Welcome Swallow call
To be quite honest, I’m not entirely convinced this call is directly associated with courtship, but under the circumstances it’s hard to think what else it might be about. Ok,…
Riflebird Shenanigans
It happened last Monday morning. I was sitting at the dining table finishing breakfast and having an unproductive argument with one of my children, when suddenly my eyes fell upon…
Wildlings of the city
I’m in Newtown, Sydney for the weekend. It’s a strange and not altogether pleasant place for a naturalist to be, but despite the veritably swarming humanity, there are still vestiges…
Decolonising our seasonal calendar
Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn – our universal 4 seasons right? Seriously? Does anyone in Australia REALLY believe in this Eurocentric crap anymore? Corporate retailers might like to indulge us…
The Assassin
A couple of weeks ago, whilst camping in one of the more remote regions of the Macleay River gorge complex, I was treated to one of nature’s most macabre and…
Life on the lawn
The distance between the backsteps of our house and the studio where we sleep is a mere 12 metres, but every metre consists of the rarest and tamest form of…
Nature Parochialism
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether it is possible to uncover universal principles of knowledge about the world through a lifetime of concentrated study of the local? The…
The Rose Robins’ Song
In the first few days of August something happened in the forest outside my bedroom window. Something important. Something effortlessly lost in the ubiquitous white-noise of a busy life. I…
Joining the Dots: reflections on observation and interpretation
In his remarkable 1986 book Arctic Dreams, the American author and nature writer Barry Lopez, offers us a deeply profound insight concerning the limitations of deriving meaning from natural field…
Record keeping 3: Seasonal Field Diary
This is part 3 of a 3 part series. See also: Record keeping 1: On Keeping Field Notes Record keeping 2: Bird Identification Sheets Ok, so this is where you…
Record keeping 2: Bird Identification Sheets
This is part 2 of a 3 part series. See also: Record keeping 1: On Keeping Field Notes Record keeping 3: Seasonal Field Diary When you’re just starting out on…
Record keeping 1: On Keeping Field Notes
This is part 1 of a 3 part series. See also: Record keeping 2: Bird Identification Sheets Record keeping 3: Seasonal Field Diary It was all very well living through…
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