There are some wonderful stories in the Hunter Valley - add them as you find them, or write your own.
Date: 10-Mar-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
When you finally settle on your piece of rural paradise, build your home with your own hands, landscape your gardens and get to know the wildlife neighbours- you expect to enjoy the peace and quiet for the rest of your lives, right? Wrong, if there's coal in the area.
Date: 01-Mar-10
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Recently, my attention was directed to the Singleton Mental Health Support Group. I plucked up the courage to go along, and have been to two meetings.
Date: 25-Feb-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
When the NSW Government first released its State Plan, I gave it the credit to take it seriously. I first analysed social and economic trends within New England to create a framework for the analysis of the Plan itself. I then looked at the structure and detail of the Plan itself and compared this with my analysis of New England's needs.
Date: 17-Feb-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Lately, with the aytpically tropical afternoon storms and heat, the grass had been growing at such a rate that I couldn't keep up with it. I had to wait until afternoon before it was dry enough to mow and by then it would be raining again.
Date: 16-Feb-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England's History
While this blog focuses on New England history, I have been thinking for a while that I should broaden it a little to include references to other history blogs that I enjoy. This will also help keep me reading more widely.
Date: 10-Feb-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The longhairs of the macropods around here are the Wallaroos. I have always had one small family or a couple here, and they prefer the rocky edges, usually only coming close to drink at the dam. But lately the couple have been grazing near the fence line.
Date: 09-Feb-10
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Throughout the healing process of getting on top of depression, I've learnt to step back and observe myself in detail as my life unfolds.
Date: 06-Feb-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I don't plant annuals, so my garden is never the riot of colour that others manage. I rely on bushes and bulbs to surprise me with blossoms.
Date: 04-Feb-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England's History
In a comment on History of the New England New State Movement 1 - scope of work, Peter Firminger from Wollombi Valley Online pointed me to a web site that I had forgotten. The site itself has, I think, vanished. Certainly I had not been able to find it. However, it survives in web archive form.
Date: 03-Feb-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The view from the inside of a cloud does not extend very far. Today, past the first dim line of trees, I see no mountain ridges or rainforest gullies or even eucalypt forest. They might no longer exist.
Date: 02-Feb-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England's History
In January 2010 in Hunter Valley calls for a Northern NSW New State I referred to comments from the Hunter calling for the re-formation of the New England New State Movement. As I indicated a little later in Wikipedia and the history of New England, there is almost no decent material on line dealing with the history of the Movement. I think that that's a problem.
Date: 31-Jan-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
I grew up in Armidale. The city then had a small, compact downtown centred on three Beardy Street blocks. Newcastle was and remains New England's big city. Visiting Newcastle as a child, I found the downtown area with its ships, trains and shops quite fascinating after Armidale's small scale. The nearby BHP steel works (BHP was so big in Newcastle terms that it was just called the BHP) added to the fascination.
Date: 30-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
This photo of a vigilant kookaburra on my yard gate suits this extract from the chapter on Kookaburras in my book, Mountain Tails:
Date: 27-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The significance of ultra-abstract art often eludes me; I might appreciate it as design and colour, but it doesn't speak to me. I don't warm to it, relate to it, as I can to the merely abstracted, stylised, simplified, where the origin is vaguely discernible. In the latter the artist's treatment of it stimulates my imagination more than straight realism would.
Date: 25-Jan-10
Author: Carol Cantrell
From: Barnacle Goose Paperworks
I'm giving away my Magic Carpet journal. With its luxurious paste paper covers, exotic 16 needle Coptic binding with Celtic overtones and 216 pages, it's just waiting to be filled with your thoughts, dreams and desires.
Date: 25-Jan-10
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
How fortunate I was, that my trip west coincided with the traditional January gathering of a group of the Western Banders. I have previously visited and enjoyed the Smithbrook Banding Project in November 08 and 09, but was excited at the prospect of joining some of these friendly, knowledgeable bird enthusiasts for some walking and birdwatching.
Date: 25-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The last chapter of my book, Mountain Tails, is called 'Missing Tails' and as 2010 is the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity, an extract from that chapter seems appropriate here.
Date: 22-Jan-10
Author: Carol Cantrell
From: Barnacle Goose Paperworks
Gardening is sometimes an excuse not to make books. At other times making books is the excuse not to work in the garden. Both are a reason to avoid housework.
