And a Pheasant Coucal crossed the road slowly...

Driving along Hydes Creek Road a Pheasant Coucal walked across the wide road very, very slowly, keeping a good eye on the car. Then a quick dash under the barbed wire fence and the dense sedges. The Centropus phasianinus is a large 'pheasant-like', ground-dwelling cuckoo. Audio , AV cuckoos.

Image:
Alfred Brehm,  Brehm's Life of Animals (Possibly one of the 9,000 dead birds collected?)

The Bellinger River and dairy

New Zealand-owned Raleigh Dairy Holdings operates two farms at Yellow Rock and North Bank south of Coffs Harbour. The directors want to realise the asset and focus on their New Zealand operations. The company has approval from the Bellingen Shire Council to expand operations at its North Bank Dairy.

In 2011, it withdrew a development application for expansion of its Yellow Rock site, following community concerns over the possibility of effluent run-off during floods polluting the adjacent Bellinger River.

abc rural, Major NSW dairy for sale 17.0.913

Update:
abc 15.04.2015  "The (Norco) Raleigh operation recently celebrated 12 months exporting cold milk to China. It's currently exporting between 5000 and 20 000 litres a week.... The next financial year they expect to export between three and five million litres of cold milk to China." 

Images:
Marc, Franz, The yellow Cow, 1911
Gogh, Vincent Willem van, Lying Cow ,1883

Rejecting the local environment - Let's go pink

"The first bunches of commercially-grown Australian peony roses hit the Sydney flower market this week." abc

Finally another pink thing from Elsewhere to brighten up the 'drab Australian bush'. Azaleas and Rhododendron already frame the real estate, now Paeonia will blossom.

It seems to be a heritage of the settlers then and now to hurl exotic plants either intentionally or unintentionally. A huge horticultural industry and the blind eye of regulation are structurally aiding the dispersal of exotic plants.

"…Most gardens reject the local environment." 

Why is this so in Australia?

The mostly female desire for pink might be the need to be in the pink.

Images:
Macke, August, 1910, Azaleas
Manet, Edouard, 1864, White Paeonia
Corinth, Lovis, 1921, Pink Clouds

Dorrigo

The town of Dorrigo is on the the Dorrigo Plateau , the traditional country of the Gumbaynggirr nation. Today endless paddocks and European flora cover the landscape.

Gondwana rainforests in the form of Dorrigo National Park, World Heritage Area still clings to the edge of this plateau. Sub-tropical rainforest and a large array of animals find refuge there.


In town a collection of black trains, some from 1878, stand out. The private Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum seems rarely open to the public.

Mining is on the agenda here. The Pacific Highway needs to be lined with stuff from the mountains. Heavy haulage would shoot down Waterfall Way and increase the traffic burden even more. 


A Chinese company also has several exploration licences for minerals including gold and copper northwest of Dorrigo. The Dorrigo Environment Watch Inc. are residents concerned about their local environment, water quality and the effects of antimony mining.

The Gleniffer Quilt and Craft Fair

Quilting, beading, fabric dying and rug making in the Gleniffer Hall
For 2015 see here. 

Celebrating Fossil Fuel Culture on Forest Roads

The International Automobile Federation is showcasing car culture on forest roads in the Coffs Coast region. The spectacle of conspicuous consumption of fossil fuel will attract 10,000 motor enthusiasts arriving with their vehicles to enjoy the "quiet country roads and an endless network of forest trails, lush green hinterland roads, creeks and rainforest drives." They will encounter "a variety of beautiful bush settings and will find tranquil spots in the towns of Nana Glen, Glenreagh, Lowanna, Bellingen, Valla, Raleigh and Bowraville and Argents Hill." There will be the breath-taking landscapes of the Newry State Forest, Tuckers Nob State Forest and the Wedding Bells State Forest


The Mid North Coast of NSW, still has various protected refuges for Australian fauna and flora. The rich biodiversity of life is able to coexist in more or less fragmented habitats. Sprawl and the arteries of automobile dependency etch their way through 'the bush'". Logging, mining and speeding cars already encroach on the environment.

Residents living in little towns, rural dwellings or bush blocks seem to be used to the roar and dust of speeding vehicles and the local wildlife smeared across the roads. The noise pollution generated by racing cars might hardly outdo the daily chainsaws/slashers/mowers/whippersnippers/trail bikes etc.

One just tolerates things in the country...

Once the bushfire smoke from three hundred and fifty escaped hazard reductions has dissipated motorised business as usual can continue.

Traffic-Related Air Pollution, Particulate Matter, and Autism
Exposure to traffic-related air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5, and PM10 during pregnancy and during the first year of life was associated with autism. Further epidemiological and toxicological examinations of likely biological pathways will help determine whether these associations are causal.

See also
Staging Car Races in Nine State Forests of NSW, 2014 

Noise Pollution and Vibration in the Bellingen Shire, 2015 

Update
One child dies and two other children injured in Rally Championship spectacle, the guardian 10.05.2015

Dangerous Animals of Australia

After wolves and bears have been nearly eradicated, people fear the shark as a man-eater.

Most human habitats are now free from dangerous animals. Modern dwellings are now being filled with a menagerie of pets. It seems like a return to the times where people and animals cohabited in stable-like (byre-dwellings) homes. A billion $ industry and the media nudge all to take on more ballast. Isolation and deprivation make people acquire a pet or a whole pack. For some they are a fashion accessory or just a cheap thing to keep the kids busy.

Dogs maul (children to death) on a regular basis without real consequences in society at large.  'Minor attacks' happen on a regular basis.

Livestock is also attacked by the abandoned, unfashionable or 'surplus to requirements' pets.

Pet owners choose to sponsor these meat gobbling pets over unique Australian wildlife.

" In the five months to January 31, paramedics in NSW treated at least 237 people for dog bites and attacks and 22 people for incidents involving cats."

sunshinecoastdaily, 7.2.13

Hungry Head Beach Going to the Dogs

Cars shoot through Hungry Head Road, killing wildlife to get to the beach or lookout quickly.

Coastal sprawl pushes into the endemic bush sprouting lawns and exotic flora, fauna and packs of dogs.

At the beach off leash dogs run riot, most pet owners are entertaining 2-3 often large dogs. The dogs urinate and defecate as they go along the beach. Large packs of dogs roam the dunes for any possible Australian wildlife surviving there. Sunseekers do not seem to mind baking in the drenched sand.

Severe erosion, 2- 3 m high the sand has washed away. Very large wildlife supporting banksias collapse onto the beach. Black Cockatoos feed in the last remaining tall trees.
The Surf Life Saving Australia building seems to be melting into the beach. A few rocks thrown at the supporting stumps might not halt the sea level rise.  Collapsed stairs will soon provide easy access for motorists and their dogs again.


At all points of entry are huge signs that dogs are not allowed in this delicate area. The pet owners arriving via fossil fuel power to empty their dogs where others swim or surf must be either illiterate or lawless.

Enforcement does not seem to go further than the signs as with each year the number of exotic canines relieving themselves seems to double.

Gone are the days of Bluetounge lizards racing over the beach sand, sea shore birds resting or even nesting. Biodiversity is sacrificed to a monoculture of 'man and his best friend' from suburbia.

There is always a slight unrelaxed feeling walking along the beach as it is really a highway. Fast and powerful SUVs fly in all directions endangering the life of walkers, beach users and wildlife.

Update:
Wild dog pack ‘hunted’ down grandmother at Casuarina beach, NSW 24032015

See
Valla Nature Reserve and Urbanisation