Switch off the lights! Manly Light pollution

Click the image for a larger version of the glare bombs

Switch off the lights, join other places that refrain from light pollution. Keep some of the life-supporting climate for others to come. Do not trap wildlife with artificial lights. Flooding the environment, the beach and the night sky is an expensive hazard for human beings too. Stop the waste and fossil fuel burning. Some NSW councils turn off their "non-essential lights, computers and air conditioning at noon on Friday."

> Reducing Light pollution
Light Pollution, Wikipedia
Neighbour friendly lighting
SydneyOutdoor Lighting Improvement Society

Update: Gimmick Day is over, cheap child amusement and attention focussing on 'tourist landmarks' in the MSM. After the dimming, 'business as usual' continues, now with a relieved conscience. Systemic failure stands in for lack of structural change. 300309

Reducing Light Pollution

In various cities of the world unnescessary lights are switched off now. New York, Toronto, Chicago, Zürich and many more cities have decided to not waste energy and disrupt the ecosystem. Light pollution does not only obscure the night sky, but it creates health problems for humans and disrupts the life of a lot of other animals, especially birds. As a result many cities turn off their lights during bird migration, but plan to leave them off for the entire year. Skybeamers are prohibited in Switzerland so far.

In Manly businesses are arming themselves with glaring lights, making any vision for pedestrians and beach-goers impossible. Sporting venues billow dollars into the night sky. Council regulators seem to have no 'light awareness'. On the sub-urban front, domestic lighting beams up into the sky from underneath. Unsecured beams at the front and rear of houses simulate bright daylight. Also handy in case of a bit of night mowing and considerate as it saves the neighbours lighting while reading.

At event-hypes the public laserbeamer aims for Mars and the trees light up with bulbs permanently, so that no bird shall rest in them ever again. Meanwhile in the subs x-mas lighting orgies are displayed to small humans. Kilometers of light bulbs reading: "What energy crisis?".

As there is always that 5 year time-lag in Australia, one might hope the CBD could join in the dark sky movement and reduce the 'sky glow', then maybe councils and residents might also 'see the light' and turn them off. For the sake of

• their own health
• their energy bills
• their birds and other animals
• their beautiful southern sky
• their delicate ecosystem

Manly Beach Drift 'wood' - January

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

Each day washes another type of jelly fish up, today bluebottles, yesterday a mysterious 2 cm 'button' with a dark blue short fringe. The entire beach filled with them. The day before, transluscent blobs. Heating up the ocean, turning it into an acid brew and eradicating the predators of jellyfish (Sunfish, turtle etc) will produce an ever denser 'bloom' of more or less stinging jellies to wade and 'swim' in.

Many different types of kelp in beautiful shapes. A living hermit crab (Pagurus sinuatus) walking about in a big shell. One cuttlefish whole and the other with arms and tentacles cut off, cooking on the sand. 'Cheap bait'? Desperate fishing people swish nets of stinking fishheads on the sand, maybe to attract sharks? An abundance of fishing junk all along, reels, nylon etc.

At the pipes of sub-urban eutrophication lingers a mysterious smell. Intertidal critters do their best to coat the pipe. Terns love the safety of the tall signs. Real driftwood, washed in by the king tide.

The human contribution: Smoking all over the beach, toxic butts in the surf. Large groups of young people all with unprotected heads in the water and on the beach. Their coaches and carers are well covered from uv radiation.
On the sand and in the surf, the smell and sound of petrol racing. Roaring, smelly boats in 'operational areas', getting close to bodies in the surf. Buggies racing along the sand, without an apparent urgency for speed. One day it will be termed an 'accident'.
Commercial speed boats spin right into the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve, depriving the marine fauna of a safe habitat. Swimmers and divers are in great danger form aquatic 'wheelies'. The airspace also has more frequent hovering of helicopters, private and commercial 'joy flights'.

On the litter front, the usual 'one mouthful' wrappers and containers, many balloons, gift wrapping and other marine debris on the shore line.

Denise Ellis Kelly pointed out how a speeding motor had killed a Little Penguin. She also mentioned how the shark net tangled and drowned a dolphin at xmas. (Manly Daily, 140109, p. 22) This is probably just the visible 'tip of an iceberg'. The motor boat and living body interface is as deadly and polluting as terestial traffic. Ban, reduce and lower speed. Motorised lifesavers' high speed is only warranted if life is in danger.

Aerial plastic tangle in the form of kites, string and balloons are left in the tall pines for animals to get entangled in.

The extreme light pollution along the beach from North Steyne Club to Queenscliff pool is an “ecological trap” for wildlife and a blinding nuisance for people. One light bellows out CO2 pollution during the day as well. What a waste.


150109 Image 2 & 4 :Penguin art exhibition by children in the Manly Library. "Boats can hurt penguins. Slow down!"

A moray eel washed up, strangled by fishing line right behind the neck. Another inhabitat of the Cabbage Bay Marine Reserve reef became victim of fishing by-kill.
More Crested Terns (Sterna bergii) indicating heat to come.

The daily junkspace: unwanted flimsy plastic sun tents, generously left behind when broken down after a low usage rate. Large sheets of plastic tarp and the usual unwanted plastic bits.

