Blog

In fast-paced, troubled times I increasingly look for certainties, the rituals and rhythms of life that tell you all is well with the world. Being a nature lover, my certainties are generally geared to the seasons and there is nothing as certain, or reassuring, as the arrival of the welcome swallows on my patch in spring. Over the years – 17 in fact – I have always timed them for the first weekend of September. The first sight of their erratic, joyous flight brings with it … [Read more...] about Swallows a certainty of spring

Like their cousins in Melbourne, sparrows resident in Salamanca Square have learned a crafty tick to get them a meal. Some years back a friend said that he had observed sparrows hanging about outside the McDonald’s restaurant in Swanson Street, waiting for patrons to trigger the electronic sliding doors. As soon as the doors opened, the sparrows flew into the restaurant, had a quick feed of fast-food crumbs and then waited for the doors to open again. On a trip to Melbourne … [Read more...] about Street-wise sparrows and miners

Against the odds, the little battlers of the Derwent, its penguins, are maintaining a flipper-hold in what has been their home for millennia. On a cruise around the river and wider estuary in mid-August I was pleasantly surprised to count several rafts of little penguins on open water stretching from the shores of Tranmere to the south, to within sight of the zinc factory to the north. The convenor of BIrdLife Tasmania, Eric Woehler, confirms that the penguins appear to be … [Read more...] about Little battler survives in mankind’s world

The frost sparkled on the lawn, winter refusing to loosen its grip. Still, the song of spring rang out from the hedgerows in my valley and later from the woodland of the Waterworks Reserve. The first of the summer migrants, the striated pardalote, had arrived. In recent years I have been hearing the pardalote’s “pick it up, pick it up” song earlier and earlier. In the 17 years I have lived in the Waterworks Valley I have always timed it for the final week of August, just … [Read more...] about Striated pardalotes arrive early

About five years ago I added a new species to my bird sightings at the Waterworks Reserve in South Hobart – the humble coot. Because the Eurasian coot was so familiar during my youth in Britain more than half a century ago I never paid them much attention when I first saw them in Australia. But to see them at my local reserve for the first time was notable, especially as one pair raised chicks that first year. I now learn from the 2017 Tasmanian Bird Report – a marvellous … [Read more...] about Humble coot turns heads