With all the recent wet weather, some fabulous wildlife has emerged in Austinmer. Here above is a monster slug I found on a tree in the yard, with a coin for scale. There have also been leeches on our front porch, a scenario which is more psychologically challenging than anything else. I’ve not heard it […]

Hard to believe summer is over….. the bumper crop anticipated following the regular rain and the success with the parsnips, never materialised….. six zuccini plants grew huge and produced a total of 12 fruit; pumpkin spread all over the place and to date, no fruit have been observed; and I’m still waiting for the eggplants […]

Today in Canberra at 3pm in Parkes it started to rain and it absolutely poured until about 4.05 pm. There was thunder. The water on the bike paths was midway up my calves and at one point I almost had to walk because the current from the runoff was too strong to pedal against. It […]

The parsnips were planted for cropping during the Festive season, so on the 24th December a fork was taken to the small vegie patch established this winter. The generous rainfall experienced throughout the Spring had obviously benefitted the parsnips as they had produced so much foliage that they had already smothered some neighbouring plants. Would […]

The Darter (view full screen) Walking across the Shoalhaven bridge at Nowra I spotted a bird sitting on a branch near the water, drying its wings. One of Australia’s remarkable waterbirds, the Darter (anhinga melanogaster), and after having consulted the bird book, I decided the bird to be a young male. When in the water […]

Go fly, you Kite (full screen) Late Spring in the Southern hemisphere and the hawks are out cruising for chicks. The Kite in the video (likely a Whistling Kite) was trying its luck over the Shoalhaven river in NSW, until it was spotted by a Magpie Lark, who proceeded to harras it with a series […]