Evidence of Wildlife

It was a bit cool (8.9 degrees) and damp (raining, actually) in Lal Lal today. But it was exciting to see lots of evidence of wildlife on the block. There were areas where the grass had been flattened, with droppings that looked like kangaroos had been visiting. In another part of the block, there were lots of what appeared to be koala droppings, including a couple of small ones which may have been evidence of a baby.

Many of the trees are infested with borers, most probably the larvae of a longicorn beetle. The first sign normally seen is when the tree snaps in the wind, and you can see that the heart of it has been eaten out. However, today there were lots of places where something has been eating the borers:

Chunks of bark have been torn off, and in each case, a borer hole is visible behind the bark. Presumably the borer is no longer there! According to the forestry fact sheet I linked to above, black cockatoos will tear through the bark and wood to get to the larvae. So it looks like we've had some black cockatoo visitors.

Expedition

Trekked across the city today to visit the Hottie Exhibition at the OpenDrawer gallery. And there was my cover, hanging on the wall amongst about 115 others:

Here's just a little taste of the rest of the exhibition:

Afterwards I visited an amazing supermarket near the gallery. It was like visiting another country; there were so many items I'd never seen before. It was also a little out of my price range. $140 dollars a kilo for dried mango? It costs about a tenth of that at the Arabic grocery shop near me.

Cold Grey Day

With a touch of spring.

A neighbour's almond tree has a few open blossoms.

Windy Day

It was a very windy day today, which made photographing anything in the garden a little difficult:

Those are jasmine flowers (Jasminum officinale) blowing in the wind. Apparently flowering is triggered by cold temperatures at night; we have had some of those. But the buds usually don't open until the weather starts warming up.

Pink

Vireya Chayya opening to provide some colour on a grey day.

Cousins

My eldest niece, visiting from Brisbane, and my son outside Southern Cross Station.

Winter And Spring

I started my winter pruning today by attacking the pink trumpet vines (Podranea ricasoliana). Didn't take any pictures of that, because the before and after would have looked very much like the pictures last year, although this year I didn't develop a blister!

Here's a surprise, though. Nearly a month earlier than last year, my first Spring Star (Ipheion uniflorum) flower is open.