Our Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is doomed and there is nothing we can now do to save it. This conclusion has been on the board for a long time, and leading coral reef biologists such as Charlie Veron have been pointing this out for more than a decade, particularly following the impacts of increasing acidity in GBR waters.

Tableland Coordinator Peter Valentine introduced Scott to the full house, ready and enthusiastic for the talk. Soon Scott was delving into the private lives of many bird species from northern Queensland, North and South America, and even Europe. It seemed no details were safe from the wizard photographer’s snoopy focus.

Concerns for Australia’s migratory Swifts: For many years the observations of citizen scientists and birders have been compiled by Michael Tarburton, who would generously produce annual reports on each species, and occasionally write updates and other information summaries. This year Michael announced that he is no longer going to compile the data as the evidence he was seeking is now clear: both species are in serious decline.