Date: 16-Jan-10
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
My head is cluttered - crammed full of stuff I'm trying to make sense of. And there's stuff that needs extracting, shredding, discarding. I need some sort of a filing system in my head where material can be sorted according to subject matter and stored in easy-to-retrieve folders as a sudden need arises.
Date: 16-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
On a recent damp day, as the wallabies grazed past the house fence, one female seemed to have a light stripe across the nose. They have a whitish stripe on their cheeks, and this can be more distinct on some than others, but I'd never seen a horizontal stripe.
Date: 13-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
As soon as the rain stopped I got stuck into digging while the clayey soil was diggable. I am finally excavating for a bathroom! With ABC Radio playing and my eyes watching what I was doing, it was mere chance that I looked behind me.
Date: 12-Jan-10
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Wollombi Valley Blog
They can live for 50 years with the females laying 10-20 eggs up to three times a year. They are carnivourous, their diet consisting of insects, worms, tadpoles, frogs and small fish that they either swallow whole or shred with their front feet.
Date: 11-Jan-10
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Wollombi Valley Blog
Ever since I moved to Bulls Run in July 2004, I have had a close relationship with a number of Common Brushtail Possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). This little guy was the first baby that emerged while I lived here (in Feb 2005), followed by another in October and many since.
Date: 09-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
After showers, if the air is still enough, for a very brief period before the sun soaks up the raindrops - I am given diamonds.
Date: 07-Jan-10
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Wollombi Valley Blog
Photos and brief description of the Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata)
Date: 07-Jan-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
We speak of the Murray Darling basin as though it is a single entity. The common phrase Murray-Darling River system is an example. It is not, for there are in fact two quite distinct systems.
Date: 06-Jan-10
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The dainty Red-necked Wallabies are my most common marsupial here, and I daily see small groups grazing along the yard fence line, not far from my verandah. When I appear, they usually look up to see what I'm doing, then it's heads back down to resume eating.
Date: 05-Jan-10
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Wollombi Valley Blog
Photo and brief description of the Red-Bellied Black Snake (Pseudechis porphyricus)
Date: 02-Jan-10
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
Now I am often very critical of the what I see as the nonsense coming from the Sydney Government. But here I have to give credit where it is due. Our friends at the NSW State Archives have created a very good blog indeed for all those interested in regional history.
Date: 31-Dec-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
I can't remember a time when I didn't end up low in spirits over the Christmas period. Not depressed, just 'flat'.
Date: 26-Dec-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Not to be jolly, as we are supposed to be, but a whole mix of emotions, and mostly not even on the up scale to jolly. Why? Because Copenhagen came so close to Christmas, and delivered such a sad affirmation of the power of the corporate and capitalist world to ignore the urgent needs of the earth and its most vulnerable nations. The gift of the rich to the poor was a callous and hypocritical thumbs-down.
Date: 24-Dec-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Christmas is different things to different people. I hope readers of my blogs have a safe and pleasant Christmas season, followed by a healthy and satisfying 2010. To those who might be alone, or lonely, low in spirit or down in luck, I send a special cheerio, hoping you find reason to smile over the holiday period.
Date: 17-Dec-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Seeing lizards in the bush or in my garden always gives me a lot of pleasure. Where ever I can, I sit still and quiet and observe them as they go about their daily business of living. Dragon lizards are particular favourites of mine.
Dragon lizards (family Agamidae) are more abundant in semi-arid country than damper forests and coastal environments, but they can turn up anywhere.
Date: 10-Dec-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
I wrestled with the rights and wrongs of posting up pictures of a dead animal on my blog, because the sight of a dead animal, especially a mammal, will always evoke negative emotions. So I apologise to any readers who might find this post upsetting, but I found the whole experience too interesting to keep it to myself.
Date: 10-Dec-09
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England's History
A little while ago I put up a map showing the distribution of Aboriginal languages across NSW. A colleague, John Baker, kindly superimposed the NSW state boundaries on the map. The slight skew is due to the structure of the original map.
Date: 04-Dec-09
Author: Luke Whitington
My father played opening batsman for South Australia under Bradman and after the war, under Lindsay Hasset for Australia on the tour of England, India, Pakistan and New Zealand
Date: 01-Dec-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The fight to save Anvil Hill near Wybong, NSW, from being mined by Centennial Coal involved thousands of people from near and far. We wanted to draw a line in the sand here at this scenically biodiverse 'Ark of the Hunter' and say 'No new coal'.
