This is October 2022

Another month of rainy days, at one point it rained every day for just over a week. I did manage to get out and grab a few photos but most are from home. There is quite a number as I just couldn’t whittle it down any more.

A it is Spring there are lots of flowers and of course the birds are coming into the warmth of the North Coast. There has been a few new sightings, some of which have been posted already like the Masked Bee. I had a bit of trouble finding the names of a lot of the new things I found but will name the ones I know.

I hope you enjoy your October song to listen to while you scroll through my October

As the month went on, clouds appeared. This one is a great one for those of us who see shapes and faces

Sometimes when the sky was clear and blue I walked about always looking around when the resident Square-tailed Kite was circling over my place

As the month went on the clouds increased making wonderful shapes against the blue sky

When the rain came there was always the opportunity for rain drop photos

Spider webs with tiny water drops is always a favourite

I love the perfectness of webs. This one had a rainbow effect which is only faintly seen in the photo. All of the following spiders are about 20mm in size so no need to be frightened of their beauty.

Sometimes the spiders just seemed to hang in space with no visible support

Just as I took this photo that small brown leaf, at the bottom of the photo, dropped onto the web. The speed in which the spider went to investigate was amazing

I found this weird little lump scuttling around the plants leaves in the garden, hence the blurriness of the photo. A spider with a unique defence mechanism to deter predators, he is called a Bird-dropping Spider. When I went to find the actual name I put in Bird Poo Spider which I think is more fun.

I think may be the first time I have photographed a butterfly from underneath with the sun behind. It is a Brown Ringlet which when view from above is a dark brown with two yellow spots on the edge of the wings

Another new insect in my garden. A Colourful Broad-headed Bug which are sort of related to Assassin Bugs

A Dingy Skipper Butterfly hanging around on a Hoya flower

Even though it had rained in the morning, when the rain stopped the bees came out for a quick flower investigation. This bee disappeared right up into the Salvia flower and I waited for ages for it to back out.

The Bottlebrush trees have been continuously flowering for a lot of this year. I actually found new flowers on another Bottlebrush this morning. The bees were a loud buzz around the garden when the sun was out

Of course the Honeyeaters love Bottlebrush nectare as well. The little Yellow-faced Honeyeaters have been around the garden for most of this year

Of course when I was wanting a photo of a bird on the Lilli Pilli flowers I couldn’t get one. Then the Brown Honeyeaters arrived in October and found the Lilli Pilli flowers

The Scarlet Honeyeaters have been here since September and this was their favourite Bottlebrush tree. This shows the size of the Scarlet Honeyeater compared to the size of the Bottlebrush flowers

Leaden Flycatchers are a common Springtime visitor to the garden

Laughing Kookaburras are always here with their waking up and end of day calls. I love how this one is just sitting on the post. Judging by the full looking crop, I would say he has had a good feed and it letting the food settle before going on the hunt again.

A pair of Spangled Drongos arrived for their Spring residence. I hope they found a good nesting spot this year

You can see why the are Spangled Drongos, such beautiful feathers

The number of Red-Necked Wallabies in the garden has declined over the years. This female seems to be one who stays around in the bush and visits often. I suspect the neighbours next door are feeding the Wallabies hence their lack of coming here.

I am sure this is her mother with the damaged ear who also hangs around

Enough of my place. We found this bull just resting in the front paddock of a house. At first we thought it was a big dog as we drove past. Isn’t he handsome

Spring time brings new leaves. These ones unfurl with a light pink and then turn bright red before becoming green

The Dendrobium Yukidaruma Orchid looked lovely cascading down the pot on the front verandah

The Daisies lit up the garden

As did the Gerberas

The scent of Jasmin filled the air

I bought a selection of miniature Geraniums for the garden. I have to be quick to see the flowers as either Wallabies or Possums like them as well. It looks like they will need little fences.

This year the tiny Drimiopsis maculata, a bulb from South Africa. I had a few in a pot and when I re-potted some of the small outer bulbs dropped off and now I have a few patches of plants in the garden. I can see why it is sometimes called Little White Soldiers

This has been the finest year for the Canna Lillies. Most of the plants are taller than me this year.

