Oceans of plastic

I have always been aware of the dangers of plastic to our natural world. I think most people dont think its got anything to do with them. But as with most change movements, those with influence and power need to be convinced by the actions of us the ordinary and average citizen.

I'm in Bali at the moment. It is never far from my mind and observation that we humans consume and pollute every where we go. Disposable packaging on the flight was every where. The prewrapped blanket, headphones gave way to the supplied lunch with sachets for this and that.

Where I'm staying the ubiquitous plastic bottles for drinking water are absent. The room has this nifty reusable 10 litre water vessel that sits on dispenser, providing hot and cold water.

The owners have also taken a position on A/C that is refreshing. People are billed for the power used to run the air conditioning. It means people dont leave it running unnecessarily.

I have lovely Dutch parents.  So I might be biased when it comes to the endeavours of Dutch people.
The Netherlands has an extraordinary history of land modification. Reclaiming land that was once covered in sea water and engineering the landscape so that it drains allowing for vast areas of food production. The dutch are in the fortunate position to have engineering solutions for global warming symptoms like extreme weather events and rising sea levels.

One Dutch man who has his sights further a field than Holland is Boyan Slat his campaign to clean up the plastic accumulating in the oceans is inspiring. Have a look at The ocean cleanup page and if you can contribute to their project.

Co2 levels and vegetation growth

On my bush block dominated by Eucalyptus trees, the canopies look the best I can ever remember. They are full of large glossy new leaves.

We had a very wet winter and spring, so much so that when we buried our cat, the hole that we dug, approx 60 cm down had very damp clay, and that was in the middle of summer. I think its fair to say that water plus CO2 allows plants to grow faster.

But nothing is ever straight forward. Im no scientist but am a very keen observer of my environment.
Im very curious about how the ever increasing levels of CO2 are contributing to vegetation growth.

An ABC report from 2010 talked about some negative side effects from increased vegetation growth as a result of increased atmospheric CO2.

• Some plants increase that amount of toxins in their leaves to reduce palatability
• Other plants reduce the amount of proteins in the leaves

For native fauna who rely on already fairly impoverished vegetation especially Koalas this might have really negative consequences.

Koala and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos

A while ago I observed an interaction between a Koala  and a small flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos that Ive never seen or heard of before.

These Cockatoos were bullying or definately  harassing this Koala. It went on for more than an hour. The Koala tried to get away, moving up into the canopy of this Long leaf box, but had little room to move.

I concluded that it was a flock of rascals, maybe young Cockatoos, maybe not, at a loose end and flexing their intellectual superiority over this creature.

Plastic clothes - pros and cons

Plastic clothes are everywhere. I was disappointed to find that they contain hidden dangers.

Cons of plastic clothes
On the ABC program 'Catalyst' scientists revealed that they were finding plastic in fish. But not the high profile villans 'micro beads' but nylon and fibres found in clothing.

Fish samples taken near sewrage outlets had the highest  levels of plastic. So it seems that 7 billion people with 2/3 rds of their clothing being plastic is contributing considerable amounts of plastic pollution.

Ive always preferred cotton, linen and wool. But as I get older these fabrics have got harder to find and more expensive.

Pros of plastic clothes
Cheap. Plastic clothes are cheap. Particularly from some of the large department stores. But like cheap food the full cost of cheap clothes is picked up else where. The environment is usually the area that takes the hit. Pollution via toxicity or nutrification, leading to loss of biodiverstiy.

Polar fleece is convenient. Easy to wash comes in great colours and keeps you warm.

So what to do?
I will continue to buy cotton, linen and wool.  Buying second hand via op shops and ebay/gumtree etc reduces the production of plastic pollution.

Some thing else to consider is filtering the water that comes out of your washing machine.

Im now concerned that my grey water reed bed may not be dealing with my pollution in a environmentslly friendly way.

Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo

Photo by David Cook

These are my favourite bird! They fly over frequently, always paired up and much less raucous than the other common parrot the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.

