Clare Gleeson Wetlands

The Clare region has many attractions, including its natural beauty, its wineries (the Clare Valley is known particularly for its riesling, although it also produces some excellent shiraz and other varieties), its restaurants, conservation parks, and one of my favourites, the Riesling Trail for walking and cycling.

Unlike most of Mid-North South Australia, which has been terribly over-cleared, much of the native bush has been retained in the Clare region, adding greatly to its attractiveness.

The Lions' Green Team aims to make the Gleeson Wetlands one of Clare's most popular places for walkers and bird watchers.

The Wetlands' best years I'm writing this in September 2021. For a number of reasons, but mostly because of a declining pool of voluntary workers, and at least one of those workers getting too old and decrepit to do anywhere near as much work as he was previously able to do, I suspect the best years of the Gleeson Wetlands are, or soon will be, in the past. At least this page will give some sort of photographic record of it in its heyday. A large part of the problem is also the multiplication of weeds. At the beginning, in 2014, there were a great many weeds. But there were practically no ground cover plants and they covered very little ground, so weeds could be sprayed out. Now ground cover plants are spread over a large part of the area, weeds are coming up through them, and are going to seed. The weeds can't be killed by spraying without killing the desirable plants. But I shouldn't be overly pessimistic, most of the weeds are annual, the Wetland plants are perennial; the weeds will die off each summer. A number of the species of shrubs and trees, which are small at present will continue to grow; I'm thinking particularly of the yaccas, Callitris and Eucalyptus caesia. The Wetlands vegetation will evolve. I (David Clarke) have greatly enjoyed my seven years (so far) of looking after the Gleeson Wetlands and have been able to feel I've done something of some value to the community in which I live.

On these pages...

Since late May 2015 we have a Facebook Page.

Climate change/wind power I, David Clarke, the author of these pages, am greatly concerned about climate change and associated problems. The changing climate is a threat to all I hold dear, including Gleeson Wetlands. For that reason I do what I can to end the use of fossil fuels and support solar and wind power. If some readers do not like this note being on this page about Gleeson Wetlands, I honestly don't give a damn. For more information see a personal perspective, below.

Size

Volunteering

What has been done recently?

1. More mulch has been spread;
   
   
2. The battle against invasive weeds continued; it will never be won, but they were under control;
   
   
3. There has been little new planting. Of the planting that has been done most has been ground-covers that compete effectively with weeds;
   
   
4. Many guards have been removed as they became redundant when out-grown by the plants inside them;

What needs to be done?

1. Some trees and shrubs have died due to the long, hot, dry summer/autumn; these need to be cut down;
   
   
2. The hot, dry weather has stopped weed germination, but there are always a few weeds that could be hoed, pulled out, sprayed or covered with mulch;
   
   
3. There are a few places where mulch could be moved by wheelbarrows and spread;

Thanks

The Lions Club Green Team would like to particularly thank:

• Those Lions members and wives who have helped, you know who you are;
• Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council;
• Nicole Heneker;
• Ann Flower;
• Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Board;
• Brian and Barb Reinke (Clare Woodyard) for their donations of mulch;
• Trees For Life for supplying seedling trees and shrubs;
• Benjamin Parkin for growing trees and shrubs through Trees For Life;
• Uta Grehn for identifying many of the plants;
• Horrie Mills for his bird surveys;
• Peter Wood for help in spreading mulch, sourcing a water supply, etcetera.

Money

As of the time of writing this, 2015/05/13, no money spent on the wetlands came out of the funds that the Lions devote to 'normal' activity. Council pays for spraying contractors and for consumables such as weedicides.

In August 2014 Council gave the Lions $2000, which to the time of writing has not been spent on the wetland. So the Lions are $2000 ahead because they took on some responsibility for the wetlands.

Some money is now proposed to be spent on signage at the wetlands. A part of this, about $350, will be paid by the Lions out of the $2000 they received from Council in August 2014.

