HEAVENLY HAVEN
In a scratching of sand at Lake Wollumboola lie two tiny eggs, cream and mottled brown. Each, no bigger than a thumbnail, carries precious cargo – the beginnings of life.
“They’re little terns, and they’re endangered,” says Frances Bray, who has been advocating for birdlife on and around the lake for three decades. “We have 40–50 birds and about 14 breeding pairs this season so far. I can take you in for a closer look, but follow my footsteps so we don’t upset the mother too much.”
Ducking under a single strand of rope, erected by local shorebird volunteers to keep the general public out of the nesting site, we tread lightly across the sand flat towards the eagle-eyed mum watching us intently. We’re within 10m before she alights. “Softly but quickly,” Frances urges. “We don’t want her off the eggs for long. She may get too distressed and abandon them.”
Beside the nest, Frances places a thin metal stake with a white flag and a number scrawled in black marker. “That’s 10 nests at this site [a total of 40 breeding pairs and 100 eggs were recorded during the entire season]; we’re doing well.” Her smile is wide and her joy palpable.
Set behind Warrain Beach on the New South Wales South Coast, Lake Wollumboola is on the national register of important wetlands and provides a refuge and breeding place for thousands of migratory and resident native birds.
“This summer we estimate the lake is home to about 2500 birds,” Frances says. “There are roughly 33 species here, from our resident black swans – that’s them over there in that sheltered part of the lake – to pied oystercatchers, red-capped plovers, bar-tailed godwits, curlew sandpipers, Caspian terns, white-bellied sea-eagles… the list goes on and
