March 18, 2008 at 2:26 am (ecology, nature, pollution, river, summer)
Tags: heat, pollution, river, soil
The heat continues on. Relentlessly. By 10am the temperature reaches 38C and higher in the shade of the verandah, and doesn’t fall until late in the evening. At least the very early mornings, just before sunrise and for another couple of hours, are cool enough to be outside without distress.
That is when I walk with the horse, giving her an opportunity to graze on the remaining browned grasses on the roadside. Today we took the track following the river downstream, as I wanted to see how the river was faring further down. Most of the river is flanked by large swathes of reeds, in fact, the reeds are threatening to choke the flow of the river. I am reliably informed that the reeds weren’t even there until in recent years. This section of the river was a popular swimming spot in days gone by, but now is so polluted with algae, only a fool with enter it. The horse is no longer able to drink from the river, yet in earlier times, this river provided water all year round to teams of horses ploughing the paddocks. Long before the piped water was available, this river was the lifeblood of the land. Without water, nothing is possible. It is precious.
Water is precious, yet all over this great country, river systems are dying. Drying up because people have been greedy, taking without bothering to consider the consequences. Taking, taking it for granted. Taking it for granted that there will always be water. Well the harsh reality is beginning to bite. The fate of the river where I now live is looking bleak. Certainly, it will rain again someday. The river levels will rise, and the flow will increase. But the surrounding land was cleared of its native cover and crops sown. Now each time it rains, more and more soil is washed into the river system. The paddocks are losing precious topsoil, and this soil that is washed into the river is loaded with artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, antifungals, all contributing to the overgrowth of reeds and algae.
What is the answer? Perhaps Bob Dylan says it best:
“How many years can a mountain exist before its washed to the sea?
Yes’n’ How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes’n’ How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesnt see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind
The answer is blowin in the wind”
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March 10, 2008 at 2:46 am (nature, summer)
Tags: birds, insects, river, trees, wind
Swallows skim across the water
Pigeons coo as they perch along the pipeline high above the water
Galahs screech as they make their way across the sky
The thrush hops about the bushes, seeking insects
A pair of parrots briefly pause in the tree
An orange hover-fly quivers on the ground
A busy ant carrying a load homewards
Droning in the distance is a plane
Magpie chortling in the tree
Finches chattering, bouncing about in the bushes
Another noisy mob of galahs approaches, they’ve finished the morning feeding and are making their way to water
Pigeons flutter away, circling, 20-30 birds wheeling and turning in the sky
A Piping Shrike shrieks at the galahs
Pigeons settle on pipeline again
Willywagtail scolding
Wind caressing the leaves of the tree
Bees buzzing in the background
Reeds rustling and swaying
Blue crane glides in to the shallow crossing and fossicks about between the rocks and the reeds, peers into the water
Reed bird chirps, hidden from view
A fish splashes upstream, so quick that it can never be seen, only the tell-tale sounds, show it’s moving around
A crow caws, proclaiming this land his
Was that a cricket?
A butterfly flutters by
Willywagtail couple pop over to say hullo, and have a preen on the the branches above me, then singing the sweetest song
All this in little more than the space of time to write it down.
Dull and boring in the country? Never!!
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March 9, 2008 at 12:37 pm (insects, nature, summer)
Tags: dung beetles, earthworms, galahs, heat
The cat drew my attention to the beetles over by the horse manure pile, by gently patting something on the ground. Inspection revealed two dung beetles, mating. Now some people may regard this as ho hum, but to me, it was a highlight of the day. Dung beetles are fantastic workers, converting piles of dung into humic rich soil, and removing breeding opportunities for flies in the process. All that the dung beetle requires, is dung. Well, I am more than happy to gather the horse manure for these beetles and their off-spring. While the earthworms do a wonderful job, also converting waste into nutrient rich soil, they require much cooler and damper conditions in which to work. Come the hot weather, they go deep underground. And lately it has been hot. Very hot. Days on end of 42C plus in the shade, and only dropping to 30C over the night. Yet, here they are, these two dung beetles, getting on with their lives unconcerned by the heat.
I’m a bit like the earthworms. I retreat from the heat. Or perhaps I am more like the birds. They are out and about early in the day, and again in the evening. Early mornings will see me tending the garden, collecting manure, then taking the horse out grazing by the river. It is lovely to lie at rest then, in the shade of the solitary tree on the river bank, gazing up at the various birds as they perch in the tree briefly, before flying onto their more sheltered places for the remainder of the day. By the time the galahs have finished, the day is warming up, and it is time for me to collect the horse and head for home. If it’s too hot for the galahs, it is definitely too hot for me. I’ll follow their cue. When the rains come, as they will one day, I’ll again follow their cue and dance with my arms outstretched, revelling in the refreshing revitalising moisture. I don’t mind being a bit of a galah at times……maybe they are not so silly after all.
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