Wallagaraugh unfullfilled

 Having had reports of a Black Bittern on the Wallagaraugh, near the bridge, and needing to get out of the house we took ourselves off there.  This was because the very dreary weather of the last 2 days was leading to cabin fever: no worthwhile rain just heavy overcast.  Of course it started to rain more seriously as soon as the Pajero was out of the drive but we persevered,

It rained solidly all the way.  As we passed through Genoa the River was bank to bank, rather than the usual trickle down the middle.  It continued to rain as we went to the Wallagaraugh, and strong run off was going beside the road from the Highway to the start of the Fairhaven Expressway.

We started by going to the end of a little track before the bridge.  No Bittern, but we were impressed by the flow going across this paddock.

A small creek back towards the road also had good flow and a fair bit of foam.

The tree terns n the gully were luxuriant.  My guess is the tallest ones were approach 3m.  Quite impressive how they survived the fire.

Also impressive was this old eucalypt on the Fairhaven side of the bridge.

After turning round we parked in the middle of the bridge to scan for Bitterns.  I was confident that rush hour on the Wallagaraugh had finished, but kept an eye open for any incoming traffic!  (There was none, but we were only there an hour.)  On the subject of 'none' that is an accurate summary of the Bittern situation upstream  ...

.. and downstream.  The window was slightly up to try to stop the rain coming in too greatly.

Note the width of the river: with both Rivers running this strongly it is a good thing the Mouth of the Inlet is open.  A Eucalypt just upstream was flowering well but didn't seem to be attracting any birds.