The hollows in the stony beach – from which hunting Aborigines once launched ambushes on seals – were not too difficult to find. I had been told what to look out for on a track along the Tarkine coast and I set out at dawn one morning to scour the beach for them. A flock of white-fronted chats were calling as they searched for invertebrates among kelp and chestnut teals were riding the waves in a rocky inlet as I cast my gaze over a beach of grey boulders the size of a … [Read more...] about Tracks to oblivion
Birds can make house prices soar
I have always suspected that there is more to the yellow-throated honeyeaters in my garden than meets the eye. They are not only creatures of subtle beauty, and a joy to watch, but I have now learned that their very presence in my wattles and bottlebrushes is actually increasing the value of the Knowler “mansion” in Dynnyrne. In fact, if I take into account the other species that are deemed “special” I might even be able to take out a mortgage for an extra wing. The … [Read more...] about Birds can make house prices soar
A swift case of mistaken identity
Driving through Kingston one chilly afternoon I caught a glimpse of the last of the swift parrots heading north at the start of winter. I stopped the car to study the birds closely because I didn’t want to fall into the age-old winter bird-watching trap – confusing swift parrots with musk lorikeets. Not a year goes by that I do not receive calls from readers during the winter months saying they have seen swift parrots. One well-known politician was on record one winter a … [Read more...] about A swift case of mistaken identity
Help for a fallen friend
PIGS may fly, as the expression goes, but the owner of the Inverawe Native Gardens at Margate was hardly prepared for the sight of a flying pademelon. There was Margaret Chestnut one autumnal afternoon, tending some newly-planted shrubs, when she saw what looked like a pademelon land with a thump right in front of her. Yes, her eyes were not deceiving her. It really was a pademelon that had apparently fallen right out of the sky. Mrs Chestnut moved forward to determine if … [Read more...] about Help for a fallen friend
Death of a wordsmith
It was a memorial service fit for one of the legendary kings of Fleet Street, a Rothermere, Beaverbrook or even a Murdoch. The congregation spilled into the aisles of St Bride’s church, the choir in place, as the rector started the bidding-prayer. Handel’s Largo from Xerxes had just rung out from the organ pipes, the melody pulsating through the Wren masterpiece, drifting across its cobbled courtyard and leafy graveyard and into the alleyways that are the capillaries of an … [Read more...] about Death of a wordsmith