First fire

First fire for the season. As you can see it still isn't quite dry enough for the pyros, but it is along the lines where the new saplings were put in. Lots are burnt. The total are isn't as big as it could have been, probably because it isn't dry enough for it to spread fast. It looks as if it was the grass left lying after it was mown down for the planting that actually burnt. I wonder how the rest of autumn will go?


Oh yeah, in the post about the planting I gave the saplings a year ... someone else gave them 3-4 months? She won, it's 3-4 months since that post.....

Seedlings in the long grass

I finally got back over in the reserve and figured out what the lines mown in the long grass were for. They've planted more seedlings! The mown areas were intriguing to start with because quite a lot of the original seedlings, the ones planted years ago by the church group doing good deeds in conjunction with the local council, the ones that get burned down every year either by the pyros or the firies (hazard control of course), the ones that continue to grow up every year after being burned to the ground ... the ones that never get above four feet or so because they get burned down every year - a lot of the original seedlings had been mown down! No doubt, tough little things they are they'll come up again. At least some of them.

So, mown stripes & seedlings mown down, and now they have planted more! In the long grass area. You know, the long grass area you can see from Ellsworth Drive. The area you see burnt every year. Hmm. It's all still green right now, there's been enough rain to keep the grass growing and everyone knows the grass isn't dry enough to burn. Yet.

The question that keeps playing in my mind is - did Council even tell the local Firies they've planted in there again? Do the Firies know? What happens when the grass dries off and a couple of grass fires happen? Will the Firies just come over and put them out or will they do their usual and burn all the long grass in one go as hazard reduction? Along with the four foot saplings and the new seedlings.

Of course, being the cynical thing that I am, I wonder about the part of the Council. The points they've gained in the carbon neutralising race, by planting all those seedlings, do they lose them again when they're burned down?

You know the Council doesn't have a fire management plan in place.

I give the seedlings, generously, a year. Someone else I was talking to gave them 3-4 months.

Rows of grass

Haven't figured out why, but council mowed strips into the grass in the reserve .... yet to be investigated, I'll write whatever I figure out...

I don't think it's winter any more...

What an amazing day so far! Really warm, promising to be positively hot at this rate. Bit scary really, I wonder what summer will be like? The grass is finally mown, first time for the season. Not that it makes the place look tidy, that would be too much for me. Such a quiet suburb here I can't think of anything else to write! Have a lovely weekend!

Spring has sprung

With lots and lots of rain. Enough to leave puddles and turn big parts of the reserve into a big mud puddle - especially where it lost ground cover and hadn't had time to regrow after the 'hazard reduction' by the fire brigade.

Still, no more frosts, downpours, and now the grass is growing again, so fast we really should mow today. Don't know if we'll get round to it. Should. It's long already! Maybe it hasn't dried enough to mow yet? That'd be it!