I was in a bookshop today but they didn't have the book I wanted. So I went to the desk to see if they could order it. While I was waiting I looked at a book on the counter called A Field Guide To Tasmanian Fungi and I thought what a great book to help ID all the species I see about. I wasn't going to buy it, though, until I noticed that I knew one of the authors, who besides being a mycologist, is a keen chess player.
Meanwhile, the actual #bird bath has been taken over by #marsupials to be used as a source of drinking water. I do also have bowls on the ground that they more usually use, but the lack of rain means they’re taking whatever water they can find #WildOz#Tasmania#wildlife 🌿🪶
Not exactly four & twenty blackbirds, but here’s six New Holland honeyeaters are battling it out for a bath in the old baking dish filled with water. #birds#WildOz#Tasmania 🪶🌿
Keen followers will recall that a few weeks ago I posted about the wombat gate I had just built. I finally got a wildlife camera so I can see if anyone is actually using it. And they are!
Wombat goes in and then a couple of hours later goes out. Super excited.
A newly finished (today!) mural in Launceston on the Paterson St East carpark. It depicts the extinct striped Thylacine blending in with the environment, entangled with the endangered spotted quoll. #Mural#lutrawita#launceston#Tasmania
Today in Labor History January 26, 1808: Soldiers took over New South Wales, Australia, during the Rum Rebellion. It was Australia’s only military coup. At the time, NSW was a British penal colony. William Bligh was governor of the territory. This was the same William Bligh who was an officer under Captain Cook when he attempted to kidnap the King of Hawai’i. He was also the same William Bligh who was overthrown in the Mutiny on the Bounty, in 1789. It is questionable why the British thought he’d do better in charge of a bunch of prisoners and unruly soldiers, than he did with a bunch of sailors. Perhaps they were just desperate. One of Bligh’s commissions was to reign in the Rum Corps, which held a monopoly on the illegal rum trade in Australia. They also controlled the sale of other commodities. Bligh started to enforce penalties for the illegal sale and importation of liquor. He also tried to provide relief to farmers, suffering from recent flooding and price-gouging by the Rum Corps, by providing provisions from the colony’s stores. The monopolists didn’t like his looting of the stores, from which they were profiting handsomely, nor his enforcement of the liquor laws. So, they arrested him and deported him to Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land. The military remained in control of NSW until 1810.
ABOLISH SEISMIC BLASTING SPECIAL PROSPECTING AUTHORITY PERMITS (SPA)
A Special Prospecting Authority (SPA) is a specific type of permit that allows #companies to buy access to large areas of our #oceans to use #SeismicBlasting to search for #oil and #gas, and Carbon Capture and Storage locations below the ocean floor.
Seismic blasts are how the oil and gas industry surveys the ocean floor. Seismic vessels tow an array of airguns and audio receivers (hydrophones) behind them in the water.
• Tasmanian research found seismic blasting also triggers extensive death in #plankton, including #krill, which are crucial foundations of #MarineFoodWebs, from more than a kilometre away.
There is a proposal for seismic blasting over 45,000 sq km of ocean between #Victoria and #Tasmania by joint venture #TGS/#SLB-Schlumberger , which would see seismic blasting over commonwealth #MarineParks and #endangered#BlueWhale feeding areas. 🐋