The Birchs Inlet, also spelt Birch's Inlet or Birches Inlet, is a narrow

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

or coastal inlet on the south-western side of

Macquarie Harbour Macquarie Harbour is a shallow fjord in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately , and has an average depth of , with deeper places up to . It is navigable by shallow-draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by th ...

on the west coast of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, Australia. The inlet is located within the

Southwest National Park Southwest National Park is an Australian national park located in the South West Tasmania, south-west of Tasmania, bounded by the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park to the north and the Hartz Mountains National Park to the east. It is a ...

, part of the

Tasmanian Wilderness The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, abbreviated to TWWHA, is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering , or almost 25 per cent of Tasmania. It is also one of the l ...

World Heritage Area World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritage ...

Features and location

The inlet lies approximately south of the town of Strahan and serves as the mouth of the Birchs, Pocacker and Sorell Rivers, three of several draining south-western Tasmania. About in length, the mouth of the inlet lies near the head of Macquarie Harbour not far from the mouth of the

Gordon River The Gordon River is a major perennial river located in the central highlands, south-west, and western regions of Tasmania, Australia. Course and features The Gordon River rises below Mount Hobhouse in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers Nation ...

. It is only accessible by water transport. It has been at times an important access point for loggers working in the area for moving

Huon Pine ''Lagarostrobos franklinii'' is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It is often known as the Huon pine or Macquarie pine, although it is actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pinacea ...

to Strahan. It lies at the northern end of the Melaleuca to Birchs Inlet Important Bird Area. It is one of only two (the other being at

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles, bottlebrushes or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They ...

) study sites for

orange-bellied parrot The orange-bellied parrot (''Neophema chrysogaster'') is a small parrot endemic (ecology), endemic to southern Australia, and one of only three species of parrot that bird migration, migrate. It was described by John Latham (ornithologist), John ...

s in their breeding range.

Etymology

It is named after Thomas William Birch (1774-1821), a surgeon, whaler, merchant and shipowner who settled in Tasmania in 1808.

References

Bays of Tasmania Important Bird Areas of Tasmania Inlets of Australia Macquarie Harbour {{Tasmania-geo-stub