The House(s) of Fran_mart

Rob, a friend who is a guide at the National Arboretum, had wondered what to do on Good Friday and decided that leading a tour to a less visited part of the premises would be a good idea.  It was primarily for the Friends of the Arboretum but we three (yes, the Arboretum is pet-friendly) were allowed to go, in the expectation that we might consider the possibility of becoming Friends.  That expectation will become a reality shortly. It was definitely Autumn with low cloud and wood smoke shutting down the view. While the group was gathering we could see the acorn sculpture (complete with kids climbing up inside) and Wide Brown Land. The approximate route we followed is shown as red dashes on this extract of the map of the Arboretum . One of the objectives of the walk was to visit the less visitor-utilised areas of the Arboretum and thus it could be sub-titled a walk on the wild side .  The link gives you - after the inevitable advert - a chance to listen to t...

We have been contemplating another lap of the West Basin of Lake Burley Griffin  (the area between Commonwealth Avenue and Scrivener Dam) for a couple of weeks.  The weather forecast seemed good so we (2 humans and a small dog) set off from Black Mountain Peninsula on 22 June. The first interesting site was the rowing club which was as busy as a stepped-on meat-ants nest. Some of the rowers (possibly from other clubs) were still out on the water,  .. and taking advice from their coach (who was unusually quiet for thatspecies). A fisherman was very quiet, and also unsuccessful as far as we could see.  I have obfuscated his face as I didn't get permission to depict him and he may have told the boss that he was going to Mass, rather than angling. I don't know if this Darter was successful in its fish hunting or not but it was doing a good low profile explanation of why the species is known as 'snake bird'. Getting to the small cork-oak plantation a few...

Reader advisory : this post contains images of a former kangaroo.  If the sight of dead things concerns you, hit page down a couple of times. It was a rather foggy start to the outing today. While the tribe was gathering I was wandering about the parking lot when a member (who is now excused a whole lot of future naughtiness) called to me to come to her car.  This gave me, and subsequently others breathtaking views of a young Wedge-tailed Eagle  doing its bit for Clean-up Australia. Eventually it took off.  This is a naff photo, but it does show the pattern of golden mantle and black primaries.  It perched in a tree about 50m away so this shot is a tad pixcellated but really gives a good idea of the shape and strength of the bill. To balance that, here is a very Monetish impression of the talons.  I really wouldn't want them to be stuck in to any part of me. My friend Lindell visited the site a couple of days later and found that much of...