Monthly Archives: January 2011

She sees sea shells by the sea shore

Posted on Sunday, 30 January 2011 by

The reef at Woody Head has a lot of live molluscs. You may not see them all at once, but the more times you go out to look, the more you’ll see. The water at the southern part is good … Continue reading →

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Will o’ the wasp

Posted on Saturday, 29 January 2011 by

Wet weather in summer means all sorts of wasps are flying about, looking for caves, overhangs and sheltered spots in which to build their paper or mud nests (see the December 2010 post, ‘A mother’s love‘). Some are even coming … Continue reading →

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Where angels fear to tread

Posted on Friday, 28 January 2011 by

The male St Andrew’s cross spider (Argiope keyserlingii, slightly out of focus in the background behind the female) is taking his life in his pedipalps. This one did all the classic things – stayed behind well back behind the female, … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Spiders | 2 Comments

Dogs of the sun

Posted on Sunday, 16 January 2011 by

All this talk about weather reminds me of a meteorological phenomenon I’ve been privileged to see twice so far – the sun dog. More precisely, two sun dogs at a time, for they come in pairs, as the dogs running … Continue reading →

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Snow and squirrels

Posted on Sunday, 16 January 2011 by

Alan in Atlanta, Georgia, reports. Here in Atlanta a few days ago we had 6 inches of snow dumped on the city, so everything has ground to a halt. I suspect the fact that there’s an increase in the water … Continue reading →

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Where the wild things are

Posted on Thursday, 13 January 2011 by

[This was written when we were living at Binna Burra, near Bangalow, in 2000.] I live in a small cottage between a Big Scrub rainforest remnant and a creek. A paddock separates the cottage from the remnant. This is an … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land | 5 Comments

Water always wins …

Posted on Thursday, 13 January 2011 by

So said David Tennant in ‘The Waters of Mars’, and it’s proving true with the Queensland floods. For a change, Lismore has missed out – north and south of us are in a mess, though. Strange to think that Brisbane, … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather | 1 Comment

The shack

Posted on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 by

My Dad built the shack in 1955, two years after I was born. He was 33, and Mum was 34. He wanted a cheap holiday house by the sea where he could go fishing. Mum wasn’t so keen – she … Continue reading →

Posted in Travels | 2 Comments

Birds at Woody Head

Posted on Monday, 10 January 2011 by

Being inside a National Park (Bundjalung, named after the Indigenous nation that calls this part of the country home), Woody Head has many birds in and out of the forest. We saw some of the ones that were outside the … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals on land, Birds, Travels | Tagged | 2 Comments

“We three kings of Orient are …”

Posted on Monday, 3 January 2011 by

Up north in Queensland the floods continue to drown towns and the occasional person, but the rain here has eased for the moment. We just had the Doctor Who Christmas Special, “A Christmas Carol” on TV. I saw it in … Continue reading →

Posted in Travels | 3 Comments