I have a dry creek bed for my rainwater tank overflow. I did it in stages and two years after moving in I finished. I blogged about the start of the channel last week. This is my creek bed last winter, but I had do much digging and lugging rocks to get there.
I have a dry creek bed for my rainwater tank overflow. Yesterday my 9000L rainwater tanks were empty. After last night’s deluge of rain they overflowed. The rain guage in my garden recorded 73mm.
I made the dry creek bed in stages and it took a couple of years to finish. Over winter 2021 and 2022 I had to make some changes to stop it flooding my shed. This first overflow of the year worked like it should, with no shed flooding.
Overnight on Friday Perth had 18mm of rain and the mud island in the middle of Lake Gwelup is no more. The waters are rising with this good start to winter.
The dog helps me take photos when we pass the water level markers at Lake Gwelup.
In autumn March 2015 the water is close to its lowest point. Two birds sit on a partially submerged log next to the furthest marker. (Click to enlarge.) The first marker is hidden behind the gum tree.
Winter is definitely on the way now that I’m hearing my favourite night time song, the evening chorus of frogs at Lake Gwelup. I love the call of Pobblebonks (Limnodynastes dorsalis) also known as Banjo frogs. Their call sounds like a plucked banjo string, other males reply and it seems to echo back and forth across the lake. Motorbike frogs (Litoria moorei) and squelching froglets (Crinia insignifera) add to the cacophony.
Update: I moved house and dug a new bog garden
Perth’s winter rains started in earnest this month and so far in May we’ve had 143.6mm, significantly more than the May average of 87.6mm. This is a good change after an extremely dry summer.
Update: I moved house and dug a new bog garden
Last week the autumn rains started in earnest and Perth had the wettest May day in 9 years. This was just in time to soak the bog garden I planted two weeks ago.
“A bog garden is essentially a pond that has been filled almost entirely with soil or other material, and which retains moisture through all or most of the year.” – Building Frog Friendly Gardens [1]
The dog and I enjoy walking at Lake Gwelup. He runs like a mad thing, while I delight in the wide expanses of nature, beautiful scenery and wildlife. Most years the lake dries over summer (although historically it didn’t). After heavy rains last spring* there’s still water, although every day the level drops. I found a spot on our walk which is nicely framed by the branches of flooded gums and I took photos of the water level throughout summer and autumn.
Lake Gwelup is a regionally significant wetland and after good rainfall last year,* the water level is still high. In recent times the lake dries over summer, although this wasn’t the case historically. In winter the bird population of Lake Gwelup and the surrounding bushland swells with migratory birds arriving from throughout Eastern Asia, as far away as Japan, China and Korea. Continue reading
I’m drinking rainwater again after 6 months of tap water. After my tank ran down over summer, I didn’t set up the filter again until now. Why did I take so long when my favourite drink is rainwater??
Ockham's Razor 