The Multi-Talented Lyrebird

Posted on November 22, 2015 by jenniferscoullar

A lot of fencing has been happening at Pilyara lately. Thanks to a state government grant, we are fencing stock out of the timbered gullies that lead down to our creek. This is designed to protect wildlife and vegetation, as we live in a beautiful, mountainous area of high conservation value. All this hard work is already paying off – for the first time in years we’ve spotted a pair of Superb Lyrebirds in a fenced off gully, quite close to the house. What a thrill!

John Gould’s early 1800s painting of a superb lyrebird specimen at the British Museum

Lyrebirds are famous for their amazing ability to mimic any bird song. They also mimic human sounds such as mill whistles, cross-cut saws, chainsaws, car engines, alarms, gun shots, camera shutters, dogs barking, babies crying and mobile phones. The male is renowned for the beauty of his long, lyre-shaped tail feathers and hypnotising courtship display. However our resident pair of lyrebirds bring more than beauty and music to Pilyara. They provide a far more practical service – as fire wardens in what is predicted to be a summer of deadly heat.

Recent studies show that lyrebirds reduce the chance of bush-fires in areas where they forage. They rake the forest floor in their search for worms and insects, burying leaf litter, speeding up decomposition, and reducing the amount of fuel available for bush-fires. They also inhibit the growth of ferns, grasses and other plants which would otherwise burn. The Latrobe University research was conducted in burnt and un-burnt sites of Black Saturday‘s two most devastating blazes. It showed lyrebirds reduced forest litter by a massive 1.66 tonnes per hectare over a nine-month period.

‘Our modelling suggests the reduction in litter fuel loads brought about by lyrebird foraging has the potential to result in markedly subdued fire behaviour…The loss of lyrebirds from forests could result in higher fuel loads and an increased likelihood of wildfires threatening human life,” said the report, published in the CSIRO’s journal Wildlife Research. ‘They forage like chickens, they’ve got big feet with really long toes so they’ve basically got rakes for feet. They rake through the litter looking for worms and little bugs, stuff to eat. They’re digging through that humus and litter layer looking for little invertebrates and whatever they can find.’

‘Through that process they reduce the litter fuel load by, on average, 25 per cent, or about 1.6 tonnes per hectare. And we put those figures into a fire behaviour model and found that that level of fuel reduction is enough [that] in low fire-danger weather conditions it excludes fire, fire’s not possible under low to moderate conditions. But even in more extreme conditions the fire behaviour will be more moderate, [with] lower rates of spread, lower flame height, so a less intense fire.

Our conclusion is that lyrebirds are reducing the chance of fires occurring in the areas where they forage and the ecological significance of that is that un-burnt patches within large wildfires are really important sites for animals to survive post-fire.’

On Black Saturday in 2009, the wind change that saved us, devastated Marysville and took many lives. Summer is always a tense time here at Pilyara. It’s lovely to know that we have at least two new fire wardens watching over us. 🙂 Play the video below for a taste of lyrebird song. (You have to skip the ad first) The great David Attenborough looks like he’s wandering around one of our gullies, and he misses the Whip Bird call.

BB14

Heartland – Connect With Nature In Your Lounge Room.

Posted on August 30, 2015 by jenniferscoullar

I am thrilled about the recent launch of the hard-covered, coffee-table book Heartland by the Australian Conservation Foundation, not least because an excerpt of my writing has been chosen to grace its pages!

Heartland is an impressive, commemorative book of photography, and heartfelt expressions by Aussie writers – a glorious homage to nature. It has been published to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), Australia’s oldest and largest national environmental group. Begun in 1965, it’s funded almost entirely by individual donations. CEO, Kelly O’Shanassy, says ‘The foundation is nature’s advocate and has been a part of every significant Australian environmental victory, ably assisted by the community.’

Uplifting and inspirational images capture the natural world across the continent, and people interacting with it in a myriad of ways. Stunningly beautiful, all-original photography is contributed by the MAPgroup of documentary photographers; two hundred images in all. They tell many stories. Of the profound bond between Indigenous people and country. Of our amazing plants and wildlife. Of surfing waves and rafting rivers. Of farmers’ relationship to the land, and of the deep, instinctive connection that children have with the natural world. It’s available from all good bookstores.

