Things look better at present, I say with a degree of caution. The temperature has dropped sharply, from just under 40C to 15C, and the Montacute fire is now listed as ‘controlled’. Still dangerous if the wind rises or turns in this direction, but our chances of making it through the night are much improved. What we have now are huge flocks of birds, as the wildlife flees from the forest areas of Montacute, Black Hill, Morialta and the Athelstone Wildflower Garden, much of which area has burnt or is still burning. Still, better they should be here than in their own destroyed forests. I just hope they don’t strip my trees of half-ripe apples, quinces and plums. At present our silky-oak tree is full of rosellas and sulphur-crest cockatoos eating the flower clusters, as is my neighbour’s tree. I dread to think how many of the insect-eating bats that shared the habitat of these birds would have been unable to make it out, since they would have been asleep in tree hollows or under loose bark at the time the fire hit. This was already a bad year for mosquitoes, and is now likely to get a lot worse, between the floods encouraging the mozzies to breed and the loss of so many of their predators to the fires. We already have cases of the mosquito-borne Murray Valley encephalitis in the community, and I fear we will have more.
As well as the bats, I fear we have lost untold numbers of insects, frogs, reptiles and other creatures we cannot ecologically afford to lose, as well as possums, antechinus, wallabies, koalas and the like. At least there are no reported human deaths yet.
And Yastreb, I too wish you were here to help! Thank you for the thought, and barring further disasters I still hope to see you in February. Hopefully you can coordinate your arrival with Liz so as to stay at her place when you reach Adelaide and get a lift up here?
