If you want to know what Nature Blogging is all about...

I have just scrolled though my list of Aussie Nature Bloggers - (If you are not familiar with them, please see the list on my right hand side-bar). 

I have been a bit remiss in checking the recent works of my blogging colleagues, as I have been very busy with water conservation issues. 

But tonight I just happened to have uploaded a new "contact" to my list of Aussie Nature Bloggers - "A Roving I will Go" . I had not found Joy's Blog before, until she happened to comment on one of my Blog postings - the one about the dead Baza.

Well, I was delighted to find that Joy had recently posted an interesting item about "Death on the beaches". Clearly, she is another person who recognises the value of close examination of specimens which we cannot otherwise study up close.

So, after having uploaded a new link to Joy's site, I stayed on to check the list of new postings by my regular colleagues, I found that Duncan, over at Ben Cruachan - Natural History , had excelled himself, with a post entitled "Sixty five years of Photography". How could I resist that story?

There is Duncan as a youngster, all grainy in early black and white imagery, then going bush on classic stiff-framed motorbikes, fitted with the necessary saddlebags, for long and serious bush exploring. And there is more and more. As they say: "Read it and weep". Or laugh along with Duncan, over the years. 

And yes, Duncan, your Powerful Owl photo is a classic. 

A definite "keeper" that one!

Finally, to remind yourself that Duncan has been around and known all the best "plant people" over the years, do check out his special memorial page for Bill Cane, plantsman extraordinaire. It was written in 2010, as a tribute to his friend.

Please note that Duncan has closed off "comments" - probably as I imagine it took up too much of his time trying to respond. But I am sure he will notice if you drop by his site. It is genuinely one of the legendary Nature Blogger sites.

I can do no more than recommend both the doyen of Australian Nature Blogging, Duncan, and a newcomer to our ranks, Joy, as well.

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A warning for fellow Bloggers:
Unauthorised of images (without attribution).

I have always relied on trust and the polite version of image protection, namely the Creative Commons Licence. It states:

You are free:

• to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work

• Under the following conditions:

• Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
  
• Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
  
• No Derivative Works — You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Well, I was surprised to get an email from a Facebook colleague to say that one of my images of a Gang-gang Cockatoo (another road kill, as it happens) had been used without attribution in a nasty Facebook page by someone calling himself "Henry Catperson". it was a ghoulish series of images of cats killing and eating birds.

Well, after having been tipped off about the breach of the Creative Commons principles I lodged a formal complaint with Facebook.

They replied to say to say that the page had been removed (blocked).

That page now reads:

• This content is currently unavailable

• The page you requested cannot be displayed at the moment. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page.

Some justice after all.

By the way, my friend and blogging colleague David (of Focus on Nature) has for a long time, recommended a copyright protection service called "Viscopy".

After this experience, that service makes more sense to me.