Heartland also has written pieces from various Australian writers (including me!) A stellar line-up features iconic authors and poets such as Patrick White, Judith Wright, Gillian Mears, Les Murray, Henry Handel Richardson, Favel Parret, Alexis Wright, Murray Bail, Christina Stead, Lee Kofman and more.

In the foreword, Australian cartoonist, poet and cultural commentator Michael Leunig writes that it’s ‘essential to our health’ that we love nature. Even better, we should understand and appreciate it deeply, enjoy it thoroughly and respect it utterly.

‘Gratitude is the appropriate way, for mother nature supports us all and provides what we need to live: the air, the food, the vital elements and the materials with which cultures are built and sustained.

If you’re wondering about the meaning of life, it’s right there before you – and inside you. It’s nature. It’s the great beautiful common cause. Know it, love it, enjoy it – and do all that you reasonably can to rescue and protect it; but don’t delay.’

Me (L), Helene Young (Middle) and Ann Lee (R)

On a different, but no less inspirational note, the RWA Writers Conference was held last weekend. Co-convened by my good friends Kate Belle and Kathryn Ledson, it featured a wide range of work-shops and sessions on the writing craft. Anita Heiss gave a sensational key-note address about courage, and the need for a diversity of voices in Australian commercial fiction. She seemed to be speaking directly to me! The conference was a great success, and raised buckets of money for the Indigenous Literary Foundation, a fabulous cause. I can’t wait for the next conference in Adelaide next year. Here’s a photo of me with fellow Penguin author Helene Young, and fiction fan extraordinaire Ann Lee. She and her friend Evelyn brought an entire trolley-load of Aussie novels to the book signing! Now it’s back to my work-in-progress, which is turning out to be the never-ending story 🙂

World Ranger Day

Posted on August 2, 2015 by jenniferscoullar

With the death of Cecil the lion, my thoughts have turned to the magnificent job park rangers do around the world. On the 1st of July,Cecil was shot and killed after Walter Palmer, an American recreational big-game hunter wounded him with an arrow. Cecil symbolises the many thousands of endangered wild animals who are brutally and senselessly slaughtered each year, just for fun. Cecil was lured from the comparative safety of a reserve by a corrupt ranger, but there are bad apples in every barrel. This post is in support of the vast majority of park rangers who dedicate their lives to protecting our dwindling natural world.

Last Friday was World Ranger Day, a day in which we commemorate rangers killed or injured in the line of duty, and celebrate the work they do to protect the world’s wildlife. There are more than 100,000 reserves, parks and protected areas around the world, with the oldest national park being Yellowstone in the US. World Ranger Day is organised by the International Ranger Federation and was first held in 2007.

Tragically, it’s estimated that over one thousand park rangers have been killed in the line of duty over the past decade – seventy five percent by commercial poachers and armed militia groups. Park rangers are generally under-equipped, underpaid, and often under-appreciated. It is highly dangerous work. To me, and many others like me, they are modern day heroes. In this post, I honour and thank them.

Happy Endangered Species Day!

Posted on May 17, 2015 by jenniferscoullar

Last Friday was international Endangered Species Day, designed to highlight the plight of many at-risk and critically endangered plants and animals. They are disappearing between 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural rate – with dozens going extinct every day. Over 40% of the world’s species are estimated to be at risk of extinction, primarily from human activities driving habitat loss, introduction of exotic species and global warming.

Australia is far from immune. In fact it is facing an extinction crisis, with the worst mammal extinction rate in the world: 30 native mammals have become extinct since European settlement. To put this in a global context, 1 out of 3 mammal extinctions in the last 400 years have occurred in Australia.

I love to write about our unique wildlife, and the people who fight to protect these birds and animals. My current work-in-progress explores the concept of rewilding. Rewilding means restoring habitats to their original condition (as much as possible) and reintroducing animals and plants that are locally extinct.

Rewilding Australia is a registered charity that supports the reintroduction of our apex species like devils and quolls. With the re-establishment of these predator species, combined with a range of large-scale fox and cat control programs, our other smaller mammals may then be able to survive. Farmers and community organisations from all around Australia are embracing this vision and pitching in to help. Some examples include predator-proof fencing, breeding programs and protecting wildlife corridors. Click here to read a story on an exciting quoll rewilding project.

