🐾 Maybe the reason I love animals so much, is because the only time they have broken my heart is when theirs has stopped beating.

Tuesday 1 September 2009

Veld fire tragedy


I think this is where the fire came from
(Click to enlarge)

Today we've just had a huge veld fire sweep through our property, defying all fire breaks, being pushed forward by a strong wind and turning the landscape to black charcoal. On the other side of the fence is our neighbour's property with the fire now just behind them.


The Crowned Plover was forlornly screeching for her young, where she had a nest somewhere in the grass in the black area in front of her. Smoke is still rising in various places and the ground is still hot to the touch.
(Click to enlarge)


The Herons making good use of the misfortune, scavenging for dead insects


An abandoned burnt nest


The North side of our property.

6 comments:

  1. Maree - Don't tell me that this is YOUR property!!! Are you okay? I can't believe this. You are having a fire, and so am I? Is this not the weirdest friendship?

    Let me know how you are doing. I'll be praying for you.

    Out here, the wind is kicking up, and the fire is coming toward us. We had an evac order. Not sure if we are getting one tonight.

    Be Safe - Terry

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it's our property and thanks for the thoughts Terry, but no real danger here. The flames were rather small. But I'm really worried about you - saw on the news that 45,000ha have already been burnt in your area. And if you do have to evacuate, where will you go? Please keep me up-to-date with what happens.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How simply dreadful, at least you were not harmed and it seems your buildings were not destroyed, so it could have been much worse, but still bad enough to make me feel for you. Fires are so devastating they just sweep through and destroy all in their path, pity the poor wildlife that cannot move out of the way quick enough.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Glennis, nice to hear from you. The fire was very quick - small flames driven fast by a strong wind. We wet the area close to the wall surrounding the house when we saw the fire coming, so all was well on the home front. Will we ever know where these things come from?

    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Maree, I saw that you'd become a follower on Book Art Object and I came over to visit you. What a delightful blog, I've spent ages reading and really admire your watercolours. We don't have hedgehogs in Australia but I've always felt they'd be one of my favourite animals if we did. I'll be back to see how the veld fires are going. We both live in fire prone places... All the best, Carol

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi and thanks for the follow Carol. It seems Australians are great nature lovers! I'm fascinated by your book project - is it going to be a publication containing poems, etc? And art as well?

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...