Field Naturalist and Nature Writer
Welcome to Tanya Loos’s website! Featuring natural history writing on the beautiful flora and fauna of the Wombat Forest, Victoria and further afield, and science writing with a focus on ecology and biology. You will also find practical advice on living with wildlife.
Daylesford Nature Diary
Six Seasons in the foothill forests
Praise for Daylesford Nature Diary
“The remarkable Tanya Loos has identified key indicator species for seasonal changes and described them in delightful prose and engaging photographs. Who can resist the appeal of the puggle, an early spring baby echidna indicator?”
Alan Reid, OAM, environmental educator and author of Banksias & Bilbies.
“Attractively produced and well-illustrated… the six seasons and their features are well-described. [The stories] are short and easy to read, covering all sorts of things an observant naturalist might come across: bats, wattles, ghost fungi, mosses, greenhoods, swifts, rosellas, echidnas, wood ducks and many more.”
Roger Thomas, Nature Notes, Ballarat Courier.
“There is much to recommend in this charming and well-written book. The author takes an innovative approach and lays the chapters out according to the seasons of the local Indigenous peoples. The resulting accounts contextualise the wildlife in both space and time that harks back to such seminal natural history classics as eighteenth century naturalist Gilbert White’s The Natural History of Selborne.”
Review in Australian Birdlife magazine. December 2013.
Latest news…
Monthly blog posts describing natural events in the Wombat Forest, ecological explorations, my recent published writings, book reviews and more…
Sweet Bursaria in masses of flower
This summer has seen a spectacular flowering of Sweet Bursaria. In mid-January I visited Tipperary Springs and the creekline vegetation was all aglow with creamy white flowers. The air smelt sweet and hummed with the buzzing of flies and bees. Sweet Bursaria is very...
The bushfire crisis: how to help
The internet and social media is awash with hundreds of ways to held wildlife and humans in this bushfire crisis, this time of climate emergency. This post is a summary, while by no means exhaustive, hopefully it will help guide you. I will be adding to it! I have...
Our local stars: daisies
One of my favourite things about early summer is the abundant flowering of a prime patch of Showy Podolepis along the top track of Tipperary Springs.These wonderful native daises are appropriately named for they are indeed very showy! Packed densely along the path,...
Book review: The Big Twitch written 12 years ago!
I was looking through my old filing cabinet last week and I discovered a hand written book review: The Big Twitch, by Sean Dooley. Now I have the great pleasure of working with Sean in the communications team at BirdLife Australia, and so it was very sweet to read the...
Kingfisher returns: kek kek kek!
A Sacred Kingfisher started calling at our bush block today– with a loud and far- carrying ‘kek kek kek kek’! These brilliantly coloured birds are summer visitors to Victoria, and their calls may now be heard in woodlands and open forests throughout Victoria. Although...
The geese saga of Lake Daylesford
This photo shows the Lake Daylesford geese in their new home, a private animal sanctuary in the Mornington Peninsula. Here, the geese have access to five lakes and are able to range freely on the paddocks without having to cross any roads, encounter dog walkers or...
When eagles get frisky
Nature Diary has a new home! After ten years, and increasing frustration with the Advocate, I am now being published in the Local, edited by Donna Kelly. Donna and Kyle have been wonderfully welcoming, and this article about eagles looks just great in this week's...
The globe-trotting fungus lover
This article is printed in Cosmos #83 Alison Pouliot has spent two decades following the fungi. Each year she moves between Australia and her adopted home near Bern, in Switzerland, studying, photographing and marvelling at the fungal hyphae – or mycelium – cycle that...
Chuffed with Choughs
Wheezing, whistling and whining – our two young White-winged Choughs have added to the usual cacophony of their family group this month. Their calls are similar to a young magpie, insistent and oft-repeated, but at a higher pitch. White-winged Choughs are incredibly...