Dam and Wetlands

• The top pond beloved of breeding frogs
• Frodo croaking for his mate
• A black duck feeding in the dam

The dam's water supply comes from the stormwater from the Mount Erin Convent next door. Previously the stormwater ran into the railway cutting at the bottom of the gardens and possibly contributed to saline groundwater discharge a few blocks away.

The water from the dam is pumped by windmill into the wetlands which are usually dry from December to May.  As soon as they are filled with water they become a favourite breeding ground for our large frog population.

The story of the ErinEarth frogs is a fascinating study of how biodiversity on site has increased since the vegetation,  trees, shrubs, grasses and groundcovers have grown.

The wetland becomes a scene of intense activity with tadpoles and a myriad of small creatures swarming in the water.

In March 2003 the dam was put in and the wetland ponds towards the end of 2003. It was drought and the site was a red clay moonscape. The first signs of life were small water bugs including red and blue dragonflies. Volunteers mainly from Mount Erin High School and later the newly formed Kildare College planted a variety of local water plants.

August 2004, one night 48 hours before the rains came, an army of frogs arrived. At that stage a frog was just a frog to us  and we were ecstatic to hear croaking. Later we learnt that different frog calls mean different types of frogs. This army of frogs were Spotted Marsh Frogs or their more technical name of limnodynastes tasmaniensis.

August 2005 as the the large reeds or cumbungi began to take over the dam we heard strange bird like sounds during the night. These hidden "birds" turned out to be a frog with multiple common names two of which are Beeping Frogs or The Plains Froglet, crinia parinsignifera.

August 2007 when the wattles round the dam had reached the two metre mark and grasses, lomandra and saltbush groundcovers were thriving The Peron's Tree Frogs, litoria peroni with their most distinctive call arrived. One of them proved to be most photogenic and unlike most other frogs was quite easy to find. Its photo graces the top of each page of the ErinEarth website. We named it "Froddo".

November 2007 for just 24 hours after the unaccustomed heavy rain of 35 mm to our surprise and delight The Pobblebonk, limnodynastes dumerili, let us know he had arrived. He is now probably buried deep in the ground nearby waiting for more rain that has forgotten to come. Why not see and hear Frogs of the Riverina ?

Heavy rains in February and March 2010 caused our dam to overflow for the first time and had water running all over the site.  See pictures of this event.

Back to Native Plants, back to Take a Walk.