365 Days in Nature - Days 57 - 64

So February was Flora!

 March is going to be Fauna, more particularly

"BIRDS & BEASTIES"! 

Day 64 - This picture was taken at Wild Life Sydney Zoo.  These are a pair of Greater Bilbies - they are about the same size as rabbits, a small nocturnal marsupial. It is estimated that there are only a few hundred left in the wild in arid parts of Northern Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland. Some people in Australia have tried to encourage us to have Easter Bilbies instead of the Easter Rabbit, but it really hasn't taken off very successfully!

Day 63 - Butcherbird - similar to our magpie - has the most amazingingly complex song, which is heard next after the kookaburra's dawn laughter

Day 62 - Large Green Tree Frog - this shot was taken last Winter when the frogs are much quieter and docile. This big fella (about as big as they get) sat quite happily on my left hand while I took photos of him with my camera in right hand

This is a follow-up to yesterday's shot, because this is what the cow meadow looks like today! We have had 200mm (8") rain in the last 60 hours and this is the result!

Day 61 - the cows in the meadow (paddock here in Australia) This photo was taken last November when it was relatively dry. Last weekend it was under water and by the end of today, probably will be again - 'Rain, rain, go away!'

Day 60 - one of our beautiful resident "Laughing Jackasses" or Kookaburras.

They sing their 'Dawn Chorus' laughing their heads off, just before the sun rises.

Our B&B guests at 'Artisans ...on the hill' love them!

Day 59 - Grevillea 'Moonlight'

Day 58 - I love ordinary, old-fashioned white Frangipanis

Day 57 - Red Kangaroo Paw

365 Days in Nature - Days 49 - 56

 Day 56 - Autumn leaves

Day 55 - Red Rose

Day 54 - Deliberately blurred Fuchsias

Day 53 - this little fella decided it was a great idea to live in this Children's Rose

Day 52 - Sturt's Desert pea (Swainsona formosa) is a well-known Australian native flower that is the state floral emblem for South Australia. Although much admired these plants are notoriously hard to grow outside their natural desert environment as they are prone to fungal diseases and root rot.

Day 51 - Star of David

Day 50 - Vanda Orchid - Rungbruk Blue

Day 49 - Another beautiful Tiger Lily

365 Days in Nature - Days 41 - 48

Day 48 - Native Fuchsia or Fuchsia Heath(EPACRIS LONGIFLORA)

Day 47-  very unusual Orchid

Day 46 - Mallee Gumnuts

Day 45 - Pink Tiger Lily

Day 44 - Grevillea 'Robyn Gordon'

Day 43 - double yellow Daisy

Day 42 - backlit Dahlia with bee

Day 41 - Xerochrysum bracteatum or Golden Everlasting or Strawflower

365 Days in nature - Days 33 - 40

Day 40 -  Banksia Ericifolia 'Giant Candles'

Day 39 - Callistemon 'Candy Pink'

Day 38 - Autumn Crocus with an early frost!

Day 37 - a native Australian Flannel Flower - this is a photo I took in my native garden back in the eighties, where the Flannel Flowers were naturalised right throughout the garden. It was taken on my SLR, way back when I still used one!

Day 36 - 'Stainless Steel'

Day 35 - Pink Dahlia from my mum's garden

Day 34 - A Callistemon or Bottlebrush - an Australian native, which has become popular in gardens. This one is the Cultivar 'Dawsons River'.

Day 33 - a double anenome

365 Days in Nature - Days 25 - 32

Day 32 - also February 1 - I have decided that I will have my own little theme for this month, so every day is going to bloom! A red, velvety old-fashioned rose, which has the most amazing rosy rose perfume!

Day 31 - my most favourite tree is the Jacaranda. Not far from our place, 2.5kms as the crow flies, is a farm that has this amazing driveway. It is so impressive, we can see the purple haze from our place when the trees are in bloom.

Day 30 - a beautiful large moth - would love to identify it but haven't been able to do so.

Day 29 - the cloud formations over the Manning Valley at our place (Artisans On The Hill) are so varied and you'll work out if you check this blog out regularly, that I love clouds!

Day 28 - a beautiful purple Petunia

Day 27 - Another one of our wildlife visitors. This fellow is a Brush-tailed Possum. He is quite common throughout the Eastern third of Australia. However, we have rarely seen them around our property - not sure why.

Day 26 - I love our Rainbow Lorikeets - this one is looking very querulous. He was trying to encourage me to feed him. He will come down and sit on my hand to do this even though he is a wild bird.

Day 25 - I love this shot of one of our large Green Tree Frogs. It was taken on our side glass door so I was able to get the multiple reflections. The frogs come out and sit on our windows in the evening as the internal lights bring lots of insects on which they feast!

365 Days in Nature - Days 17 - 24

Day 24 - This beautiful specimen of a Purple-winged Praying Mantis thought he was camouflaged on my door!

Day 23 - My mother-in-law has green thumbs and always has beautiful flowers in her garden. This Children's Rose is one such example. You will see more as the 365 days progresses

Day 22 - in contrast this shot was taken on a beautiful sunny day when the Jacaranda tree (my favourite) was just bursting into flower - ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Day 21 - You have seen the magnificent Manning Valley from our front door and know that there isn't water in front of our place. However, in June 2011, I shot this photograph when it was in full flood. I was fortunate enough to be able to capture this particular one of the full moon reflected in the flood waters, hopefully a unique shot for me!

Day 20 - living up on a hill looking across the amazing Manning Valley lends itself to some incredible skies. I love clouds and these were magnificent!

Day 19 - we have the most amazing birds in Australia. One of the most famous is our kookaburra, otherwise known as a "Laughing Jackass" because of it's amazing call which sounds as though somebody has just cracked a very funny joke. Just before sunrise most mornings, we have a chorus of 'laughter'. It is wonderful to hear. My mother-in-law has acquired a tame one who comes in every morning and most evenings to be hand-fed. She is gorgeous. We call her 'Radar' because she quite often flies straight into the front windows!

Day 18 - it was a cool, crisp night and the sky was an amazing deep, deep blue, not quite dark and there was the moon just hanging there asking me to take a photo... so I did!

Day 17 - Another tiny spider web coated with dew. We have hundreds hiding in the grass on our front paddock that you only ever notice when it's a dewy morning. This particular one just needed grayscale!

365 Days in nature - Days 9 - 16

Day 16 - we have visits from our Australian wildlife quite often at Artisans ...on the hill. This fellow stopped to check us out before he continued on his way lolloping across the front paddock!

Day 15 - If you follow this blog for any length of time, you will notice I take photos of a variety of things in nature. However, I do have my favourites and spider webs are one of these. This photo I took a few years ago on a very cold and misty morning in a timber yard in Queenstown on the west coast of Tasmania. I can just about feel the cold still!

Day 14 - I love lavenders - this one is specially propagated for New South Wales' humidity (cross between a french and Italian variety). It is small of stature and clumps beautifully. Not a lot of perfume except in its crushed leaves, but a beautiful and profuse flowering bush

Day 13 - we have lots of native ducks who visit us regularly, but we have one pair who live here permanently, so they've been named!

Day 12 - storm approaching over the Manning Valley this afternoon. Temperature dropped from 43C (109F) to 26C (79F) in less than an hour! As well, we got a much-needed downpour!

Day 11 - one of our small green tree frogs - we have three different sizes here and you will see all them probably several times as I love frogs!

Day 10 - a closeup of a dragonfly

Day 9 - My husband Peter sitting at the base of a beautiful old fig tree - I just love the root system and the trunk