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
and the White-bellied Sea Eagle
White-bellied Sea Eagle
The White-bellied Sea Eagle , also known as the White-breasted Sea Eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related to Sanford's Sea Eagle of the Solomon Islands, and the two are considered a superspecies...
. There is also a population of Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
The Eastern Grey Kangaroo is a marsupial found in southern and eastern Australia, with a population of several million. It is also known as the Great Grey Kangaroo and the Forester Kangaroo...
s.
Access
The Edithvale Wetland is managed by Melbourne WaterMelbourne Water
Melbourne Water is a government owned statutory authority that controls much of the water system in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia including the reservoirs, and thesewerage and drainage system that services the city.- Overview :...
, while the Seaford Wetland is jointly managed by Melbourne Water and the City of Frankston
City of Frankston
The City of Frankston is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the southern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of 131 square kilometres and has a estimated population of 128,576 people....
. Public amenities include a bird hide
Bird hide
A bird hide is a shelter, often camouflaged, that is used to observe wildlife, especially birds, at close quarters. Although hides were once built chiefly as hunting aids, they are now commonly found in parks and wetlands for the use of bird watchers, ornithologists and other observers who do not...
(blind) at the Edithvale Wetland with education displays, as well as walking and bicycle tracks
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
around both wetlands for birdwatching. The bird hide is accessible from Edithvale Road, staffed by volunteers from the Friends of Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands, and open from 1300 to 1700 on Saturdays and Sundays.
The hide has been closed since early 2010, due to structural problems. Repairs were postponed to reduce disturbance to migratory birds and are due to commence in March 2011.