Most of the time,  confining this blog to what happens on our property of fifteen acres works well. There is certainly a lot to photograph and research.  Over the past year I have been doing many more things which take my focus away: involvement in the community and trying to progress my artwork being two major focal points.  Over these months I have continued to take photographs, but my time to do the research has diminished and the things which have been occupying my time don’t fit the parameters of the blog.  The weekly species additions have fallen away in recent times as a consequence.

Beginning tonight I will resume the weekly additions to the A-Z Native Species Lists.  The additions will primarily be plants, although the odd bird and insect might make the list too.  The mammals I see mainly consist of Kangaroos and Wallabies – both of which have been absent for approximately two months.  This week the Eastern Grey Kangaroos were back, but I am not sure this is the same mob.  So far the ‘roos have not come close enough to the house to determine this.

Evidence of at least one Echidna – in the form of holes with pointy nose holes at the base – can be found everywhere, but so far I have not come across the Echidna digging them.  Now that the vegetation is becoming drier, I have a chance of hearing them rustling around in the undergrowth as I have in previous years.

It’s mid-October and already the ground is beginning to dry out.  The moss underfoot went from soft and cushioning  to cracking after a couple of unseasonably warm days.  The weather bureau tell us that this is an El Nino year with low rainfall.  The dam has not filled over Winter and remains at the end-of-last-Summer low levels.  If we do get the long hot Summer which is predicted, there is a chance the dam will go dry this year.

I thought the early heat was causing some of the wild flowers to open early, but when I look back at the photographs I took last October, I see the same species flowering at approximately the same dates.  However, this year, they are not lasting as long.  Some species which flowered over two months seem to have come and gone in a couple of weeks.  Maybe they will return if it cools down a bit – or maybe not.  I will have to wait and see.  In the meantime I am enjoying the abundance of Spring.

The photographs in this post were taken on Sunday morning when I went for an early morning walk.  Mist rose from the dam and seemed to roll onto our property from further up the hill, creating a wonderful mix of sunshine and shadow.