Keeping the Bathurst bur out of our backyard: Quick info about regional pests
Bathurst bur (Xanthium spinosum) is actually from South America and accidentally made its way to Australia in the early 1800s where it got its name. From there it crossed the pond where it now contaminates wool, breaks shearing combs, cause skin irritations and dermatitis, and poisons stock – a true nasty!
With fifteen active control sites in the Wairarapa, some farms have thousands of plants on them! However, the plant is still relatively rare in the Wellington region and we plan to keep it that way.
Our pest plants team work hard on the fifteen sites to minimise the impact of this pest on people and livestock.
So if you see a plant with hundreds of straw-coloured burs, each 1.0–1.5 cm long, with many yellow hooked spines you’ve probably got Bathurst bur and our team wants to know about it and they’ll control it for free – to put those Aussies in their place!
Contact pest.plants@gw.govt.nz if you think you've seen it.
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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63.3% Summer
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35.4% Winter
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1.3% Other - I'll share below
EMPIRE BUILDING TRUMP
So Donald Trump does not want to start any wars and is a peace maker.
And yet he is seriously seeking to annex the world's largest island, Greenland from Denmark, take over the Panama Canal from the sovereign country of Panama who have owned it since 1977 and even forthrightly suggesting that Canada ceases being a nation and become a state or series of states of the USA.
Greenland above everything else, harbours minerals vital for todays and tomorrows world and that is what probably attracts Trump most. His son is looking things over in Greenland as this thread is being produced. Climate change is also changing Greenland which despite its name is currently mainly covered in ice and snow all year round. Greenland has a population of 55,000.
Panama's major asset after tourism and services is the canal with a current revenue of $5 billion. It operates its shipping charges through an international organisation so that the USA gets an unbias deal for its ships etc that use the canal. Panama is a poor country on the improve and has a population of 4.5 million.
Denmark is a member of NATO. But Trump has threatened many times for the USA to pull out of this Europe-USA defence alliance and Greenland may be the straw that finally breaks the pact.
Canada is surrounded by the USA but it is so much unlike the USA and much more akin to Australia and NZ. In contrast to the USA, Canada is one of the happiest countries in the world and in total land area is the world's second largest.
NZ is going to come under the scrutiny of Trump and his henchmen/women. He will probably look to cut NZ away from its free trade arrangements with China with some kind of ultimatum.
New Year, New Questions You Won’t Solve!
I get smaller every time I take a bath.
What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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