I’m excited about the concept of not only conserving, but of actively rebuilding eco-systems. It has also given me the idea for my new book. I’m sure the challenges involved will make for some dramatic story-telling!

Dugongs In Fiction

Posted on January 11, 2015 by jenniferscoullar

I’ve completed the final edits for Turtle Reef, which is due for release with Penguin on the 25th of March. Hopefully I’ll be able to reveal the cover next week. Finishing a novel always evokes mixed feelings – excitement at moving on to a new project; regret at leaving much-loved characters behind. As readers of my books will know, I have animal characters as well as human ones, and sometimes they’re the ones I miss the most. Zenandra, the wasp queen from Wasp Season; Whirlwind, the mysterious brumby mare from Brumby’s Run; Samson, the loyal German Shepherd from Currawong Creek and the charming Magpie geese goslings from Billabong Bend – these characters stay with me long after the final words are written.

Turtle Reef is no different. Set at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef, the story includes a wide range of marine animals (and horses of course). Some like Kane, the dolphin, and Einstein, the octopus, are characters in their own right. Others such as the sea turtles and dugongs fuel the narrative in more general ways.

Out of curiosity I decided to research the place of dugongs in fiction. It surprised me to discover that there are very few books about these unique animals, and all of them seem to be for children. Dabu Grows Up: The Tale of a Dugong is a picture book set in the tropical waters of the Torres Strait. Dabu is a young dugong whose mother is taken by hunters. Dabu learns about life, respect for the natural world, loneliness and friendship as he explores a tropical reef, finally deciding that to survive he must return to his herd. Denis, the Dugong follows the adventures of an Arabian dugong, and is enriched with details of the surrounding flora and fauna. The book is part of a series stressing the importance of conservation in the Arabian Peninsula. Dipanker the Dugong is a similar book set in India. That’s it – all I could find. Please comment if you know of any others. I’m thrilled to think that my new book Turtle Reef will help raise the profile of these enchanting and under-represented animals in fiction.

Dugongs belong to the order Sirenia, named after the legendary sirens of the sea. Their closest living relatives are the manatees and they’re also distantly related to elephants. Dugongs are found throughout the Indo-pacific region, but over the past century many populations have disappeared. Australia is their last stronghold, but even here they are in dramatic decline. Threats to dugongs are all man-made: entanglements in shark and fishing nets, marine debris, loss of sea grass meadows due to dredging and agricultural run-off, traditional hunting and collisions with boats. I’ve always loved these gentle giants of the sea that have existed on earth for 45 million years. What a tragedy if after all this time they went extinct on our watch! 🙁

Give Us Our Great Forest National Park!

Posted on December 1, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

There was an election here in Victoria on the weekend. It led to a change of government. Labor’s Daniel Andrews has succeeded Dennis Napthine as our Premier and I congratulate him on his win. A major issue was the creation of a Great Forest National Park, something very close to my heart. International luminaries like David Attenborough and Jane Goodall have campaigned hard on this. Their intervention comes as a survey found 89 per cent of Victorians support the creation of a new national park in the beautiful Yarra Ranges and Central Highlands, stretching from Kinglake to Mt Baw Baw, and north to Lake Eildon.

I urge our new Premier to embrace this vision for a multi-tiered parks system for bush users and bush lovers alike. It would host bike riding, bushwalking, fishing, bird watching, four-wheel driving, motor biking, camping, horse riding and much more. The tallest flowering trees in the world grow in this region. In their high canopies dwell Powerful Owls, Sugar Gliders and the tiny Leadbeater’s (or Fairy) Possum. Leadbeater’s possums are Victoria’s critically endangered faunal emblems, and they only live in these mountain ash forests of the Central Highlands. Here is a chance to provide Victorians and their children’s children with a unique natural resource, that will also bring lots of tourist dollars to the state. (You can sign the Wilderness Society’s petition here.) Come on Mr Premier – please give us this! 🙂

Blues For The Bush

Posted on September 21, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

The Shire of Perenjori in mid-west Western Australia will join with Bush Heritage on October 4th to present the second annual Blues for the Bush celebration. This will combine an open day at Charles Darwin Reserve with a fabulous evening concert.