On the beach walkway - many cars, unloading their commercial loads for the day. The council “green machine” billowing black smoke, repelling people from using the beach parade. The noise and pollution impact on beach users from driving on pedestrian paths is considerable. Operators stop for long periods to engage in long 'ride on conversations' – all with running motors of course, as it is customary in CO2 belching hot Australia. The accumulated fumes from the diesel-intensive mechanical sweeping and the decibel pollution drives people from the public space which is apparently being 'cleaned' for them. 220109Another large dead moray eel with a tumor/growth? on the side of its body. A dead frog and many blue bottles. A hot ocean and the feeling of desertification racing. Despite it all, SUVs and airconditioners are pumping up the Hot Planet. 300109

Bogong migration incompatible with human society

As every year at this time the bright cities of NSW are swarming with Bogong moths. In the CBD of Sydney they were clinging in the crevises of old sandstone buildings, sheltering from the sun and resting. They did not go for the fauna-repelling cement/glass bunkers to hide. From Circular Quay to the CBD there was a frenzy of humans spraying poisons or sucking them in to industrial vacuum cleaners.

These creatures probably have migrated 'forever' on the same migratory routes. Growing up as a larvae in Queensland, they get a big dose of arsenic in the 'agricultural' fields. When it is time to hatch as a moth, it takes them 1000 km each year to fly to their cool Alpine granite caves. On the way they have to stop over for a rest in NSW, some just get attracted by all the light pollution.

The intolerance of humans to share the wildlife-urban interface in Australia with other creatures is high. In the struggle for control over space, the Australian animals are the ones for the extinction list. Termed by the MSM as “unskilled migrants” or even pest infestations, they are being eradicated. The concept of unique and 'protected' Australian fauna is for the zoo or emblems. After the arsenic, the pesticides generously sprayed around take their toll on the native birds. Appeals to reduce unnecessary light pollution, which attracts the swarms, also fall on clogged ears.
The ones that make it back to the Australian Alps are eagerly gobbled up by the threatened tiny Pygmy Possum. Both moth and mountain possum are also robbed of their habitat and food sources by human-induced climate change. Snow tourism, sprawl, climate change and grazing cattle illegally deprive these Australians of their habitat. Pygmy, (video) just 'discovered' in 1966 and already on the way out, has as its main diet Bogongs. The snow is melting and the (toxic) Bogongs are not so plentiful.

Maybe the sandstone caves at Circular Quay that were eradicated to make place for the British penal settlement belonged to the Bogongs traditional space/time to ensure sustainable food for fauna and indigenous people. It was also the beginning of the mash up of spring water and sewage, as is a tradition of this unsustainable culture. The growing population quickly outstripped the clear spring at Circular Quay. They filled in the source of the stream to produce more food. Many years on from this Tank Stream saga, the stench of sewage at the Quay and the unavailability of healthy (drinking) water testifies to this culture too poor to manage its resources mindfully.
Huntsman spiders are welcoming them in Manly and the CBD...
Previous:
Bogong clouds over Manly
Other Links:
Bogong Months and Parliament House

Update:
Decline in bogong moth numbers leaves pygmy mountain possums starving, The Guardian, 25.02.2019

Manly Beach Drift "wood" - June

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

010609
A large reef fish, bluebottles, coconuts
Willy Wagtails surfing the kelp heaps. A very large Pelican/Gannet feather full of parasites.

JUNKSPACE:
Two people with plastic bags collected things, wood? unseen before.
Fumes at the beach: cars, eateries and smokers
- There are Life Guards for the aquatic zone, but where are they for the terrestrial slow lingering toxins?
Noise: Building sites all along

020609
Cat fish, bivalves, sponges, shells
Swallows and Willy Wagtails surfing the kelp
Kelp holding the beach in place, if no one interferes

Junk space:
Plastic junk, a lot of bottles and plastic pellets seemed to be accumulating in front of the 'litter free' beach club. More surfing plastic bits.

What can't be 'cleaned' with the aid of petrol at the beach doesn't get done. It is impossible - the blind spot.

Glass, sharp and in all colours and sizes.

Industrialised cleaning of the promenade at prime visitor time repels users. High pressure hosing exposes people nearby to aerosol pollution. It ruins the ambiance for hours.

030609
Kelp heaped up at the northern end
Sponges of many shapes and sizes, many pink/red
Coconuts, Sea urchins, dead fish

Junk Space:
Plastic, especially bottles. Countless light blue tops
Glass, bumper crop, sharp, many bottlenecks
Food wrappers, the one mouthful type, now also for dogs!
- Can't industry take full life cycle responsibility for their (anti-) products?
Fishing junk: plastic ropes, fishing string all tools to entangle wildlife.
Light pollution in daylight

040609:
Bird scape: Four very agile Gannets (Morus serrator) were busy diving. Willy Wagtails were patrolling the kelp. Large swarms of magpies fight over the tips of pines. Sulphur Crested Cockatoos are still into pine seeds.

Kelp at the northern end is grabbing the sand back, Cunjevoi and Sea tulips mingle with the plastic bottles.

Most of the 'drift'wood is of anthropogenic origin, sawn-off and dumped. A lot of garden rejects.

