We will know that the world has changed when we “like” caterpillars as much as we “like” butterflies. Tiny Jezebel Nymph Caterpillars. This photo was posted on an Australian Butterfly and Moth group on Facebook. It was “liked” 8 times before it moved too far down the list to get attention. Photo by Author. I post a lot on social media. It’s usually photos from my garden or plant profiles or thoughts on ecosystems and sustainability. I’m passionate about it. One thing that I have noticed is that my butterfly posts get a lot more “likes” than my caterpillar posts or, for that matter, most ..read more

This post includes referencing information and notes taken for a video on YouTube. It is not intended as a reading post. The video is embedded below for your convenience. https://indigenousknowledge.unimelb.edu.au/Research/seed-funding/2023-recipients/two-way-knowledge-sharing-for-native-bee-climate-adaptation-in-arnhem-land Currently Yolngu people in Arnhem land are participating in a project to research native stingless bees after anecdotal evidence suggests a lack of flowers and bees. One theory is that this is a result of climate change. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-northern-bees-insecti ..read more

Workers, Swarms, Colonising,Fighting, Mating, Invaders and more ..read more

Australian Native Plants can be difficult to propagate and for many specific species there’s little information available on the internet. Jane couldn’t find any tips on taking Midgen Berry cuttings so she experimented and now she’s sharing the results! For the propagation hack video mentioned click here ..read more

A Nature Photo Story Neochmia temporalis — Photo by AuthorPhoto a Day Challenge Dancing in the Storm and Roaming in the Sun Photo a Day Challenge: Week 61 — January 27th to February 2nd This was a week of contrasts, in weather and life. Bright hot sunny days intermingled with heavy rain showers. On the sunny days, the birds played in the water feature and during the showers the garden echoed with the sounds of drops on the corrugated iron roof and the rushing creek in the valley below. At work in the Agriculture garden — selfie by author On the first day of the photography ..read more

A Photography Story Papilio ulysses — Photo by AuthorPhoto a Day Challenge When Lighthunting Yields a Catch Photo a Day Challenge: Week 60— January 20th to January 26th 2023 This week I finally managed to capture a wild Ulysses Butterfly with my camera! I have been trying ever since we moved house eight months ago. Almost every day I see one or two, but they fly up in the canopy and even if they stop to forage, the pauses are brief. In fact, this large butterfly has an unusually short lifespan and biologists believe that it is due to constant movement that “wears out” their deli ..read more

Blog post coming soon…. if you can’t wait, check out my YouTube clip! This is the most delicious recipe using Australian ingredients yet! Soooo hard to stop eating Anise Myrtle – Syzygium anisatumLemon Myrtle – Backhousia citriodora ..read more

Mellitidia tomentifera Recently I posted a photo of one of these golden beauties on social media and discovered a far more enchanting common name than Australian Mellitidia. Apparently some in its restricted range in Far North Queensland call them “Smileys”. Can you see why? It’s that patterning on the thorax! The two triangles of black are the “eyes” and the smile shaped line below is the “mouth”. This little known bee is the only one of its genus found in Australia and I have observed them on the following flowers in my garden: Native Raspberry (Rubus probus) Blue Tongue Plant (Melastoma m ..read more

Headache, lethargy… why was I feeling so awful? At around 2am I was wondering why I felt a persistent itching on my leg. Mosquito bite? I checked and saw the tell tale flap on top of the inflammation. A tick! Australian paralysis ticks are amazing in their own unappealing way. This little wonder was less than 2mm long and yet, it had given me a pounding headache and lethargy. Once removed, the symptoms vanished within a half hour. How does such a small creature create such a significant impact? Like mosquitoes, it is the females that suck blood from mammalian hosts. As they suck they inject a ..read more

This morning as I sat enjoying a coffee and gazing at the blue sky mottled with soft clouds after the previous day’s rain, I heard a Spangled Drongo. Spangled Drongos disappear here in the warmer months, heading South only to return in Autumn to enjoy our balmy tropical “winter”. Shiny metallic feathers, red eyes and a fishtail make them easy to recognise, but their call is also distinctive. It sounds like a metal twanging. They are also accomplished mimics and in that sense, the visual observation is a far more reliable indicator of their presence. They are so good that it’s almost impossible ..read more