Whistlers Rest

This image is for no other reason than to say it is so relaxing sitting in the sun listening to the birds and waiting for them to visit the fence.

Something to look forward to. There is a bottle brush in the corner, judging from these characteristic seed pods.

The everlasting daisies are beginning to flower too.  There seems to be the odd one in flower throughout the year but they appear in greater numbers in spring.

Look what else I found flowering in the grass.  I had notices these geranium-like leaves but didn't know if it was a garden escapee or something native.  Now it has flowered I can tell it is a native geranium.  I didn't know we had native geraniums

This little bird was hopping about in the grass.  I think it is White-browed Scrub-wren. And nearby there are clumps of these little white flowers. Don't know what they are.

Isn't he a cutie. I don't think I will ever tire of snapping these little guys.  I will keep on trying to get better and better shots.  I think the fence will always be in the frame ... he likes to shelter in the neighouring blackberry patch.

The Dianella are coming out now.  I love these, their blue is so intense.  I'll show you something else blue tomorrow.

Different pea flowers are coming into bloom.  These purple ones are hardenbergia and you will see quite different from the purple flowers of  Hovea  and native indigo  even though they are all pea-like. And in among the grass I found in quite a few places this little vine with yellow/red pea flowers. Again quite different from yellow/red pea flowers shrub .  I wonder why so many of Australia's native plants have pea flowers?  I've answered my own question below. Sub-family Faboideae - those members of the Fabaceae which have the typical "pea" flowers ... In Australia, there are about 140 genera and 1,100 species in the sub-family Faboideae. They are found in every state and territory of Australia, from coastal cliffs to alpine areas, from the tropics to the arid inland. Many of Australia's peas are representatives of genera found elsewhere in the world (eg indigo ( Indigofera ), coral trees ( Erythrina ) and rattlepods ( Crotalaria ). However, ther...

I know it's a nasty old mistletoe but I liked its skeletal form in the morning light.

We camped out last night.  This morning was my first chance to see 'our' mountain in the dawn light.

I've often heard the King Parrots calling but this is the first one to come down and visit.  It showed no fear, waiting patiently for me to step outside the caravan and go to the car to get my camera to get this shot.  People hand feed these parrots, I wondered if this one was hoping for a feed.

I think we are looking at the bum of Jenny Wren.  I also saw the male Blue Wren but not when I had my camera at hand.

Here is a Wattle Bird, if you look closely you will see the red wattles at his ears. I showed you one of these in the trees earlier, this time he was diving down for something in the grass.

It is not a great shot but I was excited to get this image of a Grey Fantail.  I had seen them in more distant trees in my mountain garden earlier in the week so was glad to find them here in closer proximity. I was using my macro prime lens to photograph the flowers at the time so no chance to zoom in to get a clearer image.

The native indigo are still flowering but coming to their end.  Now I know why I saw so few of them last year, their flowering season had finiahed by the time we first saw the block.  In a couple of weeks it will have been a year and we will have seen the full annual cycle of flora.   I am looking forward to seeing some of the ones we saw last year again, and wondering whether cutting the grass has reduced the variety of plants we saw last year. There is still lots of bird spotting to do.

Oops I posted the last two posts on the same day.  Anyway, here is the third flower ... pretty little things aren't they ... haven't got the slightest clue as to their name.

I thought this vine of purple pea flowers was hardenbergia but again the leaves were wrong ... I think it is Hovea Heterophylla.   It is so exciting to find the little flowers popping up here and there. A garden that looks after itself ... wonderful.

Here are the new flowers we found coming out this week.  As always, I am never sure of the names of the pea flowers. I like to think this is Dilwynia because I like the name but I don't think it is ... the leaves are wrong.

We camped on the block for the first time this weekend.  The weather was horrible yesterday, could not see those mountains for cloud and rain. It was just a little better this morning.  Nonetheless the camping trial was a success.  As we have no electricity connected to the block we will be depending on the gas for cooking and the fridge and  solar/battery for lights and computers.   No heating or cooling. It was fascinating to stay overnight. I had not noticed there was no street lighting in the town until last night.  It was incredibly dark at night.  The nearest neighbours were not home so just a few pin pricks of light from more distant homes.  You don't realise how much man-made light exists in most towns until it is not there. I had to laugh about our decision to camp out this weekend. I looked up the web and there was a weather report promising lots of rain and cold weather.  Then I looked at the Weather Channel page and it said i...