Usually I leave the slugs to the bluetongue. I’d hate to starve him (or her) into deciding to live somewhere else. But he’s a bit too well fed, and I’m not. A cup with an inch of beer, buried so the rim is at the soil surface, overnight collected all these. The chooks will feast on beer marinated slugs.
This is the boy, and it’s hard to capture his true beauty in a photo. He is a beautiful satiny blue-black and his eyes really are that colour. And this is the girl. She came inside to try to steal tomatoes and couldn’t figure out how to get out again.
In our olive tree this morning, no doubt blown around in the wild weather of the last few days. Anyone a better bat identifier than me? Is it a very young, small black flying fox (Pteropus alecto ). It’s the right face and colouring, but it is only about 30cm long and they grow to much larger. And it was all alone and usually they roost in colonies. And it…
Like me, the carpet snake likes warm weather. He (or she – we’re not that friendly) has not gone properly into hibernation yet. She’s just decided to have a little snooze, in the sock drawer. Lucky it’s bare feet and sandals weather still.
Cucamelons (or mouse melons – Melothria scabra) were all the rage there for a year or two. For those who missed it, they’re little, melon shaped cucumbers. Very cute. And very, very prolific.
The figbird is not the only one nesting in our pecan tree, just off the verandah. The wagtail makes such a classic, neat nest. Come on baby wagtails. Hatch in time to knock out the cabbage moths.
I’ve ticked off one of my New Year’s Resolutions. We’ve just come home from a week in wild weather at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island – one of the most beautiful wild places on earth. I went swimming in the surf every day, collected seaweed for my seaweed brew, and walked around North Gorge every morning.
Can you see her? This fig bird and her mate have built a nest in the pecan tree just metres from our verandah. Males and females are supposed to take turns sitting but she seems to have been doing more than her fair share. The nest has been riotously buffeted in a big storm, the noisy minors have taken noisy offense to the gentrification of the area, a goanna has…
This post is full of contradictions. I’ve spent my Easter Saturday holiday getting very scratched and itchy, bitten by ticks and leeches, tired and sore, clearing lantana just so we could get to the worse weed – Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia). I had a wonderful morning doing it in a group with friends, really satisfying to see the difference we made in one session.
Spotted on my morning walk, a fine fat fellow looking very relaxed in a tree right next to our driveway. It is easy to imagine if you live in a city that wildlife is happily safely securely flourishing “somewhere else”. You hear about extinctions but maybe you don’t get just how profound it is.