Issues around the natural environment
Native Lichen One of the things that you’d very easily miss when you walk through the Australian bush is some of the very beautiful lichens. At a glance it looks like a bit like snow on the ground and it grows in more or less full sun. Lichens are a...
Numbats Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) is an aboriginal name that has become the common name for the small striped marsupials that lived in south western Australia 200 years ago. They lived in hollows of mallee trees which covered 20% of Australia 200 years ago. When...
Old-fashioned septic tanks produce nutrient-rich water that flows out into absorption trenches. Most native plants cannot cope with such high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, so they die. You can make a tremendous difference to the environment if you change to a...
Galaxias Around 90 million years ago a group of tiny fish called Galaxias lived almost side by side with the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are long gone now, but amazingly those little fish are still with us, in fact a population can be found less than 10 kilometres from...
Although Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) take their name from an unrelated black and white European crow, they are essentially ground feeding butcherbirds. They live in territorial groups and keep to a fairly simple daily routine. Early each morning magpies...
New Mantis Shrimp A giant predatory shrimp previously unknown to science has recently been found in the waters east of Sydney Harbour Bridge. The creature was discovered by marine biologist Shane Ahyong, as part of an ongoing study of crustacea in the Indo-Pacific...
Snake Bites Every year in Australia between 500 to 3000 people are bitten by snakes. A very common myth about snakes is that they are extremely aggressive, and they’ll do just about anything to bite and kill you. This is false. Most snakes will do their utmost...
Tree Preservation Over the last 15 years Australian home owners have stopped planting trees. Not only have they stopped planting trees in general, but they’ve almost totally stopped planting native trees in their own backyards. Don is concerned that a...
Tasmanian Tiger The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was a shy, elusive creature hunted to extinction after only a century of European settlement in Australia. The last known animal died in a Hobart zoo over sixty years ago, ironically just a few months after it had...
Worms There are hundreds of species of earthworms, those amazing underground movers and shakers that are so beneficial to have in the garden. They improve soil structure, increase the rate of decomposition of organic material, and make nutrients more available to...