All of the Bromiliads flowers this Spring as well. This is probably a Neoregelia compacta Bromiliad

The Common Hovea have appeared for the first time in the garden although they are in the bush around the house.

The Tree Bauhinias flowers are quite spectacular this Spring. The plant has more flowers than before

There is a little pond at the Grafton Art Gallery and the Cape Water Lillies are starting to flower.
This is a phone photo

I love the White Dogwood flowers, sometimes called Rice Flower. The road to my place is lined with lots of white flowers. I have a few growing on my place

Another Dogwood, this time a Yellow Dogwood or Jacksonia scoparia. Another favourite tree which is covered in yellow flowers in Spring

I found this flower growing on the side of the road. I don’t know what it is called but it is quite pretty with its composite flowers. Must be small spiders in there as well with haphazard webs

I love Yellow Buttons as well. They are growing all over my place and I am yet to try and transplant some into my garden. I didn’t notice this one had some sort of insect on it. The yellow ball flowers are about 5mm in diametre so whatever that insect is, is rather tiny as well.

I did mention that it is Jacaranda time in Grafton, my nearest town. The streets are lined in purple and the grouns will be covered in a carpet of purple as well soon.

The red of Flame Tree flower look rather spectacular against the purple of Jacarandas

I love the purple against the blue sky

Did you know there are White Jacarandas as well. There are a few planted around town

While out spotting White Jacarandas, I saw a Magpie gathering nesting materials

Native Frangipani, Hymenosporum flavum, flowers have different stages. They are a greenish at first, then turn white and then yellow. They are small flowers and what the have in common with other Frangipanis is their scent.

The flowers also do water drops quite well

Another plant that has great water drop potential are Elkhorn Ferns. Their strap like leaves are perfect for holding water drops

One afternoon there was an orange glow shining into the house. I grabbed my camera and went to see what the sky was doing. I managed to get a bit of the sky and clouds and then had to turn around because

behind me the sky was purple and I could see a faint rainbow through the trees. Not long after the rain came pelting down again.

I see you are still with me. I hope you enjoyed a scroll through my October. As always, I like to know if you had a favourite photo

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.

Colour says it all

Lens-Artists Challenge #195: Colourful Expressions

Is the colour you like bold or subdued. Should a photo stand out on it’s own or blend the colours? Does it sit at the front or stay in the back for someone to discover? I think I like colour. My house is colourful and my garden is colourful.

I don’t know where to start or what I am doing but lets see where this post takes you and me.

Let’s kick off with selective colour, one of my favourite effects

A fluffy Eastern Yellow Robins yellow just stands out more

Just the red on a Black Jezebel butterfly stands out

A leaf stuck on a window after a storm looked interesting but more so with selective colour I feel

Red always stands out

But can also be subtle

But is never missed

Green can be quite fluorescent

or just be a hint of colour

Some blues are hello

but also quiet

It’s a hello yellow

or try to find me in the grass

or among the trees

A pink to catch the eye

or to gently cascade

and be small and dainty

or pop out among the others

As Anne said the colours in rust are a favourite

Small and white a discovery

or be a showy presence in the garden

and have a subtle blend

with pastels and strong green to stand out

and a mix of colours that attract the eye

or add colour to a dull day

But a riot of colours that make you look more than once is always a favourite

Well that was a bit of a long post but I hope you enjoyed a bit of the colours in my life or actually in bushboys world

Around the bend

The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #191: Curves

A mix of old, nature, travel and buildings that have curves, bends and twists

Finding colours

Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge: Rainbow Colours (More Than 4 Colours)

This is January 2022

Welcome to a mixed bag of stuff. I have been trying to do things in between rain showers as well as days of rain. As the weather, albeit wet, has given a month of flowers and I have already posted quite a few during the month so there’s not an overload in here.

Not much news to tell so let’s get going shall we?

A January song to scroll to if you wish, a bit of Aussie music.

Where to start….how about we hop straight in with a few frogs. This little beauty, a Broad-palmed Rocket Frog, came into the house one night and was keen to explore. They move quite quickly hence being a rocket frog.

