Cacophis squamulosus

My wife found this snake under a house brick while gardening in the back yard.  My 5 year old daughter identified it as a white crowned snake after reading a snake book that our neighbors had given her a few weeks earlier  She was pretty damn close! After more consultation with the book we were confident this is actually a golden crowned snake. The crown marking on it’s head is quite distinctive, unlike the white crowned snake the golden crowned’s crown has a gap at the back of the head near the neck. It’s quite small, it would have been about 30cm long and about 1cm thick in the body just behind the head. It hung around for a few minutes after it was disturbed then calmly slithered away to hide under a nearby wood pile. We don’t often see snakes near the house, we were happy to have seen it, and it was great to be able to identify it too.

A few days ago a pair of Kookaburras started attacking an old steel air conditioner on the side of the house. They sit on a branch and take turns flying right at the thing, hitting it hard with their beaks. It makes a loud clang, sometimes they get their beaks stuck between the slats.

These are the 2 kookaburras that have been attacking the side of the house for the past few days. Don’t know why they’re doing it. They’re hitting an old steel air conditioner really hard with their beaks, sometimes their beaks get stuck between the slats

Last year the big cycad in the front yard sprouted a bowling ball sized sphere from it’s center. It was bizarre looking, almost as if it was giving birth! The sphere eventually spread out and turned into a new generation of coralloid roots. It was quite amazing seeing it emerge so quickly, especially because apart from that there’s been no visible growth in over 2 years. This year I noticed the spear heads of a new generation of leaves sprouting from the center and decided to try and take a photo every day. Amazing to see it grow so fast. I wonder where all the matter to build those huge leaves was coming from so quickly, could it be taken from the soil and air on the fly or has the plant been building up some sort of reservoir over 2 years that can quickly be converted into rapid new growth?

Opodiphthera helena

Jess spotted this huge moth on the rock ledge out the back one evening. It was just sitting there slowly beating it’s wings. It didn’t look injured, I wondered if it had recently emerged from it cocoon and was drying or stretching it’s wings.

Check out the match stick for some scale, it’s body was just monstrous.

I’ve been trying to work out what species this is. CSIRO’s what bug it that site looks comprehensive, but it is soooo slooow it’s excruciating. I’d usually click about quickly and explore but it takes over a full minute for a page to load, the site is unusable.

Stylidium productum

“A tufted herb with grass like leaves, found in moist forest situations.” – NPOS p.219

The trigger plant has developed the fascinating ability for movement fast enough to outdo animal reflexes. The trigger plant’s pollen producing anthers are located at the end of a stalk emanating from the center of the flower. The stalk is cocked back behind the flower like the hammer of a gun. When an insect lands it triggers the hammer which crashes onto the insect, showering it with pollen. The insect then flies away to fertilize the next trigger flower it lands upon. The flower resets itself in 20 minutes, ready for it’s next customer.

Ever wondered about the soil in your area? Where did it come from, what will grow in it, how does it respond to flooding or drought? Apart from being of gereneral interest these questions are pretty important depending on what you want to use the land for.

Any construction requires knowledge of the soil’s physical and chemical properties such its stability, will it deform when wet, how far down to bedrock, is the soil corrosive? And if you want to grow anything: Is the soil fertile, is it acidic or basic, clayey, sandy, are there any salinity problems?

Epidendrum ibaguense

The crucifix Orchid is popular among the houses in our area. It must have been fashionable at some time in past, or possibly have spread itself from a single stating point. It’s a hardy plant that has taken over large areas of the garden without any special care. It grows as dense stands to about 1.5m high. Individual plants consist of a thin bamboo like central stem with thick oval shaped leaves sprouting directly off it in an alternating pattern.

Crassula ovata

Another Crassula, this one sits right next to Crassula “Gollum” in the garden. Looking at them side by side it’s clear they are very closely related, I can imagine a single mutation caused the leaves of the Jade Plant to curl back upon themselves, and there we have the “gollum”. Evolution in action.

Succulent leaves of the Jade Plant

Jade Plant, doing well in shallow sandy soil

Crassula ovata “Gollum”

Crassula Gollum is a South African native that is popular in nurseries. It is a small shrub growing to only 1m tall with thick spongy branches. The leaves are tube-shaped succulent terminating with a red-tipped suction cup like structure at the tips.

The name “Gollum” is in reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s character from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I’ve also seen them referred to as “Shrek’s ears”; it’s a pretty good description.