Ecosystems...

I don't normally sit and ponder the ecosystem I live in, but today I got a wake up call. I was dung sampling a mob of ewes in a patch of bush I don't often walk through. As I wandered slowly with my head down, shadows kept flitting above me. They weren't harassing me, just shadowing me. (Ironic, I know...) I looked up to find some adult wrens checking me out, assessing whether I was a threat or not. So I sat and waited and sure enough I got to see their nest and their little ones which were about the size of a tablespoon measure. They weren't threatened by me and this meant I got to sit around a metre from them and watch them go about their business, acting out their part of the ecosystem. 

We are all part of a bigger picture. From the insects in the grass to the birds that eat them. From the bees pollinating the spring flowers to the seeds they drop for the next season. From a bird perched on a sheep's back to an eagle feeding off a dead lamb. It is all interconnected and intricately woven together. 

As I sit on the verandah writing this I can see copious flies, spiders, birds, moths and butterflies, bobtail goannas, chooks, dogs, flowering trees, ants, and even a race horse goanna (a Bungarra as they're known down here). I can hear crickets and I don't know how many different bird calls and I know in the evening I'll hear frogs in the dam and maybe an owl or two. 

All of this tells me that we have a thriving ecosystem here, each part feeds off another. Whether it's the chooks water feeding the insects or the eggs feeding a goanna (not our preferred option for eggs, but it happens). Some of what we have here is introduced or man made, but the intricate web of life still thrives and that makes me smile. Contributing to a continuous cycle of life is what I personally aim for. Life on the land is all about making this land as sustainable as possible.