Date: 29-Nov-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
One afternoon in this recent wild hot November that broke records and threatened many places with fire, I ventured out of my dim cabin to see what the sky was doing. It was dim because I was trying to keep the heat out with the curtains drawn; in any case the winds were too strong to risk an open casement window snapping and straining on its stay peg.
Date: 27-Nov-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
The Dryandra Woodland is a place of special significance and remarkable nature. Last week, Lola and I spent three days exploring the Dryandra Woodland.
Date: 11-Nov-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I have just read Tasmanian writer Rachael Treasure's new book, The Cattleman's Daughter. To my mind it's her best book yet, with clear signs of the maturing writer as well as woman.
Date: 07-Nov-09
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
In Wollombi, what began as a blog has now turned into a fully fledged community web site. The blog is still there, but now lacks posts.
Date: 19-Oct-09
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
Sydney Government planning minister Kristina Keneally has been forced to announce the collapse of the 7200-home Huntlee New Town project, the biggest town development project in NSW.
Date: 05-Sep-09
Author: Ford (AFA Member)
From: Atheist Foundation of Australia Public Forums > Coming Out Stories
A very long but beautifully written biographical story set, at times, in Wollombi. Contains some language and may not be your cup of tea.
Date: 15-Jul-09
Author: Gionni DiGravio
From: Archives Outside
Gionni DiGravio is the University Archivist at the University of Newcastle. Cultural Collections in the University of Newcastle Auchmuty Library holds records relating to the history of theatre and cinema in the Hunter Region. Whilst not a distinct collection as such, but rather a component of many separate collections that have been deposited with us...
Date: 17-Jun-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
As Autumn becomes Winter, under perpetual grey skies, the intermittent thin drizzle keeps the saturated ground weeping down the hillside.
Date: 13-Jun-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
A few days after the day tripper possum had been so bold as to pee on my verandah table, I spotted it again in daylight. It was in the yard, eating something in the grass at various places, but I couldn't see just what. I watched for a while but it came no closer.
Date: 09-Jun-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Winter has arrived in the Hunter Valley. Our winters are not particularly harsh, but when the first of the new season's chilly winds races down from The Tops to blast the valley floor, it's always a shock.
Date: 03-Jun-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
A controversial subject? Not amongst nature-loving and conservation-minded readers who visit my blog, but I dare to suggest it would not only be potentially offensive amongst the general community, but sadly, of little significance.
Date: 19-May-09
Author: Jim Belshaw
Australian actor Bud Tingwell died last Friday, 15 May 2009. Bud's life will be carried at length. In this post, I just wanted to note two England connections.
Date: 13-May-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I was walking around the lemon tree, which has several generations of fruit on it at present, trying to decide which might be the oldest and best to pick. Then I caught a glimpse of something not quite right hanging there.
Date: 09-May-09
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England's History
This brief post focuses on the Aborigines of Southern New England. If you look at this map of Aboriginal language groups you can see that a number of language groups occupied the Hunter Valley. This is unusually varied for a single area.
Date: 09-May-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
In the forest, after rain and while there is still some warmth in the sunshine, I am bound to find some stunning fungi popping up amongst the leaves or blooming on the tree trunks.
Date: 06-May-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Last year I was delighted by seeing two quite different echidnas here at the same time. One had been in my yard, the other just outside it. One was big, one small, one dark, one lighter.
Date: 06-May-09
Author: Luke Whitington
This is a long poem--a narrative--just recently finished--its about individuals and tyrannies... Luke Whitington.
Date: 25-Apr-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The harsh cry of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos often echoes around the forested ridges here. It is supposed to be the harbinger of rain but it seems to be here right when it's already wet or misty.
Date: 22-Apr-09
Author: Luke Whitington
A poem (For Rod & Sally Anderson) by Luke Whitington
Date: 22-Apr-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
First I saw a dense cloud of insects - termites, I assumed. But the intense buzzing alerted me to look more closely. They were bees, swarming about the top of a young pittosporum tree.
Date: 15-Apr-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Recent rains seemed endless as I remained cabinbound for the week, standing on the wet steps and peering out over the falling autumn leaves at the wet, wet world around me.
