Macquarie Marshes landholders say mass bird breeding events becoming less common

Waterbirds from around the country migrate there to breed and the area recently experienced its largest bird-breeding season in 20 years.

But these bird breeding events used to occur at least twice every five years - and this is of great concern to a clutch of landholders who live and work on, and chart their history back through custodianship of, land on the Macquarie Marshes.

Located on the lower floodplain of the Macquarie River, the marshes are home to 77 waterbird species, including the threatened brolga, magpie goose, Australasian bittern and painted snipe.

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The area is the largest remaining inland semi-permanent wetlands in south-eastern Australia and it also provides the habitat for 156 species of woodland bird and many other species of fish, turtles, frogs, snakes and mammals.

Garry Hall, president of the Macquarie Marshes Environmental Landholders Association - which consists of 25 families and landholdings - said land management on the marshes consisted of land managed both privately and publicly across the wetland and nature reserve.

Most members of the association are multi-generational landholders; the land Mr Hall lives on has been in his family for four generations.

"The marshes were the cream of the grazing country in this area prior to 1900 when the [game preservation reserve] was gazetted," Mr Hall told the Daily Liberal.

His land is made up of 6,000 hectares over three properties, and it is one of two private landholdings on the marshes that includes Ramsar-listed areas.

The land is low, flat country, that experiences variable inundation from the Macquarie River.

The vegetation that grows in the wetland includes high-value, perennial pastures - valuable as a grazing production system.

Beef cattle is the Halls' business, and they graze in and on the marshes - as well as in the dry land country that goes into the marshes.

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"Generational farming is all about trying to leave the land in a better condition than was here when you were given the responsibility of tenure of it. We take that very seriously ... it takes ongoing investment," Mr Hall said.

The association families are "very proud" of the environmental outcomes they achieve as neighbours to the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve.

"The different environmental management regimes we provide complement the wider wetland - so the majority of the colonial nesting bird breeding that the marshes are renowned for is occurring on or adjacent to privately-managed land," Mr Hall said.

His family recalls these bird-breeding events happening "once or twice every five years", Mr Hall said. The latest event - the first large migration in two decades - came after a three-year wet period.

Mr Hall said the wetlands have been dryer because of society's increased demand for water, coupled with the effects of climate change.

"Our community is very active in opposing any more major infrastructure builds in the upper catchment. Current government policy seems to think that building more dams increases drought security, which is absolutely rubbish - it doesn't make more water," he said.

When the flood water arrives on the marshes, the vegetation is the first to respond. The fresh, young shoots pop-up from the dry landscape.

Then, the frogs and the insects arrive, and over time, "a whole food web" is created - "from the birds and frogs and the fish, to the insects, and the macro-invertebrates," Mr Hall said.

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"Very much like our cattle production system, if a bird has gained enough body weight from suitable water height and food resource, they start developing their colonies - which begins with the trampling process, when we see reeds getting pushed down for their nests.

"When you live here and your lifestyle is all about the wetlands, it's not just the birds [that are important to you] - it's the insects, the snakes, reptiles, fish and frogs - it's everything that makes the food cycle continue.

"[It's] the biodiversity that the marshes are renowned for."