Kristi Ellingsen
LightNews LightNews
banner
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Kristi Ellingsen
@kristiellingsen.bsky.social
790 followers 980 following 1K posts
She/her Nature focused, newly-ex science teacher. Run https://tasmanianinsectfieldguide.com/ Love being out with a very silly big black dog and a camera. Interested in politics, books, gardening, nature, and pretty much anything that requires an opinion.
Posts Replies Media Videos
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Summer in Tasmania…#this_is_why_we_don’t_bushwalk_in_miniskirts.
This is a roadside scenic spot looking at a largish lake (Pine Lake)with hills in the background. BUT all you can actually see is half a screen of fog and low bushes in the bottom half. You can see snowflakes falling but you can’t tell that they were basically being blown horizontally into us. Snow covered pasture on the Lakes Highway around 1pm today. It was about 1 degree. It was utterly beautiful but only because we were in the car, and the roads were still warm enough to melt the snow. We’re not using that highway to drive home first off tomorrow morning.
December 14, 2025 at 8:53 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Some #flies are a bit over the top with how much of their head needs to be eyes. This is a Dance Fly (Empididae), Empis sp., and it was determined not to be disturbed by me on the foothills of Mt Misery, Tasmania.
A fly facing head on. It's standing on a deep green leaf. The legs are a rust coloured brown. It's a male and its orangey/rust compound eyes are completely covering the entire round head. Females have a wider separation between the eyes. It has a long, black dagger-like mouthparts. The same fly side on, facing towards the right. In this photo you see more of the leaf. The main part of the body is dark beige with some hairs. The wings, folded back in alignment with the body look almost black.
December 12, 2025 at 5:26 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
My two ratbags pretending (fairly fleetingly) that they’re angelic.
Two dogs facing the camera. There is a hairy dog on the left. She turned 1 last Saturday & is a tricoloured Australian Shepherd/Bernese Mountain dog cross. To the right is a slightly worried looking black Labrador. In the background they are tied to a railing that has a grapevine. This unsettles them as they are not used to being so contained. A long 10 minutes!
December 8, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Kristi Ellingsen
paularose.bsky.social
Sports stadiums and taxpayer financing: A primer and research roundup

journalistsresource.org/economics/sp...
Sports stadiums and taxpayer financing: A primer and research roundup
Research conducted over decades indicates sports stadium public investments almost never lead to massive economic gains for host cities.
journalistsresource.org
December 5, 2025 at 6:07 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
So Rockcliff & co are willing to lead Tasmania deeper into a debt black-hole, sacrificing education (literacy, numeracy currently 50%), health (longest ambulance wait time in Aus), housing & services. All in trust that the AFL will act as promised. tasmaniantimes.com/2025/12/afl-...
AFL Secretly Exits Gold Coast Deal Before Vote - Tasmanian Times
In a development that could severely impact the Legislative Council’s upcoming vote on the Macquarie Point Stadium Tasmanian Times has received credible whistleblower information alleging the AFL is s...
tasmaniantimes.com
December 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
This is another Perth, Western Aus #spider. Tasmania has lots of this common peacock spider, Maratus pavonis, but the Tas version is much rounder and a lot smaller. They are equally cute though. This male had decided to wander through the kitchen of our flat. #invertebrates
Face on with a jumping spider. You can see 4 perfect green shiny eyes on a rusty coloured head. The 2 central eyes are about double the size of the side eyes. The palps are white and floofy. THE other legs are grey with dark bands on the joints. It's totally cute, not scary. This shows the back of the spider and you can see an elongate abdomen with a tan background and a startling orange (nearly) oval line with an orange dot in the centre. Also as a highlight to the orange pattern is a slightly smaller metallic blue repeat to the pattern. This glam pattern is flattened and extended when they do their fancy dance to the female. Two smaller black eyes are visible on the head.
November 11, 2025 at 5:02 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Beeflies look like tiny bees but are actually the cutest flies ever. This one is gold dusted and perfectly coordinated with the trigger plant flower it was sitting on. Wandoo NP, Western Australia. #fly #invertebrate
A compact fly with a furry gold dusted body and deep pink/red eyes. It is perched on a pink and white petal. It has long needle like mouthpart that projects out the front of its head. The separated eyes signify that it is a female.
