Send the weather back to England

There are basically two reasons for leaving England:

• the politicians; and 
• the weather.

I always think Victoria is rather English and today it (or at least the bit we were in) had very English weather.  This is how it started off.

 As I went out on the deck to take that snap I looked up at the big gum tree next door, and sure enough there was a marsupial in residence.  There will be a better photo to follow.

Possibly due to the mankiness of the weather there were few birds around on the dog walk this morning.  However this Azure Kingfisher made it a good day (and was itself Bird of the Day)

Nearly home and I spotted this reddish (upper surface) fungus which turns out to be a bolete.  Beyond that I am unable to go.

 After a nanna-nap, which we both required for some reason, we headed off for some nature exploration.  Our first stop was Betka Beach where Frances thought the small fish situation needed a visit to see what impact the storm had had.  Basically all the small fish and the weed they were tangled in had been washed much closer to the land.

 The storm had also made interesting patterns in the sand.

 This image shows that there was a good surf running.

Birds were not great here, but there was a fair bit of Gannet activity off-shore, which is not usual here.  Our next stop was the Gun-club track behind the airport.  There were a lot of Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters here, but my photos were really naff so I won't inflict them on you.  Jacky Winters were present in fair numbers as was a Flame Robin (male in full colour) and this Restless Flycatcher.

 As we headed back I saw some good Acacia sp. in flower.

 Although it looked as though rain was coming we set off along the Casuarina Track.  Very little bird life and not much in flower.  This Persoonia sp, was an exception.

 We turned before the formal far point as the rain was getting unpleasant (again).  It did stop and the sun shone giving a rather monochromatic effect on the woodland.

 Another fungus, another mystery.  I'd have thought a bright yellow cap and white gills would be easy to ID, but not so with my current book.

Back at the ranch I managed to get a better snap of fat person.

 I am not sure how this image will work but it shows a rainbow taken from the house and, if you look closely at the line of the land, the spray being thrown up by the vigorous surf,

 Somewhat later we went for a walk and found another rainbow, in this case reflected in the Inlet.

Between those two events I had gone to Watertrust Rd for birding.   When I got there it was quite pleasant and I took the scope out to take some images of the Angophora blossom.  This was inhabited by some Musk Lorikeets.

 Across the road some Little Lorikeets were making nice.

As well as these additions to various lists (trip, year etc) I spotted a Varied Sitella, Olive-backed Oriole and, high above the Little Lorikeets, a single White-throated Needletail.  All relatively unusual birds.

My final comment on the day was to note that when we walked down to the Jetty (second rainbow snap above) there was no noise from the bats and I wondered if they had all moved off.  Not so: they were still there, but instead of the raucous brawling of yesterday they were all wrapped up in their wings keeping the rain off.  I am assuming that they are all flying off to the Watertrust area to feed n the Angophora.