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Other / 31.12.2015

Although a map showing the world’s ant species was launched by the University of Hong Kong last August, I feel it is opportune to now bask in the reflected glory of Queensland being home to the highest number of native species, 1,458 out of approximately 15,000 globally. You can find out more at antmaps.org The diversity view makes fascinating studying. The UK has 62 native species, France 224.

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Film Diary / 30.12.2015

Tonight was our 120th walk, almost 8 years to the day since our first and a terrific way to finish 2015, the previous week having been rained off. Mark joined Michael,  Jaap and me in MacDonald National Park on a beautiful night, the slopes sheltered from the wind which was blowing in the car park. I filmed a Shiny-leaf Stinging Tree new to me, a spider which was probably a Brown Huntsman but looked different, a definitely different species of skink, a dead bandicoot infested with flies and maggots, a moulting cicada nymph and what looked like an unusual snail on a leaf. Rather an impressive haul.

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Film Diary / 16.12.2015

For the first time in 10 weeks I was able to muster a crew for night filming, namely Robyn and Michael,a student she recruited. Jaap was able to accompany us. We went to Joalah National Park and were rewarded with sightings of many of our regular species. I filmed a close relative of a pill millipede, new to us, which terminated in  a large, grey hind segment. I also filmed a small, black centipede and two small winged insects with white eyes, one black with orange spots, the other just black. It was sheer joy to be out on a beautiful night in our beloved rainforest once again.

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Film Diary / 12.12.2015

My FILM DIARY entry of 25 July 2015 proudly proclaimed my sighting of two new bird species on the same day, when sighting one is a rare occurrence. I did see two new species, but I got the identity of both wrong, one of them spectacularly so. I discovered the spectacular blemish a few days ago and the second error today. To set the record straight, what I identified as a Topknot Pigeon is the very different Feral Pigeon (whose ruffled feathers gave the appearance of a thick crest at the back of the head). The Feral is a domestic pigeon which has returned to the wild. What I identified as a Little Corella is the similar looking Long-billed Corella. Little Corellas are native to this part of the world whereas the presence of Long-billed Corellas here (they are endemic to southern Victoria and western New South Wales) is due to the release or escape of captive birds.

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Other / 08.12.2015

At last I received an email from Karga 7 Pictures accepting my refusal to allow them the use of Arachnophobia 2009, after they had resisted taking no for an answer for nearly a week. Between first contact and now, emails were batted to and fro, including an agreement to pay me for providing the uncompressed version of the footage and its use. What decided me against proceeding were the potentially dire consequences of signing the Materials Release and the fact that the production house was not able to guarantee me being credited for my work.

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My Travels / 25.11.2015

After an email exchange, I today posted a cheque to secure my accommodation in London for my intended trip to the UK and Europe next northern summer. I got in early because last time when I tried booking in January, my preferred dates were unavailable, my stay had to be pushed back by two weeks and instead of starting in London, it concluded there.

 

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Other / 20.11.2015

I collected the letter with the Queensland Museum Network Gift Agreement for my Image Library from my mail box (as opposed to my PO box). It is a rather flimsy affair compared with the State Library Deed of Gift and at first reading appears to vest copyright with the Museum. There are other issues I need to raise before signing.

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Other / 20.11.2015

An email arrived from a television production company in Los Angeles requesting permission to use my Arachnophobia 2009 video of an aggregation of Golden Orb-weaving Spiders for a TV series for the Science Channel. All well and good. In July last year we provided Showrunner Productions in Perth footage from various videos for a series they were making for ABC TV here in Australia. To date there has been no sign of it and perhaps it always was a speculative project. Needless to say they balked at the idea of paying me. Will Karga 7 Pictures? These production companies are in business to make money but seem to rely on not having to pay the likes of me. Don’t get me wrong, it is always flattering to be asked.

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Film Diary / 08.11.2015

There has been a marked shortage of moths at the garage this season. It could be due to a cool, dry Spring. I did photograph three moths a month ago, but no others until stormy weather set in a few days back and even then numbers were far fewer than after comparable rain periods. Today I photographed three moths and emailed images for Peter Hendry to identify.

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Website / 29.10.2015

Have just sent Andrew a zip folder containing 149 XMLs. There were 151 species on my list, but only 149 XMLs. I was quietly going round the bend thinking I had missed a couple and asked Steve to make my list alphabetical when I worked with him two evenings ago. The original list was grouped according to subject and location in the Albums. There were 70 moths, of which two were duplicated. To complicate matters, I sent EOL an email regarding the Data Object GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) and the reply contained the frustrating information that EOL’s data harvesting system is severely malfunctioning and will take a while to rectify. Steve and I uploaded new videos to vimeo a month ago. My most recently harvested videos on EOL date back to 5 months ago, though we uploaded 3 videos to vimeo 3 months ago.