A bit of an up and down month. The dryness at the start of the month and just continued with the few sparse days of a few sprinkles that washed the dust from the leaves for a few days. Watching the House Dam level drop as I try to keep water up to the plants in the garden and shade house adds to the feeling down.

The days have been quite un-winter with almost every day in the low to mid 20C’s although the nights are into single figures. The fire is still being lit if I don’t close the house up early enough in the afternoon to keep the warm air in.

Have been doing a bit of mowing to try to keep the grass short around the house. A couple of days during the month a few people in the street got together to do some hazard reduction burns in some places along the street that needed a bit of attention.

Here’s your scrolling song. – August by Taylor Swift

Ok let’s get on with it. A while go I posted a photo of a small pink flower,
a Geraldton Wax. I said I was trying to get another white one to replace
the one that died.

This is the tiny white Geraldton Wax flower. About a week later I looked out
of the kitchen window and there weren’t any flower and not many leaves
on the plant. That was so disappointing.

I have a bazillion Fringe Wattles all over my place since the fire. Fire
stimulates germination. The flowers are hard to photo as individuals unless
for extreme macro. This lot of flowers would fit in your open hand.

This year was the turn for the Dendrobium orchids in the shade house to
flower. The three pots I have belonged to my Mum. They are still in their
original terracotta pots. Well in, out and around their terracotta pots.
Commonly known as Sydney Rock Orchids.

Also flowering are the Bromiliads. I like seeing this Aechmea gamosepala
or Matchstick Bromiliad flower peek out from under the foliage

The Billbergias are flowering. This is a large Bromiliad – Billbergia amoena

And the dainty Billbergia natans or Queens Tears with its pink stems,
purple, green and yellow flowers

You have to have a close look. The flowers are about the length of your finger

I love this Peperomia plant, Emerald Ripples. I have this plant in a small
pot as it is still a young plant. I was quite surprised to see a small flower.

Some of the Bottlebrush have started to flower as well. This one is lovely pink

I noticed this morning that the Gerbera was still flowering. When I went to
get the photo, as I saw the sun was in a good spot, along came a
photo-bombing Stingless Native Bee 😂

The butterflies are yet to return. Every now and then a butterfly will hang
in the garden for a bit. One morning I just had to follow an Orchard Swallowtail
Butterfly who had a dusting of golden pollen

The warm weather has bought the Grevilleas into flower. I love the pink
shades of this Grevillea.

The Yellow-faced Honeyeaters are happy there’s more flowers too

I couldn’t help but include a number of photos of the cute little Silvereyes.

They worked out that the bigger birds just can’t chase all the Silvereyes
when they arrive in a small flock

But they still keep an eye out.

The Brown Honeyeaters arrived during the month. This is a Firesticks Grevillea

The Blue-faced Honeyeaters are quite bossy when they come into the
garden for a snack

Late one afternoon I saw a small brown bird among the Honey Gem Grevillea
flowers. It was a female Scarlet Honeyeater.

I was hoping that the male Scarlet Honeyeater was around too. It didn’t
take long to see a flash of red zip through the garden. He was playing shy
and staying at the rear of the Yamba Gold Grevillea. It’s good to know
there’s a pair around and hopefully a nest somewhere.

The Satin Bowerbirds bower is doing well. Getting down on all fours and
crawling under a bush wasn’t fun to put the wildlife camera on the trunk
of the Honey Gem. Unfortunately when I pulled it tight, it moved a bit.
There is a few moments in front of the bower but nothing of the bower itself.
One day I’ll try to splice a few minutes of footage together.

The female Satin Bowerbirds were always hanging around the garden bower.
One day I counted three females in the trees and bushes in the garden.

Cannot let a month go by without the cheeky star of the garden, Tiny the
King Parrot making an appearance.

Tinys partner like to sit on the old Tree Fern stump and look in the office
window as well. This photo is from the back stairs with a Fan Palm leaf
background.

A while ago I featured Golden Whistlers for Bird of the Week and one has
been hanging around the house for a week or so now. Very shy. I am glad
he was distracted and I managed to get a couple of not very good photos.

I was doing stuff in the shed, just cleaned up and decided to sit on the
front step with my camera for a while. There were a few small birds around
when I saw an Easter Yellow Robin drop from a branch, onto the ground
and then fly up onto a post with a snack. Either a grasshopper or a cricket.