Bird species list

Black-fronted dotterel Seen at the wetlands, 2015/07/03

Common name	Scientific name	Recorded by
Blackbird	Turdus merula	Bill O'Malley
Coot, Eurasian	Fulica atra	DKC
Corella, little	Cacatua sanguinea	DKC, Bill O'Malley
Cormorant, little pied	Microcarbo melanoleucos	DKC, Bill O'Malley
Cuckoo-shrike, black faced	Coracina novaehollandiae	Bill O'Malley
Darter, Australasian (snakebird)	Anhinga novaehollandiae	DKC
Dotterel, black-fronted	Elseyornis melanops	DKC
Duck, Australian wood	Chenonetta jubata	DKC
Duck, freckled	Stictonetta naevosa	David Donato
Duck, hardhead	Aythya australis	David Donato
Duck, Pacific black	Anas superciliosa	DKC
Duck, pink eared	Malacorhynchus membranaceu	Bill O'Malley
Galah	Eolophus roseicapilla	DKC, Bill O'Malley
Grebe, Australasian	Tachybaptus novaehollandiae	DKC, Horrie Mills
Grebe, hoary-headed	Poliocephalus poliocephalus	Horrie Mills
Heron, white-faced	Egretta novaehollandiae	DKC, Horrie Mills
Common name	Scientific name	Recorded by
Honeyeater, New Holland	Phylidonyris novaehollandiae	Pat Williams
Honeyeater, white-plumed	Lichenostomus penicillatus	DKC
Ibis, Australian white	Threskiornis moluccus	DKC
Ibis, straw-necked	Threskiornis spinocollis	Horrie Mills
Kookaburra, laughing	Dacelo novaeguineae	Horrie Mills
Lapwing, masked; (Plover)	Vanellus miles	DKC
Lorikeet, musk	Glossopsitta concinna	Pat Williams
Lorikeet, rainbow	Trichoglossus moluccanus	Bill O'Malley
Magpie, Australian	Cracticus tibicen	DKC, Horrie Mills
Magpie, Australian (white backed)	Cracticus tibicen	Bill O'Malley
Minor, noisy	Manorina melanocephala	Mills, O'Malley
Mistletoe bird	Dicaeum hirundinaceum	Bill O'Malley
Moorhen, dusky	Gallinula tenebrosa	Bill O'Malley
Mudlark, magie-lark, pee wit	Grallina cyanoleuca	DKC
Nankeen night heron	Nycticorax caledonicus	DKC
Native-hen, black-tailed	Gallinula ventralis	DKC
Pardalote, striated	Pardalotus striatus	Bill O'Malley
Parrot, red-rumped	Psophotus haematonotus	Bill O'Malley
Pelican, Australian	Pelecanus conspicillatus	DKC
Common name	Scientific name	Recorded by
Pigeon, common bronzewing	Phaps chalcoptera	Horrie Mills
Pigeon, crested	Ocyphaps lophotes	DKC, Bill O'Malley
Rail, buff banded	Gallirallus philippensis	Travis Hague
Raven, little	Corvus mellori	Horrie Mills
Rosella, Adelaide	Platycercus elegans adelaidae	Horrie Mills
Shrike-thrush, grey	Colluricincia harmonica	Bill O'Malley
Silvereye, grey backed	Zosterops lateralis	Bill O'Malley
Sparrow, house	Passer domesticus	Bill O'Malley
Sparrowhawk, collared	Accipiter cirrhocephalus	Bill O'Malley
Starling, common	Sturnus vulgaris	Bill O'Malley
Swallow, welcome	Hirundo neoxena	DKC, Bill O'Malley
Swan, black	Cygnus atratus	DKC
Teal, grey	Anas gracilis	Horrie Mills
Wagtail, willie	Rhipidura leucophrys	DKC, Bill O'Malley
Wattlebird, red	Anthochaera carunculata	Horrie Mills
Weebill	Smicrornis brevirostris	Bill O'Malley

Some species that I (DKC) was not sure of were confirmed or made more specific by Horrie Mills or Bill O'Malley.

If you have seen other birds at the wetlands, post your sightings on the Facebook page or email me (daveclarkecb@yahoo.com).

More on birds

Buff banded rail Photo by Travis Hague, 2019/01/02

Bird surveys by Horrie Mills

	Date and Number seen
Common name	2017/11/16	2017/11/23	2017/12/15
Australian wood duck	16	15	2
Pacific black duck	10	11	13
Grey teal	0	2	3
Pink-eared duck	0	1	1
Hard head (White eyed duck)	6	2	2
Hoary-headed grebe	1	2	2
Pied cormorant (little)	1	0	0
Little black cormorant	5	3	16
White-faced heron	0	2	0
Australian white ibis	0	2	0
Dusky moorhen	3	2	2
Black-tailed native-hen	1	0	0
Eurasian coot	20	22	12
Masked lapwing	2	3	3
Spotted turtle-dove	3	0	0
Common bronzewing	call	2	2
Crested pigeon	4	3	7
Galah	2	5	9
Little corella	0	20	0
Musk lorikeet	2	6	5
Purple-crowned lirikeet	0	0	1
Crimson rosella	3	4	5
Red-rumped parrot	2	2	2
Laughing kookaburra	call	call	2
Red wattlebird	7	6	7
Noisy minor	1	1	0
White-plumed honeyeater	10	5	9
Grey shrike-thrush	1	0	2
Magpie-lark	3	1	1
Willie wagtail	3	3	2
Black-faced cuckoo-shrike	0	2	2
Australian magpie	12	13	5
Little raven	call	3	22
House swallow	0	0	1
Australian reed-warbler	2	2	0
Common blackbird	5	4	3
Common starling	0	10	0

Turtles

I came across another three eggs on 2015/11/13. None broken, immediately covered again.

Since then I have come across other turtle egg clutches.

In October 2018 I took a couple of photos of a newly hatched turtle.

I came across this turtle crossing one of the wetland roads on 2015/11/26 and luckily he kept his head and legs out of his shell long enough for me to get a couple of photos.

This was the first live turtle that I had seen out of the water.

Sculptures

Near the main entrance to the wetlands, Pond 1

The organisational work was done by Patrick Williams.

At the northern end of Pond 3

At the shelter shed on Pond 3

Adjacent to the bird hide

Mulch: what purposes does it serve?

