Tag Archives: Science

Pollinators are critical for life on earth. As we face a biodiversity crisis in which we’re losing plants and animals at an alarming rate, the Rotary Club of Blackheath and Planting Seeds have collaborated on the B&B Highway pollinator program.

'Middle Earth' is a remarkable off-grid paradise in the Kanimbla Valley, created over many decades by Hans and Tillie Coster. What was once a degraded grazing property has been regenerated, with its underground 'Hobbit Hall' built to survive all weather extremes.

Maligned through the ages for their association with witchcraft, disease, drug use and poisonings, the fungus kingdom is gaining due credit thanks to ecologists, photographers and foragers.

What do an Archibald prize finalist, an industrial ruin and aquatic insects have in common? At Lake Pillans it was an opportunity to document the extraordinary world of our waterways, including a real time underwater survival challenge.

During Frog ID Week in late 2023, a record number of recordings were submitted to the Frog ID app. Join a group of froggers on a Frog ID outing in Lithgow to learn how to contribute to this important (and fun) citizen science project.

During Summer 2022/23 Western Sydney University trained residents to use thermal imaging cameras to document surface temperatures in the local landscape as part of the Heat Detective project.  The images captured temperatures varying from 20°C to over 60°C, demonstrating both the urban heat island effect and simple solutions to reduce its impact.

Mushroom season may be over, but edible mushrooms are just one kind of fungi, as Tracie McMahon found out when she attended a mycology workshop run by Lithgow Oberon Landcare and Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub.

Building, renovating? There is so much to think about! This week we talk with Dr Jane Aiken, a local land consultant with Consulting and Environment Services (CESsoils). We discover why soil is foundational to getting your build ‘right’ and learn how to avoid some of the ‘traps’ for the unaware.

Lithgow features as a backdrop on ABC TV’s The Messenger, as the fictional town of Moledale. This is the story of one of our prized buildings and the community that built, maintained and restored it to become the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub.

In April the Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transformation Hub launched its first citizen science activity for 2023: the Lake Pillans BioBlitz. I spoke with Alice Blackwood, ecologist and Field Technician at Western Sydney University about citizen science and their findings at Lake Pillans.