Just before the main gate, there were a number of rice fields in which five emus were seen by the lead vehicle but by none of the others following – strange they all missed such big birds in such an unusual situation walking through water.

I bet the rice farmer wouldn't be happy.

At Willow Dam three Night Herons were spotted in trees beside the water and a colony of Fairy Martins had a battery of nests built under the eaves of the pumping shed.

A stop at the start of the main embankment failed to locate any White-winged Wrens but a pair of Zebra Finch were seen on top of a distant bush while a water rat was sighted in the main canal running along the edge of the water.

We slowly drove in convoy along the embankment stopping regularly to check out the birds.

Two White- bellied Sea-eagles were seen perched in distant dead trees in the water along with an estimated 60+ Pelican roosting on exposed islands along with numbers of spoonbill.

Because of last year's heavy rain, the branch embankment was closed so we continued to the area where an Orange Chat was seen by the Silly Galahs Twitchathon team a few weeks before.

But no luck this time.

However, we were all delighted to find a family of White-winged Wrens along the edge that gave some of us a good view, albeit brief, with regards to the beautiful male.

By this time, it was getting on for 6 o'clock and most were hanging out for a cuppa break so we stopped at the northern gate and settled down for some light refreshments and a chat – well most did but others of us were more intent on trying to get some closer photos of the wrens that were flying about in the bushes close by.

Both White-winged and Variegated were seen along with some distant views of some White-winged Chats.

A very vocal Reed Warbler serenaded us from a clump of cumbungi near us but didn't show itself and numbers of Cockatiel were flying over to get a late afternoon drink before settling for the night.

Time was getting on so we exited via that gate and headed back to Griffith for people to pick-up their cars.

In all we saw 43 species. Thanks to Kathy Semmler for the key and for allowing the club to go to the swamp for the outing.

The Jewel Beetle (pictured) (Family: Buprestidae) on an Austral Hollyhock Lavatera plebela flower. But this group of beetle have large eyes, are usually colourful, sometimes metallic and most larvae of this family are wood borers.

The Two spotted Lady bird, Adalia bipuncata (Family: Coccinellidae) was introduced from Europe to control exotic aphids.

Some are primarily black with red spots, others mainly red with black spots.

The number of spots can also vary.

The last one is a type of wasp, Hymenoptera: Apocrita.

I could guess the family is either Braconidae or Ichneumonidae.

A major difference between those two families is wing venation – Ichneumonid wasps have an extra vein.