October 31, 2025 at 8:57 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Pleeeeeaaaassse let them do this (after Sunday). The video from 55 years ago is one of my absolute favourites. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
Shire suggests blowing up dead whale as alternative to expensive disposal
A coastal shire in WA suggests towing a rotting whale carcass out to sea and blowing it up, saying it cannot afford to dispose of the whale itself.
www.abc.net.au
October 31, 2025 at 6:23 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Sorry spider haters, but this was just the most beautiful beast & I knew (nearly everyone) would need to see it 😉. It sat frozen, up on its toes, on the edge of Leeman (WA) salt lake while I took pics. Unfortunately it was too big (body length 1.4cm) for my lens. #spider #Lycosidae #Tetralycosa
Most of a wolf spider, taken from directly above. The last segments of a few legs have been cut off by the frame. It is standing on holy salty sand, so the background looks like a solid slab of black specked beige. The spider is a mainly soft grey body with four black eyes showing. The abdomen is marked with a grey line and black rimmed blobs all over it. This made it incredibly hard to see if you weren't paying close attention. The legs are a more pinky white with diffuse black barring. If it was big enough people would be wearing the "pelt" as luxury coats. It's gorgeous. The same spider taken from a low angle, looking at the face slightly angled. This shows the female palps and the entire set of 8 black eyes. It also showed how the spider was right up on its "toes" ready for a fast get-away (or maybe the blinding white salt was hot to stand on). There is a bit of a shadow from the intense sunlight. Spider description is on the other photo.
October 30, 2025 at 2:30 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Everyone loves a jewel #beetle. This is Castiarina picta, which seems locally abundant but I think may be only found in Western Australia. #insect #buprestidae #invertebrate
A metallic sheen purple, bullet shaped beetle sitting on green unopened flowers of a Melaleuca. White flowers made up of very long stamens are in the background. The beetle has lemon/beige markings on its wings. It looks like an exclamation mark in the top half , a tilde (wavey dash) below and to finish with (appropriately a full stop). eg from top to bottom ! ~ . The thorax is all purple with a side line of yellow/beige. This photo is taken slightly to the side of overhead on the beetle which is sitting at 45° on the photo. A metallic sheen purple, bullet shaped beetle sitting on green unopened flowers of a Melaleuca. White flowers made up of very long stamens are in the background. The beetle has lemon/beige markings on its wings. It looks like an exclamation mark in the top half , a tilde (wavy dash) below and to finish with (appropriately a full stop). eg from top to bottom ! ~ . The thorax is all purple with a side line of yellow/beige. The beetle is on the vertical midline of the photo, and its head is looking downwards so you can see its tiny jaws.
October 29, 2025 at 5:37 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
This is slow TV but I’m missing my dogs. After breakfast & romping, Musty & Nessa like to play “share the bone shard”. This involves having a chew, then passing it back & forward. Usually many passes happen, but Musty got distracted. It’s a lovely down-time ritual to watch.
October 23, 2025 at 2:10 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
I'm back in WA at the moment. Unlike their Tasmanian counterparts, these beautiful native cockroaches come out and sunbake on leaves during the day. Invasive cockroaches give them all such a bad name. The native Australian varieties are like little works of art. Ellipsidion australe
A cockroach, lateral view, looking out between two green palm fronds. The head and thoracic plates are mainly beige and the abdominal plates are black, lined with pinprick white spots. A cockroach, top view, sitting on a palm frond. The head and thoracic plates are mainly a yellowish beige and the abdominal plates are black, lined with pinprick white spots.
October 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Kristi Ellingsen
andrewwilkiemp.bsky.social
Today the Tas Govt officially binned the Planning Commission’s damning report into the proposed Mac Pt AFL stadium. But if the knuckleheads actually knew anything about ‘future prosperity’, they’d be focussed instead on essential infrastructure and services #auspol #politas
October 8, 2025 at 1:38 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Hobart had a big hail dump mid afternoon today.
A street scene in Hobart Tasmania. An intersection is in the foreground & a tree and industrialised buildings mid-photo. The upper half shows white fluffy clouds above with deep grey underneath and long stripes where there would still be hail falling a few hundred metres away. A big fast moving hail dump.
