This picture of roadside vegetation along Depledge Rd in Waitpinga on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula is from the archives--around  2011 and made in the late afternoon whilst on a poodlewalk.  Since then  I have continued walking the back country roads and photographing  the roadside vegetation. 

Whilst doing so I  become slowly aware that the roadside vegetation in this region is slowly becoming less healthy.  When trees die, are strangled by box mistletoe infestation, or fall over in a storm they  are quickly chopped down for firewood. There is very little natural re-growth taking place within  the roadside vegetation  between the agricultural paddocks.  The  thinning tree canopy is noticeable,  as is the overall poor condition of the pink gums in this rural part of  the Mt Lofty Ranges.  

The  southern Fleurieu Peninsula  landscape is definitely not  a world of ancient trees.  It is characterized by  farmland, remnant native vegetation and ongoing tree dieback (in particular in some Eucalyptus species, such as  pink gum and box eucalypt).  It has been argued that high mistletoe infestations are more likely to be symptomatic of the poor tree condition rather than the cause; and that a probable  cause is significant changes in groundwater regimes through the diversion of water for agricultural purposes.