Signs of Drought and Heat

Last week the area experienced high winds, around 100 kph, so we were wondering how many trees might have come down. Luckily, very few - mostly branches, like the one above. The trouble is, when you take a closer look, there's an obvious reason why the branch decided to drop. It was rotten inside. Makes us wonder how many more are like this.

One of the effects of the continuing hot weather and drought which is most apparent to us is the butterfly population. I had great hopes around Christmas that our butterflies would be back in big numbers this year - they've been declining in the past six years. Yesterday, instead of being surrounded by them as I walked, there were just a few here and there. Hopefully, the ones I saw a couple of months ago went around madly procreating for the next season. The most common ones are yellow and brown (several different species), but of course once they land and close their wings, they disappear! This one obligingly opened up a couple of times.

Tinder Box

In the past two weeks, as you can see, 98% of our undergrowth (mainly bracken) has died and turned to perfect fire fuel. When this happens, it's even easier to see the amount of dead branches, twigs and leaves underneath. Is this dangerous? Absolutely. We'd love nothing more than to find some magic way to get rid of it. But ...
A lot of this bracken is home to small birds like finches, a tonne of lizards and skinks, not to mention all the other invertebrate life that these all feed on. If the solution is burning, what happens to the wildlife? If the result is a huge bushfire, they die anyway.
At times, the dilemma seems so unresolvable, you don't know what to do, other than pray.

Seen Recently...

Several of these cone-shaped edifices have been seen around - what built them? I sat and watched one, and discovered a long, blue-black wasp busily going in and out.

Recent Observations

There were two of these in the rock-hard gravel road - the best place to dig in? No danger of falling soil or rocks perhaps. No inhabitant in sight, not that I was going to poke around in there anyway. I guess this is a spider home, but what kind of spider? My brief research on the net says it is probably a trapdoor spider.
We usually only see fungi in winter, when it's wet. However, a recent weekend of rain saw half a dozen of these pop up along the bottom track. At first they look like huge puffballs, and then expand outwards into these. This one was around five inches across.

A Gift on Boxing Day

I cannot tell you how many times I have gone out walking at different times of day (often dusk) and after more than six years, never seen a wombat. I've seen plenty of evidence - scratchings, droppings, holes under the fence - but apart from a distant sighting of a wombat scurrying up the side of a hill (and I didn't have my glasses on), it has been a whole lot of nothing.

But yesterday, I went for a walk and decided to head up the other side of the creek. This is a dry creek (has had running water in it once in six years) and I often don't bother to cross it. There is no west boundary fence so who knows where our property ends? However, this day I decided to walk that way for a change, and followed a fairly well-worn path made by animals. As I came down the side of the slope towards the creek, I scared a swamp wallaby down in the reed that took off away from me. I stopped to get some grass seeds out of my sock, and then headed back.

Another thump and scurry - swamp wallaby again? No. I froze and waited. (After a while, you realise that's the only way to see animals - stop and don't move.) And there, about 12 feet away, was a wombat. At two in the afternoon. In broad daylight. It froze too. I took some photos, in case it bolted, but they were mostly of a grey mass in the bracken. I edged around to get a better view, and froze again. There he/she was, facing me, sniffing the air.

Luckily, the breeze was blowing towards me. I edged around a little more and sat. The wombat waited. I waited. I took lots more photos. I wondered if it was a male or female. (How do you tell without tipping them upside down? As if that's going to be possible.) Then a small branch fell from a gum tree behind me and the wombat thundered away, down into its hole. The hole was actually only about a metre from where it was standing, so why it didn't head down there straight away was a mystery. Never mind. My six years of waiting and looking was finally rewarded. I am one very happy wombat watcher!

Spring Flowers December

It's so lovely to walk around at this time of year and see all the wildflowers blooming. Some have already been and gone, but some are just now coming into their best shows. This (above) is new to me. I'm not entirely sure what it is, and it is only blooming in one spot that I've found. My best guess from the book I have is Grass Trigger-plant. Am I right?
These are my favourites - Fringe Lilies. I could have posted three photos but hopefully this is the best!
Along the north side of our property, where the sun gets through more, there are dozens of Blue Pincushions. It's not until you get up close that you can see the pins! I noticed today that there are hundreds of bluebells growing all over the place. I've not seen them in such numbers before. Is this because we've had more winter rain? Will this mean more butterflies this summer? Time will tell.

Spider in Hiding

He started in his web - a few strings near the water tank - then moved to the side of the shed.
But when people started getting too close and being annoying, he tried to hide. It's intriguing that, although it's not terribly clear on these photos, that his abdomen has markings that look just like a face!