Daintree Life

04/05/2026

A report on Zone B at the Bells Road, Newell project. After a truly horrendous wet season (still not quite over), we have had near-continuous heavy rain for 4-5 months straight. The effect on this low-lying area (with newly planted trees) has been an inundation disaster before the roots could fully establish. Yesterday, we did drone flyovers because the ground was still too wet to access, and we used very high-resolution photos from the drone to pinpoint trees still surviving. Here is just one example area. The first photo is out of the camera, and the second shows surviving trees with white circles - with an access track below the pink line. We were expecting a near wipeout, so seeing those circled trees is a nice surprise. However, a desktop counting exercise shows there should be around 218 trees in that area, and there are 33, equating to a loss of around 85%. We aim to start replanting losses once the ground starts drying around June. Sad, but it is what it is.

06/04/2026

This cute little guy has been camped out on our verandah for a couple of days - probably sick of the rain too. A very young Carpet Python, Morelia spilota, about 35-40cm long and weighs just 32 grams. Our good friend and reptile expert, Kristy, estimates this baby to be around 1-2 months old. Very cute.

06/03/2026

Sharing this GoFundMe for our good friend, David White, Solar Whisper Daintree River Crocodile & Wildlife Cruiseswhose boat, Solar Whisper was torn from moorings and destroyed overnight when the Daintree River went full-on flood mode. This is his life and livelihood gone. Help us to help him get a new boat. Many of you will have been on the boat with us. Please share and donate anything you can to restoring 'the life' of this amazing conservationist to doing what he has done best for over 30 years. Thank you in advance.

David White and his Daintree River crocodile cruise, Solar Wh… Amanda French needs your support for Support Solar Whisper: Keeping Crocodile Conservation Afloat

25/01/2026

Highlighting another tree species that we plant in all of our revegetation sites. Although this post doesn't have any picture of the tree, its fruits or flowers, the Freshwater Mangrove (Carallia brachiata) is a tree growing up to 10 m tall. This tree is the host plant for the Four O'clock moth (Dysphania numana). Pictured are the caterpillar and the moth.

25/01/2026

A tree that we commonly plant in all of our revegetation sites is the Red-leaf fig (Ficus congesta). With very early and ongoing fruiting, these trees are a valuable food resource for many of our native birds and Tube-nosed Bats. The fruits change to this yellow colour as they ripen and we have regularly observed Cassowaries very delicately and precisely picking the ripened fruits from amongst the green ones. Like many fig species this fruiting habit is referred to as cauliflory meaning the plants flower and fruit from their stems and woody trunks

03/01/2026

With the arrival of the wet season here in the wet tropics, every frog with something to say comes out at night. Connie photographed this White-Lipped Tree Frog (Litoria infrafrenata) in full-on singing/calling mode.

25/12/2025

Lovely visitor to our garden a few days ago. This is a Papuan Frogmouth (Podargus papuensis) - resting on our rainwater tank ladder. When it got too hot in the sun, this bird flew under the house in our carport and sat just under the roof watching me attaching wire mesh to flight cage sections. Papuans are larger than their Tawny Frogmouth cousins and live in the Aru Islands, New Guinea and Cape York Peninsula here in Australia.

23/12/2025

Aerial shots taken 4 months apart (August & December) showing the whole of Zone B on the Bells Road, Newell project. The first shot shows 25-30% planted and the latest shot is almost fully planted and great tree growth to the right and bottom centre, as those areas were planted first.

13/12/2025

Local, Matty helping us at the Bells Road site yesterday as another 260 trees went into the ground. 5720 of an expected 6200 now planted on Zone B.

12/12/2025

First flowering and a little forest friend. Just five months after planting, we have our first flower spikes appearing on Mallotus paniculatus. Commonly called 'Turn-in-the-wind', these fast growing pioneer species were planted knee-high, with many already over two metres tall. This will be followed by long white flower spikes and small spiky seed capsules.