365 Days in Nature - Days 73 - 80

Day 80 - a beautiful green tree snake trying to climb our gallery front wall - non-venomous, so Peter picked it up and relocated it to a tree!

Day 79 - an interesting winged insect

Day 78 - this photograph of my darling husband, Peter, feeding the Rainbow Lorikeets, shows how tame these wild birds can become. I also love this shot of them 'lining up', with one impatient customer halfway down the line - "Come on, get on with it, when's it my turn?"

Day 77 - The St Andrews Cross Spider usually sits, upside down, in the middle of it's web forming a cross. The adult is 5 to 15 mm in body length - abdomen striped yellow and brown. I like this shot as the web is so fine you cannot see it so the spider appears to be floating in mid-air. I try not to disturb their webs as they are huge and catch multiple insects and mosquitoes.

Day 76 - One of our Large Green Tree Frogs

Day 75 - Rainbow Lorikeets, Galahs and Crested Pigeons

Day 74 - Grey beetle

Day 73 - Delicate Mouse (Pseudomys delicatus)  a tiny Australian Native Mouse found in the arid regions across Northern Australia. I photographed these three fantastic specimens at the Sydney Wildlife Park. They are tiny, only growing up to 75mm (3") head/body length. They are an endangered species.

365 Days in Nature - Days 65 - 72

Day 72 - this is the Australian Seagull - or Silver Gull - the most common species found all around the Australian Coastal fringes. This one I photographed on a beautiful little beach at Hawley in Tasmania.

Day 71 - Female Citrus Swallowtail Butterfly - it was trying to find a safe place to lay its eggs - of course, on my mother-in-law's lemon tree. 

Day 70 - In the heat of the day in Summer, the dairy cows graze beside the Manning River and then go in up to their bellies to cool off. It is a beautiful scene.

Day 69 - Rose Crowned Fruit Dove

Day 68 - A very unusual visitor. We have red-bellied blacks and green tree snakes, which we relocate. The eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis), often referred to as the common brown snake,  is considered the second most venomous land snake. It is native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. I know you're not supposed to kill snakes but this one was extremely aggressive and chased one of our customers across the paddock and up onto the verandah. 

Day 67 - Praying Mantis

Day 66 - Wild Maned or Wood Ducks (not the most common wild duck in Australia) in our paddock - unlike many ducks, they nest in a hollow branch of a tree, not on the ground. When their nestlings are ready to leave the nest, they either carry them to the ground or else just push them out, even when the nest is high up in the tree as it often is. This group were enjoying the grass seeds, which they eat by putting their beaks either side of a stalk and gradually graze up. This morning there were 20 in the flock.

Day 65 - a dead Bess Beetle!

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!