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.

Edge of winter

 It's been some time since I last posted, for a number of reasons, but the main one was that nothing much caught my interest for photos over summer. We had a fair amount of rain, great swathes of bracken grew everywhere (which meant lots of things hiding in it!) and very few flowers or shrubs offered themselves for photos. No celebrity flora leaping forward! These two fauna examples did catch my eye, and if anyone can identify the above, I'd be grateful. It was on the trunk of a ghost gum and looks like some kind of egg sac.

 This shiny specimen was on a piece of wood - it didn't look like a March fly (and it was later than March!), so I suspect it might be a sheep blowfly.

And this, of course, is a kookaburra, nicely fluffed up against the cold. I did try to upload a clearer photo that was a png file but Blogger wouldn't have it!

Flora and Fauna Late December

There are dozens of these coming out in flower right now, but after an hour of looking through books and websites, I haven't yet been able to identify this plant. It grows to about 40-50cm high.

Having had a large huntsman in the house recently (see previous post) and recognising it easily, I was then surprised to find this on a tree trunk and discover it's also a huntsman - a Badge Huntsman (I think!).

We've been moving wood around and clearing up for bushfire safety reasons, but I've found lots of interesting creatures along the way. This leads to photos, which then leads to attempts at identification via the net! I think this is Friedman's Bark Cockroach.

Wildlife in the Hills

A nice big huntsman decided to visit - I think he/she likes the warm bricks at night. Hopefully he/she won't make a habit of it! I like them better outside where they belong.
We have had some trees cut down recently for bushfire safety (way too close to the house - less than 5 metres) and found some caterpillars on the trees.
This is caterpillar 2 - also about 3 inches long.

Late spring arrivals

As the rain continues, there are ever more plants springing up all over the place that I have never seen in the area before. This is fireweed, which has grown previously but now we have massive plants over a metre high everywhere.

Wasn't sure what this was initially, but it is only growing in the swampy areas (which we haven't had in ten years) - it's called Swamp Isotome.

And the kangaroo apple is flowering again, plus there are two more little ones growing. Lo and behold, all around the plant the grass is flattened where the kangaroos have been laying around - probably waiting for the fruit!