Here we are at the half way point of the year. June has been one of rain and dry, Winter arriving and the night temperatures dropping into single figures but the days here were 20 – 24C Just lovely when it wasn’t raining, well that was more like drizzle which was annoying but the garden loved it.
The worse part of June was the number of mice I had at my place. I probably caught between at least two to five mice every night. It was no where near the plague that was west of the mountains but I needed a mouse trap that would get more than one at a time as conventional mouse traps do. I made a couple of traps. One was using a small kitchen tidy bin with a ramp and peanut butter on the lid. The mice just dropped into water in the bottom and drowned. The first trap I made took several variations before success. It is a bottle and a bucket. I had to also make it possum proof as they licked all the peanut butter off the bottle. The mice walk on the bottle to get the peanut butter, the bottle spins and in they go. Here is a result after the first night of model number three. Look away if you may be a bit aghast at viewing dead mice.
I did manage to get out and about a bit. I went to a State Landcare meeting in Dubbo which meant an eight hour drive with the Clarence Landcare Coordinator Debbie driving us in her seven seater van. Debbie and I stayed in an Airbnb with two other women coordinators from up in the Border Ranges. I managed to get out and walk about while the women did a bit of work. The benefit of being a Committee member. Enough of me walking around. Later on I’ll show a few photo I took.
Here is your song to scroll to while you have a look at what I found in June.
One of our favourite places to get to is the Mallanganee Lookout situated on the peak of the Richmond Range. Over the mountains in front is Queensland and to the right looks towards the coast. It was a sometimes rough drive on the Hogarth Range Road, an unsealed road, to get there.
The railway line that goes through Dubbo has interesting infrastructure. It is in a grain growing region and flour mills are right beside the railway tracks.
I loved this iron bridge over the Macquarie River. The grain trains wagons must bump a bit as the train goes over this part of the track as the Sulpher-crested Cockatoos, Pigeons and Sparrows enjoyed a meal
This is one of the iconic Australian trains I saw at Casino on my way to my besties, the Southern Aurora. I used to watch this train as a kid go through the station where I grew up. The rear carriage used to have a neon sign, a copy from thnsw.cpm.au is below
I love the lettering on the carriage
I really liked this door hinge on a church in Dubbo
Here are a few flowers I found. This is a Forest Boronia which grows quite well on my youngest daughters property. I will have to get a cutting and see if I can grow it here in my garden.
Not sure what this quite small flower is, also on my youngest daughters property. It has such an interesting shape.
She also has lots of Banksia trees on her property. I love the flowers, Another one I will get from her for my garden.
On the way home, I go on the back roads as it is much shorter, I often stop in at the Ospreys nest to check to see what’s happening. I am always pleased to see the tree is still standing and the nest is OK. Don’t they have a great spot? The Osprey in the background is on a tree overlooking the Clarence River hoping for a fish to swim past.
A Grey Butcherbird surveys my besties garden for a snack…..
……or perhaps it is watching what the Scaly-breasted Lorikeet is up to in the Bottlebrush.
One morning, in my garden, several Crimson Rosellas paid a visit to the Yamba Sunshine Grevillea.
The Gum Nuts from a Eucalypt tree in my besties garden
Her Cumquat tree only planted less than three years ago is laden with fruit. Yesterday she made some Cumquat Marmalade which I hope to taste this weekend.
A young Variegated Fairy Wren regarded me with suspicion before flying off to join the others in the safety of the bushes nearby.
At Mallanganee Lookout we could hear birds and this female Golden Whistler came to see what we were doing.
On a drive round the Clarence Valley, when I saw the Wren, I also came across an Intermediate Egret stalking the shallows.
It has been good to see that the White-winged Choughs have returned to my place. Most afternoons the big troop of twelve wander through my garden bickering over tasty morsels they find. They are interesting birds. They have a tendency to steal other members of family groups to enhance their own. They are one of only two surviving members of the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, and is the only member of the genus Corcorax.
The noisy squawks of Sulpher-crested Cockatoos are unmistakable as they fly overhead.
I love the look and smell of the Lavender flowers in my besties garden.
These are the last of the Roses which had a great flowering this year The red….
…and the pretty pink
This is a wonderful Bottlebrush, Champagne Pink.
The basil flowers are amazing and the bees love them.
Just like Lions Tails, the bees just are in most of the flowers.
On the way to Dubbo, we had to stop in at the Raspberry Lookout so could show Debbie my favourite place. The mist in the valley looked so good.
The yellow Common or Variable Billy Button flowers were everywhere at Raspberry Lookout. Isn’t Billy Buttons a great name? They are between 10 and 25mm in diameter.
I found a Dwarf Eastern Tree Frog asleep under the eaves
The cows on a dairy, not far from the one I usually photograph next door to my besties place, were heading to the milking shed in an orderly line.
It is getting late. An Ibis is heading to its roost to the west as the sunset is in an orange phase.
Later on the sunset turned a lovely red reflected in the Egrets wings as it headed to the East to its roost.
It was a magnificent sunset. So that’s all for June I hope you enjoyed you wander through my June. Did you have a favourite photo?
Also for Changing Seasons
Changing Season is now co-hosted by Ju-Lyn from Touring My Backyard and myself, who will be your Changing Seasons host for July. Thanks to Su at Zimmerbitch for doing an outstanding job and letting us take over.
bushboys world 