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Beechmont Nature Journal, March 3rd 2019
Issue two of the Beechmont Nature Journal, features baby (or moulting?) birds, bell birds popping up in a surprising place, and a giant of the forest.
Welcome to the Beechmont Nature Journal
Welcome to the Beechmont Nature Journal. Here you’ll find real news, collected from around where I live (the northern end of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area). The content is ever-changing, and I’m learning as I go. You never know what will turn up next in this amazing place. Come along for the ride!
Letter from Beechmont, 23 February 2019
In these recent journal entries I’ve explored the beauty of round zucchinis, the incredible diversity of butterflies up here, and the habits of some birds. I hope you enjoy.
Competition winners, and nature journaling in the rainforest
Thank you to everyone who entered the ‘name the species on the ESA 2018 bag design’ competition. Many high-quality entries were received, and I was most impressed with the species ID skills of the entrants. Special mentions go to: Eve Hayden and Gregg Muller for...
Please keep your dog on a lead in bushland areas
You are welcome to save, print and share this cartoon for non-commercial purposes that help to conserve wildlife. Sorry, no colour-in this week because I forgot!
Recent drawings and a new cartoon
When I started drawing I was fascinated by line more than anything else. In the last few weeks I've been reminding myself of the importance of tone - lights and darks, and how the contrast of these can bring drama to a picture. I took some photos of the gorgeous wet...
Plant a tree and the Wildworld will say thankyou
Lots of animals need trees, so planting native trees, and helping them to grow big and strong, is one of the best ways you can Help the Wildworld. Other plants provide food and shelter to animals too, so it doesn't have to be a tree. You could also plant a shrub,...
Read moreSea creatures really don’t like the plastic waste that ends up in their home. You can help by saying ‘no’ to bottled water, and drinking tap water from a reusable bottle instead. This cartoon can be shared and reproduced from non-commercial purposes that benefit wildlife. You can also save and print the free colouring page…
Sea creatures love reusable bottles — Wildworld Books
Hello and Happy New Year! This summer I’ve been mucking about with cartooning, and have started to create and add ‘Help the Wildworld’ cartoons to my Wildworld Books website. The Wildworld Books website sprouted when I published Stories of the Wildworld and will...
Sea creatures love reusable bottles
Sea creatures really don't like the plastic waste that ends up in their home. You can help by saying 'no' to bottled water, and drinking tap water from a reusable bottle instead. This cartoon can be shared and reproduced from non-commercial purposes that benefit...
Keep your cat indoors
I love cats. But I love birds too. Unfortunately, many pet cats like to kill birds. Cat bells don't always work. The solution? Keep your cat indoors, and construct an outdoor play pen that they can't escape from. This will also protect your cat from neighborhood...
Happy New Year
It's been a whirlwind finish to 2018. Stories of the Wildworld was published in November, and many copies were mailed out for Christmas presents by the year's end. This year many new ways to Help the Wildworld will be added to this website, including shareable...
Damning report into threatened species conservation in Queensland
I rarely get political on this blog, but what follows is an important part of my story, and of the struggle we're in to try to save threatened species in Queensland. A few years ago I resigned from my job in the Threatened Species Unit of the Queensland Government out...
Tales of Science
Little red nomads head north for the winter
Around Easter-time it starts. The stirring of retired folks - the ‘grey nomads’ - as they load up their 4WD’s and caravans and head north for the winter. In south-east Queensland you see them on the freeways, mostly up from the colder south. On their way,...
Why is the ibis often grubby, and the egret always clean?
Lifestyle choices or better beauty products? The Australian white ibis often looks grubby, but the white plumage of egrets always looks freshly laundered - with a purity and glow that the makers of clothes detergents would die for. Both birds start out with white...
Nature journaling
Beechmont Nature Journal, March 17th 2019
A weird rollercoaster week, where nature journaling merged with student protests, TV, cafes and markets.
Beechmont Nature Journal, March 10th 2019
Welcome to Issue 3 of the Beechmont Nature Journal. Here you’ll find rain-fresh fungi, squabbling parrots, a hungry ladybird, and more…
Beechmont Nature Journal, March 3rd 2019
Issue two of the Beechmont Nature Journal, features baby (or moulting?) birds, bell birds popping up in a surprising place, and a giant of the forest.
Welcome to the Beechmont Nature Journal
Welcome to the Beechmont Nature Journal. Here you’ll find real news, collected from around where I live (the northern end of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area). The content is ever-changing, and I’m learning as I go. You never know what will turn up next in this amazing place. Come along for the ride!
Letter from Beechmont, 23 February 2019
In these recent journal entries I’ve explored the beauty of round zucchinis, the incredible diversity of butterflies up here, and the habits of some birds. I hope you enjoy.
Competition winners, and nature journaling in the rainforest
Thank you to everyone who entered the ‘name the species on the ESA 2018 bag design’ competition. Many high-quality entries were received, and I was most impressed with the species ID skills of the entrants. Special mentions go to: Eve Hayden and Gregg Muller for...
Forest portraits
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Cartoons
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Wildlife illustration
The scribbly gum woodland at Freshwater
Freshwater National Park smells burnt, but it looks lush green. I can hear the sleepy chortles of lorikeets, somewhere up in the bloodwoods. It’s late afternoon, on a hot January day. Maybe they’ve had too much sun, or too much nectar, or both. Scribbly gums rise like...
Lullabies for life
A pair of fairy wrens are in our garden - their calls are shrill, sweet and curiously penetrating. And for the first time ever, I think they might stay. This is terribly exciting. When we moved here eight years ago, we transformed a backyard of kikuyu grass into a...
The wisdom of pelicans
I was sitting on a nearly-deserted Bribie Island beach last week, with only sand, sea, and bushland all around. An osprey was hunting nearby, and a few terns drifted past. The tide was up, and we’d just been for a dip - but only as far as a shallow sand spit, only...
The kingfishers that don’t fish
Every summer, in our street, there was a loud insistent “pip-pip-pip” that rang out, at intervals, nearly all day. The Sacred Kingfishers were nesting in a large old tree near the corner. The tree is gone now, and I need to walk further to be within earshot of the...
Bimblebox Wonderland colouring book – on sale now
After many long days of designing and drawing, I'm very pleased to announce the publication of Bimblebox Wonderland. It's the first colouring book for adults based entirely on a wild Australian woodland. Order your copy here. In September I was immersed in the small...
Rewilding Weeloo, the enigmatic bush stone-curlew
Cold wind buffets my breath as the small boat bounces along the waves. We are heading towards a tiny, sun-bleached rocky nub of an island, one of the many that cluster about the sprawling, inverted triangle of Eyre Peninsula, like small fish shadowing a large,...