Lake Lorne, a small 12-hectare (30-acre) freshwater lake on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, is located immediately south-west of the township of Drysdale.

Lake Lorne
Lake Lorne seen from the shoreline
A map of Victoria, Australia, with a mark indicating the location of Lake Lorne
A map of Victoria, Australia, with a mark indicating the location of Lake Lorne
Lake Lorne
Location in Victoria
LocationBellarine Peninsula, Victoria
Coordinates38°10′55″S 144°33′29″E / 38.18194°S 144.55806°E / -38.18194; 144.55806[1]
TypeFreshwater
Basin countriesAustralia
Surface area12 ha (30 acres)
Surface elevation62 m (203 ft)
View across lake to Drysdale Railway Station.

Location and features

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The lake is a popular birdwatching site and is well known for its variety of waterbirds, many of which have been recorded as breeding there. Lake Lorne lies in a depression in the underlying limestone and has no surface outlet. Water levels may vary substantially, often with a lag time in response to rainfall, with the nearby McLeods Waterholes being part of the same hydrological system. It contains a central complex of three islets densely vegetated with willows, eucalypts, paperbarks and pittosporums. The lake is largely surrounded by parkland and is close to the Drysdale railway station.

Birds

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The lake is important for freckled and blue-billed ducks which are listed as threatened in Victoria. Waterbirds, waders and rails which have bred at the lake include black swans, hardheads, musk ducks, Australasian and hoary-headed grebes, darters, little pied and little black cormorants, dusky moorhens, purple swamphens, Eurasian coots and black-fronted dotterels. It is also a roosting site for hundreds of cormorants and ibises.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ "Lake Lorne". Vicnames. Government of Victoria. 2 May 1966. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  2. ^ Hewish, Marilyn (2002). "New information on the birds of Lake Lorne, Drysdale, 1997-2002". Geelong Bird Report. 2001: 89–95. ISSN 1323-2681.
  3. ^ King, Dave; Cameron, Margaret (1997). "The birds of Lake Lorne, Drysdale". Geelong Bird Report. 1996: 32–39. ISSN 1323-2681.