A good crowd attended the free presentation on shore birds, organised by Hunter Local Land Services in partnership with MidCoast Council, last week at Old Bar.
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The evening commenced with a pizza meal, seemingly with a range of toppings almost as varied as the birds of the region.
Alan Stuart, the key speaker, is a leading expert on birds associated with estuaries, beaches and wetlands. He gave an excellent talk supported by a powerpoint presentation and answered many questions at the end.
Of particular interest was learning about the amazing migration journeys some species undertake each year.
Alan was interviewed by the Manning River Times last December when rare Aleutian terns were spotted at Old Bar.
Bridge lessons Friday
A new session of bridge lessons for beginners will begin this Friday, April 27 at Club Old Bar starting at 10am.
Now is your opportunity to learn one of the world’s most fascinating card games, build a new social network and stimulate the grey matter while having fun.
Lessons are free. Call Jill on 0407 733 537 to register your interest or just come along.
Old Bar Bridge Club meets every Wednesday and Friday afternoon at Club Old Bar starting at 12.15pm and any bridge player is more than welcome to join us. Just call Pam on 6553 3440 to organise a partner.
Anzac Sunday again special
Anzac Sunday was again celebrated this year at Our Lady of Fatima church in Old Bar.
Rector of the Anglican Parish of Taree, Father Peter Tinney was the celebrant. Fr Peter is also the Old Bar Beach RSL Sub-branch chaplain, having recently joined the sub-branch itself.
On display were three poppy wreaths, one red for human sacrifice, one purple for animals who served in wars and one white for peace.
An address on the theme of Anzac was given by Ian Dimmock and our local singer/songwriter, Michael Clare, entertained us with one of his new songs, "Uncle Garry."
A good number of RSL sub-branch members and their partners were in attendance.
Beach protection progress
MidCoast Council has advertised the sand scraping design and monitoring works and are in the final stages of securing a contractor to provide advice on sand scraping.
The successful contractor will be tasked with reviewing the beach conditions and advising the best time to commence the physical scraping works, to ensure the most amount of sand is scraped.
The successful contractor will also be tasked to undertake monitoring of the scraped sand. The aim is to use sophisticated drone technology to survey the site, with computer modelling to show how well the scraped sand did the job of providing a short term buffer.
In addition to the sand scraping tender, council has advertised for a company to undertake Ground Penetrating Radar (or similar methodologies) to determine the location and density of durable material (rock) along the coast of Old Bar and Manning Point.
The successful contractor will undertake site surveys to determine the location of rock. During site surveys the contractor will use ground penetrating radar which will act as an ultrasound for earth.
The contractor will then model how the coast may react under continued erosion with the presence of the durable material. This work will assist the long term planning for Old Bar and Manning Point.
Council has been advised that the application submitted under the Coast and Estuary Grants Program has been successful. The Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) has confirmed that council will receive $75,000 of funding to investigate the impact of Racecourse Creek on Old Bar Beach and on Pacific Parade.
Council will contribute matching funding to the project to permit the completion of a risk management study and plan for the Racecourse Creek catchment. Council will advise when the project will commence, with the final paperwork to officially receive the funding being commenced.
Representatives from Council, Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), Crown Lands and Water and independent coastal scientists met last week to discuss coastal management and how it relates to Old Bar and Manning Point.
The above points were raised and discussed with acknowledgement that the combination of ground penetrating radar, studies into Racecourse Creek and the understanding of how sand scraping works, will go a long way to advising long term management decisions for the area.
Council will now meet with economists from OEH during May to commence the next phase of the Coastal Management Program.
The hard working group of keen volunteers led by Barbara Fogarty and Pat Abdoo, ever alert and concerned at access being gained to the beach down the dune in front of the surf club, have re-instated the canvas fence and installed other deterrents in an endeavour to prevent any more dune damage.
Manning Coast Care has been a great help seeking out grant funding and paying for a very capable worker, Blake, who works with the crew often.
A concern for these hard workers was blow-outs caused by constant water flows etc. and they have been busy installing sand bags to protect the affected areas.
The sand traps that have been installed are working very well and, whilst there have been disappointments like the complete demolition of our dune fencing, when walking on the beach it is obvious that even they have held sand, and the plantings of pigface, whilst struggling, may eventually protect.
Activity on our beach one Tuesday night, that is the same night that our hard workers worked for over five hours doing sand traps and sand bagging, a fire was built over one of our sand traps. Beach fires may be alright but why on top of our sand traps.