Goldfish and the wicked White faced Heron, a view from" Downunder " for my two young friends in London

The pond in our garden has waterlilies which make a good home for the Goldfish which live there as well.  They swim about quite happily most of the time and enjoy the sunshine especially. It warms their little bodies and they visit all the nooks and crannies of the slate rocks that line the pond. They do a good job of keeping the sides of the pond clean.....They also unfortunately, eat up the little tadpoles, those little black creatures which grow into frogs after a little while....

But then...when the White Faced Heron arrives, all the fish suddenly swim as fast as they can and hide under the waterlily leaves....
You can see the Heron looking very intently to see if he can't make a breakfast of one of the little Goldfish, but they hide themselves pretty well. The Heron though, is very smart and knows how to stir the water with his leg and scare the fish out into the open water where he can see them and grab one....Remember to click on the photos to get a close look at the pond and its wildlife won't you.....

Strange Fungi and a New Industry at Willunga.....

 We have had the most amazing fungi come up in different parts of the garden over the past few weeks. Sadly I have no ideas of their names.
The one on the left is only one of many clumps which have pushed their way up through the gravel drive which is pretty compacted.I am astounded at the energy this must take to get through the hard crust. I don't think they are edible and I certainly would not attempt to cook and eat them. I remember some friends years ago who found some mushrooms when we lived at Hughes Park and took them home against our advice ,cooked and ate them and nearly died.

The fungi on the right I have never seen before.
It looks like a cauliflower and has popped up under some gum trees and native shrubs. I have never seen these before and wonder where they suddenly came from. There are about three of them at some distance from each other.
The gum leaves next to it gives some idea of its size.
We have not had any of the usual edible mushrooms this year and it makes you wonder if it has something to do with the dry season we have had, till today that is....we have had over an inch and a half since last night....oh blessed rain....if anyone can name these I would welcome comments....

My waggish friend looked over our neighbours paddock north of us yesterday and seeing the new posts, said " I see your neighbour is starting a new industry". Bemused I said "What do you mean a new industry". "Well" he replied, "I see he has started a Didgeridoo plantation".....
I can't wait for spring to see them showing their colours......

About Wild Creatures which visit Tineke and Brian's Garden at Willunga

 I am writing this blog for two special little girls who live in London. Their Grandmamma told me they would love to hear about some of the creatures which visit Tineke and Brian's garden. To see some of the photos she was able to take of them before they went off to hunt for their food or to get back to their families.....
The Echidna ....One late autumn  afternoon, we heard a gentle knocking on the patio door and when we opened it, there was the Echidna....

Did it want to come in and be warm by the fire?
No, it wanted to know where the best ants nests were so it could get a good feed.... so it shuffled off to the nearest ants nest . We did hope it would hang around but we have not seen it again sadly...it probably lives near the Willunga creek.
Does it remind you a little of the English Hedgehog do you think?
On the right is a photo of a little Gheko, it shot into our sitting room as I opened the door to get some wood for the fire. I was very worried that he might hide under the furniture but it didn't do that so I was able to put a glass jar over it and  take photos of it. It is a pretty little thing with lovely markings and in the morning I let it go in the garden where there was mulch and it could hide there and not get eaten by the Magpies.
Little Ghekos live in little family groups and love to eat bugs and things. Don't you love his little feet with those broad little toes which hold him up and he can climb up windows at night and catch moths which are attracted to the light.
Do click on the photos to get a really clear look at them.....they will be chuffed that you want to look at them and admire them...

Winter in the Fleurieu......

 Yesterday, 24th July, was a very wild and woolly day and not looking forward to being inside yet again, we thought it might be good to pack a picnic and go to Parson's Beach look out and have lunch there.
So I duly made salad rolls and a thermos of coffee, packed our cameras, dressed in rain jackets and set off late morning in somewhat of a storm...We drove through misty rain and howling winds along the roads that led through Yankalilla ,past Fannyside on the Torrensvale road which becomes a dirt road before you get to the Range road which leads to the turn off for Parsons Beach.

As it had been my suggestion to go on this little adventure I kept saying I was sure the weather would clear by the time we got to the look out.
Sure enough it did clear long enough for us to enjoy our lunch and see the wild waves, swooping gulls and a little singing honey eater taking shelter in the undergrowth. It was an off shore wind so the waves had these interesting plumes blowing back as they arrived where they break. Remember to click on the photos to get a better view. We came home via the Victor harbour bypass, a more civilized way to travel..

