More of Spring

I can see why this is called Love Creeper as it twines around whatever is nearest, usually bracken.
The first butterflies after winter are these ones - smaller and brighter than the thousands that come later in summer.
This wallaby seemed interested in checking us out - usually they bolt away as soon as they see us coming.

A Different Kind of Spring

Purple coral pea - first time I have seen this on our place, and it's quite a big, sturdy bush. It's interesting to see what a difference the constant rain over the past 18 months has made. Plants such as this have emerged, and others, such as the lace flower, seem to have almost disappeared.

Another new one I haven't seen before, growing in the middle of the track. A very bright red - hard to miss. Running Postman!

Creeping Bossiaea, which has spread considerably.

Everywhere we walk, there are literally huge beds of these tiny Ivy-Leafed Violets. In the past there have been plants here and there. Now it has erupted into a virtual ground cover plant.
Again, on the other hand, the Blue Pincushions are hardly to be seen.

And of course the bracken continues to thrive and grow, in some places above my head. I'd like to cut the lot down, but also recognise that it creates cover for small animals as well as havens for finches and wrens.

Winter Notes

I haven't posted for a while - it's been so wet and gloomy that I've hardly taken a photo worth sharing! But now have a few that were interesting (to me, anyway). The wombat has been very busy and we find plenty of diggings every weekend, along with poo markers. In this case, it managed a very neat line along the track! Couldn't resist a photo.

The rain brings with it a mass of moss, mostly on the ground but on logs, too. Not much in the way of fungi yet, probably because it's not warm enough.

This was hanging from one of the water tanks and caught my eye today. A tidy little place to hang some eggs? Or a different kind of cocoon? What might have constructed this?

As you can see, when we turned it around, the leaf is neatly sealed along its length. That wouldn't be easy to do with a brittle, dry gum leaf!
All thoughts from you on what might be inside are welcome.

Spring Flowers

Common Fringe-lily (my favourites!)

Ivy-leafed violets

With all the winter rain and now more rain, plus some sunshine and warmth, the spring flowers are bursting out all over, with more on show right now than I've ever seen. Along with them have come the butterflies! It's been seven years (since last decent rain) since I've been able to go walking and be surrounded by butterflies rising up from the undergrowth. It's a truly magical experience and one I wondered if I'd ever see again, to be honest. The drought seemed to kill off nearly everything living up there, even the ever-present bracken.Common Brown Butterfly

While the Bossiaea came and went a few weeks ago, gradually more and more wildflowers have been emerging, not just in ones and twos but in great swathes everywhere! Even the bluebells have re-emerged after an early flowering.
Last weekend I saw the following: Vanilla lilies, Milkmaids, Fringe-lilies, Early Nancies (above), Pink Fingers, Sun orchids, Mat rush, Billy-buttons, Bear's-ear, Bottle daisy, Cotton fireweed, Blue pincushions (hundreds), Bluebells, Sundews, Rice flowers and violets.
Unfortunately, we're also getting an influx of dandelions, due to a neighbour who has a huge paddock next to us that is thick with them. Time for action!

The Months Have Zoomed Past!

I can't believe it's more than four months since I last posted! I was sure I had at least put some photos up. I have been taking plenty of photos, all the same, just not getting to place them on the blog. (Mental slapping of hand.) What I can report is that there has been rain ... and rain ... and rain. So much so that I have been witnessing wetness in previously unheard-of, unseen amounts. The creek, which has only run once in the past seven years (and then only a dribble under the bracken) is almost a waterfall in some places, and there is water running down the tracks and creating new creeks of their own!

Around the house, we've been seeing the results of living on granite sand. Unlike clay, the water doesn't run off or turn into mud. Instead it runs through, so we've been dealing with unexpected underground water. Don't you just love soil testing companies who tell you what you've got (which you already know) but don't give you any information on what this means when it rains a lot? Or is it that it's been so long since we've had lots of continuous heavy rain here that they've forgotten how to provide useful information about stormwater and where it might go?!

Falling Trees and Wombats

It seemed to be one of those days today. We were 100 metres from our front gate and there was a tree across the road. It had fallen about five seconds before we got there (we knew this because we passed another car about 4 seconds beforehand, and I think the tree had come down just after he'd gone past). Can't help wondering how close it was, whether he saw it in his rear view mirror! Anyway, he flashed his headlights at us as a warning, which was good.

It took half an hour for the local CFAs and council person to arrive with chainsaws - in the meantime someone else had come along and made a start. The tree was soon cleared, but as last night was really windy, we did wonder how things were on our place. Luckily only one small tree down and not near the house.

But on our walk later in the day, we came across a small, rather wet wombat, who very obligingly stopped in the middle of the track and let us take photos. And a couple of short videos, that won't upload in their present format! Hopefully I'll get them uploaded somehow soon.

Last Fungi and Plenty of Moss

We've had a huge amount of rain, evidence being waves of leaf debris on the tracks, washed down into patterns. And the mud. And everything being soaked. Most of the fungi has gone, apart from tiny growths here and there, mostly on tree trunks.
Now we have lots of moss - often in bright green patches, although there are some places where the ground is covered in it for many metres.

Moss pathway, leading up to what I think is heather!