Tamar Island Wetlands

The Tamar Island Wetlands Centre is just outside of Launceston and we visited on a very windy Sunday afternoon! The Tamar Island and the amazing wetland habitat that surrounds it were well worth the visit although we didn't see as many birds as we had hoped.

At just over 70km the Tamar is the longest estuary in Australia. It is tidal throughout its length and has a range of three metres. We followed the 1.5km boardwalk to Tamar Island and whilst there was limited birdlife the views of the Tamar Valley were spectacular.

When we reached the island we found remnants of European settlement, including exotic trees such as oaks, firs and spruce.

The walk we followed took us through a waving, rustling sea of reeds and rushes - we saw plenty of black swans but no fish, skinks or snakes! We could hear the many frogs that inhabit the fresh water lagoon in the wetlands but did not see any of the several species that live there.

At the shallower lagoons we saw some white-faced heron and great egrets togethe with the remnants of the convict-built levee banks and the original fence posts.

The trees that we saw were the swamp paper-bark and they are the only native trees remaining in the reserve. Paperback forest is an endangered community in Tasmania, as most of it has been cleared over the past 200 years. The Tamar Island Wetlands has one of the best intact paperbark forest areas in the Tamar Estuary.

At the third bridge crossing we could see the remains of the metal steam dredger which is now a favourite resting place for cormorants and egrets. On the bridge itself we could see lots of regurgitated objects as many birds use the bridge as a night-time roost. Pacific gulls especially leave behind bits of glass, sweet wrappers and string - we also saw other pellets containing the bones of fish, small animals and carapaces of crabs.