Bush Heritage is one of my favourite conservation organisations. In fact I dedicated my last book, Billabong Bend, to them. Established in 1991, they now have thirty-five conservation reserves protecting over one million hectares. Their vision is, by 2025, to protect more than seven million hectares of Australia’s high conservation value land, water and wildlife. What’s not to love?

Blues for the Bush was conceived last year to celebrate the ten year anniversary of Bush Heritage purchasing the 68,000 hectare Charles Darwin Reserve. This purchase was made possible, in part, by a generous donation from the great-great-grandson of the famous naturalist after whom the property is now named. Formerly known as White Wells Station, the reserve is located at the junction of major landforms, ecosystems and climates known as the Mulga‑Eucalypt line, where desert meets the south‑west. As a result, it’s a melting pot of plant species with eucalypts and mulga scrub intermixed.

Ancient woodlands of York gum, salmon, gimlet and pine are interspersed with wildflower-studded sand plains. Of course spring is the perfect time to see this colourful display. Dense thickets of wattle, casuarina and melaleuca shrub surround natural salt lake systems. Bush Heritage has destocked the property and controlled weeds and feral animals. The reserve is fast returning to its original, natural beauty.

It is in these stunning surrounds that Blues for the Bush happens. The Open Day is free from 10am – 4.00pm. There will be something for everyone to enjoy. Children’s entertainment with painting, art and stories. Guided ecology tours of the property will run throughout the day. Bush poetry. Song-writing and bush music workshops, slow food demonstrations and much, much more. There will even be a free Bush Tea, the local’s answer to the traditional high tea – lamingtons, Anzac biscuits and a fresh brewed cuppa.

Hat Fitz at last year’s Blues for the Bush

The highlight will be a blues concert. Local Ngoongar musician, Craig Pickett, will open this year’s event. Craig is an incredible guitarist and has played for many years around Western Australia. Following Craig will be some of the absolute best in independent Australian blues and roots music, including Hat Fitz, Cara Robinson and Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk. Tickets on sale here. They include a spit roast and salad meal. There will also be a cash bar and camping facilities available. What a night it will be!

On a personal writing note, I am rushing to get Turtle Reef ready for submission to Penguin on the first of October. Won’t see the manuscript again until the first round of edits roll around. I’m getting my mares, Sheba and Star, shod on the second of October. My reward for finishing. Bunyip State Forest, here we come!

Bush Heritage Australia

Posted on July 20, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

Since I dedicated my last book Billabong Bend to Bush Heritage, I thought I should write a post about it. Bush Heritage is a non-profit conservation organisation dedicated to protecting Australia’s unique animals, plants and their habitats for future generations. They have a simple and practical formula for protecting the bush – buy land of outstanding conservation value, then care for it

Liffey Valley Reserves in Tasmania – the first Bush Heritage Reserve. Photo: Wayne Lawler

Liffey Valley in Tasmania – the first Bush Heritage Reserve. Photo: Wayne Lawler

The organisation began in 1991, when Dr Bob Brown bought several hundred hectares of old-growth forest in Tasmania to save it from logging. Using prize money from an environmental award as the deposit, he sought donations to gather the remaining funds, and Bush Heritage was born.

My fictional property of Billabong Bend is based in part on the beautiful Naree Station, acquired by Bush Heritage in 2012. Located on the inland floodplains of northern NSW, Naree sits at the head of the nationally significant wetlands of the Cuttaburra Channels and Yantabulla Swamp. During flood events it becomes home to an incredible fifty thousand breeding water birds and is rated as one of the twenty most important water bird sites in Australia.

Bush Heritage currently owns and manages thirty-five reserves throughout Australia, covering nearly one million hectares. Reserves are managed like national parks – the land is legally protected, with the intention of safeguarding it forever. Bush Heritage also builds partnerships with farmers. These partnerships account for a further 3.5 million hectares of land under conservation management. Their long term goal is to protect more than seven million hectares by 2025. This will only be possible with our help.

If you need a gift for someone who cares about the environment, how about sending a Bush Heritage WILDgift? Not only does your friend or family member receive a beautiful card featuring stunning photography from the Australian bush, but together, you also make a real and lasting contribution to nature conservation in Australia. For ten dollars you can provide a warm, safe nesting box for the endangered red-tailed phascogale. For twenty-five dollars you can save a slice of the outback, helping to buy one hectare of native habitat. Every hectare makes a difference!

