A very quiet summer

I haven't posted anything much here for a while because there has been nothing new or different to report. The summer has been average, some rain but not much, we've had lots of butterflies but few low-growing flowers, and plenty of bracken, as always.

Birds have been more active, as have the roos and wombat, but really, all has been pretty quiet. I'm just grateful we haven't had a lot of bushfire risk. We've been clearing around the house and tidying up, as you do in summer, and now autumn is settling in. So only three photos to offer today, and one is of my favourite rocks!

A Little Wildlife

 I was collecting weeds and paper to add to the worm farm toilet (for a bit of variety) and this popped out of the bucket, looking most annoyed.

I assume this is some kind of trapdoor spider (not a funnelweb here in Victoria) but I wasn't about to poke around and find out!

Early summer lilies

 Pale Vanilla-lily - Arthropodium milleflorum. These hang from their stems and tremble in the breeze.

My all-time favourites are the Fringe-lilies - Thysanotus tuberosus. This year, probably due to the amount of rain we've had, these are out everywhere.
In the open area in front of the house, we've been getting rid of dandelions and bracken on a regular basis and it's great to see now that we have a native lawn/garden instead. As well as native grasses, there are fringe-lilies, violets, rice flowers, groundsel, bears ears and fireweed. I'm watching as the previously bare bank right in front is gradually covered in all sorts as things self-seed. My kind of "gardening"!

Spring flowers November 2012

 With all the rain we've had over the past two years, the plant that has grown the most (in terms of spreading into beds in all kinds of places) is the violet. Mostly they are very small, but this is a larger plant near the house. (viola hederacea).

 The milkmaids are also out now (burchardia umbellata) and if it gets hot and dry, no doubt we'll see more orchids and lilies.

Along the north side the bossiaea has been out, but also now these common rice-flowers (pimelea linifolia). Yes, I'm adding the botanical names for a change!

Moss and Lichen

While the rain hasn't done much for the fungi, it has created some bright patches of moss here and there. If you click on some of these to enlarge, you'll see all sorts of tiny extras!

Late winter fungi

Not much in the way of fungi this year, unlike previous drier years. I would have thought more rain would have helped, but it's also been really cold. Spring flowers just emerging now in mid-September.

Wallabies and Roos

 We often see kangaroos as we arrive - they sit in the neighbour's paddock and watch us. This group (top) looks as though they want to keep a close eye on us!

While walking a few weeks ago, I heard something and stopped (always a good strategy if you want to see anything other than a disappearing bit of fur). There, just off the track, were three wallabies ... or are they roos? I confess I assumed they were wallabies because of their size. Usually if there are several roos together, at least one of them is quite large. I looked at three different websites today and none of them helped! Readers here might have an opinion?

At first I thought there was only one (we definitely have one swamp wallaby who is always on its own), but then two more heads popped up (below).

 Then they realised they weren't alone, and all three bolted - in different directions. This one below was the last to make a run for it, and didn't realise he was heading straight for me! Dodged me at the last moment and skidded on past, hence the quick photo below.