JUNK SPACE:
Fishing Junk: Floaters, long nylon strings, plastic ropes, a car tyre with intricate entangled ropes tied to plastic container.
The plastic pellets still linger, especially in front of the 'litter free' Surf Club/beach. There seems to be an unusual amount of plastic bottles, tops and fast food wrappers/cutlery of a throw-away society.
Glass, not much today.
Odor scape: Fumes from idling diesel tourist buses and unpleasant fat from some eateries at the beach.

090609
Dead fish, nice large sponges,

At the Sth Steyne end the pine roots are exposed on the beach by the erosion, caused by the climate- change accelerating behaviour of fossil fools.

Junk space:
A record amount of broken glass, all over the beach. Post-event glass.
Black plastic bags for dog feces blowing along the beach.
Garbage: Take away packaging and drink tins.
The Pigface (Carpobrotus glaucescens) planted around the base of the pines squashed into pulp by a stampede of feet. Post event damage.

120609
Styropore in all shapes and sizes along all of Manly Beach. The petroleum product, used for some many fast food throwaway items, does leach into the products. Everlasting plastic rubbish.

150609
A great variety of shells and coral pieces all along the beach.
Two Pelicans flying towards the polluted Manly Lagoon

Junk space:
Glass, a huge crop of all colours and sizes. All freshly cracked scattered all over Manly Beach. Let's call it the post-weekend crop.


170609
Kelp all roots up is doing its best to hold the sand.

Bird Audiospace:
A couple of Gannets (Morus serrator) dive directly at Manly Beach, Sth Steyne, neatly between the flags.

35+ Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, (Cacatua galerita) travel through the pine arcade. Both at rest and in flight emitting their distinctive raucous call. Feeding together on the pine cones, trimming the odd branches, hanging upside down.

The dogaholics walking their packs underneath seem to be blind to such an event. How could anyone think of confining such a powerful social bird in a cage? Why are so many inviting them with junkfood to their balconies in Manly, culturing dependence and inviting the demolition of their houses? In many places they still shoot and poison the protected animal.

Two Masked Lapwings (Vanellus miles) fly over at the Queenscliff end emitting their characteristic day and night call during flight. The Plovers' habitat is reduced to dirty puddles near roads where they are killed by cars, dogs and cats. Some sub-urban birds have given up breeding all together and leave it all up to the human species and their canines.

A White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) was seeking refuge on top of a tall building, as the wet slopes of Queenscliff were crowded with dogs. Engraved into local sandstone rocks by the indigenous people of Manly, the birds lived in this area for eons.

A Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina) hunted in the lower levels of the pines, filling its 'larder'.

190609
A very large spiky Porcupinefish together with a toxic looking spray can. Is the zoo imitating toxic 'reality'?

Plastic lighters, 'party' baloons with long entanglement ribbons for wildlife. Dog feces plastic bags, that claim to be 'biodegradable'.
Glass, a lot of it, especially in front of 'Manly's litter-free beach'.

220609
A fresh delivery of plastic pellets. Shredded styropore. Rejected broken surfboards. Many plastic 'throw-away' lighters.
The smell of miasma in front of the 'litter-free' beach club, emanating from the 'run-off' pipe.
The horizon cluttered by a cruise liner billowing pollution into the blue sky and Pacific.
Unusual severe beach erosion all along the beach.

230609
Severe erosion of Manly beach. Even if all autoholics kicked the habit, a 25 m sea level rise is a "can do" for coming generations.

A new large amount of plastic resin pellets (nurdles, mermaid tears) along the southern 'run-off' pipe. This is the raw material for the plastic industry to make the many plastic goods. "Over 250 billion pounds of nurdles are shipped around the world to plastic processing factories every year." A lot gets lost due to inefficiencies and ends up on beaches and in wildlife. All the other plastic junk at the beach, drink bottles, tops, lighters etc are made from these pellets. Today there were some extra large pellets, all mingling with styropore.

School group launching various 'message in a bottle'. Hope they took the glass.

240609
Erosion gnawing at beachfront. Rocks at North Steyne Beach now exposed as well. Manly Beach is fenced off at the parade end. The beach is closed. Earth-moving equipment at work to manufacture a beach at high costs. Sisyphus rolling boulders in the anthropocene?

A new delivery of plastic pellets, together with a lot of minced plastic junk. It has the appearance of a cost-effective tip rather than a beach.

On the invisible side of ocean dumping: All the dumping of e-waste at the kerbside, containing "toxic chemicals, including lead, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chromium, arsenic, antimony and bromide" will no longer be possible by 2010.

A brown haze lingering at the horizon.

250609
A Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos) out of a habitat, searching for a spot to dry its wings.

Erosion. Human labour and earth-moving equipment rolling rocks at the beach. Daily, more and more rocks and fibrous matting is being exposed. Beach and promenade are fenced off.
Despite a forest of signs, families are magically attracted to the sand cliffs and 'rockeries'. One carer by-passed the fence at the beach and swung his toddler at the edge of a 1.7 m sandcliff, rocks underneath. Hungry for adventure.

A very large amount of sharp glass all along the beach.
The usual plastic mince, car tyres more often lately.

Dogs, like every day at Queenscliff beach. Was there ever one conviction?

300609
A large assortment of shells, corals and sponges all along Manly Beach.

Again, an unusual amount of freshly cracked glass of all colours.