The Mighty Murray Cod

Posted on July 6, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

There is a Murray cod character in my latest novel, Billabong Bend. So I’m dedicating this post to Guddhu, guardian of the river, charismatic fish of legend!

Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) are the largest freshwater native fish in Australia. They were originally very common throughout the Murray-Darling basin. Mounted specimens and photos of long-ago giants are on display at almost every riverland pub in south-eastern Australia. After a few beers, old-timers come out with tall stories of fish bigger than a man, territorial lions of the river, big enough to drag unwary swimmers under by a paddling arm or kicking heel.

Murray cod are handsome fish, scales mottled with green and black roses and bellies silvery white. Their grouper-like bodies are deep and elongated, with broad, scooped heads and powerful blunt tails. They can weigh more than a hundred kilograms and measure over 1.6 metres. A long-lived fish, they’re known to reach at least seventy years of age. It’s likely they can live for much longer, a century or more. Murray cod are an ancient species and an animal central to Aboriginal mythology. Fossils have been found dating back twenty-six million years. They may well be as old as the Murray-Darling basin itself – sixty-five million years. That’s when the age of the dinosaurs was coming to an end.

Contrary to some fishery department literature, the first serious decline in Murray cod populations was caused by extreme overfishing by Europeans. In the latter half of the 1800s and in the1900s, they were caught in unimaginable numbers. In 1883, 150,000 kilograms of Murray cod were sent to Melbourne from Moama alone. This was a devastating blow to such a long-lived and slow-breeding species.

Cod mature at about four or five years old and breed in spring when water temperatures rise above fifteen degrees. They favour sheltered snags in the main channel of rivers. Males guard the eggs, and continue to watch over the newly hatched larvae for a week or more. The young fish then drift downstream.

Modern threats include exotic diseases, overfishing, pollution, dams and weirs blocking migration routes, and flood regulation for irrigation. Fifty percent of Murray cod larvae are killed when they pass through weirs, and cold water released from the base of dams stops adults spawning. Competition with introduced fish is also a problem, even though adult cod do a good job of eating carp.

It’s a great tragedy that these fabled fish are now extinct in many of their upland habitats, particularly in the southern Murray-Darling. They’re listed as critically endangered by the ICUN, a United Nations organization that maintains the Red List of Threatened Species. We can’t protect Murray cod without protecting the rivers that they live in. Let’s make it a priority!

In Praise of Paddock Trees

Posted on February 23, 2014 by jenniferscoullar

Picturesque paddock trees, providing shade and shelter for stock and wildlife alike, are an iconic image of rural Australia. We’ve all seen sheep and cattle seeking protection from the baking summer sun, under the spreading boughs of a lone gum tree. Such old-growth giants can be centuries old, the last survivors of long-vanished forests. They will not last forever though. Thousands have been lost recently in Victoria’s Wimmera, for example. It’s important to properly appreciate their value, so we can protect those we have, and replace those we’ve lost.

Paddock trees are much more than a shady spot for stock to camp under. They provide vital information about what existed prior to massive landscape change – genes, local provenance, microbial communities, soil fungi etc. They act as wildlife corridors, and help to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems. They form a leaf-litter layer for insects to live in. They provide forage, roosts and hollows for bats, birds, possums and koalas.

Buloke trees, for example, are the preferred food tree for endangered south-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, but less than two percent of this important food species remains. It takes a hundred years for a Buloke (a type of casuarina) to provide a decent feed, and they are not being replaced at a high enough rate to support Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos into the future. Click here to find out more about a wonderful recovery project aimed at protecting these magnificent birds.

Paddock trees also reduce erosion and salinity, enrich soils and provide a seed source for regeneration – the benefit list goes on and on. If these trees continue to disappear, future generations will inherit a vastly different landscape. Landholders, governments … all of us who own or care for paddocks, must rise to the challenge of reversing tree loss in grazing and cropping landscapes, whether the result of active clearing or simple neglect. Old growth paddock trees have taken hundreds of years to grow. They cannot be replaced in a person’s lifetime – we need to protect what remains while we can.

Jennifer Scoullar – Bestselling Author of Australian Fiction

'A love affair with the wild …'

Tag Archives: Conservation