Indefinite Hiatus

Hi all,

As you may have figured by now, my ability to keep this blog updated has diminished considerably and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back to it. I am therefore going to officially park Riverina Wildlife for the time being.

I am hoping that I will be able to return to undertaking regular field trips and blogging about them at some point in the hopefully-not-TOO-distant future, but at this stage I have no idea when that might be.

I will try to update occasionally when I get the chance, but regular posts will not be happening for a while.

Thanks for reading along so far, it’s been fun sharing my adventures with you.

No July Field Visit

Another month with no blog report, I’m sorry.

Wildlife sightings this month included:

• Two echidnas (separate sightings at separate locations – so they’re clearly on the move)
• A small group of grey-crowned babblers
• One large koala
• Assorted parrots and waterbirds
• Wattles starting to come into flower

Alas, I didn’t manage any share-able photos, because I was mostly armed with my phone and unable to get close enough for decent pictures.

The days are getting longer though, so walks after work may become more possible in the upcoming weeks. I live in hope.

 

June 2019

I’m currently working most days, meaning little time to get out, and I once again didn’t manage a proper field visit this month.I did manage to squish in one sunset walk at Lake Talbot, which was lovely, but the fading light meant no decent photos were possible. The pink-tinged clouds over the lake were very pretty though.

No May field visit

Hey folks, no blog entry this month, sorry.

In more positive news we have had a bit of rain this month, and the landscape is looking a little greener, although we’ve still got a ways to go. Here’s hoping for a good winter.

April 2019 Field Visit – Riverina in Drought

I keep going on about the drought, but it really is the most visible thing out here these days. Most of my wildlife encounters these last few months have been of roadkill, of animals moving across country to find food and water and being hit by vehicles, and other animals going for the roadkill and getting hit in turn. I haven’t wanted to photograph those for my blog. I’m sure if I looked hard enough I could find something alive to show you, but everywhere I turn all I see is dust. We had a nice little rainstorm about a week ago, but it won’t mean much unless there’s follow-up this season.

And on that depressing note, here are some photos I took around the region this month, which show just how stark it is out here.

Emu in woodland, Darlington Point. No grass or groundcover.

March 2019 Field Visit – Fivebough Wetlands

It’s still a world of dryness and dust out here, so I decided to head for Fivebough Wetlands in Leeton, on the basis that there’s generally some water there, and therefore the place might be a bit livelier than certain other localities.

February 2019 Field Visit – Riverside Textures

Summer in Australia is always extreme, and in recent years has only become more so. This month in eastern Australia alone the weather has been as follows:

Queensland – huge rainfalls causing massive flooding, followed by a cyclone.

New South Wales – flash flooding in some areas while the state as a whole remains in drought, coastal areas copping the fringes of the above-mentioned cyclone.

Tasmania – Widespread bushfires, followed by snow.

And that’s not even all of eastern Australia, much less the whole country.

Meanwhile, here in the Riverina, February has been a series of massive dust-storms, as strong late-summer winds have ripped through areas that haven’t seen rain in a year or more, and are currently completely devoid of grass or other groundcover. Several bad traffic accidents have occurred as a result.

She’s a bit dusty out

January 2019 Field Visit – Tasmania

In 2009 I bought a pair of comfy hiking boots for a trip to Tasmania I was planning to take with Conservation Volunteers Australia. Sadly, the trip ended up being called off.

A decade later, and my boots and I finally made our way to Tassie.