The erosion of the beach, especially at the southern end reveals a lot of junkspace: Cement rubble with rusty iron bars jarring out of the ground. Large amounts of fibrous white sheets that used to cover up the 'foundation rocks'.
Council's fences and barriers get broken by the public forcing their 'right to access'. Families seem to be drawn to the rubble as a funfair. Sandy beaches never seem to attract that many minors. Check out the detailed 'erosion' slideshow here.

See also Driftwood of:
May, April, March, February, January, 2009

On Designing Community Life in Manly Sustainably

Manly already has an extreme density of pubs and other venues to consume alcohol in. Now the small lanes will be developed to 'entice' us to drink there as well. At night they “will become a buzzing lane way bar.“ To complement "The pub culture in Sydney" another adult shop is thrown in.

Alcohol-related incidents are “ the state's biggest single crime factor”, costing $50 million a year and contributing to “ violence, malicious damage, public disorder and road fatalities” The cost of negative health effects and social disintegration is probably not reflected by that sum.

A laissez-faire approach to urban 'planning' allows corporate culture to usurp increasingly more public space and intensify their commercial activities. A space/time environment is constructed primarily for rapid profit generation, which the 'consumer' is allowed to immerse themselves in.

In an accelerated globalised world the dominant lifestyle for all is to be 'on the go', drive-through & grab something, getting things done, getting it over with and maybe getting there. In this mobilised and intensified culture the dominant lifestyle for all is to be mobile and flexible. The 'fast world' of fast food, fast drinks, fast travel, fast relationships etc are part of the speedy packages offered by Big Business.

Our social practices take place in a specific space and time, they are place making and also the construction of who we are:

"A city isn’t just a place to live, to shop, to go out and have kids play. It’s a place that implicates how one derives one’s ethics, how one develops a sense of justice, how one learns to talk with and learn from people who are unlike oneself, which is how a human being becomes human."

"The Civitas of Seeing"(1989), Richard Sennet

One approach to culture the human within us and amongst us is mindful and slow living. This movement has been adopted in various cities. A (re) discovery of place-(making) gives distinctiveness and identity to a location. The Slow Cities movement has the following aims:

• Preserving and maintaining the local natural and built environments;
• Developing infrastructure in harmony with the natural landscape and its use;
• Using technology to improve quality of life and the natural and urban environment;
• Encouraging the use and production of local foodstuffs using eco-sensitive methods;
• Supporting production based on cultural traditions in the local area;
• Promote quality of local hospitality. CommunityBuilders NSW

Other features are that

• The city centres are free of cars and have functional cycle paths and real pedestrian zones. Sustainable mobility, such as walking and biking is encouraged.
• The use of sustainable energy, consideration of the natural and social ecology are integrative.
• Air pollution, noise pollution and light pollution are kept in check.
• Public places are inviting and free of ads (solid state spam) and neon lights.
• New developments have to conform to an eco friendly architecture.

The designing of places in Europe that are rich and lasting, might not be appropriate for suburban conditions, favoured by Anglo-culture. Urbanity, diversity, difference, creativity and excitement are for 'the o.s. trip'. Back home the suburbanite wants the solid security of a mono-culture. A good place to bring up kids and dogs. Quickly do the lawn-mowing,hedge-clipping, tree poisoning, then flip the house and move on. Food comes from the mall or a fast-food outlet. Regional food? Most could not name one edible thing endemic to Australia. This “great Australian dream” slowly fades with the young who come to see the project as the “wasteland of the subs”. Liberating themselves from tradition, they seek refuge in Berlin etc from “soul-less” Sydney.

Environments open to a participatory and open difference allow creative people to escape the self-sameness of iconic bland-burbia. Attempts to transplant 'the good bits' from cities in to the mall & sprawl burbs could only be cosmetic. The 'untidy' nature of un-'developed', teeming urban places and its productivity would be a night-mare in tidy town.

When corporate gaols and the aims of individuals seem to match in that both seek rapid gain before any consideration of civil society, then sustainability is impossible. When the private mind-set does not need public spaces, but most 'life' takes place in one's own castle, the civic life beyond the BBQ or sport is a burden. The public space/arena and untidy/uncertain urban spaces not valorized are unthinkable in Australia. Berlin is open to differences, open to allow creative forces to find niche environments to flourish in. It encourages participatory co-construction of the urban interface by its residents. One can 'Get a Life' in the public ecology instead of in the private form only.
Links:
Monoculture or creative environments
LIQUID CITIES: BERLIN AND SYDNEY IN CONVERSATION
New Urbanism Charter
Creating Ordinary Places: Slow Cities in a Fast World,Paul L Knox, Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 10. No. 1, 1–11, February 2005
Jason Adams, Paul Virilio and the Phenomenology of the Political Body, 2003

Manly Beach Drift 'wood' - May

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

Glassing - unintentional/intentional
A stunning lot of freshly cracked G L A S S on the beach. It can be mapped as a post-event phenomena.
On the cemented turf violence with glass, 'glassing' seems to be a popular, mostly alcohol-fuelled activity. There were a lot of bare-footed people on the beach. Which 'stakeholder' is responsible for this potentially dangerous 'externality'?