The above photo was taken last week, early in the morning when the sun was rising through some very dark clouds and the light was rather spectacular and reflected off  tree limbs and the Trevi fountain I foolishly agreed to take off someones hand some time ago. Still, the birds like it and it has succulents on it so it needs very little water. The pond is quite full now after these lovely rains we are having at present. The white flowers are some snapdragons which seem to last longer than one season.

More wildlife appeared suddenly last week when these two kangaroos were sitting in the front garden by the pond.They were not all that fussed when I came out with the camera, not to just photograph them but also to tell them I had rather they went back to the vineyard next door where they mainly live as they could do quite a bit of damage in our garden. Besides, they are quite imposing as they sit there looking at you and the male could be aggressive and I don't really want to argue with him....

Across the road from us are vineyards in their winter dormancy, pruned and ready for spring. Willunga village is actually at the base of the hills but the vines block the view of the houses which is rather good.
This afternoon this pair of Black duck arrived to investigate the pond. I am pretty sure it is the same pair which arrives near spring but of course that may be my fond imagining, although they never seem very disturbed by me photographing them through the kitchen window. They obviously do see me there as most birds have excellent eye sight.
This last photo is of our garden at the back.

It looks lovely and green now with the winter rains as in the summer it is brown and yellow.
The roses still have leaves and I will have to start pruning next week in spite of that. I picked Black velvet and St John last week and the roses are still looking well in the vase, just amazing.
The lemon tree in the container is looking much better. We have not been able to grow a lemon tree here as the soil is heavy clay and lemon trees like well drained soil. Luckily our friend gave us a whole bag of lemons which are so useful and make wonderful lemon butter......

Yellow tailed Black Cockatoos and other Birds in Willunga

Over the past week or so, we have seen some very different birds come to our garden.
Yesterday, early in the morning we had a flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos land in the gum trees at the back of the house. They have a modest, rather squeaky voice, unlike their raucous White Sulphur-crested cousins or indeed the even more loud and obnoxious Corellas....
These Black Cockatoos are meant to be on the endangered list but we had about two dozen here for a while. They are inclined to prune quite heavy branches near the top of the eucalyptus trees. So if they stay too long they can do quite a

of damage.
The Ibis on the right has been stalking around the garden for some days now and this morning it decided to investigate the pond.
It has been on its own, yet they mostly seem to be in small flocks and patrol the vine yards nearby.
We often wonder how many bugs and harmful insects they would devour each day and so keep crops and vineyards healthy. It was finding something under the low shrubs by the pond and I hope it was not a frog....

Later in the day the White faced Heron came and stood on one leg in the pond, looking miserable and cold.He, and I think it is the male as he is inclined to attack the spare bedroom window probably thinking it is a rival, has been catching the gold fish which are still there in a goodly number. I wish he would catch them all as then we may have frogs again. The Goldfish eat small froglets and also the spawn so there is no hope of having a lot of frogs in the garden, such a shame....

We have also had an influx of little White Eyes or Thorn bills. They are difficult to photograph too, as they are very quick and don't stay in one place long enough to get a really good shot.
They too, must do an excellent job of keeping little bugs under control. Of course they also love fruit and when we had Mulberries quite some years ago now, you would be picking Mulberries one side of the tree and a flock of the little buggers would be feasting on the berries on the opposite side. They also fit through the bird netting.....
Still, it is nice to have them around.

The other thing that is changing is the fact our neighbours are at last going to plant vines to the north of us...In a way it is sad as we are going to loose our young share farmer now. He was not told they were planting vines this season so he had planted his crop and he includes our three acres as well. Now it wont be worth his while to come down with all his equipment and do our three acres, though he assured us he will find a solution for us. I may have to start thinking Dexter cow and calf ?

I include the bottom photo to show how large the leaves grow after the Blood lily has flowered.
They are spectacular flowers that first appear with the autumn rains and the Honey eaters love them. Then the flowers die and the leaves appear......a haven for frogs.... if only the Goldfish wouldn't eat them....

Bats and a Cacophony of Birds...

