Tuesday 7 August 2018

Life and death at the lake

On Sunday, we took a short trip to Forest Lake which is one of our favourite destinations.

Pic below - Aaron walking Bobby, Beau's dog — we are doggy-sitting while Beau (my son) and his partner, David, are taking a short holiday in Singapore.

 We spotted some Australian Water Dragons on our walk around the lake. They are quite large.


I was thrilled to see pelicans at the lake! They haven't always been there so word must have got around. There was like twenty of them, at least. I LOVE pelicans!

An Eastern Great Egret on the prowl.

Ducks.

Ibis. You can't see them in the pic but the family of four black swans were on the little island in the middle of the lake just across from the Ibis.

Lots of birds on the water. You can see blue-green algae in the foreground of this pic.

A Purple Swamp Hen. When the light hits their feathers in certain ways they glisten a purple blue colour — not apparent in this pic.

Now to a sad part —
We were last at the lake in early May for Mother's Day and, back then, we noticed a lot of algae forming in areas around the lake edges. This time, it was worse and I'm very sad to say that there was so many dead fish floating in the water. There would easily have been over a hundred — carp, cat fish and no doubt, other species too. The smell hit us before we saw them.

The white blobs are more dead fish....broke my heart. This was just a small section. This sight was everywhere around the edges of the lake.

There were signs warning visitors that blue-green algae is toxic and to avoid contact with the water. The smell of death was horrible and naturally I'm concerned for how this will effect the bird and animal life at the lake too, including the turtles. I pray the local council will get out there and do something sooner than later.

Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides. 
— Lao Tzu

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To end on a more pleasant note, I thought I would share a quick ballpoint pen sketch I did of one of the Australian Water Dragons we saw. It is not finished — just the rough outline for now. I sketched this big guy for the Moment Sketchers challenge held on the first full weekend of every month.

Yes, my hip and back did flare up in pain after our big day out but it was worth it. I do love getting out in nature but I'm still very saddened by the death we witnessed at the lake.


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Okay — so where am I going to sleep tonight?!  Ahhh...the joys of doggy-sitting. hehe Maybe I can squeeze into the narrow spot beside Bobby's head?

Wishing you all a beautiful week!

6 comments:

  1. great to see all the different birds but too bad about the fish :( one of the little ponds around here had the same problem but they have managed to clean up a lot of it thankfully, cant remember how tho

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  2. What a lovely walk, except for the toxic algae, how awful. Beautiful sketch! Where are you going to sleep lol.

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  3. Sorry the algae is killing the fish, but otherwise it was a beautiful day. I love the lizards and your sketch captured their attitude. I have a soft spot for lizards. ;)
    Love and hugs from Fargo :)

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  4. Sorry about the poor fish, but glad you had an otherwise enjoyable day.

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  5. Ahhh Serena. .. I missed your blog as well. It is so lovely to be back and to see these wonderful images of the outing you took. I adore the water dragons and your sketch is wonderful! Our Pelicans and Egrets are never so close! We see the Pelicans lounging out on the bay at low tide and Egrets and Herons all over the mud flats then too. :) And swamp hens. . . I may have to add them to my fantasy world. I just love the name.

    So sad about the algae. I saw a similar thing years ago on one the shores of our Great Lakes though I suspect it was something man-made that caused that devastation.

    And ohhh those pups! I have never been able to be strict enough to keep dogs off of my bed/furniture. I had housemate once who had a dog they never let on their bed and I , when they were at work, would nap with the dog, allowing him to get on my bed and curl up. He always looked so guilty when I'd invite him up, looking around for his scolding human. . . and he never made the mistake of thinking that being allowed on my bed meant he could get on any other piece of furniture! lol Within a month he was asking for "nap time" whenever I had a day off and, sometimes I would come home from work and find a nice ruffled spot on my bed where he had probably made himself right at home. :)

    Have a lovely weekend Serena and it is soooo good to be visiting your blog again . . . always a balm for the soul. ;)

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  6. Dogs always take over the bed lol...you can always find an inch to squish in lol!
    Oh that's so sad about the fish Serena...we have a bad blue algae problem here in the Laurentians of Quebec...lakes are cordoned off from people going in...it's horrible seeing the water critters dying like that. Your other photos are just beautiful though and that sketch is lovely. :) xx

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