Archives for March 2014

I had my Local Hero moment in the lonely, sea-washed phone box at AdventureBay on BrunyIsland one morning, a phone call to the metropolis that became a communication with nature.  For those who don’t know of the film Local Hero, it tells of a young American oil company executive who is sent to Scotland to persuade the residents of a remote, picturesque fishing village to sell up so a giant oil refinery can be built on their ancestral land. To take orders in secret from head … [Read more...] about When nature calls

There’s some new kids on the block in our neighbourhood and they’re causing a stir in the treetops.  The new arrivals are a mob of young magpies who seem determined to throw their weight around in the Waterworks Valley where I live. I discovered one of the magpies early in the summer when I heard the unfamiliar flute-like magpie song. I say unfamiliar because the magpie is rarely seen in the largely wet forest of the Waterworks Valley, preferring the dry woodlands nearer … [Read more...] about New magpie kids on the block

The tawny frogmouth may not have featured on Tasmanian’s list of favourite birds when I published it during the summer but my phone and email ran hot when I wrote later that I had spent 13 years searching for this elusive and mysterious species at my local reserve. There were sightings aplenty in other areas of Hobart and one proved too irresistible to ignore. I was told by a reader of a family in easy view close to a viewing platform at the Knocklofty Reserve high above … [Read more...] about Birdwatching days never wasted

Sitting in the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, an Olde English pub in Melbourne, on a hot summer’s afternoon I thought for a moment I had sunk too many pints of Tetley’s Yorkshire bitter. Perched on the back of the chair alongside me was a cockney sparrow, chirping merrily before swooping to snap up a few crusts of pastry that had spilled from my steak and kidney pie. As I have discovered at McDonald’s on Swanston St, the sparrows have learned that there are rich pickings to had … [Read more...] about Cockney sparrow a barrel of laughs

I VENTURED into the secret world of the forty-spotted pardalote one fine morning, a harsh environment that confirms the tiny bird’s status as a Tasmanian battler. I had sponsored a nestbox as part of a pardalote conservation program but my trip to NorthBrunyIsland to monitor the pardalote “shack” did not prepare me for the uncompromising existence of these beautiful but endangered birds. Battles for nesting sites, plagued by parasites, a constant life and death struggle … [Read more...] about It’s a tough life for a tiny pardalote