Beetle care a dung deal
Shaun Ossinger. Regional Development Minister Alanah MacTiernan has announced a grant of about $35,000 to help colonise winter-active dung beetles in the Wilson Inlet catchment. Part of the natural ecosystem of cattle, dung beetles have evolved alongside the animal throughout Europe and Africa, breaking down cattle dung and recycling nutrients.
Wet tracks test endurance riders
Lisa Clarke. (Image: Vince and Judy Evans, Downunder Images) Thirty-five riders and horses from the WA Endurance Riders Association crossed spectacular countryside in the last ride of the 2021 season at Boat Harbour Camp last month. They tackled the 20, 40, 60 or 80km tracks to the scenic Boat Harbour beach, along local roads, the Denmark/Nornalup Heritage Trail and around the Kordabup Reserve.
Voters put environment first
Patricia Gill. Councillor Ceinwen Gearon has been re-elected unopposed as shire president and Cr Kingsley Gibson deputy shire president to an environmentally-focused council of predominately women. Cr Gearon was elected deputy shire president in 2016 and shire president the following year, a position she has served ever since.
Horse healing power to be harnessed
Serena Kirby. A new exercise therapy will soon be available for Denmark children and adults recovering from serious injury or living with physical disabilities and illnesses. The name of the therapeutic practice, hippotherapy, comes from the Greek word ‘hippos’ meaning horse and roughly translates as ‘treatment with help of a horse’.
Fairy Queen’s wit, wonder a delight
Ross Dwyer. Denmark Baroque and the Darlington String Quartet presented a classical concert at the Civic Centre on October 22 to a delighted audience. Musical director Georg Corall conducted from the harpsichord excerpts from the Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell. In the second half of the evening, the Darlington String Quartet performed the Bell Birds Suite by Emma Jayakumara and Tchaikovsky’s quartet number one in D Major.
Beach plans in disarray
Andrew Gill. The future of the Ocean to Channel Recreation Precinct development planned for Ocean Beach is in doubt with the Denmark Shire’s application for $4 million from the Building Better Regions Fund rejected ... The blow comes as the shire and surf club battle to save beach assets in the wake of erosion caused by a series of wild winter storms.
Salty singers not too shabby at shanty show
Denmark's sea shanty singers, the Salty Seadogs, gave audiences at the Albany International Folk ’n’ Shanty Festival renditions of old and new shanties with heaps of gusto ... Nine shanty-singing groups and 26 Australian folk music acts and seven international acts played in several venues around Albany waterfront including the Albany Entertainment Centre.
A tale of two cockatoos
John Anderson. White-tailed black cockatoos have one of the most evocative and haunting bird calls in Australia. Around Denmark, they can often be seen and heard in the evening flying in small groups to their roosting sites. Occasionally, massive flocks of hundreds of birds converge on a favoured watering hole or swamp to drink, such as Yanchep National Park, north of Perth.
