Spot on Pat - the islands are all close together as well as to...

Spot on Pat - the islands are all close together as well as to the mainland so nothing unusual expected. Work to date backs that up. Yes, Irvine is an island, but mesas on the mainland are also effectively islands when it comes bugs that live in the rocks...??!. So difference is less than you might think.

As to what we've got to look for Parm, ... guess you can divide that into flora (plants), fauna (animals... including any bugs that might live underground), and water (marine and groundwater). The surveys themselves are pretty straightforward - especially as we've got some great people helping us! However, you still gotta collect info over wet and dry seasons - hence the time factor.

It is certainly a bonus being in an area of existing mining. A lot of the work has been done and a lot of points have already been made about what is and what is not sustainable given more than 60years of digging iron ore from the islands.

Have to say we've found surprisingly little on Irvine to date, .... oh, except snakes.... hungry snakes..... ha, prob why we've found surprisingly little of anything else.

al