Formed from the material dredged from the rowing course, they are used by waterbirds seldom seen on or near the shore.

One of the current highlights there is the wood sandpiper, a migrant from Asia. It is a rarity anywhere in the Ballarat district. There have been two birds present for a month. In appearance, the wood sandpiper is fairly typical of the sandpiper group, but it is more spotted than most. It has longer legs than the more common sharp-tailed sandpiper.

Wood sandpipers seen in Australia have probably come here from their breeding sites in sub-Arctic Siberia. They nest in coniferous forests, hence their name. In Australia they visit mostly open, non-wooded muddy freshwater places such as shallow swamps and edges of lakes. They do not visit the coast.

Like most of our migratory wading birds, they travel to Australia via eastern Asia and Indonesia. Victorian sightings are mostly from the period November to April.

Their annual two-way journeying is impressive, covering 13 000km twice each year. Along with many other migratory wader species, they need suitable feeding spots when they stop on the way. These are sometimes drained or built upon, leaving the hungry birds without their necessary and expected sustenance for the trip.

Other birds often present in small numbers in the centre of Lake Wendouree include red-necked avocet, red-kneed dotterel, magpie goose, Australian shelduck, Baillon’s crake, black-winged stilt and sharp-tailed sandpiper. These cannot be seen from the shore, so some observers are using kayaks to get out to see them.

While on the subject of sandpipers, a common sandpiper has been at Lake Learmonth for more than a month. This Asian migrant is also a local rarity, and its extended visit is unusual and unexpected.

Occasional fruit trees, mostly apples and plums, can be found on our roadsides. Most have probably grown from seeds thrown out the windows of moving cars.

The plums are mostly forms of the domestic plum. Another species found is cherry plum, with cherry-like fruit, while blackthorn – with purple rounded fruit – is less frequent, tending to be found more in old gardens.

Because of their frequency, a lot of hybridisation takes place, resulting in a wide variety of coloured fruit and leaves. In most cases, the fruit is not an improvement on plums specially grown in orchards and backyards.