Airborne Bird Feces and Public Health
At prime visitor time the main cement stairs along the Corso beachfront were sprayed with a high pressure hose. The stairs tend to get caked in bird feces and 'fast food'. The odd butt and wrapping thrown in too. The worker wore no protective mask/ respirator while blowing the nutrient-rich accumulations of bird droppings, feathers and debris in the beach direction. Nearby visitors seated on the stairs received a good dose of of the moist, pulverised, and airborne mix. If OHS is an alien term, then at least the health hazards associated with bird feces and food wastes should be taken into consideration not just in times of pandemics.

Stingers
An unusual jelly, a squarish transluscent bell and short, pink tentacles.(Purple Stinger, Pelagica noctiluca?) Never seen before. It seemed the only medusa on the beach.

An almost hot day with dense white clouds. The horizon uncluttered. 010509

Herbicide in runoff
Various plants around Manly suburbs seem to have been sprayed with herbicide. That classical plant around the pole that petrol-fuelled 'gardening' could not eradicate.

At the beach, along the wall where a few endemic grasses and other plants strain to stabilise the sand, the same 'yellowing'. The bio-cide seems to have flowed as surface runoff and finally came out of a drain, just above the beach vegetation. People often sit on these patches, but 'no worry' - it's just a bit of pesticide at the beach. 020509Crested Tern Habitat: Eutrophication Pipes

Awesome having Crested Terns bomb-dive next to one's head in the surf. Almost hot water. A Pelican flying circles, looking for a habitat. Many types of shells. Some post-event glass freshly chipped. Some fishing string.
At the Manly Life Saving Club, developments race on. Extreme pollution around that premise: a cacophony of debris blowers and diesel-fuelled deliveries of 'fast food' - all blowing into the building. A place to avoid. 040509

More than 24 Crested Terns with offspring. White Cockatoos grazing on conifer seeds. Styropore flakes seem to have come down the hill, washed out of the pipe and got flushed back in. A lot of them. The "Green" machines are disturbing the peace and quite. Fecal matter on the stairs being moistned and dispersed as aerosol by a high pressure hose again. 050509

Unusual mushroom-shaped sponges. Many leg-less seagulls. Why? Large Bluebottles.
All streetlights along North Steyne are on in the daylight. Too much money? Not enough CO2? Pollution from smokers, diesel vehicles and rancid restaurant oils mingling at the beach.
Elsewhere they are flying a blue flag at the beaches to assure users/visitors that the water is clean and the shore-line free of anthropogenic debris. 110509

Dense schools of different sized fish in the surf. Gannets diving for them (video) Seagulls chasing Crested Terns and Gannets for their rich catch. At places the ocean looked like it was 'boiling' with life. A few Willy Wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys) checking out the dunes and a few Butcherbirds calling (audio) from the pines. 130509

A very large variety of shells today. Many Crested Terns still fishing. The surf had very large fish nosing around our legs. The usual plastic junk, fishing/diving garbage and chunky glass.

All streetlights blasting energy during the day from Queenscliff to North Steyne Surf Club. This has been going on for ages now, they must have money to burn! Their offspring might ask them one day why this planet has become so uninhabitable. (PDF) 150509

Diesel and noise pollution at the Queenscliff end: The smell of 'kelp' or the substance that flows out of Manly Lagoon has been exchanged for industrialising the beach and lagoon mouth with noisy and stinking machinery. 180509

The last oysters scratched off by very hungry and needy people at the Queenscliff rocks end. Street lights still blasting in the day as if there is no tomorrow. Dead fish and a lot of garden refuse washed down to the beach from the subs. 'Throw-away' lighters and very large, sharp pieces of glass. Boat-parking on the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve. Who needs biodiversity when in need of parking that petrol-guzzling 'recreational' aquatic vehicle? 190509

A second Shy Albatross found with a fishing hook in its eye and the fishing string tighly wrapped around its legs. Many dead fish and many sepia. The usual 'event' glass and one-mouthful wrappings.
People that look at things at the beach seem to be either small children or foreigners. For the rest it is a (free) gym or a path to the surf. 200509

Wild weather conditions pound the coast. The row of pines in full seed seem to emit a castanets' sound before the lorikeet frenzy starts. Two Pelicans glide over the beach without a movement.
The sand was covered in small pieces of volcanic rock that have blown in. Large Cuttlefish sepia bones.

Along the sandstone wall some native vegetation is re-establishing itself, holding the sand in place: Knotted Club Rush (Isolepis nodosa), Pigface (Carpbrotus glaucescens), NZ Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides) and Scaevola sp.
At the southern end the surf is lapping at the stairs, signs of erosion become visible.
The heavy rain washed suburbia clean again. Down the hill it all goes, all the unwanted externalities.
The plastic Junkspace contained fishing and surfing paraphernalia. Fast food 'throw-away' cutlery and dishes, a lot of balloons with fancy long strings, dummies, spray cans, furniture and crates.
An adult man flying plastic kite in the air, endangering others. Usually the plastic debris gets tangled in the tall pines and stays there for the birds.
A lot of fruit rolled around the shore: apples, figs, grapefruit, oranges, tropical mysteries. The gulls prefer apple.
The usual daytime light pollution and energy waste from Pine Street to the north all along North Steyne.
Around Pacific St. the dunes are reclaiming lawn territory from the underground.
An army plane flying low over the Pacific horizon. 210509

Wild weather still pounding the shoreline.
Audio: Pounding surf, White Cockatoos screeching.

