Lake McLarty is a
freshwater lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
and associated
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
on the
Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. The lake is named after a prominent pioneering family which settled in the district in the early 1860s. It lies about south of
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
on the eastern side of the
Harvey Estuary
The Peel-Harvey Estuarine System ( nys, Djilba) is a natural estuarine system that lies roughly parallel to the coast of Western Australia and south of the town of Mandurah.
The strip of land between the Indian Ocean and the estuarine system ca ...
and forms part of the Peel-Yalgorup System
Ramsar Ramsar may refer to:
* Places so named:
** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran
** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India
* Eponyms of the Iranian city:
** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran
** Ramsar site, wetland listed in a ...
site. It is an important area for
wader
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
s, or shorebirds, and is a well-known
birdwatching
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...
site.
[
]
Description
The lake is oval and shallow with a gently sloping bed. Maximum open water coverage is an area of about (north-south) by (east-west). It lies in a natural depression in the coastal plain and is separated from the eastern shoreline of the Harvey Estuary by a vegetated fossil dune ridge some across.
Flora and fauna
Plants
About 30 plant species have been recorded. There are stands of banbar and swamp paperbark fringing the northern and eastern margins, with a patchy understorey
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
of broadleaf cumbungi. The south-western corner is dominated by pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...
and the midsection of the western shore is open eucalypt
Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia:
''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
, including tuarts, flooded gums and swamp peppermints, with a grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
understorey. Other species present include spearwood, golden-wreath wattle, Swan River peppermint and sheoaks. Six species of orchid have been recorded in the reserve, including pink fairy and cowslip orchids.[
]
Birds
The exposed mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s around the lake form essential feeding habitat for migratory waders. Some of the reserve has been identified by BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
as an Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) because it regularly supports over 1% of the world populations of red-necked stint
The red-necked stint (''Calidris ruficollis'') is a small migratory wader. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''kalidris'' or ''skalidris'', a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific ''ruficollis'' is from La ...
s, sharp-tailed sandpiper
The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') (but see below) is a small wader.
Taxonomy
A review of data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus ''Philomachus''
– as ''P. acuminatus'' – which now ...
s, white-headed stilt
The pied stilt (''Himantopus leucocephalus''), also known as the white-headed stilt, is a shorebird in the family Recurvirostridae. It is widely distributed with a large total population size and apparently stable population trend, occurring in ...
s, red-necked avocet
The red-necked avocet (''Recurvirostra novaehollandiae'') also known as the Australian avocet, cobbler, cobbler's awl, and painted lady, is a wader of the family Recurvirostridae that is endemic to Australia and is fairly common and widespread th ...
s and red-capped plover
The red-capped plover (''Charadrius ruficapillus''), also known as the red-capped dotterel, is a small species of plover.
It breeds in Australia. This species is closely related to (and sometimes considered conspecific with) the Kentish plover, ...
s, and sometimes large numbers of blue-billed duck
The blue-billed duck (''Oxyura australis'') is a small Australian stiff-tailed duck, with both the male and female growing to a length of 40 cm (16 in). The male has a slate-blue bill which changes to bright-blue during the breeding sea ...
s.
See also
* List of lakes of Western Australia
The following lists of lakes of Western Australia are arranged alphabetically:
* List of lakes of Western Australia, A–C (plus numerals)
* List of lakes of Western Australia, D–K
* List of lakes of Western Australia, L–P
* List of lakes of ...
References
{{reflist
Ramsar sites in Australia
Swan Coastal Plain
Birdwatching sites in Australia
McLarty
Nature reserves in Western Australia
Important Bird Areas of Western Australia