So when I saw that a pair had made a nest behind my shed, and that it had a large chick in it, I gasped with delight! As I observed it later in the day I witnessed a number of interesting things:

• when a crow flew into a tree near my chickens, the chickens sent out alarm cackles which set off the cockatoo chick who also squawked. I had no idea crows are considreed such threats.
• I could see a ring tail possum tail sticking out of this same nest. Was it dead? Are they sharing? Is there such a shortage that a possum and cockatoo will share the same tree hollow? Later in the day the tail retreated into the hollow.

This dead branch has a nest for a pair of Yellow tailed black cockatoos

Those with some understanding of Australian fauna, know that many birds and mammals need tree hollows to make nests to reproduce and with tree clearing  accelerating around here, homelessness is not just a human problem.

Nest in the dead branch

Trees need about 100 years before hollows start to be formed, so if we keep cutting down the big ones its obvious what will happen.

On my 6 acre bush block which is nearly all forest, there are only around 30 trees old enough to have hollows. Like much of the Daylesford area, the area was cleared of forest for mining in the late 1800's.

This candlebark below has many hollows, Rosella's and possums are the current residents, with European wasps also calling it home.

Candlebark with many hollows

Many years ago I wanted to make nest boxes for Feather tailed gliders and possums, which I knew were here, and I put a a couple of these home made nest boxes up. The photo shows clearly why this is not the right way to attach a nest box.

How not to attach a nest box

The metal strapping that I nailed into the tree is hindering the growth of the tree and is creating a wound. Now I know that the nest box needs to be hung rather than attached.

Plague soldier bettles

As any observer of the natural world knows every year brings different conditions and different booms and busts. I've been seeing creatures that I don't normally see. In spring it began with Plague soldier beetles, these ominously named insects weren't the trouble that you might think. The main problem they cause is the possible snapping of branches under their weight.

Plague soldier beetles massing

Beetles on the raspberries

I then found they were of considerable benfit for my ailling cherry tree that was under serious attack from black aphid. I had hoped that this year would be different as I gave the tree a good dose of Munash - rock dust, a local product that I think has created resilience and abundance in other plants similarly dosed.

Black aphids on Cherry tree

I suspect the cherry tree gets too much shade from an enormous messmate eucalyptus nearby. So  for a few years now the aphids sense its weakness and attack.

However the beetles eat aphids, so one plaguing creature consumed another. Nature is good that way. No waste in nature. No photos unfortunately.

The lady bird beetles come to the rescue eventually, but it can take time for the numbers to build. ABC's Gardening Australia says there are 100 species in Australia!

Adult and larvae Lady beetle in one shot

 There is a 28 spotted lady bird beetle that's not so useful for gardeners as it eats cabbage, bean and potato plants

The Mighty Murray

I love going up to the Murray. In this dry land with few water courses, the Murray stands out as a whopper.

The Murray River near Barmah

The murky brown colour and the swift current are all a delight to me. Its familiar, reassuring and such a striking smorgasbord of life in what seems like a surrounding dry landscape that is being damaged and deforested at a rapid rate. The bird life was incredible, water birds of all sorts, endless amounts of parrots, Galahs and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Pelicans and Swallows .

We unknowingly camped under the nest of a bird of prey, the parents came and went with various morsels for the chick. They didn't seem at all concerned about our presence. We found the remains of a fresh Galah head on the ground under this nest one morning, all edibles carefully extracted from the skull.

Raptor nest

The environment shows the wear and tear of human activity. The banks are all terribly eroded. Trees have their roots undermined and topple in. The speed boats going up and down in this section cause large waves that further erode the banks.

Eroded banks

On the other hand floods in recent years means that the floodplain has been having a fairly 'normal' and healthy cycle. For the first time in a long time the native grasses are out numbering the weeds.

Native Poa thriving after floods

On the subject of introduced species, I paid my $6 for a 3 day fishing license and caught 1 carp. Which is exactly what I wanted to catch. I've been itching to cook up a carp for ages to find out what the bad eating reputation is based on. It was a fishy flavour (but it is a fish) with a rather soft and mushy texture, not unpleasant at all. I baked it in foil with slices of lime and salt (I forgot to bring garlic) but think frying fillets might be better... hope i catch another carp soon.

November is 'Movember', with the aim of promoting men's health and the entrance banners to the towns of BendiMO, ElMOre and Mochester (Rochester) were a hoot.