Autumn Rain to Save our Bacon....

 At last, after the driest spell on record, we have autumn rain....the West terrace weather station in Adelaide South Australia started recording in 1839, it goes to show how hot and dry this summer has been. So it has been such a relief to see rain in good measure blessing the barren soil and giving the trees and plants at last a good, long, drink. There is absolutely nothing like rain for plants to respond, as one can water all one likes, only rain makes the plant world smile...
the clouds above the Willunga hills seen across our paddock are a wonder to behold.

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As I was checking for damage to the trees after the fierce winds which also accompanied some of the rainy days, I found this Lehmanii flower on the ground and brought it in to photograph it.
It is an amazing structure, about 12cm across and 8cm high.It is covered in stamens and in amongst them are the bigger female ones which will turn into these wonderful red tubes, like finger stalls.
These then drop off and leave a solid wooden sphere which make wonderful fire wood and leave hot coals for a long time. While eating breakfast I could see a tiny insect running up and down the spikes having a great time....
 Again, looking at the trees, there were lots of red flowering blue gum blossems  on the ground in one place.
Looking closer there were tiny seedlings sprouting amongst the leaf and bark litter. Probably all weeds of course, but at this stage I am very happy to see green things after all the brown we have seen for months on end.

Next to the Blue gum is a pink gum which has white flowers, sadly I couldn't see any bees but it was early in the morning and the bees were having a sleep-in perhaps? after all the rain and the sudden cold as well they may have been reluctant to leave their warm hive...
These trees were all planted 28 years ago when we first came to live here and the block was practically bare. We now live in a very healthy little forest and have plenty of small wood for the fire....

We seem to have a sudden influx of Wattle birds.
The Noisy Miners left a little while ago and I think the Wattle birds feel safer now. They are amusing to watch as they are like a mob of school boys let out for the afternoon and having great fun in the local swimming hole by swinging off branches into the water diving under and out the other side to land on the fig tree or in this case the little statue sitting on the edge of the pond.

The dead BIFCUS on the right was in the front garden last week and we could not find out why it had died. BIFCUS stands for Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike and is a nomadic bird which does visit us occasionally. It makes a lovely soft churring sound and is quite unobtrusive. It lives on insects but will also eat berries and fruit and may occasionally eat little birds' nestlings...
I gave it a decent burial under the walnut tree....