Fauna: An abundance of Nudibranch (Glaucilla marginata). Crested Terns are still blending in with the Seagulls.
Jellyfish: Many Velella, the unusual Bluebottles mingling.

Vegetation matter: Most vegetation matter seems anthropogenic, cut branches, weeded grass tufts, weeds etc. Possibly washed down 'externalities' from sub-urbia.
Plastic: Many bags, 'party balloons' and extra long strings and fancy ribbons ready to entangle wildlife.

Glass: Only one extra large, sharp piece today.
Dogs: Black plastic bags, full (of feces) and empty blowing around the shoreline. Illegal dog packs ON the beach.

On the parade: the same pine vegetation as if the council's idling 'green' machine has never been there. 220509

Wild ocean, even the gulls are uncomfortabe at the beach. The volleyball infrastructure on the beach eroded and scrambled like toothpicks. That bit of 'real estate' on the beach won't be 'monetizing' for a while. The stairs are challenged by the pounding waves, the large sharp rocks from under the sand/ beach are exposed by the erosion. 230509


The erosion and plastic pellets have their own post. There was an unusual amount of anthropogenic debris on the beach. Mostly plastic, a lot of it minced. Giant rope knots, plastic cables etc, ideal to entangle. Most crested terns have disappeared. The smell was not the best and it was not kelp! 250509

Erosion, especially at the south end of the beach. Large rocks, cement lumps, iron bars and mysterious fibrous mats surfacing. The last upright volley poles are going.

Plastic junk and plastic ropes and fishing lines, knotted in thick entanglement balls. The "litter free" North Steyne beach was like the rest of the beach full of plastic garabage and plastic resin pellets.Kelp is arriving to replenish the (northern end of) beach and grasp the sand. Sea tulips and live marine creatures are also amongst it, so the human community will scream 'stinky weed' again and deprive the beach of what it needs. Strange insensitivity towards the other most overwhelming smells...
Jellyfish, large red/burgundy with a huge bell.

Motorised: Wheelies on the ocean, idling green machines on the parade and tractors at the beach stemming the tide of human junkspace. 260509


Kelp: At the north end of the beach: 150+ cm high kelp covering the pool's edge, the beach and surf. Sea Tulips are also mingling. Swarms of Swallows chasing thick swarms of 'kelpflies' in their habitat.

Sponges: A great variety, many still in their colour.
Jellyfish: a couple of the huge bell in red/burgundy.

Junkspace: Minced plastic junk all along the beach.
In front of the childrens' hospital the pines now even become a tip for long and thick fishing strings, high up in the trees, ready to entangle Lorikeets or any other bird. Junkspace making has many dimensions.
Horizon: Thick brown haze pollution. Romatic fireplaces, pollution from a car-dependent nation? 270509
Kelp: + 150 cm high especially at the northern end, sloshing in the surf and reaching into the lagoon and pool. All along the beach as well. As it is mixed with Sea tulips and Cunjevoi it will smell of decomposing animals. That is aside from the Manly lagoon smell, the many eutrophication pipes leading into it and the ocean, funneling the 'externalities' of Sub-urbia into the Pacific.

Sponges in great variety, Shark eggcases and Sea Urchins.
Swallow cleaning up the kelp and marine life 'flies'.

Plastic Junkspace: The old finely minced plastic with the plastic resin pellets from days ago, distributed along the dunes. A fresh lot in the thick kelp of mainly plastic bottles and fast food, eat & chuck debris. And all that on a 'litterfree beach'.

Dogs and more dogs illegally at the Queenscliff end of the beach.

Queenscliff cliff edge: Most woody vegetation (trees) rolling down the cliff 'sponatenously'. Even the endemic wetland reed (Phragmites australis) looks as if it is sick and tired of stabilising the cliff edge. Another habitat going for Herons and Ringtail possums. Only a bare and eroding cliff face/headland would be recognisable as iconically 'Australian'. 280509
See also Driftwood of:
April, March, February, January, 2009

Manly Beach Drift 'wood' - August

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

Crested Terns are back. Unusual footprints of a large shorebird. Unfortunately beach-nesting or just visiting Manly Beach for Australian birds is not on. We only share the beach with dogs. Daily, there are dogs ON the beach illegally. Today a large pony-like thing and a shrunken dwarf.


There were unusual shells along the beach.

Old wood-based media blowing along the beach.
Rich in glass chips, probably the remains of causing 'facial injuries' in Manly's nightlife, just washed down to the beach to glass beach users as well.
Three helicopters swooping in on the beach/surfers, adding noise pollution.
At the Queenscliff end of the beach one wonders about getting into contact with the toxic Manly Lagoon mouth. Is it safe to swim there? Too poor to decontaminate?
The southern end still has eroded stairs and is fenced off.

050809
Erosion: The large stairs at the southern end are still undermined and various debris is scattered at that end of the beach.
Noise: Ear-bursting building sites all along the beach front.
Glass, but a relative absence of the usual fast food packaging.
Daily illegal dogs: one white fluffy thing at Queenscliff and a large one on Manly Beach. A lot of council staff with a focus on parking revenue. Pity, they do not take advantage of collecting from dog owners that do not abide by the law.

