Central Ballarat

Visited: summer

Recommendation: Ballarat is a very pleasant town set on the shore of Lake Wendouree. The trails, parks and gardens around the lake are home to many species of birds. It is definitely somewhere to explore.

Lake Wendouree is right in the middle of Ballarat and it is stunning. The western side runs parallel with the botanical gardens and you can walk through both, zig zagging up and down. The botanic gardens main feature are a number of giant sequoia and they line the central avenue. Along the far side of the gardens are some trout farms (I don't know why) and is home to the Ballarat Fish Acclimatization Society, established 1870. Quite unusual. 

The first thing to notice about the gardens is the noise from the corella. I estimated a flock of around 200 on my first visit and being cockatoo, they are noisy. They seem to love the huge trees and are obviously nesting there. Always entertaining, it was great to see and hear them. The majority were Little Corella but I did find some Long-billed Corella there too. Easy to tell the difference.

Next I walked along the lake. It was marvellous with lots of little islands and wetland areas full of reeds and grasses. I could hear the call of the reed warbler and grassbird and the plaintive call of young ibis wanting to be fed. There were lots of common waterbirds here and I still like to photograph them. I always try to look at these birds as if for the first time. The moorhen and swamphen are very beautiful if you can do that.