Over 300mm of rain fell, encouraging the kikuyu to grow ahead of my efforts once more.
Date: 14-Apr-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
My interest in photography has taken a long and interesting path. Some might consider I have gone backwards with my photography rather than progressed, but that's not how I see it - it is a journey of continuous exploration and learning, experimentation and practice.
Date: 13-Apr-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I have been told that my new book, Mountain Tails, has arrived! It is probably at my post office right now, for me to collect next week when the road dries out and the creek level drops!
Date: 04-Apr-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
My favourite tool is my hoe. After 30 years of loyal service it needed a new handle, which I'd loosely put on just before heading off for the weekend.
Date: 04-Apr-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Enthusiastic observers of nature wouldn't let a 135mm downpour deter them from investigating backyard creatures and their antics - in fact, it provides a perfect opportunity for searching for oddities. Or... maybe I'm just crazy, but between showers, I got out into the garden.
Date: 26-Mar-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
A month away from the mountain is a long time. The bush itself requires no attention from me, but my domesticated area does, and the 350mm of rain in February has effected a great deal of green growth. Not all is welcome.
Date: 08-Mar-09
Author: Peter Firminger
In 2001, Russ Weakly made a couple of flash games regarding the John Howard Government's GST and their lack of respect/action on the Stolen Children, and together we published them under the name webwank.net... which drew legal threats from then Senator John (not at all sorry) Herron (Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs) which lead to a frenzy of media at the time...
Date: 07-Mar-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Just before the heatwave ended, I noticed a patch of the dreaded kikuyu grass seemed to be dying off, becoming pale and yellowish and oddly 'misted'. The native grass parts of the 'lawn' were browning off but usually the kikuyu is the last to go brown in hot and dry times. Its runners extend so far underground and it is such a determined survivor that it is a supremely equipped invader.
Date: 03-Mar-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
A gentle cool breeze touching my skin is soothing, and stimulating - like sensitive fingertips expertly massaging my taut neck and shoulders. Sometimes the breeze is so slight that the only visible response to the subtle breath of air comes from the poplar trees next door; a leafy twig twirls around and around as if it has been singled out by a pedantic stream of air, and then suddenly the whole tree quivers like a human body shivering as it is struck by a blast of freezing air - and then the tree stands still.
Date: 23-Feb-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Much of the nation will have paused for the airing of the National Day of Mourning, Together for Victoria, memorial service held in Melbourne yesterday, 22nd February 2009, as the Victorian bushfire victims, survivors, emergency and volunteer workers, and the charity and compassion shown by so many were honoured and remembered.
Date: 22-Feb-09
Author: Thomas Keneally (The Guardian - UK)
From: The Guardian (UK)
Are bushfires inevitable - or can they be managed? When they strike again, should people flee or fight the flames? The catastrophic blazes in Australia have left its inhabitants full of questions, doubts and fears. Novelist Thomas Keneally considers the fallout
Date: 19-Feb-09
Author: Neil (Editor)
From: On Mangrove Mountain
The road to the Mountain, via Kariong, was blocked last week when a boulder fell on the road near Kendall's Rock. The poet Henry Kendall had a connection with the mountain, being one of the first to carry mail up the Penang from Gosford.
Date: 18-Feb-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I usually don't inspect a dish of grapes for animate occupants. But after this discovery I certainly shall.
Having eaten a small cluster of sweet black grapes, bought from a regional organic farm, I was about to select another bunch when I glimpsed hairiness where there ought only to be glossy fruitiness.
Date: 17-Feb-09
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Woodford Dale Public School
Woodford Dale Public School (between Grafton and Yamba) have their own blog, which not only shows the great work the school does but brings the community together through their comments
Date: 16-Feb-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
During the past 5 days I've tipped 165mm from my rain gauge; some areas of the Hunter Valley have received more, especially the coast. According to the local TV station, Singleton's January average is 44mm - one-point-something-mm was measured this January, so this rain is a blessing...
Date: 11-Feb-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
As the advance copies of my second book, Mountain Tails, are about to arrive, anticipation is mounting here on the mountain. All our tails are wagging! Just like an expected baby, joy and fear are intermingled for me until I hold the actual book. I cried when I first saw The Woman on the Mountain; I expect I shall do the same with Mountain Tails.
