Wild BNE

Greetings from a not-so-chilly Winter! When us Brisbane residents are asked about the benefits of living in our city, we are almost certain to mention the pleasant winters. This month has seemed even milder than usual however, with persistent cloud cover keeping minimum night-time temperatures around 10C. On a weekend trip to the Scenic Rim region for example, I was surprisingly comfortable wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt outside at 6am, where I photographed this flock of Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) waiting out the fog in their roosting tree. Straw-necked Ibis, Coleyville

Hilliards Creek Situated to the south-east of Brisbane, the Redlands shire encompasses many areas of natural beauty, including the Cleveland foreshore and North Stradbroke Island. It is also one of the fastest growing suburban areas in Australia, and would be unrecognisable to those who knew it as a rural outpost just 25 years ago. Despite this surge in development, even the busy suburbs of Wellington Point, Ormiston and Cleveland retain areas of natural bushland set aside to preserve populations of Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) and Squirrel Gliders (Petaurus norfolcensis), from which other forms of wildlife benefit also. On my visit there today, I was interested in looking at how these other creatures are faring, particularly the fish living in Hilliards Creek.