Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Flatworms at a glance

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Yes, been busy again.  The other day, though, I found a land planarian, so I thought I would dig out a section of the book that was cut, ...
Thursday, 14 June 2012

Rashomon times 2 (or 2 plus 1)

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OK, there was a bit of a hiatus there, mainly because I have been busy with Other Stuff. In particular, I have been concerning myself with...
Saturday, 2 June 2012

Thinking about slugs and snails

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Rule 1 of being a naturalist: the most interesting questions are your own questions! These are some random thoughts about snails that wer...
Wednesday, 30 May 2012

Normal service will be resumed shortly

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In 2008 , and again in 2009 , I indicated that I was working on some YA historical fiction, referred to as The Cornish Boy .  I then closed ...
2 comments:
Saturday, 26 May 2012

Drawing nature

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I am passably capable at drafting, but not at execution in any artistic sense, so there are no technical tips here, just some tricks and wr...
Sunday, 20 May 2012

Close-up photography

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If it is possible, get a camera that can take close-up (macro) shots, and read the instructions. The technology is too variable for me to g...
Wednesday, 16 May 2012

The collector's art

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In the middle 1800s, the homes of wealthy people were full of dead things. No home was complete without cases of pinned insects or stuffed ...
Monday, 14 May 2012

Rainy day spiders

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Sometimes I need a post that basically says "I aitn't dead yet".  This is one of those, because I'm busy on other stuff. ...
1 comment:
Friday, 11 May 2012

Floating filamentous algae

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One dish in two different roles, but here comes a third way to use it: In the last entry, I described a method for pressing specimens o...

Collecting and pressing plants

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If you are going to collect plants in a scientific way, you should use a proper plant press. The drawing on the right shows a good design f...
3 comments:
Tuesday, 8 May 2012

A home-made rain gauge

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Once you start looking at weather, you may want a rain gauge. You can buy one, of course, but you can also make one from scrap materials. ...
Sunday, 6 May 2012

Tree rings and climate measures

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This was a puzzler box that I planned to include in one of the plants chapters in Australian Backyard Explorer , before we decided to drop ...
Thursday, 3 May 2012

More about animal tracks

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This follows on from The mysterious cloven-hoofed animals of Australia . These two photos are old slides (notice the lens cap, used as a s...
Monday, 30 April 2012

Some thoughts about insects

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Well, the new book is out tomorrow, and today I tramp the media trail, yacking about it on radio. As a goodly part of Australian Backyard ...