I have been wanting to go to the poop plant for a while but you need to go with someone who has a permit. I was pleased it showed up on the Birdlife Photography group itinerary on a day that I could finally actually go!

We all met up at the entrance and then merged into small groups with people with cars and keys and they drove us around all morning.

The area isn’t actually used for treating water any more (they do it in a different way now), but the land can’t be used for anything else because it still has traces of poop. It doesn’t smell though. There are rules like you can’t eat anything while you’re in the area and you have to wear pants and closed shoes. There’s a lot of standing water, which means there’s a lot of bugs, which means there are a lot of birds. It’s the best area in Victoria for birdwatching.

Red-necked Stints are migratory waders that are born in Siberia and somehow make it all the way to Australia for the summer. Fascinating.

One pond was full of these frogs. You could hear them, and see them poking their eyes out of the water, but as soon as you get closer they duck under. They must be pretty massive.

I saw a lot more birds but a lot of the pictures we took later in the day were affected by Heat Haze, which made the pictures look like watercolour paintings (not in a nice way). The whole group together logged 107 different types of birds, in one morning!! I look forward to going again at a different time of year.