35 Degrees South: Fire & Rain.


From Lofty: The local parks and wildlife dept burnt a small reserve at the end of our road, and I took a few pictures a week later during our three day rainy patch, to see how the colours were progressing. I’ll be keeping an eye out to see how the bush regenerates over the next few months. Bonus birdie in the last picture, a magpie looking for fried grubs I suppose. Click for full size!

© Lofty, all rights reserved.

Comments

  1. Ice Swimmer says

    Is the red wood in the second that red all through or is it just the surface that’s red.

    Dramatic pictures.

    They use controlled burn to some degree here to speed up the regrowth of forest* after logging and the there’s a specific technical term for that, kulotus (kulo is an old word for forest fire, kulottaa is the verb, to do controlled burn and the act of doing it is kulotus).

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    * = That is, they will do a controlled burn before planting seedlings or sowing tree seeds.

  2. says

    It’s always a bit of a shock to see a reserve that’s been unburnt for 25+ years suddenly come up black and smelly, but at least it was planned. There were quite a few dead trees and branches, the eucalyptus wood having that deep red hue when cut or broken. Weakened timber drops to the ground, welcome rain seeps into the charred soil and nourished the seeds contained within. A week after these shots the ground is now carpeted with pale brown leaves off the heated but unburnt canopy. In a while I’ll revisit the site and look for the first green shoots show themselves after the fry up.

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