We have travelled to Horsham to stay with other friends, it’s been a wonderful time. The benefit of local knowledge and their kindness has been clearly shown as we have visited and seen some amazing landscapes and birdlife.

Horsham has an extensive system of walking and bike trails along and through parklands, wetlands and rivers. Stormwater drainage is diverted into natural and man made wetlands and as a consequence, the birdlife and frogs are loving it. While the region is an important cropping area it still supports and protects waterways, lakes and many important ecological elements, which no doubt contributes to the great variety of birds.

We visited Mount Arapiles a favourite and famous rock climbing location, it supports great bushland, flora, wildlife and splendid lookouts over the Wimmera region. From the lookout you could see the mallee of the Little Desert National Park and many of the lakes that are dotted across the Wimmera. The nesting Peregrine Falcon was a highlight to see and the orchids were exceptional.

The healthy farmland despite the clearance of trees was picturesque in its own right and it did benefit many bird species, such as the Nankeen Kestrel, Spotted Harrier and grassland loving birds such as the Pippit and Songlarks. The strong cool westerly wind blew up waves across the oat and wheat fields, it was magical to watch.

We circumnavigated Lake Taylor, which supported 100’s of wetland birds, Swans, Pelicans, Grey Teal, Pied Stilts, Blue-winged parrots and nesting White-bellied Sea-eagles just to name a few of the 66 species seen on one day.