Iconic birdlife flocks back to lagoon

MUCH has changed at Dee Why Lagoon since the older photo was taken early last century but the black swans are returning.

Iconic birdlife flocks back to lagoon

• Plenty of changes to holy land in Manly
• Hats all folks, as fashions change at Church Point
• Good times at the seaside
• Narrabeen Lagoon remains a jewel in our crown

MUCH has changed at Dee Why Lagoon since the older photo was taken early last century.

Back then, black swans were so numerous on the lagoon that many local clubs and organisations adopted the black swan as part of their emblems.

In the old photo there are 24 black swans, over which a ubiquitous flock of seagulls is wheeling, but by the end of last century black swans had abandoned the lagoon altogether due to its unhealthy water, silted bottom and rubbish-strewn foreshore.

Dee Why Lagoon in 2012

But the efforts of Warringah Council and the Friends of Dee Why Lagoon volunteers have made such a difference that black swans began to return to Dee Why Lagoon, just as they have to Narrabeen Lagoon.

Sometime in the 1920s, a black swan was painted on the footpath outside 103 Howard Ave, Dee Why, and it became a local icon with a special meaning – to tread on the painted swan would bring bad luck.

Over the years the swan on the footpath has been regularly repainted and it is still considered bad to luck to step on the swan.

Another obvious difference between the old and new photos is the vegetation – or lack thereof – on the sand dune separating the lagoon from the ocean.

In the older photo the sand dune is almost bereft of vegetation, while the more recent photo shows the success of efforts to regenerate the dune to stabilise it and provide habitat for native birds.

Thankfully Long Reef remains largely unchanged and its beauty and the vistas it provides have increased the number of people walking up and down its flanks each day.