060809
A small pod of dark dolphins swimming orderly behind the surfline. A large juvenile Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) diving for fish.
The horizon cluttered with boats and ships, but free of that brown haze from yesterday.
The beach is free of visible pollution, shells and sand.
Along the beach a cacophony of building sites and road building/cleaning machinery. Noise pollution.

07080
A few plastic bits appearing again. Surfers Against Sewage just return the plastic garbage to the offender/sponsor. Better would be to charge for the removal of the anti-product from beaches. The ocean is to dear to be treated like a cheap tip.

A lot of large ships hovering for days on the horizon now. Tinnies whizzing, doing their best to scare any marine mammal away.

Noise pollution all along South and North Steyne, building sites, road building and the usual gas-guzzling vehicles. Manly on permanent beta.


Impervious Surfaces and Coastal Water Quality
A mobile factory has settled in at around 135 Steyne with various large machines along the beach. The asphalt truck/ machinery indicates, that they are 'paving a bit more of paradise'. Most sealcoating of roads/pavements contains toxic PAH which finally finds its way into the stormwater runoff or is blown away in the form of dust particles. PAH is toxic to mammals and the aquatic ecological system, it is also accumulative.

100809
Two Humpback Whales swimming slowly and in constant touch along Manly Beach. Following the curve of Manly and then Shelly Beach, they leave, hugging the coastline. Mother and calf logging? There was an unusual absence of combustion engines in the air and aqua-space.

The post-weekend beach-scape: A black plastic bag full of untreated dog feces ON the beach.

Plastic toys, balloons and polystyrene chips.


110809
With post rain and that tsunami feeling many birds behaved in unusual patterns:
Some Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, (Cacatua galerita),(audio) flew very high along the beach.
A Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus) left the lagoon end to head north.
A Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), (audio) was chased by a smart Australian Raven ( Corvus coronoides )(audio).
Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) surfed the sand dunes
Willie Wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys), (audio) investigated the beach
Magpie-larks (Grallina cyanoleuca) pierced the air with their 'pee-wee' (audio)
Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) joined in (audio)
In the pines a faint Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carnunculata), (audio)
High in the sky: Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus), (audio)

The surf had a thick greenish foam, that lingered and stained the beach sand in a slimy, bubbly green.

Strange media attention to people hassling aquatic wildlife at Shelly Beach Aquatic Reserve and killing a Wobbegong shark. One person's conservation efforts to save the Spotted Wobbegong (Orectolobus maculatus) are another's 'sports trophy' in spear fishing.

"The day you fail to find sharks cruising your favourite beach is the day you should really start to worry."

120809
An epidemic of 'convenient' 'one-mouthful-wrappers' and take-away & chuck coffee plastic garbage. There are definitely waves of usage, bound to fashion,'must do', 'must have'. Before it was the plastic water bottle one carries around jogging to look cool. Now it is the cup. Either way, the absence of mindful food and drink does not entice social responsibility. It is incorporated in the product/consumer mind: quick, convenient stuff for me, I, myself - the rest, the anti-product belongs to the public sphere. Chuck!

More green slime and frothy foam.
Garden clippings, mostly sawn wood washed onto the beach. Beach as cheap tip?

130809
A whale swam slowly along Manly beach towards Shelly beach. (Video) Both marine mammals and internal combustion vehicles take, unfortunately the same path along the shore. Boats usually 'park' ON Cabbage Tree Aquatic Reserve and then race off. The whales hug the shoreline going south now.

A very noisy chopper hovered over Manly Beach, vibrating all living beings. Deafening for all mammals, terrestial or aquatic. So much for acoustic comfort.
Along the Esplanade, pneumatic drills undoing the last jobs. Audible at the beach.

More of the convenient one-mouthful plastic wrappers left along the beach.

The daily illegal dog ON the beach.

At Queenscliff beach front the garages to house the CO2 intensive life-saving gear are apparently doubled. More habitat for combustion engines, less green space, more impervious surface and a new building on the sand dunes in times of 'planned retreat'.

180809
F o u r illegal dogs AND their owners ON Manly beach today. Two dogs at Queenscliff were allowed to freely urinate all over the sand. Think about it next time you roll on it, play with it or even eat it. Approaching the offending dog owners leads to verbal assaults and often physical threats. Emotional beasts defying the human law. Together with the feces draining from the walkway on to Manly Beach it poses a serious health hazard. There seems to be no enforcement of the law and an absence of a concerned community.

200809
Just like in August 2007, the 'green slime' (120809, above) of the day turns in to glowing waves of bioluminescence at night. (Video)

210809
Two school girls walking two rats on a leash ON the beach and around the pool. Doing their best to mingle with the wild rodent populations, facilitating a pathogen ecology for salmonella and typhus.
But why not, if cats are walked around Manly town to harrass the endemic bird population and dogs do IT ON the beach, then anything seems to go lacking effective regulation.

Divine swimmers doing the Queenscliff to Shelly Beach loop. Jet ski speeding further off. Incompatible ocean activities.

More plastic turning up as it gets warmer. All the plastic in the ocean and on the beach decompose, releasing hazardous chemicals (toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer ) to ALL life. Treating the beach or the Pacific as a cheap tip/externality will reveal itself as a toxic legacy for all to come.

Glass on the beach.