Well, no sooner had our share farmer  sown his crop at the back of our place last week, than the noisy Corellas descended in huge numbers to demolish the first seed sprouts that appeared.
There would be at least a thousand birds all making raucous noises all... day... long...
It is deafening when they take fright and fly over our garden and settle for a brief moment , screaming obscenities knowing full well they are perfectly safe.....or are they?... I do wonder how Saint Francis of Assisi would have dealt with

 such marauding flocks eating his and his monks, future food stuffs. The two Corellas above are quite elderly by the look of them and I think they have come here to die as I found a dead one under a bush this morning.
Yesterday they were here too and when I asked my friend, who was repairing some eaves under the front verandah , did the birds from hell bother him as well, he seemed surprised at my question. Well, of course he had been working with earmuffs on.....

The above photo shows part of the flock of Corellas in the neighbours paddock and an elderly bird sitting there in front not taking a blind bit of notice of me photographing them all.
Click on the photo to get a closer look to see the numbers that are there.
 The photo on the left are the other noisy blighters that sat on the bird bath in front of the kitchen window this morning. The colourful Rainbow Lorikeets  were very vocal and scolding each other, saying "I was here first and who do you think you are?"
Flying off into the fig tree for another dispute.

They too, are in quite large flocks but at least their noise is bearable.
The photo on the right is of our Tawney Frog mouth family, Mum, Dad and offspring....
I wonder will they get junior to move off to his own territory..... sue him even, for out staying his welcome... this was taken in March when they came for a few days to sit and sleep while the Greenies, another honey eater, came and told them off and it wasn't even breeding time and the patio is attractive for nesting places.

The photo of the Magpies was also taken in March after a hot day and I had put on the sprinklers to give some of the plants a drink. One kept on trying to sit on top of the sprinkler while the others were content to sit and be sprinkled...
I must mention the Micro bats now, I was given some information on Friday to say the recording taken in January shows there could be six different little micro bats here, but definitely the lesser Long eared bat, Nictophylus geoffroyi
Hope you can pronounce it.....

Nerada Teabags and recycling......

 For many years now I have been using Nerada leaf tea because it is grown in Australia and I love the taste. I make a large pot of tea first thing in the morning and drink it out of my little Japanese mug which was made by a visiting Japanese potter in Victor Harbour back in the 1980ies. Very often the sun isn't even up so I see the morning light arrive in all its golden splendor while writing my journal....so this is a real ritual for me. During the day though, I use Nerada teabags and started drying them and emptying them to get the lovely fabric which results.

The photo above shows how I process them.
I especially like the Rooibos and Vanilla teabags as they finish up with a lovely antique look about them. The Camomile teabags don't dry so well and are inclined to clump, so they tear when you try to empty them.
I started experimenting with them and using them either bonded onto recycled cotton sheeting or bonding them onto interfacing which gives them more stability to use under a sewing machine or for hand embroidery.

The photo above shows the background of the teabags and I digitally printed it with a photo of a vine moth. As we live among vineyards in the Willunga area we get some interesting insects on our verandah. Not only insects but a variety of wild life like an echidna knocking on our glass door thinking no doubt it might like to come in and watch television with us.....
I did some machine stitching on this piece before a friend framed it for me to make it look like a museum display case.
Remember you can click on the photos to get a better look at the detail of the pieces.
The wall hanging on the left is 74cmx140cm and I did with climate change in mind calling it "Water". I did quite a bit of research for this to find out how much water animals drink to stay alive. The teabags were also drawn upon and named for the month of the year. The roundels are again digitally printed photos of our Magpies which love to congregate at the birdbath and generally muck around.

I used a verse from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as translated by Edward Fitzgerald about flinging your garment into the Fire of Spring.....
The photo on the right shows how the teabags lend themselves to kimono shapes. At the time I created this I was also trying my hand at Haikus, those delightfully short pieces in which you are meant to say something very profound .Those I actually made into a booklet but these on the right I had framed and called The Japanese Connection. So this photo is before framing.

The teabags also made wonderful tent shapes and it was interesting finding out about various early man made shelters and dwellings.
This booklet is on one of my earlier blogs should you be interested to see the whole thing.
The booklets are made up of three mini quilts and then bound with covers using my machine knitting pieces which are made with a mixture of fine yarns and different colours. The little base player sits there to hold the book cover open so as to take photos.

I have included a photo of the Kimonos and Haikus booklet as well. On the Kimonos I used both machine stitching but also hand stitching as I just love colonial knots..... they are a very satisfying stitch to do especially with a mix of embroidery floss or fine knitting yarns in the needle ......
I hope I have given you some ideas of how to use the teabags, the dried tea leaves are great to put on your pot plants.....
It is autumn here and we are longing for rain, the native trees too are looking stressed for lack of water....
Perhaps it will rain soon...............