Just when it seemed that autumn was going to last forever,
there can be no denying that winter is well and truly here! Most mornings we
are either greeted by a harsh frost or an eerie mist, and a few weeks ago we
had our first light snow. Thank goodness for thermal underwear!
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| A picture says 1000 words |
But we can’t complain as weatherwise we had an outstanding
April and May. To think that only a few weeks ago we were working in t-shirts,
shorts and sporting singlets on that extra sunny day. The last few weeks
though, the temperature has plummeted. Now you won’t find me without anything
less than two layers on and even my dog wears her winter jacket.
Just the other morning while waiting for the kettle to boil
(ummm coffee) I noticed steam coming out my mouth and nose, and this wasn’t
outside, it was in my house. Now that cold!
And it’s not only the temperature that’s diminishing, but
also the photo opportunity period. Barrington winter sunrise is at 6:53am and
sunset at 4:58pm, compared to summer sunrise at 5:48am and sunset at 8:02pm.
Thank heavens winter solstice has now past!
A positive of this however is the increased keeper
observation in devil activity, as devils like to use the cover of darkness to
move about, feed and get up to all sorts of mischief!
For those of you familiar with a heavy morning frost, you’ll
agree that visually, it’s nothing short of beautiful.
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Frozen blades of grass
and muddy puddles crunching under foot and frosty crystals that cling and coat
everything... including our vehicle windscreens.
In fact there have been a few mornings where cars either
haven’t started, or have taken what seems like forever to warm up. Putting
water on the windscreen to break up the ice only to have it re-freeze seems a
bitter irony. Other problems we have to deal with work-wise are partially
frozen water bowls, frozen water lines and the endless job of cutting and
splitting firewood.
Our first snow, which was only a light dusting started at
around 9pm and lasted a few hours. Excitedly I ran to my car and drove for
around for 20 minutes hoping to find a decent deposit for a photo, but it
wasn’t enough to hold and had evaporated well before morning as we also had a
rain that night. This was only to be a sneak peak of what’s to come as the area
Barrington Tops is renowned for its winter whites.
Now I know what you’re thinking… what about the poor devils, they’ll be
freezing up there! Well it’s very important to remember that these animals’
wild habitat of Tasmania is very cold, in fact it’s one of the reasons the
Barrington Tops was selected, our long term goal will be breeding and
maintaining a healthy population of devils whose descendants will eventually
repopulate the Tasmanian ecosystem, not only do we need devils with wild
behaviour, but also animals that can cope with the harsh, cold weather
conditions. Cradle Mountain (NW Tasmania and home to wild devil populations) experiences
winter temperatures this time of year with an average morning of 2 degrees, and
an evening temp of -2 degrees (and 7 degrees at midday).
Happy winter all!
Andrew, Devil Ark Keeper
