The House(s) of Fran_mart

 As this is about Tame life rather than Wild life I have put it in this blog post.  It is a collection of plants flowering around our Mallacoota garden.  Some were planted for the blossom, the later images are of plants grown for what the blossom will turn in to! Actually the first bush, a Buddleia, was planted primarily as a screen for the tank, with a (hoped for, rather than actual) side-benefit of attracting butterflies. This Polygala does a great job of flowering for an extended period. The Cannas are just starting to flower: on past performance they'll continue right through Summer. Another tall job, which has been attracting Honeyeaters for some weeks already: Red Hot Pokers (Kniphofia sp.) A Grevillea growing against a fence which is really doing well.  It has had to be pruned to maintain walking space. The Acanthus (like the Red Hot Pokers) came from our previous garden . We bought this Chrysanthemum plant as a sorry little specimen in the discard pile of "ne...

 I feel that the original post is getting a bit too long so have started a new one.  I, and several others on the Facebook group thought this was an eyass (or as some of them call it "a baby" 🤮🤮🤮) but those that claim to be able to recognise the individual birds say it was either a 'foreign' male or the eyass' male parent, taking a dive after beating up one of the chicks . This is the female parent - I refuse to call it 'Mum' 🤮etc - showing off the size of her talons.  I really wouldn't want them clasped around me. Here she is delivering a meal to the eyasses.  Note the raised wings as one rushes along the edge of the ledge. A food fight ensues! The adult departs. A little later three of the eyasses form a heap and seem to nuzzle one another!

 A few photos from around Canberra and on our trip back to Mallacoota. There seems to have been a bit of wind (and soft ground) around the area.  Glebe Park ... .. and Reid: we wondered about the yellow tape - perhaps people can't see the trees for the wood? We know there are parts of Reid with social housing (we used to see the cops visiting those areas when we looked North from our apartment) but were surprised to find subsistence farming on Euree St. Another bit of Glebe Park: I am unsure if these are Azaleas or Rhodedendrons. I went to the Kingston side of Jerrabomberra Wetlands, where the excitement was a Pied Cormorant. On the morning of the 5th (Guy Fawkes Day!) a pair of hot air balloons overflew Canberra.  The upper one was in QATAR livery: not surprisingly it was too high to land in Canberra. On the way back, a very pleasant drive with no flooding (and no rain)  we stopped to check out a damp area.  Lots of Thelionema . Our main target was Diuris punct...

 We had to get the car serviced and various other ACT chores so headed for Canberra on 1 November - the day of the Donkey Derby.  Whether related to that or not we didn't know but there was a lot of traffic on both the Princes Highway (to Cann River) and the Monaro/Snowy Mountains Highways the rest of the way.  We had expected a lot of rain, but that didn't happen.  Evidence of recent falls was in the amount of water in the Genoa River a little South of Bombala. The Bombala River, at the dunnies in Bombala, had a good flow but was well below flood level.  As there is a large catchment area upstream (to Brown Mountain, at least 40 km away) this can gather a lot of water quite quickly. No dramas on the drive to the apartment.  It was inteestnig that at one point we crossed with a convoy of about 6 original (ie BMC) Minis and a little later about 12 Porsches of various designs, again in a convoy. On the Wednesday Frances had some business so I took myself off ...

 I glanced at the back garden today and was struck by the flowers therein.  So here are some pictures.  One of the aims of our shrub planting was to hide the some ugly infrastructure: it does a good job of storing rainwater and keeping Bowerbirds off the vegies but isn't visually appealing.  The flowering shrubs are much nicer. A large Grevillea. Euphorbia: we have planted these in several spots. A strange bottlebrush plant: I can't remember the name but it may be a Melaleuca : M. incana fits well. Two Prostantheras A purple bush: again can't remember the name but its covered with flowers and is about 1.5m high!  Frances' records show it is Polygala grandiflora and will go up to 2m. Yellow daisy: again planted in several places. Succulents in many places.  No idea of the names. A strange small plant growing under a camellia. 2 Hebes A cluster of Freesias and an Iris. Iris: I think we got this one from a head of tubers outside someone's house in Reid ACT. ...