I have always wanted a Weber BBQ. This Christmas, Santa was very generous and bought me a really small one... It is cute, and has a lid that you close to cook your food.
We had one meal from it and as it was so hot recently thought I'd try the roasting feature. This meant I preheat the BBQ, then put the chook on and hey presto you have bbq chook. More >>

The Noisy Miner or Mickey [Monorina melanocephala] is a very common bird in our area. It is conspicuous by its constant chatter. They also make a racket when other birds, humans, or cats are around. They are also an early detection system for snakes, although in my experience they are not as reliable as a butcher bird where snakes are concerned! They just chatter all the time...like the little boy who cried snake! They are a very territorial species that have no problem taking on much bigger birds, even hawks or kookaburras. More >>

I know my 'night noises' pretty well. But I had never heard one like this. So I grabbed my torch and started looking for the origin of this guttural 'gurgle'. When I looked up into a native frangipani that I had planted near my shed, I saw two reflective eyes, and an absolutely beautiful little animal. More >>

I took these photos in my shed last night. The frog is a green tree frog [litoria caerulea]. This is a very common frog in the Biosphere. They can grow up to 100mm long, and be green or brownish, and be quite chunky. They have a really 'dreamy' look to them. They can live for up to 20 years. It is a very popular 'pet' throughout the world. Very docile, they are generally nocturnal: with a distinctive call....a sort of Waark, Waark noise, which often echoes in downpipes. They also have an alarm call which is a loud screech. They mainly eat spiders and insects. Predators include snakes, birds and some lizards, however we can add cats and occasionally, dogs to this list. More >>

Noosa residents are discovering mosses and liverworts in moist shady places in their gardens.  Continuing rain has produced ideal conditions for the growth of these simple plants.   More >>

My partner's 10 year old daughter, Molly has grown up in the bush. She has been able to see lots of animals that city kids don't get to see. Sometimes we forget how wonderful our Biosphere really is.  More >>

At Noosa Landcare's Pomona office, we are very lucky. We have a lease on five acres just north of the town, and it has some really wonderful trees on it, and a lot of grass. It is in the grounds of the Noosa District High School [Pomona campus]  More >>

I am sure I don't have to tell you that it has been a pretty miserable 'holiday period' for many people. Those of us with small children [and dogs!] know how much fun it is to be cooped up all day.
Spare a thought for our wildlife though... As I drive up my driveway, over our raging creek [Coles Creek near Cooran] I see many unhappy animals. My kangaroos look pretty dishevelled, but at least they have plenty of grass to eat. More >>

We  bang on a lot about weeds...[well I do...!].. .but why? Sure they can be a nuisance...like cobblers pegs getting stuck in your socks...but do they really cause a problem? We do know that weeds cost Australians lots of money in control and lost production...it is generally agreed that weeds cost the agricultural sector alone over 4 billion dollars per year. Certain species of weeds do not get a great deal of publicity, but have a serious effect on our nations biodiversity. Weeds can been loosely defined as "a plant growing where it is not wanted". This works, but I tend to think a weed is serious when it upsets the balance of an ecosystem. Weeds behave much like a school bully...they out-compete our native plants and can easily form mono-cultures. More >>

Some years ago Noosa & District Landcare Group (NDLG) did a project at the Pomona transfer station. The project involved planting trees on an old landfill site. We worked with local boy Richard Yeates from Phytolink and a youthful Doug Barnes from the then Noosa Council. It was called 'phytoremediation'. More >>