Mulch that has done its job NW corner of Pond 3, 2015/02/23 Obviously, it would be far better if there were no weeds at all, but the mulch has been effective in keeping the weeds away from the two plants. The photo was taken just before I hoed the closer weeds and added more mulch. This photo shows how big the weed problem was in the first year or more. By mid 2017 they were far more under control.

There are several very useful purposes mulch can serve:

1. Many weed seeds are very small, if they are covered with a few centimetres of mulch the germinating weed will die before it reaches the light;
2. If the smaller weeds are covered with mulch they will die because their light is cut off;
3. Mulch will limit the moisture loss by evaporation from the soil.

1. Many weed seeds are very small. This is partly because many weeds have evolved the ability to produce a great many seeds, but because of the amount of energy invested, they can't produce both a great many seeds and large seeds.
   
   A seedling that germinates from a small seed under 5cm of mulch will die before it can grow up to reach the sunlight it needs because there is insufficient energy stored in that seed to get it that far.
   
   
2. Australians are well aware that plants can easily die from lack of water in our long, hot summers. Obviously moisture at the surface of the soil evaporates very quickly on a hot day. Much less obviously, capillary action can then draw more moisture to the surface where it too will evaporate. This can continue until there is very little moisture in the top 10 or 20cm of soil. capillary action can not draw water through a layer of mulch because the mulch lacks the very fine capillaries that are needed and that exist in soil.
   
   
3. Summer weeds are even more effective at drawing moisture out of the soil than is capillary action. If you can keep weeds half a metre or more from the plant you want to grow you will stop them stealing the precious soil water, conserving it for the plant you want to grow.

Maps; Map 1

Gleeson Wetlands: location in Clare, South Australia From Google Maps

In wet periods they receive water from the Hutt River flowing from the South and from Inchiquin Lake to the East. About half of the flow of the Hutt River goes into the wetlands at the top (southern) end, through all of the ponds, and back into the river.

Map 2

Gleeson Wetlands From Google Maps

When there is a flow in the River some of the water goes over a concrete causeway (visible as a white strip) into pond one, then over other causeways into Ponds 2 and 3, before flowing over another causeway and back into the Hill River at the top left of the photo.

Note how bare the ground around the ponds looks; image date 2013/06/11. Compare this with the images from the end of 2016.

Home Top Index

Map 3

Trail map

Yacca seedlings

The Wetlands at the end of 2016

Photos from 2018

October 15^th

Baby turtle

To judge by the size he must have just hatched.

I had, several times a year or more earlier, come across clutches of turtle eggs in heaps of mulch.

Here he is disappearing into the water.

Native hibiscus Alyogyne huegelii, the bush, upper centre, and pigface Carpobrotus glaucescens?, ground cover, foreground and background, flowering.

There is a lot of pigface at the Wetlands. This is partly because it is a very useful groundcover, partly because it is very attractive when flowering, but importantly, given the dire shortage of voluntary labour, it is easy to propagate and grows well.

Pigface Carpobrotus glaucescens? flowering near the centre shelter shed.

Early on a winter's morning, 2018/08/14

Photos from 2020

2020/04/24, drone photos

A personal perspective

Gleeson Wetlands early on an Autumn morning 2015/05/03

To outsiders the wines and wineries would be the big attractions of the Clare Valley.

The Riesling Trail has been my favourite Clare attraction and I suspect that many locals would share that opinion. I'm doing my best to change their views.

The Gleeson Wetlands has the potential to be the most beautiful little spot in the Clare Valley and I reckon the Lions and all the others who've helped with the necessary work have a good chance of making it so! I certainly intend to do what I can to get it there.

My wider aims

One way that we can easily reduce greenhouse emissions is to change from fossil fuels to renewable energy for the generation of our electricity. South Australia has great wind and solar power resources and they are nowhere near fully utilised. One of the reasons our wind resources are not more fully utilised is the opposition that sometimes builds up to many proposed wind farms. This opposition of often based on ignorance and the lies spread by dishonest people. I do my best to provide the facts on wind power in Australia.

So, when I can't think of how I can productively get more action on climate change I can make the world a little better place by working on Gleeson Wetlands.

By the way, I've written a page on how our region, Mid-North South Australia, is leading the nation in renewable energy developments. We should all be very proud of this.

Links

Lions Gleeson Wetlands

Trip Adviser Gleeson Wetlands page

A video published in June 2013 by the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council, about a year after establishment of the wetlands.

An informative brochure on Gleeson Wetlands

Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council page; provides a link to the brochure (above), a link to the Facebook page, but very little information on the wetlands.

More general

Compassion

Contribution

Some thoughts on ethics

Killer coal

A letter to my great-grandchildren.

Mid North SA, the leader in renewable power in Australia

Northern SA leading in renewable energy

A safe path to Armagh for cyclists and walkers.

Responsible cafes in the Mid North

Revegetating Crystal Brook's Central Park

Self or all: selfishness or altruism?

To oppose wind power is to support coal

A walk for climate change action

Walking for climate change awareness: cleaning up the roadsides at the same time

Why I support the local wind farm