Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
You are looking at a plant which is widely cultivated because it is pretty, very easy to grow, and is now available in a range of flower-colour options.
Oxalis purpurea is one of many “alien invaders” from Southern Africa.
They displace native species.
Alas, they (and other weed species from southern Africa) now proliferate even in places dedicated to the conservation and showcasing of Australian native flora.
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Hoteliers and tour operators like to describe the pictured beach as “idyllic”.
Ifaty is a village in southwestern Madagascar; fishing is its raison d’être., although tourism has become increasingly significant in recent years.
Its seafront “lagoon” is sheltered by one of the world’s major coral reefs.
On the reef’s far side is the Mozambique Channel, which is 1,700 ks long, 419 ks wide at its narrowest point, and surprisingly deep – up to nearly 3,300 metres, with an average depth of around 2,700 metres.
I took the photo just before midday on 19 May 2018, as the big daily event was unfolding.
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As in #10 in this series, you are looking at a photo which illustrates the power of the Shyok River.
By road, we were now 35 minutes further upstream, closer to Khaplu.
At 4.49 pm on 15 May 2024, the fast-flowing, largely glacier-fed river’s flow was relatively low.
The Shyok’s width, depth and flow-rate are hugely variable; the river transported and deposited all of the photograph’s silt, sand, gravel and rocks.
My telephoto lens zoomed in on just a very small portion of what my naked eyes could see in a single glance, with head still.
One translation of the Shyok’s name: river of death.
Its floods have killed many people, drowned trees and crops too, and destroyed/removed many formerly-arable fields, even some of the houses that had been built above and behind the fields, on what used to be “safe” ground.
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This post is a pointer to two opinion pieces.
Both are particularly worth reading in light of the re-election – as leader of “our” planet’s most powerful “democracy” – of an incorrigible liar, felon, bully, ignoramus, narcissist, jingoist, misogynist (probably, also a “sex offender”) and racist.
Just published by ABC News, Carrington Clarke’s is an immediate response to Donald Trump’s victory.
The October 2024 edition of The Monthly published Tim Winston’s more finely-crafted essay, which makes absolutely no direct reference to the American presidential election.
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Clearly evident: this tree is no youngster, it has not merely seen fire and rain, and is still alive, probably some centuries on from the relevant seed’s germination.
Commonly known as the river red gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis is the most widely-distributed of any eucalyptus species; it is almost-proverbially hardy/“enduring”.
River red gums are the “gum tree” best-beloved by Australian members of Homo sapiens.
In 21st century Australia, this “iconic” species is in big trouble.
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Britain’s now severely-underfunded national broadcaster may well be looking – urgently – for “new means of generating revenue”.
The BBC Venus is not one of them.
Very obviously the youngest ship berthed at Port Adelaide on 07 March 2024, this bulk carrier was launched in 2023.
Under its current “flag of convenience”, the vessel’s ostensible “home” is Liberia.
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Mangroves thrive here.
Heavy industry is also here.
This river is also part of a substantial port, within a metropolis of circa 1.4 million humans; the heart of its CBD is just 14 kilometres inland from the featured photo’s vantage point.
Your eyes are probably telling you that the location is somewhere within the tropics.
But where, exactly?
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How do “the seasons” actually work in southwest Western Australia?
In 2023 one could reply, “they don’t, anymore!”
However, even back in the “good old days”, anyone who paid attention already knew that “seasons” in WA had precious little to do with any calendar’s dates, nor with European notions of “four seasons”.
This was already the case long before the coining of terms like “global warming”, “climate change” and “the Anthropocene”.
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Do you fondly imagine that Australia has overcome its “rabbit problem”?
This post’s 2023-vintage photo was taken recently in a “well-managed”, much-loved National Park.
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To my eye, Coober Pedy is an ugly town, albeit a singular one.
So, I was delighted to see something so lovely, growing not many footsteps away from a hideous shopping venue and car park.
I love the way such tall grasses look, especially when wind whiffles through them.
Alas, however, I was admiring a very “bad” plant.
Buffel grass – Cenchrus ciliaris L, pictured above – is “arguably the greatest invasive species threat to biodiversity across the Australian arid zone.”
Some beef producers, however, still view it fondly as “great cattle feed”.
The relevant legal requirement in South Australian Arid Lands:
Land owners in this region to take reasonable steps to kill plants and prevent their spread. Enforceable by the South Australian Arid Lands Landscape Board.
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