Maybe the bush is getting drier in the bottoms of the gullies. The Eastern
Whipbirds are coming into the garden more often. Maybe for foraging and
of course they visit a bird bath or a watering point somewhere in the garden.

One morning I saw a big bird land in a grevillea near the bird bath. Going
into sneak mode I slowly opened the door and onto the verandah where I
had a good view. In the bird bath was a Lewins Honeyeater and a Satin
Bowerbird. The visitor waited respectfully until they finished and hopped
down. It was an Olive-backed Oriel, a migratory visitor.

Hey little jenny wren, where’s your tail? Oh – there it is 😀

OK One…..two……and dip Red-browed Firetail Finches synchronised bird bath team rehearsing. A heavily cropped quick photo

Speaking of tails. A good vantage for chip loving Silver Gulls in Maclean

On the Clarence River at Maclean, in the morning, an Australian Pelican drifts past

Then suddenly decided that a bit further downstream was a better place.

I was in Maclean because the Black Pirate Ship, the Notorious was docked
at the wharf.

This saves me going blah blah

Taking advantage of being in Maclean I had to go to the lookout.
The Harwood Bridge over the Clarence River looking downstream to the coast

I decided to go home the back way via the Maclean Bridge to the ferry and
back to town on the other side of the river.

Back in Grafton doing my usual scout about for doors and windows, I
came across some roof finials I guess they are called. When I looked up I
noticed a lot of colours. Amazing lichen

This is the colour of baked clay. A tree that fell down during the fire and
the root ball, bound in clay, was exposed getting a bit of a firing.

This once proud warrior of the forest burnt and partly felled but a large
part still stands defiantly

Speaking of felling. There was a bit of a wild afternoon during the month.
When I went to see if everything was OK, I came across the only casualty,
the top of the Tuckaroo tree had snapped off and dropped across part of
the garden. It went in between a stump I have orchids in and some Galangal
plants. The Salvia behind took a hit but needed pruning anyway.

In the morning from the kitchen window. The Red-necked Wallaby and her
Joey have been around a lot lately. I suspect she’s the one responsible for
chewing the White Geraldton Wax plant.

For those needing a bit more cute

Looking cool in the garden

The Northern Brown Bandicoot that has taken up residence in the garden
and around the place. Always digging snuffle holes which I fill in every
morning. The poor thing has been in the wars. It’s tail is a about one-third
it’s usual length. There are battle scars on its side and the whole upper lip
on the RHS is gone. I’ve been monitoring it and it has healed well. I did give
it a bit of food as I felt sorry for it. Now I think it might have difficulty
seeing too.

Something I have never seen. A Red-necked Wallaby and a Northern Brown
Bandicoot together in the garden at dusk. She sure has a big Joey in there.

Well it looks like the party is over

The last light of the day

It looked like the sunset might be good. So I went up to the road to get a
photo or two. Some other photos may appear in later posts From my place
looking across the road

The Moon’s up so it must be time to go

“What! Time to go! I just woke up!”
A Brush-tailed Possum thundered along the verandah roof, jumped down
onto the verandah boards with a thump. I wondered what was out there
and the possum leapt from the verandah onto a palm tree

No it is time to go. Thanks for stopping by and hope I didn’t waste too
much of your time. Here are the usuals. Did you have a favourite? Do you
want to know more about anything? Just drop me a comment

Don’t forget your Changing Seasons. I have seen a couple of posts today that could have been linked to Changing Seasons.

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly project where bloggers around the world share their thoughts and feelings about the month just gone. We all approach this slightly differently, though generally with an emphasis on the photos we’ve taken during the month.

For many of us, looking back over these photos provides the structure and narrative of our post, so each month is different. Some focus on documenting the changes in a particular project — such as a garden, an art or craft project, or a photographic diary of a familiar landscape.

But in the end, it is your changing season, and you should approach it however works for you.

There are no fixed rules around post length or photo number — just a request that you respect your readers’ time and engagement.

Tags and ping-backs

Tag your photos with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

Create a ping-back to Ju-Lyn at Touring My Backyard  or this post, so that we can update it with links to all of yours.

Also for Terri’s Sunday Stills: Hints of #Autumn (or Spring)
Cee’s FOTD