Saturday, October 31, 2020

Last of October

We went for a longer walk than normal with the dogs, taking a route we haven't followed for quite a while. Jack proved his worth as an echidna hunter again, alerting us to this one which was digging into an embankment in search of its food, ants.

I wonder how echidnas manage bites like the one I got on Wednesday? Does the ant venom not affect them? Or do they avoid the worst biting ants?


Also spotted on the walk was this blue flower, growing in a weedy roadside:

It is apparently common flax, Linum usitatissimum, the source of linen and linseed. I put my photos on iNaturalist as it was a new plant to me, where it was identified by a Russian guy who is the top identifier of common flax world wide. But mine is the only observation of common flax anywhere in Australia. How can that be? According to VicFlora, common flax is present and naturalised in every state of Australia: Flax distribution. It is a mystery!


4 comments:

jacaranda said...

The colour of the echidna seems quite dark compared to some I have seen. Our native animals are fascinating.

Julierose said...

You are a brave woman going out walking AGAIN after your bite from that ant!! Hope your ankle is healing...
hugs, Julierose

Jeanette said...

So are your going back to collect the seeds from the flax plant for a future crop? Getting from the stem to linen is an interesting process involving many arduous steps!

Marie Králová said...

This is an interesting animal. We know him from the Prague Zoo. Marie