Location: Lysterfield, Melways Maps 83 & 108

Access:  Horswood Road (Map 108 Grid D2)

Facilities: Parking, toilets, bird hide, BBQ’s, partial wheelchair access

Habitat: Lysterfield Park consists of approximately one third remnant vegetation and two thirds plantation. Within these areas about 300 plant species have been recorded. Some of the overstorey species native to the area include Yellow Box, Narrow-leaved Peppermint, Stringybark, Manna Gum, River Red Gum, Swamp Gum and Long-leaved Box.

There are eight plantation types in the park: River Red Gum, Southern Mahogany, Spotted Gum, Swamp Gum, Blue Gum, Forest Red Gum, Long-leaved Box and Sugar Gum.

There is a large lake, originally used for water supply, but now used for recreational purposes.

Park Notes & Map:   Click here

In 1997 these Churchill National Park and Lysterfield Park were joined by the acquisition of more land and are now treated as a single park by Parks Victoria.

Lysterfield Park provides a diverse range of habitats and as such is a valuable wildlife refuge. The list of bird species recorded is about 140. Of these, 37 are waterbirds.  Amongst the fauna, Eastern Grey Kangaroos and Black Wallabies are readily seen whilst Koalas, Antechinus and Echidnas are much harder to find. At night the park comes alive with Brushtail and Ringtail Possums, Sugar Gliders and various species of bats and owls.

Typical Common Birds include:  

Musk Duck; Australian Wood Duck; Pacific Black Duck; Hoary-headed Grebe; Great Crested Grebe; Common Bronzewing; Little Pied Cormorant; Great Cormorant; White-faced Heron; Purple Swamphen; Eurasian Coot; Sulphur-crested Cockatoo; Crimson Rosella; Eastern Rosella; Fan-tailed Cuckoo; Laughing Kookaburra; Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Striated Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Eastern Spinebill; Yellow-faced Honeyeater; White-eared Honeyeater; White-plumed Honeyeater; Bell Miner; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; New Holland Honeyeater; White-naped Honeyeater; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Golden Whistler; Rufous Whistler; Grey Shrike-thrush; Grey Butcherbird; Australian Magpie; Grey Currawong; Grey Fantail; Willie Wagtail; Little Raven; Magpie-lark; Eastern Yellow Robin; Australian Reed-Warbler; Silvereye; Welcome Swallow; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Common Myna.

Other Possible Birds include:  

Hardhead; Blue-billed Duck; Australasian Grebe; Spotted Dove; Australasian Darter; Swamp Harrier; Dusky Moorhen; Masked Lapwing; Silver Gull; Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo; Gang-gang Cockatoo; Galah; Rainbow Lorikeet; Brown-headed Honeyeater; Varied Sittella; Crested Shrike-tit; Pied Currawong; Mistletoebird; Red-browed Finch.

Outings Bird Lists: For a Bird List of all recent BirdLife Melbourne Outings to the adjoining Churchill Park, click here

Lysterfield - dam wall
Photographs by Bill Ramsay