The East Region’s Alfred Cove offers a remarkable diversity of habitats and native birds adjacent to housing areas.

The natural vegetation consists predominantly of Jarrah, Marri and Tuart woodland, with Banksia and undergrowth of Grasstree and other native plants.  Tree hollows are used for nesting birds including Galahs, Australian Ringnecks and Striated Pardalotes.

The Point Walter sandbar or spit extends over 1 km into the river; sections of the sandbar are often submerged at high tide. The Point Walter spit is an important site for waterbirds using the Swan River. As well as a feeding and resting place for many birds, the far western end of the sandbar is also a nesting site for Fairy Terns, Pied Oystercatchers, Red-capped Plovers and Black Swans.  Seasonal closures of the end portion of Point Walter spit have proven to be an important and largely successful on-ground action to support breeding of the threatened Australian Fairy Terns and other birds.  The Spit also attracts waders including trans-equatorial migratory birds in season.

Blackwall Reach is 14 hectares of Class A reserve. One of its most prominent features is the limestone cliffs that rise 8 metres out of the Swan River. Rainfall has caused the limestone to corrode producing steep ledges. Beneath Blackwall Reach are a series of caves formed by an underground stream which flows through the limestone, gradually eroding the rock. These long, narrow caves can reach lengths of 200 metres long, averaging one metre in height and width.

Ospreys making use of the man-made nesting pole at Alfred Cove. Image by Sue Harper.

The West Region boundaries contain two adjoining areas of natural beauty – Blackwall Reach & Point Walter spit.

The site forms part of the Bush Forever Site 331 bordering the Swan Estuary Marine Park and associated A-Class Nature Reserve, identified by the Perth Community for the protection of native flora and fauna.  The A-Class status of the Marine Park and Nature Reserve acknowledges both its local and international importance and is intended to provide the highest level of protection possible.  

The treed areas at Alfred Cove with original Eucalyptus rudis and Melaleuca raphiophylla but with natural understorey cleared for grass – provide habitat for families of ducks and feeding areas for other waterbirds in winter/spring. Many Land birds breed here including Galahs, Striated Pardalotes, Welcome Swallows and Tawny Frogmouths.

Remnant woodlands are home to priority species such as Osprey and Rainbow Bee-eaters. A pair of Eastern Ospreys regularly nest here. Since 2020, DBCA has provided a man-made nesting pole which Ospreys have used to successfully raise a fledgling in 2022.

The benthic and coastal saltmarsh communities are vital to the health of the Swan Estuary Marine Park and its birdlife including trans-equatorial migratory birds. Its samphires and sedges oxygenate the tidal waters through carbon capture and filter nutrients and pollutants from groundwater. The community of Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh once covering much of the area is now reduced to a narrow ribbon along the water’s edge. It has been Federally listed as a Threatened Ecological Community and must be protected from further loss or degradation. This area is the home and breeding area for bird species including the Buff-banded Rail, Spotless Crake and Pied Stilt.  

The sea-grasses of the Estuary’s shallows provide feeding grounds for river dolphins and a nursery habitat for fish and crustaceans.  They also nurture birdlife and form a ‘blue carbon’ ecosystem.

The mudflats in the Swan Estuary Marine Park are the main feeding area for waders including the trans-equatorial migratory birds such as Grey Plovers, Common Greenshanks, Bar-tailed Godwits, Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers who visit from the Northern Hemisphere during the months of October to March and are protected under international agreements and treaties. Many birds can be seen on or over the open water – ducks, terns and cormorants.

Point Walter Spit. Image by Jenny Christenson