Date: 10-Feb-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The death toll from the Victorian fire storm is now at about 170. With the words of shocked survivors and images of whole villages obliterated, blown apart as if by bombs, cars and their occupants burnt as they drove to escape - we share vicariously in their nightmare experience.
Date: 08-Feb-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
I have just finished reading The Woman on the Mountain by Sharyn Munro. What an inspirational and thoroughly interesting read. I will read it again, and then my daughter and friend are waiting in line to read it.
Date: 04-Feb-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
At some point in summer I will catch a glimpse of a faint splash of pink in the long tussock grass. The native Hyacinth Orchids are back!
Date: 03-Feb-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
...I stood by the trickling stream in awe of the magnificent rainforest. This was a place for solitude; thoughts dissolve, and the spirit of Nature enters my body. These brief interludes with water, earth and air nurture me when I am able to surrender my mind....
Date: 01-Feb-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
January has been very hot, up to 36 degrees here - of course interspersed with odd days where it plummeted to 13 degrees. It's not called 'climate chaos' for nothing.
Date: 29-Jan-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
When I'd spotted the raceme with tiny bumps, which were presumably buds, dangling from an untidy tangle of orchid leaves and twisted roots, I made a mental note to revisit in a few weeks time. So, early yesterday morning, I found myself wandering the walking trail in Barrington Tops National Park, filled with anticipation.
Date: 28-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I have some new tenants: a family of maned wood ducks. As often happens with my wild neighbours, they took up residence in the house yard when I was away.
Date: 25-Jan-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
I've lived in the Hunter Valley nearly all my life, but I have discovered there are many back roads, no-through roads, and tracks, I didn't know existed; so we're gradually checking them out...
Date: 25-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Each summer my verandah grows its own walls on the west and north-west. Although the ornamental grape and the wisteria have been pruned right back to leafless woody stems, come spring they begin to reach out for each other and interwine.
Date: 21-Jan-09
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Snippets and Sentiments
Birdlife awakens well before the sun appears, and welcomes the new day with a burst of energy and song. Whether I am at home or in the bush, this is a delight to my senses and spirit...
Date: 21-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Heatwave days last week, but the wretched python had me beseiged in the house with the door and all but two windows shut! I still am beseiged, although the temperature has dropped. Here's why...
Date: 17-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Lolling on the couch the other evening, I happened to glance up. In the low rays of the setting sun, an odd bump showed on top of one of the bracing rafters...
Date: 14-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Having assumed that the Diamond Python relocated from my verandah to the national park would stay there, I received a nasty surprise late yesterday afternoon...
Date: 12-Jan-09
Author: DWWH
From: Donkey Welfare With Heart
We provide shelter, food, health care, education and love to homeless, neglected, abandoned, unwanted and/or surrendered donkeys. Donkey Welfare With Heart has experience of day-to-day care with hundreds of welfare donkeys since 1976.
Date: 11-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
On my verandah I have hung an antique tin tub, so rusty as to be lacework. Having found it way down in a gully, far from any habitation past or present, I have assumed it was left behind by a cedargetters' camp, long, long ago...
Date: 07-Jan-09
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
Not cricket apparel or cool clothes, but flowers: free gifts that appear each summer to brighten my days and my by-then mostly green garden. They all receive my admiration but none of them need or receive any attention in between.
Date: 24-Dec-08
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
I was visiting a friend's house in bushland in the lower Hunter. Her small grand-daughter was also visiting, so a child-sized table was set up on the back patio. Large Lego kept her amused. My friend had fed the King Parrots there for a long time but the white cockatoos had begun to dominate, so she was restricting the sunflower seeds to where she could watch who was eating them. 'The king is here!' she called to the child. 'Shall we feed him on your table?'
Date: 21-Dec-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
Christmas Beetles are busy passing on their genes at this time of the year, and I am particularly pleased with the series of images I captured of one species in action.
Date: 14-Dec-08
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
The day my python had surrounded the shower shell on my verandah, I hadn't been able to bring myself to risk a shower that evening. It was a windy night, and next morning when I did go to have a shower, the rubber mat had been blown back, doubled onto itself.
Date: 10-Dec-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
Spiders appear in numbers overnight, almost magically, as summer approaches. I am always keen to discover new spiders in my backyard, and to further observe habits of the regulars.