I was about to go to town when I noticed a strange lump on the top of my car. I found a Perons Tree Frog looking back at me. Goodness knows what he was doing there. Relocated to somewhere safer.

The rain during the month has had the waterfalls in the Gibraltar Ranges flowing. This is the Boundary Falls

A lot of the mornings were quite foggy. I love the trees rising out of the fog.

A while ago Graham from Hawaii posted a photo of a Japanese lantern flower, I thought the ones I had were different nut they seemed to be the same. I wonder who had a munch on this one?

There’s quite a bunch of stamens

The cap and the veins are so red which counterpoints the yellow.

This is one of the first flowers on a Hibiscus in my besties garden. It is so lovely again with reds and yellows

I love this orange and pink blush on this Hibiscus in my garden

This Summer the Marigolds have looked a treat

The Purple Gerbera really stand out in the garden

I this is a Livingstone Daisy, a brilliant splash of pink

Not only are flowers pretty in the garden but new leaves on a rose bush stand out as well.

The colour on the shed wall at my besties goes well with the flowers

The hanging pot of Geraniums has flowered well this month

A type of native Frangipanni in it’s stunning white colour

On a walk along a track at Evans Head we found some Wattles flowering possibly Acacia longifolia

There were also some seed pods on the trees as well

A Dragonfly decided to pay a visit to my verandah

The Lemon Migrant Butterflies arrived on their annual migration

I can’t help stalking Blue-banded Bees around the garden. Salvia flowers are a favourite

They like to dive straight in to one of my favorite coloured Salvias.

I had to go down river so I decided to keep driving to Brooms Head hoping to see the Coastal Emus that live down that way. I didn’t see any unfortunately. It wasn’t good weather at the beach and the Crested Terns faced into the wind so their feathers didn’t get too ruffled.

This Australian Pelican was standing on a rock for ages. I wondered what it was doing, then some fishers came over to the fish table to scale and gut their catch. Very soon the Pelican wandered closer.

The Sooty Oystercatches were hanging around looking for a snack to appear.

I haven’t made a silhouette for a while. This is a Male Figbird. The Figbirds have a nest in a Macaranga tree in my besties garden

Here is the female Figbird keeping watch on the power-line

I saw the Restless Flycatcher baby on the wire and soon a parent came to feed a tidbit

More birds on a wire. A Nankeen Kestrel waiting for something to move in the paddock down the road

A Peaceful Dove checking out the swimming pool

Sitting at my desk I had a feeling someone was watching me. A Rainbow Lorikeet was sitting in the tree

A Scarlet Honeyeater all puffed up after a dip in the bird bath

A delightful pairing. A Brown Honeyeater and purple Hibiscus. The Honeyeaters dip their beaks into the back of the flower to get the nectar

A couple of Australian Magpies enjoying the sunset on the roof

The sunset kissed clouds billowing in the west heralding the evening storm

I have never seen a rainbow with the colours so prominent. The storm clouds were getting closer.

Our Moon was just rising in the afternoon. I love the blue sky and the moon

Well the sun is setting over the four tree hill, one of my favourite vistas to witness sunset, so I better get going.

I hope you enjoyed my Changing Season. Join Ju-Lyn and I next month and don’t forget to link your Changing Season post to Ju-Lyns or my post

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.

Re-living the past #11 – My first rain photo

Debbie’s One Word Sunday: Rain

So many rain songs to choose from but here is one from an Aussie and the title – Raining on Sunday

Another post of looking back at first photos tagged Rain. As I expected the first one in 2012 wasn’t just rain, it was a Rainbow Lorikeet in my garden. So did look further on and it did take a bit of scrolling to find a photo that wasn’t a Rainbow Lorikeet.

From 2015 the rain had gone and left a couple of rainbows but still no actual rain photo. A photo from my desk where I used to work

An actual rain photo didn’t happen until 2017. This one is from an apartment in Sydney with a fabulous view.

Going round the bend

The Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: The Bend

Which bend are you going to take?

May as well have a singalong as we go. Everyone should know this one

Our world is wonderful

The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 153: It’s a Wonderful World

Not going to go with the obvious song as everyone has already done that. Here’s my take on the song of choice