This article describes the experience of living near a cicada infestation on Sydney's northern beaches. It compares the noise to a rock concert, highlighting the variety of cicada species and their deafening sound. The author recounts their personal experience of moving from the city to a house overlooking the ocean, expecting the soothing sound of waves, but instead being greeted by the loud buzzing of cicadas.
In 1975, Lemmy, the lead singer of rockers Motorhead, famously said the band “will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die”. Fenton Beatty, manager of Tree Services at Northern Beaches Council, says he is often asked by new residents if he can “spray something to get rid of that deafening noise!” He calmly advises, “cicadas are part of the ecosystem. Any chemical treatment would be worse than the problem”. In other words, there goes your lawn ...
and the rest of the garden. “They’re here to stay. It’s just the sound of summer around here,” Fenton says. Or at least, I think that’s what he’s saying. Hard to know, when your eardrums are being drilled by the equivalent of a Fender Stratocaster on overdrive. Wendy Harmer on the back deck of her home in Collaroy. Nothing is equal to the noise directly outside her bedroom.The Big Day Out is long gone, but with cicada species called “Razor Grinders”, “Double Drummers”, “Black Princes”, “Red Eyes”, “Bladder” and “Golden Twangers”, you’ve got your summer rock festival right there, in your own backyard. The “Greengrocers” are out in force this year; one variety is known as the “Masked Devil” (if that’s not a Motorhead track, it should be). In numbers, they can sound as loud as a lawnmower going full bore. Some cicada species have been recorded to emit up to 120dB. That’s almost the pain threshold of the human ear.Thirty summers ago, I married my surfer husband and moved from inner-city Melbourne to Collaroy on Sydney’s northern beaches. Our house, built in 1914, is perched on an escarpment, backs onto remnant bushland and, from here, we pick up a stunning view of the ocean. On a clear day, we can see from Long Reef in the south to the Central Coast in the north. I’d imagined being lulled to sleep by the sound of rolling waves breaking on the beach below. On a still night, that’s how it is. The sound travels all the way to the plateau abov
Cicadas Noise Summer Sydney Northern Beaches Ecosystem
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Cicada Symphony: A Summer Rock Concert in Your BackyardThis article humorously compares the loud cicada noise during summer to a rock concert, featuring names like 'Razor Grinders' and 'Masked Devil'. It explores the deafening sound of cicadas, reaching up to 120dB, and contrasts the idyllic ocean sounds with the reality of cicada noise for the author living on Sydney's northern beaches.
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