pitcher plant – bushboys world

Friendly Friday Challenge: Green
A Photo a Week Challenge: Nature at Work

Being green is quite easy for me being my lifestyle since I was in my teens…..way back then. Living in the Australian bush, having to rely on my own water supply, heating and most recently cooling and solar power to supplement my existing electrical consumption, I guess makes me think about what I do and the impact on the environment.

I also belong to Landcare and assist others in restoring or rehabilitating their patch of land as well as doing the same on my place.

This post is a mix of just green as well as nature doing its thing. I love this Pitcher Plant photo. Not many plants consume insects to survive. I’d be drawn to the colour as well.

A little green iridescent beetle doing his thing on a green leaf

This is a bit of green colour and how nature comes back after a fire

and with Eucalypts, the first flush of new growth is usually red

Once the red growth has established, the green takes over to do the plants chlorophyll and photosynthesis thing

Butterflies do wonders for plants reproduction and pollination. I love the annual migration of Caper White Butterflies although last seasons migration there wasn’t as many butterflies.

Bees are always busy

Whether sitting on a plant or flying to the next one to gather nectare and pollinate the flowers

Birds, like this Eastern Spinebill, also have a part in the pollination process as the pollen sticks to their feathers and is transferred from flower to flower as the drink nectare as well

Tiny Scarlet Honeyeaters also move pollen as they drink

Bigger Blue-faced Honeyeaters get right into the flowers and sometimes find insects as well as consuming nectare and spreading pollen.

Bigger birds like Wedged-tailed Eagles take care of the carrion and unfortunately road kill

It is easy to be green and enjoy yourself at the same time

Well hello and welcome to my world in April. What started out as an uninspired photography month suddenly came alive at the end. I was thinking that I would have to tell you that a quick flick and scroll was all that was needed earlier in April. I have included a number of photos of the same subject as I couldn’t pick the one that satisfied my desire to give you something that was a wow or hmmmm that’s interesting.

A lack of rain at the beginning of the month probably assisted my malaise and desire to get out and about. With a lack of rain also brings about a lack of insects, birds and the garden suffered. I did a bit of travelling around so there is some things I found from other parts of New South Wales.

I have put some of the April finds in other blogs. Some are repeated here but I have excluded others to make your checking out a bit less time consuming. So I do recommend a good cuppa or drink of choice as a lot of you are either sitting up late or just having breakfast. This is what makes blogging so good that you may be in any part of this world and I can show you a bit of mine. Enough blah blah blah, let’s get going if you are ready.

May as well start at sunrise

One foggy morning while at a friends place in Springwood, the sounds of a helicopter broke the morning silence.
We are going to stay in Springwood for a while. We went to the Norman Lindsay Gallery and studio. The grounds were full of sculptures including these ones. Norman Lindsay wrote a book called the Magic Pudding in 1918 The story is about a pudding no matter how often it is eaten, always reforms in order to be eaten again. This is Albert, the Magic Pudding.

Bunyip Bluegum, the Koala, and Benjamin Brandysnap plus Sam Sawnoff and other animals and people who own the pudding have to defend the pudding from being stolen by Pudding Thieves who want it for them selves

Part of one of the sculpture/fountains

My friends garden is quite spectacular. There were some butterflies like the Blue Triangle Butterfly who is a bit ragged resting on a Zinnia.
It did rain a bit while we were there putting water droplets on the Pelargonium
An Eastern Spinebill enjoyed the Grevilleas

So did the New Holland Honeyeater. A very striking bird.
Had to include a side view
I really like this capture so in it came.

The cooler weather of the mountains hadn’t quite began so the fungi were still about

I like Hydrangeas. This was a small flower head but has delicate colours.

