Gunning & District Historical Society

From Gladstone’s Notebook:   Bird of the Month for June A much smaller assembly of magpies than the one discussed in this article.  Image:  Ben Ashton.  Wikimedia Commons. Image courtesy Wayne Weatherstone  This is number 6 in a twelve part series inspired by Gladstone Weatherstone (pictured left), a dedicated and knowledgeable amateur naturalist who lived on Lyndfield Park near Gunning from 1941 until his death in 1996. Between 1962 and 1981 he recorded bird sightings on and near his farm in a notebook.  We still have this notebook today.   Each month we look at one of the birds that Gladstone recorded, try to place it in context and see if we can glean any lessons about the recent history of our district. On 9 June 1975 Gladstone noted “Unusual number of Black-back Magpies coming around, over eighty being counted in front of house.”  That the number was “unusual” suggests it was not unprecedented.  But it is the o...