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GREEN TURTLES, FLATBACK TURTLES and REMOTE ISLANDS

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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 Darwin Uni (CDU) and World W
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BIOSECURITY ANIMAL SURVEYS AND AUTOPSY TRAINING

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 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 shoot about 5 sma
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FAMILY, FIRES, HELICOPTERS and CARBON ABATEMENT

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 Hi Last weekend we flew into Darwin for the weekend. Laura was flying up to Darwin for a friend's wedding. She had not met niece Amelia yet so I think the wedding was more of an excuse.  Dean, Kristy and their little family.  Aunty Laura meets Amelia. Granny and Pa with our grandchildren - a real blessing.  While in Darwin a friend from Inverness in Scotland was passing through Darwin. It was great catching up with Bev.  Trevor and Leonie were in town for the wedding. Leonie and Nancy met in the maternity ward in Gove hospital back in 1984. We have kept in touch even since.  Recently the Garngi rangers have been busy with our carbon abatement early dry season 'cool' burning. This involves both ground and aerial burning and if done well reduces the amount of carbon that ends up in the atmosphere. We receive some good income from this work.  For the aerial burning we use a Robinson R44 helicopter. The rear left door is removed and an incendiary machine is fitted in that spac
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MARINE DEBRIS and MICROPLASTICS - BOTH HUGE and INCREASING ISSUES

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In previous blog posts you may recall me talking about marine debris and ghost nets being an issue around Croker Island. From the air, beaches like the one below look clean however a closer look often reveals a very different situation. In early June we had two officers from the Commonwealth Government's Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) here for a few days. During this time they trained us to conduct a Marine Debris Transect Survey. The results were quite alarming!! Read on to find out more. The survey involves marking a section of beach 100 metres by 20 metres. We choose a section of east facing beach near Cape Croker (northern part of Croker Island).  Then we had to pick up all the debris within this marked area, weight it, sort it into 50 categories and then count these categories. The data was then entered into the Biosecurity Topwatch app on our iPads to be sent off to DAFF when we returned to the office and WiFi connection. I won't go through all c
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A GRAND DAUGHTER - WELCOME AMELIA

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Hi everyone,  Recently a beautiful granddaughter joined our family - welcome Amelia. We were able to meet her while visiting Darwin recently. Below are a few photos of Amelia with Granny and Pa. What a blessing she is! Noah is growing quickly. He does not have to be asked twice to go to the nearby playground. Noah and Amelia getting to know each other - beautiful!! Laura has recently been touring in Italy and Croatia. She had a ball and already has a few ideas for the next trip. She is coming to Darwin next weekend for a friend's wedding - we are all looking forward to catching up again. Nancy and I are flying into Darwin for the weekend. Noah - keeping us all laughing. Sadly, Kristy, Amelia and Laura were not in this happy photo. Jayson changed jobs earlier this year. This sees him working anywhere in and around Darwin and recently he has been back at Tindal RAAF Base near Katherine as part of the major upgrades happening there at the moment. Noah really looks forward to when uncl
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2023 IN REVEIW

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 Hi everyone Life has been busy lately. Hence no blog posts for a while. We are sure that we are not alone with that problem.  Where has this year gone?  Our family gathered in January when we celebrated Nancy's mother's 98th birthday near Maleny, Queensland. Kristy, Dean and Noah made it so we had four generations in our line present. Nancy's older brother Ken, currently has five living generations in his family - a very special achievement!  Nancy's mum has declined throughout the year. Consequently, Nancy has spent a lot of time in Queensland this year. Sadly she passed away a couple few weeks ago.  Bryan came into Darwin for a Marine Mega Fauna conference in February and snapped the photo below of a wet season sunset over Darwin Harbour. In March with our senior ranger, Bryan attended a forum in Katherine. We flew into Tindal Airforce Base near Katherine. Our son Jayson is working there currently on the major upgrades - the runway extensions can be seen in the botto
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ISOBEL MARY SIDDANS (1925-2023)

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Hi This week we had a memorial service for Nancy's mother, Isobel. She passed away recently, a couple of months short of her 99th birthday.  The video below reflects on her life of faith and service to her family and others.    
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