Tag: Bushland

A Privilege to Watch

I couldn’t believe my luck this morning, when our regular Eastern Grey Kangaroo allowed her joey to suckle right in front of the study window.  She just stood there for twenty minutes or so while the joey (otherwise independent)  put her mouth into the pouch for a feed. Unfortunately, a car noise disturbed them, and … Continue reading A Privilege to Watch

Duck-Orchid

Another intriguing Australian Terrestrial Orchid  was among the many flowers we found on a sunny day last week.  Richard initially saw a plant that seemed to have a differently shaped bud. We noted where it was growing and waited for our expert friend to visit. She identified that it would develop into a Duck-Orchid. Another … Continue reading Duck-Orchid

Tiger Orchid: Diuris sulphurea

We are lucky enough to have clumps of Tiger Orchids. These beautiful,  often large, flowers really attract attention with their bright yellows, browns and blacks. A ‘cousin’ of the Donkey Orchid, the Tiger Orchid shares the two large upright lobes.   We have Tiger Orchids in all of our main micro-climate zones.  They are growing … Continue reading Tiger Orchid: Diuris sulphurea

Magpie Breeding Season – Hold Onto Your Hat!

For the past six weeks or so, I haven’t been able to step outside the house without a sturdy hat.  Breeding magpies are very defensive, and they will dive-bomb anything they perceive to be a threat, including innocent humans. Unfortunately, their aggressive habits have driven off some of the other breeding birds, such as the … Continue reading Magpie Breeding Season – Hold Onto Your Hat!

Spotted Sun Orchids (Thelymitra ixioides)

Over the last few weeks I have taken a swag of photos of Australian native flowers, including  more Australian Terrestrial Orchids.  Rather than post a gallery of them here, I’ll post them one by one, and build these posts into a plant index.  Today, I’m going to focus on the beautiful  Spotted Sun Orchids. Many … Continue reading Spotted Sun Orchids (Thelymitra ixioides)

Hairy Caterpillar

I found this very hairy caterpillar a week or so ago.  This morning, I thought I might identify the species, but I can’t find an exact match.  My best guess is that it belongs to the ARCTIIDAE family, otherwise known as ‘Woolly Bears’.  In Australia, there are quite a number of ‘Woolly Bears’ so I wasn’t able … Continue reading Hairy Caterpillar

Donkey Orchid (Diuris orientis)

These  Donkey Orchids were a cheerful addition to my daily walk.  We had a patch of around five or six plants in a three meter radius in a transitional position between dry bushland and a grassed area.   While they were not densely packed together, I found it interesting that they were all growing in … Continue reading Donkey Orchid (Diuris orientis)

Chocolate Lily (Arthropodium strictum)

The first of the Chocolate Lilies is in flower!  We had them last year, but that was before I developed an interest in native flowers. So I really didn’t take much notice of them until we were cleaning up the land for the Summer period.  In the process, a few were mown down.  I took … Continue reading Chocolate Lily (Arthropodium strictum)

Brown-clubbed Spider-orchid Caladenia phaeoclavia

My friend pointed out the leaves of the spider orchid before it flowered.  We placed a loop of squared fence wire around the precious flower (so the Swamp Wallaby would not eat it) and waited.  Eventually it bloomed. Luckily I took some photographs, because I went back a few days later to find only a … Continue reading Brown-clubbed Spider-orchid Caladenia phaeoclavia

And then there were nine…with apologies to Agatha Christie!

Last year, the pair of Australian Wood Ducks successfully raised eleven ducklings to maturity, and we were hoping they would be able to do the same for the twelve ducklings in this year’s brood.  The ducks frequently walk from wherever they nest  to the grass verge in front of the dam to forage, and this … Continue reading And then there were nine…with apologies to Agatha Christie!

