Macca's Meanderings

Hi For many months now the south easterly winds have been very persistent, preventing us getting out in the boat. This week the wind strength dropped off so we took the opportunity to do a boat patrol to the outer islands - Oxley, Lawson, McClure and Grant Islands.  Making good progress on a gentle sea.  These islands are popular turtle nesting areas. Below the photo shows four turtle tracks going up and down the beach. These tracks are made by female turtles seeking to find a spot to lay her eggs. Green turtles are the most common turtles in this area.  Note the dead trees along the beach. We are seeing this more and more as high tides come further and further into areas where salt water has not been seen.  We came across this Flatback turtle. They usually stay out in deeper water and only come into shallow water to nest so it was interesting to see this one near McClure Island.  Later this year we will be doing some marine mega fauna research with Charles Darw...

 Hi from Croker Island  Recently the Commonwealth Government Biosecurity vets visited to conduct their annual survey of animals and deliver some autopsy training for the rangers and community members. This is done to pickup any diseases entering our northern borders before they progresses too far south. Diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease, African Swine Disease or Lumpy Skin Disease are all in Indonesian. If they were to establish themselves in Australia this would result in huge losses for our primary industries.  The animal survey is conducted in a helicopter due to the lack of road access to many areas along our remote northern coastline. They have a platform shooter onboard who shoots the animals - at Croker Island these are usually feral pigs. Flying over the island they look for some pigs that can be shot in an open area where the helicopter can land nearby. The pilot has to position the helicopter so the shooter can get safe shots away. Below they were able to sho...