ONE of a pair of willie wagtails nesting near the bird hide at Edithvale wetlands has rewritten the record books. Numbers on a metal band on the bird’s leg showed it had been wearing the band for nearly 11 years, making it the oldest recorded willie wagtails. Birdlife Australia’s Andrew Silcocks banded the bird 10 years, 10 months and eight days before it was photographed feeding chicks at the Edithvale nest. The previous record for a willie wagtail was held by a willie wagtail in NSW that was “resighted” after nine years and seven months. Friends of Edithvale and Seaford…
Author: Keith Platt
PENINSULA Aero Club has failed in a bid to force Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and several Tyabb residents to pay nearly $124,000 in legal costs. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last month ruled that PAC and Westernport Airfield Pty Ltd could not claim costs as they were not “substantially successful” in their dispute with council over: the description of the use of the land as an ‘airfield’ or ‘airport’; the use of the east-west runway; the total number of take-offs and landings of aircraft with an all-up weight of between 4,500 and 12,500 pounds; and the prohibition on night…
A CONCERT on Hastings foreshore by US band Smashing Pumpkins has been cancelled because insurers class the site as “an unacceptable risk”. A former landfill site, the foreshore can become “environmentally unstable in extreme weather” and Mornington Peninsula Shire requires users to “complete a hazard and risk register”, the mayor Cr Steve Holland said. Concert promoters One World Entertainment said it cancelled the Smashing Pumpkins’ The World is a Vampire tour concert on Saturday 22 April because the council’s regulations had made it uninsurable. “Any wet weather can lead to an event being shut down at the council’s discretion, this…
THE wrong solenoid valve and lack of equipment to detect operating faults have been blamed for flames emerging onto the deck of the liquified hydrogen tanker Suiso Frontier while docked at Hastings. The flames did not lead to an explosion or fire, but the event is identified as being a serious incident, in a report released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) more than one year later. The 116 metre long Suiso Frontier was on its maiden voyage when it arrived at the Port of Hastings on 20 January 2022 already partly loaded with liquified hydrogen. The voyage was…
THE Dolphin Research Institute is asking boaters to “give dolphins a fair go” in Port Phillip. The institute says the bay’s dolphins are inquisitive and may approach boats, but that is natural – chasing or following dolphins for a closer look is not. Boat owners and beachgoers are this summer being asked to commit to Dolphin Distancing, which means boats (including paddle craft) not getting closer than 100 metres to dolphins and jet skis staying at least 300m away. Swimmers should not be closer than 30m and dogs 300m. Dolphins can, and do, break the rules. “It’s a shared space…