Now for a bit of the flowers at my place as the sporadic rain over the past couple weeks bought out some Autumn flowers, like this Camellia

This red Hibiscus is from a cutting of my childhood home, one of my Mothers favourites.
All around the garden Impatiens self seed and they pop up in many places
Over at my besties place the Zinnias are a riot of colour
The Echinacea had it’s petals eaten by a grasshopper probably but the centre caught my eye.
A post with flowers would be the same without Pentas flowers and a Blue-banded Bee
Bees aren’t the only pollinator. A beautiful iridescent fly helps a Zinnia along
At The Channon Markets (a Which Way a while ago) a stall had Pitcher plants

in all manner of colour and shape

While on the way home from the markets, we stopped off at Rocky Creek Dam (a Silent Sunday post and the Featured Image taken with my phone) where the water lillies looked fabulous

I loved their reflections

While we are around the water, A Broad-palmed Rocket Frog likes to hang around the pot plants on my front verandah

I am not sure what this small flower is. It was growing on the small dune at the beach.
My besties Red Eucalypt is starting to flower possibly a Corymbia ficifolia.
While at the beach last weekend, yes a almost Summers day in Autumn around 28C, I came across some Small Grass Yellow Butterflies

While we are at the beach, here are some views. We climbed among the dunes to get to Broadwater Beach. In the distance, looking south, is Chinamans Beach where we often go.

The north view. The disappointing thing is the wheel tracks made by (*insert appropriate word) people who drive their stupid four wheel drive oversized pieces of junk along this beach. As you enter the walking track, there is a sign that tells you that there are protected birds who nest on the sand plus the other creatures who live in the sand, crabs plus other microscopic beings and that us walkers don’t disturb the ecology but these dickheads barge their way along the sand. Look how deep those wheel tracks are!!! Sorry please enjoy the view.
The seas were quite big. This rocky part of the headland at Boulder Beach is about 4-5 meters high.
Can you see it now!!!
One of my favourite photos is Pelicans on the light poles. The bridge has four sets of lights and every one has Pelicans. The best spot is on the light itself where a boss male sits. Further towards the bendy end is a juvenile Pelican.

Upstream of the bridge, a couple of Pied Oystercatchers sat on the sand bar.

A Silver Gull was keeping an eye on the picnickers in the park in case a chip dropped onto the ground
A White-faced Heron came to Chinamans Beach looking for a seafood dinner

I loved finding the Sooty Oystercatchers at the beach. A post with more photos of Sooty Oystercatchers here in case you missed it.

I am not sure if it was the same White-faced Heron at Boulder Beach too.

The White-faced Heron and Sooty Oystercatcher didn’t get along and avoided each other.

The cliff face at Boulder Beach has what could be Ironstone in it. It certainly looked rusty

Now for a bit of reflection. Still with me?

Speaking of rust, one of my favourite things to photograph. This old door had some wonderful rusty bits
Isn’t the sliding lock marvellous?

While at the Farmers Market, I wondered why there seemed to be more cars than usual. There was the Annual Lismore Poultry Show on. Of course because I love chooks I had to go and have a walk around. Here are some of the chooks I found, some of the more unusual ones to say the least. I don’t know all of the breeds as some I have never seen before like this one who looks like it just got out of bed.

A fabulous hat
Lace Wyandottes are one of my favourite chooks, ever so pretty.
I don’t think I have ever seen such a fat chook and purple to boot!!!
Some feathers seem to have a life of their own

So alien

A rooster who kept an eye on what was going on
Speaking a Roosters. Prehistoric is the only word that comes to mind. I couldn’t get the whole chook in the photo

Ducks always make me smile

One morning at my besties there was a cacophony of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. The flock was around twenty who all were squawking as they flew about.

They all stopped in a tree on the hill a bit of a way away. The quality of the photos isn’t that good as it was early morning and the photos are hand held but I had to capture their antics in the trees.

I thought this one was going to do forward rolls.

OK it’s almost night time, our Moon is on the rise among the clouds
The Night Spider has spun it’s web near the light to catch an insects who come to the light.