New man-made Sunshine Coast wetland

 

Great Egret

A newly created wetland on the southern outskirts of the Sunshine Coast is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy landscape as the region's population continues to boom. The wetland on the junction of Central Way and Bells Creek Arterial Road is the kind of thing developers need to do a good deal more often.

The new wetland

I last headed to Bells Creek a few years ago. At that time it was a quiet road through farmland, big acreage blocks and pine plantations that ended at a pleasantly positioned boat ramp on the creek, not far from Pumicestone Passage. A pair of Shining Flycatchers was in residence there. Now, the newly built arterial road roars through this area, connecting the Bruce Highway to Caloundra and the densely crowded urban belt that extends north from there to Maroochydore. A sea of newly built homes surrounds an elaborate network of roads.

Australasian Darter

That urban conglomerate now extends southwards with the creation of the suburb of Aura. eventually providing homes to 50,000 people on top of the 380,000 soles already calling Australia's tenth largest city home. The Sunshine Coast is invariably the top - or among the top three - regional destination/destinations for Australians looking for a sea or tree change. That's understandable: its combination of subtropical climate, world-class beaches and a stunning mountainous hinterland is hard to beat.

New Wetland

The Sunshine Coast has it over other coastal hotspots like the Gold Coast largely because much of its natural environment remains intact, thanks in no small part to the relatively pristine floodplains of the Maroochy River; the Noosa Biosphere Reserve; and big hinterland national parks and reserves in the Conondale and Blackall Ranges.

The edge of the Aura residential development, framed by the Glass House Mountains

The rate of urban development, however, is dizzying. Urban sprawl to the south of the Aura real estate developments is exacerbated by new plans to build a holiday resort and music festival venue at Coochin Creek on the Pumicestone Passage. The Liberal National Party state government ignored its own professional planning advice by bulldozing the plan through. Ultimately, it seems only a matter of time before a continuous coastal urban corridor connects Noosa to the Queensland-New South Wales border.

Amid this gloomy outlook, it was a joy today to stroll around the artificial wetland being developed by civil contrator Shadforth, working for the creator of Aura – the Stockland property behemoth. The wetland includes one of the Sunshine Coast's largest and certainly now its most accessible freshwater reed-beds. My attention was draw to it by the recent occurrence there of an endangered Australasian Bittern, a very rare visitor to south-east Queensland.

Australian Reed Warbler

I had no trouble finding a few Little Grassbirds and Australian Reed Warblers in the reeds, while skulking Spotless Crakes called. Australasian Darter and Great Egret were about. I expect in the warmer months that some interesting birds will turn up. It's a small thing, this aquatic gem amidst the residential sprawl, but at least it's there.

Spotless Crake

If these urban developments are going to happen, we need to encourage developers to do whatever they can to protect remnant habitat because these refuges are increasingly important to shrinking wildlife populations. So on this one, a thumbs-up to Stockland.

New wetland access track