Sparring Pacific Black Ducks

On Friday night we attended our first Field Naturalist meeting in Ballarat.  By asking myself the simple question, ‘What do we have on our land?’ I have discovered the pleasure of finding a bird or a plant, and classifying it. The Field Naturalists seemed a logical progression, but for various reasons  Friday was the first … Continue reading Sparring Pacific Black Ducks

Dianella – the Flax-lily

I’ve seen the Flax-lily featured in some of the field guides I have on my bookshelves, and as the photographs were so striking, I’ve been watching for them since we moved in. Finally, I have found one!  In my imagination, they were large-flowered beauties, growing from a central stem, but nothing could be further from … Continue reading Dianella – the Flax-lily

Tall Sundew Flowers

At the moment, Tall Sundew flowers abound.  At least I am pretty sure they are Tall Sundews.  Pale Sundews look very similar. My field guides tell me that the way to tell the two plants apart is to look at the leaves just above ground level – that the Tall Sundew leaves are circular, and … Continue reading Tall Sundew Flowers

A wet Swamp Wallaby

The last two days and nights have been wild and woolly with gale force winds and lots of (very welcome) rain.  This Swamp Wallaby had obviously not found much shelter, as it was very wet.  Even in its bedraggled coat, the rich golden fur of the chest and belly looks soft and glowingly warm. The … Continue reading A wet Swamp Wallaby

Fringed beauty for a day

I can identify these beauties as a species of Fringe Lily, or Thysanotus. Most the guides I have looked at show them on graceful stems, or as a trailing climber, while our flowers seemed to be growing at ground level. When I took this photo, I intended to come back the next day and look … Continue reading Fringed beauty for a day

Running Postman ( Kennedia prostrata R. Br.)

Also known as the Scarlet Coral-Pea or Scarlet Runner, this brightly coloured flower is covering the ground in a grassy area just behind our orchard.  While I believe it is a creeper that grows along the ground, it looks like many individual plants growing together in a clump. The flowers are about 2 cm across, … Continue reading Running Postman ( Kennedia prostrata R. Br.)

Vanilla Orchid (Thelymitra antennifera)

In researching this orchid I have discovered that it is also called the Lemon Orchid, Rabbit-ears or Rabbit’s Ears Orchid.  Looking at the photo on the guide, I can see that the dark marks in the centre do look like some flopsy ears.  These aren’t shown in my photos, so I will go back out … Continue reading Vanilla Orchid (Thelymitra antennifera)

Native Pea Flowers

In one vibrant corner of our bush we have Waxlip Orchids, Pink Eyes (coming soon!) and this glorious shrub covered in gold and red flowers.  So many of our native shrubs have flowers of this colour and shape, and my head is spinning from trying to identify this one correctly.  I believe it is probably … Continue reading Native Pea Flowers

Pink Fingers: Australian Native Orchid (Caladenia carnea)

Today I was finally able to go out looking for native flowers again.  I’ve had a busy few days, and when I was ready to take a break, it was raining. Over the three days, many more Waxlip Orchids have opened. I found these distributed throughout the bushland, with some patches and some solitary plants. … Continue reading Pink Fingers: Australian Native Orchid (Caladenia carnea)

Gnat Orchid

On the same day I photographed the Waxlip Orchid, I also managed to get some clearer photographs of the Gnat Orchid. This Orchid is so hard to see. It is so tiny, the stems are slimmer than a blade of grass, and brownish purple.  i was so lucky to be with people who knew what … Continue reading Gnat Orchid

The First Waxlip Orchid this Spring

Yesterday I spent an enjoyable morning searching for orchids with friends. We found many Greenhoods of varying types, and many more leaves or buds indicating that a number of species were about to burst into flower – Spider Orchid, Sun Orchid and Waxlip Orchid among them.  Try as we might, we didn’t find one of … Continue reading The First Waxlip Orchid this Spring

More orchids in flower

It is amazing how much more I can see when I have a knowledgeable guide to point out the tiny Australian Native Orchids in flower.  I must have walked past some of the tiny mosquito orchids hundreds of times without noticing they were in flower.  My friend B.J., who is an orchid enthusiast visited today, … Continue reading More orchids in flower

Beard-Heath and Sundews: Sizing them up

I’ve been trying to think of a clever way of showing the size of the beard-heath flowers, but in the end I resorted to a ruler. At least it is then a precise measurement rather than an approximation of size. The most tricky part was to position the ruler where it was visible, but not … Continue reading Beard-Heath and Sundews: Sizing them up