Mini-festival to celebrate local wetlands

PIC: Supplied

A mini-festival to celebrate the Peel-Yalgorup Ramsar Wetland is set to be held this October.

The Wetlands Weekender is a three-day event aligning with the beginning of the migratory bird season. 

Each year, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds make the journey from as far as the Arctic Circle to Australia.

This staggering 12,500km trip will see the animals spend the summer months here, before making the journey back. 

The festival was planned specifically for a weekend in October to coincide with World Migratory Bird Day, which falls on Saturday the 12th of October.

There will be activities themed around the beautiful and rare birds of the wetland such as bird identification lessons at Nairns Bird Hide and the provocative documentary film “Albatross”.

Other activities include an art exhibition, bird-watching, cultural storytelling and a wetland tour by boat.

The festival program will run from Friday October 11 to Sunday October 13.

Chair of Peel-Harvey Catchment Council (PHCC) Caroline Knight said many of the events are free and have something for everyone. 

“The activities are spread out across different areas of the Peel-Yalgorup wetland and it’s a great opportunity to visit and get to know parts of the wetland that you may have never visited before," she said.

"Whether it’s families looking for something to do for the last part of the school holidays, or people just looking for an interesting activity to fill their weekend, there is a large variety of activities to choose from.

PHCC have partnered with businesses, community organisations and the local government to bring the program together, and believe this will be the first of many Wetlands Weekender's to come.

“We plan to build this festival over the coming years into a program that attracts not only locals but visitors to our region," Knight said.

"Next year is a significant year for the Peel-Yalgorup Wetland site, it will be 30 years since the site has been listed as wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention and the festival will be a fantastic way to celebrate this milestone and our incredible wetland."

The event is supported by PHCC through funding from the federal government. 

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