September 19, 2025 at 9:04 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Norway placing value on its natural resources to greatly benefit its community. What a wild idea 🙄
quentindempster.bsky.social Quentin Dempster @quentindempster.bsky.social · Aug 25
There it is folks: the betrayal (resources sell out) of the Australian people. Lucianne Tonti’s Norway comparisons are instructive. 👇👇
August 26, 2025 at 1:07 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Lots of Tasmanians at the Nationwide March for Palestine in Nipaluna/Hobart today.
Lots of people, taken from behind, walking down Elizabeth St, Hobart & doing their bit for the Nationwide walk for Palestine. It was hard to estimate numbers but I think we were probably around halfway down the group. People at the gathering point laneway in Hobart’s March for Palestine. The laneway was abruptly lined with tallish walls & the street packed with people.
August 24, 2025 at 3:33 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
This has kept me busy while my camera lens slowly died & then began its 4 months of touring Australia to be fixed (I hope).
August 13, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Reposted by Kristi Ellingsen
punterspolitics.bsky.social
Who would be THIS dumb? 🙋 🤦Two words we need to learn how to say to corporate tax bludgers. What do you reckon they are?
August 11, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Kristi Ellingsen
euanritchie.bsky.social
Right, ok, @albomp.bsky.social, this is open corruption, if true. What are you going to do?

Hi, @unesco.org, going to let this slide?
markogge.bsky.social Mark Ogge @markogge.bsky.social · Jul 26
The chief statistician of the Woodside funded report used by the Australian Government to lobby the UN to drop safeguards protecting Murujuga from Woodside’s acid gas emissions says the WA government doctored the report.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...
Gagged scientist speaks out over WA government's claims in rock art report
A leading scientist expresses "grave concern" about "unacceptable interference" in a major study of the impacts of industrial emissions on ancient Aboriginal rock carvings.
www.abc.net.au
July 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington. Hobart, Tasmania absolutely stunning this morning.
The top half of the photo is blue cloudless sky. Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington covered in low snow in the mid level & well pruned (why???) Sandy Bay coastal wattle in the foreground.
July 20, 2025 at 1:04 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Let’s hope that the newly elected Tasmanian politicians can focus on collaboration skills & not just mindlessly parrot party/sponsorship lines. It would be lovely too if they don’t leave our children with decades of debt & filthy land/air & water. Fingers crossed.
July 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Kristi Ellingsen
nickfeik.bsky.social
When you’re voting today, Tasmanians, don’t just think about the Liberals’ stadium and ferry scandals, please also consider the Ashley detention centre and many child protection/abuse scandals. #politas
July 18, 2025 at 10:18 PM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Wow! Just in case anyone else has put a cat hammock in a sunny window (as every hammock buyer would). Here are our curtains smouldering! The plastic suction pads are shaped perfectly to magnify & focus the rays. A terrible design fault that will burn houses down.They need to be opaque & recalled.
Cat on sunny window hammock. The suction cups are focussing sunlight on our curtains, leaving brown burn marks, & some smoulders all the way through. I’ve been turning the area upside down to work out the cause of the burns. I’ve now solved it by putting cardboard squares on the outside of the window for the cat’s month long visit. Really these should be recalled. Suction cups are focussing sunlight on our curtains, leaving brown burn marks, & some smoulders all the way through. I’ve been turning the area upside down to work out the cause of the burns. I’ve now solved it by putting cardboard squares on the outside of the window for the cat’s month long visit. These should be recalled.
July 9, 2025 at 2:25 AM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
Life is tough on a dark & gloomy winter’s day…..until the heated blanket gets turned on…
Tricoloured dog snuggled into a grey fluffy heated blanket ( that is turned on for me, not dogs but I did kindly sit on the couch that the dogs are allowed to join us on). She has one ear folded up, a very bright sparkly eye & pushed up lips. Nessa 7 months Aust Shepherd X Bernese Mountain dog (no snow for this one thanks)
July 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
kristiellingsen.bsky.social
The promise of another balmy winter’s day. Hobart, Tasmania.
June 22, 2025 at 10:16 PM