With great confidence they are building more at the low-lying 'sanddune/path' at Queenscliff. It appears to be doubling built habitat for CO2 gear (garages). Rising sea levels denial? No retreat, no deserting coastal strips.

Retrograde amnesia forgot the eroded volleyball posts just a short time ago. A new turf is quickly staked out and 'pay & play' can continue. Privatisation of the beach? Only the ocean and the sky pose a limit.

240809
Jelly stingers are back at Manly Beach with 11 degrees above average today. The cycle starts again: nutrient enriched hot ocean, glowing at night with bioluminescent dinoflagellates , then jelly fish and algea bloom. The ocean and atmosphere as a tip are being 'cooked up'.

Flies are also back after the weekend stampede. 900 million people are presently sprawling around the globe, 'seeking to get away from it all'. Fast food anti-products all along the beach.

An extra large oil tanker hovering at the horizon. The white sand could contain more than green slime and dog poo...

Toddlers baking at the beach in full sun for hours.

250809
Washed up right in front of the Corso a Rakali (Hydromys chrysogaster). The endemic 'water-rat' lives on Manly's rocky foreshore. It has a dense, water-repelling fur, partly webbed hind feet and a tapering tail with a white tip. It lives on aquatic invertebrates which it dissects with its specialised molars, it is a good swimmer. "It is reported to leave bigger ones out in the sun. As the bivalve heats up and dies, its valves gape, allowing the rat access to the interior." In mythology it features as a spouse of Moon.
As the unrestrained dogs and cats are allowed to freely enter its habitat it can be assumed, that this Australian local will soon vanish, just like the little Penguins. People choose to exchange rich biodiversity, which makes this place unique, for an impoverished monoculture.

A lot of post-event garbage and glass along the beach. The junkspace left behind these events should be a cost factor to the organisers.

At the Queenscliff end the diesel fumes from various buidling sites were so dense, that the beach could not be utilised.

The eroded large stairs at the southern end still have their foundations exposed. Rusty iron jarring amongst the rock and various mysterious mats are sloshed in the surf.

There was a large array of small shells.

260809
A very large pod of dolphins swimming along Manly Beach today. When they came closer to the shallow waters a yellow kayak raced too close to them, interfering with their route. A swooping helicopter finally put an end to the marine mammals visiting the beach.

Junkspace:
Noisy polluting sand-moving equipment at the Queenscliff end, 'doing the lagoon'.
At the horizon, an oil tanker emitting black plumes of pollution.
A lot of 'one mouthful' wrappers, a lot of sharp broken glass

Light pollution IN the ocean at Cabbage tree aquatic reserve & the Bower. A hassle for nocturnal marine life. Looks like the aquatic peeping and grabbing industry needs regulation.

On the Esplanade: Dog owners allow their beasts on extra long leashes to chase the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos which are picking up the pine seeds of the ground. The lawn is littered in dog turds. The leashes of careless dog-owners seem to get ever longer to the extend that even people get entangled in them now.

270809
Around the Queenscliff Rock Pool, many black flippers in the ocean close to the beach. Unfortunately they were not marine mammals, but many humans with lethal weapons. The scale of the operation was more akin to a professional Take and Go. The weapons seemed taller than the guys and a safety hazard for swimmers and walkers at Manly Beach. Armed 'sports' activities are not appropriate at a busy urban beach. It is just a matter of time before an 'accident' happens.

Where is the Manly Beach Watch, monitoring violations and pollution and collecting data on species?

Junkspace:
An unusual amount of very sharp glass all along the beach. Post event by-product. Soon signs should be erected: 'Danger! Do not go barefoot on Manly Beach. You carry all risks, ok! ' The usual amount of take-away garbage, left there by beach users. It is actually relatively rare that garbage gets washed in. Busy boat-days can lead to float-in junk. Unusual weather conditions bring minced plastic from the BIG Pacific tip.

Unusual large dead fish at the beach.

At the North Steyne Beach Club, the toilets on the beach side are being renovated. Could that be white paint tossed on to the beach sand?

Oil tanker at the horizon. The same as the days before? The uncluttered horizon will be a historical phenomenon.

At the Esplanade:
Large Red Wattlebirds (Anthochaera carnunculata) in pairs are very daring in the pines. They even clean the many garbage bins of insects.

Walking along the parade people devoting their lives tending to live-stock (dogs). Driven (CO2) to the beach, often three in harness, to empty all the 'meat' (CO2) at Manly Beach. How are these people prepared for emergency evacuations? Three 'calves' in the hummer and off to greener pastures?
Others in the stay at home nation, prefer to push multiples of their own species along, drowning out the screems with digital gear.

What a giant footprint!

280809
Three illegal dogs on Manly Beach today within a short time span. One dogowner allowed their two white inbred bull terriers to freely roam along the beach. This bully-behaviour had obvious effects on other beach users that felt uncomfortable. Potentially a dangerous situation

At North Steyne Beach, a dog owner sun-baking with a dog. As the beach seems to be a law-free arena, 'accidents' are about to happen. Will tourists really want to come to Manly to 'discover packs of dogs' and be harangued defenceless at the beach?

At this stage some risk factors at Manly Beach are dogs, glass, weapons (spearguns), fishing junk, kites and speeding vessels in the ocean.

Driftwood: July, June, May, April, March, February, January, 2009