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The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and I’m in a hurry to complete my walk at the Waterworks Reserve before sunset at 4.43 pm. A pair of tawny frogmouths watching me go by are in no hurry at all - they have the longest night of the year to go about their nocturnal business. I always make a point of getting out for a long walk during the winter and summer solstices and the autumn and spring equinox. It’s at those times that we notice that our fragile planet … [Read more...] about Night to remember as frogmouths chill out

During the countdown to the burning of the platypus effigy at Dark Mofo, a little girl climbed on her father’s shoulders for a better view of the Ogoh-Ogoh event. “Daddy, the poor platypus is going to die,” said the child, shocked that such a wonderful, papier-mâché representation of the monotreme should go up in smoke. The burning of the platypus effigy was the latest in the annual Balinese Hindu ritual in which Dark Mofo participants write down their fears, for these to … [Read more...] about Loss of waterways robbin’ us of beauty

“Turf wars” are being waged across the western world as conservationists question the value of these green adornments to our gardens. In Britain some local councils declared last month as “No Mow May” and in Australia and New Zealand the lawn is increasingly being seen in some quarters as an unwelcome throw-back to our colonial past. The traditional lawn has been under fire for years because of its lack of biodiversity and voracious appetite for fertiliser, herbicides and … [Read more...] about Maintaining lawns a pain in the grass

A dramatic if tragic portrayal of the epic migrations made by shorebirds is highlighted in a documentary Flyways which has been showing in cinemas across the country. The most poignant scene for me when I saw the film in Hobart last month was the sight of birds popularly known as waders probing and wading amid piles of plastic rubbish on a sandspit along their migration route in China. Plastic pollution, hunting and the reclamation of wetlands are the main threats to both … [Read more...] about Gulls thrive in a sea of rubbish

Sitting at the wheel of my car on the forecourt of the Skyline garage in South Hobart I heard a commotion in the air. Forest ravens were going ballistic and when I looked up I could see a white goshawk flying in wide circles in the airspace above the service station, the panorama of the city spread out behind it far below. It made a wonderful sight, the sun glinting on the shiny, pure-white outstretched feathers, the goshawk in leisurely flight catching an updraft of air … [Read more...] about The road to oblivion