Date: 10-Dec-08
Author: Sharyn Munro
From: The Woman on the Mountain
It doesn't seem so long ago that I was writing about a rare sighting for here - a diamond python. That was a fair distance away, on the track. Meanwhile a friend, having rescued a stunned python down on the tar road, had brought it here to recover.
Date: 04-Dec-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
When we refer to predators in Australia, creatures like raptors, dingoes, foxes and feral cats are first to come to mind, but we will all have predators of a less conspicuous nature in our immediate outdoor living space - birds, lizards, snakes, frogs, spiders and other invertebrates.
Date: 02-Dec-08
Author: Charles
The computer's misbehaving (again)
Date: 26-Nov-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
Taking the opportunity to observe the habits of a pair of Grey Butcherbirds raise their young in the Hunter Valley, NSW, was a fascinating and entertaining experience. I wish to share a series of images by my husband, Grahame, from hatchling to fledgling.
Date: 11-Nov-08
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Wollombi Valley Blog
A letter by Peter Firminger submitted to OON (Our Own News) for the November 2008 issue regarding the invasion of Wollombi Valley by Sydney Gas and AGL Energy
Date: 20-Oct-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
The highly venomous Eastern Brown Snake is not my favourite creature of the bush, but I feel these misunderstood reptiles deserve a bit of support. In my part of the Hunter Valley, they are dispatched with shovels, roles of hose, moving vehicles, and goodness knows by what other means.
Date: 04-Oct-08
Author: Peter Firminger
From: Hunter River Explorer
The Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority have put together a quite comprehensive website called the Hunter River Explorer which was launched on September 24. It's well worth a look!
Date: 03-Oct-08
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: Regional Living Australia
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics population projections suggest a continued drift to the metros. At 30 June 2007, 64% of Australians lived in a capital city. By 2056 this proportion is projected to increase to 67%. I think that this is absurd. We have many areas of Australia that can not only absorb new people, but need them.
Date: 05-Aug-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
The Superb Greenhood (Diplodium grandiflora) really is a beauty. This was my first sighting, but I knew exactly what it was when I spotted it amongst the pine needles in the Watagans State Forest on the southern rim of the Hunter Valley in late July. I found only a single specimen.
Date: 26-Jul-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
I have photographed at least 9 frog species in my backyard, which is pretty amazing for my little 2/3 acre patch on the cleared and over-used farm flats. Here I will give a brief outline of my frog visitors and residents
Date: 12-May-08
Author: Jim Belshaw
From: New England, Australia
This post is intended to provide a consolidated entry point for my posts on the New England New State Movement. It is broken into two parts. The first simply provides a short overview of New England and the Movement. The second is an annotated list of posts broken up by topic.
Date: 18-Feb-08
Author: Malpoet
From: Malpoet's Weblog
A poem by Malpoet
Date: 26-Jan-08
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
I rarely see a snake when I'm out walking, and when I do, it's usually the tail disappearing into the undergrowth beside my feet. Such a sight usually scares the daylights out of me, so I was thrilled to encounter a snake basking on a wide track adjacent to a swamp recently. "Thrilled" because the reptile was easily noticed from a safe distance so as not to produce the usual initial response of fear.
Date: 01-Jan-08
Author: Di and Peter Paice
From: Wildlife Aid
A story from the Wildlife Aid Website
Date: 01-Jan-08
Author: Karen & Damien
From: Wildlife Aid
A story from the Wildlife Aid Website
Date: 01-Jan-08
Author: Andrew Burton
From: Wildlife Aid
A story from the Wildlife Aid website
Date: 07-Sep-07
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
Rarely is there a clear-cut distinction between the seasons in the Hunter Valley - one merely blends with the next. Autumn and spring are my favourite times of year, when temperatures are mild and nature is busy.
Date: 27-Feb-07
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
The Hunter Valley's abundant coal deposits and timber were secured and exploited by early 19th centuary governers. Twenty years later, free settlers arrived and established agricultural and pastural activities. The 21st centuary sees agriculture and mining still thriving in the Hunter, but the timber has long gone, sadly, to the extent of environmental vandalism.
Date: 20-Feb-07
Author: Gaye from the Hunter
From: Hunter Valley Backyard Nature
These massive spreading trees with beautiful multi-coloured trunk and branches are endangered in the Hunter Valley, so I set out to take a look at some and learn a bit about their history and future prospects.
