Wildlife Corner

[Tizer]

And we had a jay visit our garden. We'd heard that they are sometimes seen here.

[Stanley]

Thanks Gloria, it gave me a warm feeling, I had done my best for it and it was undamaged! I put large spiders outside as well. I leave the smaller ones alone, they help to keep the house free of insects!
Clouds of midges on the Green yesterday afternoon Wendy. From the speed it was flying I think it was still well fuelled!

[PanBiker]

We keep all our spiders inside, they are not there by accident. In winter the larger female ones come inside for a more temperate climate for mating, the males follow them. We currently have a pair of large garden or house spiders in the living room. They come out for a trot from time to time, We also have at least one, maybe a pair in the bathroom. I think I have seen one on the wall whilst rescuing the other from the bath which seems to happen quite often. If it's late at night I usually give it a towel bridge to make it's escape.

[plaques]

Once when I was hospitalized a lad in the next bed offered me a book to read on pests etc in the kitchen, he was studying to be a chef. The book listed numerous nasties that would close a kitchen down, When I finished the book I commented that it never mentioned spiders. I assumed that spiders are not considered a pest and can be tolerated from a health perspective. Mrs P will quite happily pick them up and place them somewhere safe where they can get on with the job of killing off those nasties we don't want.

[PanBiker]

I do all the moving in our house P. When my daughter still lived at home I often had to rescue her from sometimes the tiniest of money spiders who she said was "looking at her". Totally irrational of course, I have tried my level best to educate other members of the family and taking a quote from FDR their is nothing to fear other than fear it'self. I have had the opportunity of handling a tarrantula which are amazingly beautiful beasts, for the size of them they are extremely tactile creatures.

[Stanley]

I had the same reaction to a giant cockroach in a St Louis museum Ian, it was warm and surprisingly heavy. I managed to get Uncle Bob to hold it as well, he wasn't up to it initially but tried it and was surprised as well.

[Tizer]

It's surprising how strong some small insects are if you close your hand over one to move it elsewhere. Even shield bugs you can feel squeezing through between your fingers.

[Stanley]

When I was a lad one subject we were always being informed about was the relative agility and strength of fleas in flea circuses. It was a perennial subject but never gets a mention these days beyond the obligatory clip of brave scientists feeding their research subjects on their forearms.

[Tizer]

Time for the worms to take back control....
`Earthworms' place on Earth mapped' LINK

[Stanley]

Worms are essential and always have been. I remember reading seventy years ago a book by a farmer who advocated non-till agriculture and farming by encouraging worms to thrive and do his ploughing for him. I also saw a pub bowling green being wormed at the time and being astounded by the quantity of worms that were barrowed off for destruction. Read THIS article about the practice. Evidently it is still seen as a problem by green-keepers.

[Cathy]

Meet ‘Wandi’ , a purebred Dingo pup who was discovered in August near Bright in north east Victoria, hiding and crying in a back garden and suspected to have been dropped there by an Eagle.

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DNA testing has confirmed ‘Wandi’ is of a breed on the verge of extinction. He will now be used as part of a breeding program at the Australian Dingo Foundation.
No other Dingoes have been found in the area.

( from abc net au - Purebred dingo pup that dropped from the air)

[Stanley]

That's a lovely story Cathy.... I could take to him!

[Wendyf]

Good story!

[Gloria]

Wow, lucky dingo.

[Tizer]

We've been watching the Michael Portillo series on Australia and in one episode he went to a place where a man looks after kangaroos. They follow him around and come when he calls. Portillo got a chance to feed a joey from a baby's bottle.

The programme is worth watching just for the scenery and the length of the Ghan train is spectacular! I suppose they can't build stations long enough for it.

[Stanley]

I can remember the first time I saw Kangaroos in the wild out beyond Dubbo in NSW. The speed they could travel over rough ground was amazing, far faster than any horse could manage on that ground. I would say they got up to over 40mph and the length of each leap was unbelievable.
That was the day I learned that you never disturbed the mat of flies on your mates back drinking the sweat out of his shirt. If they are on your back they don't bother your face! Forget the corks round the hat, far more effective!
I've just remembered the magic hour in the evening when you could sit out on the open verandah without insects bothering you. It was the interval between the flies giving up for the day and the mossies coming out!

[Tizer]

`Biodiversity: The best plants for attracting insects to gardens' LINK
Some good advice in the article and I'll add an extra tip, They mention leaving some spaces of bare soil to encourage spiders. We've put down ornamental bark (i.e. the coarse pine bark, not the shredded up stuff for adding to soil as mulch) as we did in our previous garden. The spiders, beetles and worms love living under it and they bring down birds seeking food.

[Stanley]

Such a simple tip Tiz and no doubt effective.

[Tripps]

leaving some spaces of bare soil to encourage spiders

There's very little bare soil in my house but - judging from the webs no shortage of spiders. They don't seem to need any encouragement.

[Tizer]

They obviously like you, Tripps!

[Stanley]

I like spiders and try not to disturb them. They are eating something!

[Cathy]

I was watching a show yesterday showing how some of our wildlife are being cared for after being burnt and injured in the bushfires. One rescue centre explained that they couldn’t go into some burnt-out areas to rescue koalas, possums, wallabies etc because it was too dangerous. Those poor surviving animals were burnt and had nothing. It’s amazing how when they are rescued , these wild and hurt animals let humans do whatever is necessary to bring them back to health.
They also had 3 baby orphan kookaburras in a cage and were hand feeding them. The rescuers explained that they put the cage outside each day, and the wild adult kookaburras in the area bring food and feed the baby’s thru the cage.
When the babies are healthy enough and released the wild ones will adopt them and teach them how to survive in the wild.
Amazing!

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[Stanley]

That's a heart warming post Cathy. Thanks......

[Cathy]

We have another show on tonight called Taronga Zoo Bushfire Special Event- Koala Rescue, but I’m not sure I can handle watching it.

Does anyone know or remember this little song?...

Kookaburra sits in the old gumtree
Merry merry king of the bush is he
Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra
Gay your life must be

[Stanley]

I too have problems with programmes that show nature red in tooth and claw Cathy.