My numbers up #14

Judy’s The Numbers Game #15

This weeks number to search the media files is 136. I suspect I will have to do a rearrangement like last week. I was right so this weeks new numbers for me are 316.

In the Wiangaree shop

Going west from my place, after a few km’s, you’ll cross the Mann River

Going north from my place along the gravel road, you”ll cross the Clarence River

Water tank overflow into a bucket

Waiting for breakfast on a morning with heavy dew

A throw back to Becky’s Spiky Squares of March 2019. Watch out for Becky’s Square Challenge coming back next month

Just a rusty old anchor

Common Crow Butterfly

Large Grass Yellow Butterfly

Golden orange or orange and gold

Terri’s Sunday Stills Monthly Colour Challenge: Incandescent #Orange and Glowing #Gold

After landing their space craft and infiltrating the what they thought were the natives but in reality became part of the Jacksons garden. Instead of taking over as planned they fell foul of Mr Jacksons garden shears. Over the years they came to dread the sound of snip snip coming closer and closer

Sunsets are reliable to send a bit of orange every now and then

Orange Trumpet flower with a water drop for extra shine

Golden clouds hover

Golden Lycra flowers light up the garden

Early morning sunlight glistens on a Golden Orb Weavers web, battled scared from last nights incidents

A golden snake statue by Salvador Dali

Let’s finish with a bang

and another to make you go ooh ahh

Also Cee’s FOTD

The unco spider

This is a story of the most unusual event that I saw late in the afternoon this week.

I was wandering about with my camera as I watered the plants, just in case something interesting happens to appear in the garden, and had just finished watering the garden after a particularly warm day. Near the tap, I took a series of very bad photos due to the almost lack of sunlight and in the shade of the verandah.

On the verandah between a hanging pot of flowering Nodding Violets and a verandah post I saw this weird looking spider navigating its way along a series of almost invisible strands of web.

The spider didn’t look like it was in control of its own around 20mm long body and legs. It seemed to be trying to get to that white dot just above the spider in the following photo, after travelling from the shelter of the hanging flower pot with the most uncoordinated fashion with legs that went anywhere they wanted.

I had to discover what this spider was and found out that it is a Whip Spider.


“Whip Spiders specialise in feeding on wandering spiders, usually juveniles. The spider sits at the top of a few long silk threads that run downs below it among foliage.”

This description made Whip Spiders seem way more agile than my spider!

Almost there just a bit of “upside down and how did the hell did the “packet” end up underneath” bit of confusion was part of the entertainment as it literally bounced it’s way along the strands of web.

“When a wandering spider walks up one of these handy silk `bridges’ it gets a nasty surprise. The waiting Whip Spider uses toothed bristles on the end segment of the last leg to comb out swathes of entangling sticky silk from its spinnerets.”

“These rapidly entangle the struggling victim so that it cannot escape.”

The final goal was reached and the Whip Spider checked to see if any of the last meal was still available

I was just about to stop watching and taking photos when the Whip Spider started to fold its legs along side its body. I thought I would get that last photo in case that would help me ID the spider.

The best bit was that in that last photo, the spider had finished with the lovingly wrapped meal and just tossed it away. You can just make out the motion of the packet as it plummets to the ground.

*Information in italics from the Australian Museum
https://australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/whip-spider/

Classification

Species colubrinus
Genus Ariamnes
Family Theridiidae
Super Family Araneoidea
Order Araneae
Class Arachnida
Phylum Arthropoda
Kingdom Animalia

Now and before

Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge: Close Up or Macro

I found a small spider having breakfast this morning

I’ve sorting photos I am still in the mid 2020’s. Can only do a few days at a time. Some of the date folders, (all my photos when I download go in to a misc folder), have a few photos and some days of discovery have over one hundred photos.

Australian Green Tree Frogs are the happiest looking frogs. This photo is from 28 Sept 2020

This is October 2021

I am quite late with my wrap up for Changing Season for October. Lots has happened and but nothing significant. A lack of rain meant a lot of garden watering but when it did rain it was welcomed by everyone. Managed to do a bit of driving around having a look here and there. The garden looked good when the Hippesatrums flowered adding a splash of colour. Some of the seasonal birds have dropped in, some have stayed, some have kept going to another destination.

Make sure you join in with Ju-Lyn and I for Changing Seasons

Here’s a bit of Aussie rock hoping for a bit of rain. I don’t know if you’ll need a drink and snacks but you could always have some handy just in case. Hit play and start scrolling. If Dragon aren’t to your taste, scroll back up and hit pause or stop.

OK The Sun is up so lets get going. Sunrise at my besties

The fog, the shed and trees next door in the morning

Some mornings everyone is awake early, just singing in the sunrise. Brown Honeyeaters are quite loud for their size.

So are Yellow-faced Honeyeaters. It was a foggy morning at home and sometimes you could hear a bird but not see them.

In the Ponytail Palm, the Willie Wagtails have made a nest. At the moment there are three babies.

Down at the beach a Sooty Oystercatcher takes a stroll past a disinterested Silver Gull

I love these little vertical birds. White-throated Treecreepers start at the bottom of a tree and just hop up and around the tree looking for insects living in the bark. I recently found out that the red spot under the eye means it is a female.

Here is the better one of the Satin Bower Bird and the pear. Much better than my October Last on the Card

At this time of year the Spangled Drongos arrive in the garden.

There is always someone checking out the available real estate. We were out for a walk and on the way I spotted some Rainbow Lorikeets on a big old Spotted Gum. They were inspecting the trees hollows to see if was a move in ready or if someone else already owns the space.

The Leaden Flycatchers were here for a few weeks in October. They don’t stay still for long

The Eastern Rosellas are always lovely to see.

After one of the irregular down pours, a Pied Currawong looked none too pleased……

…….neither did the Australian Raven

No one seems to mind if you hang out your washing when you’re at the beach. The other Darter just looks the other way while the Pied Cormorant tends to his own laundry.

While further along the Evans Head Breakwall an Eastern Water Dragon did a good impression of an Iguana

At my besties we were heading out for the day and the regular Koala to her place was just sitting beneath a tree and then he hopped up the tree a little way

Isn’t she pretty? A young Red-necked Wallaby who comes into my garden regularly. She doesn’t have a Joey or should I say a big Joey yet. Her pouch was flat. When Joeys are born they weigh about two grams. They pop their heads out of the pouch at around six months.

Just a tree and bit of blue sky to segue into the plants and flower section

Looking at the cactus centre as they have just started their Spring spurt. Look sorta familiar. Which blogger has a similar photo as her header?

A view down the garden when the Hippeastrums in the wheelbarrow just dominated the garden colour

The Frangipannis in the garden are starting to shoot

In Grafton the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom, so are the Flame Trees

The Jacaranda flowers have so many shades of purple.

A shower of rain came though giving the cactus with the most fantastic flowers a lovely drink and a water drop display. You’ll have to wait for photos of the flower as they have only just bloomed. Drop by for Macro Monday next week the 8th as there will be an open flower.

The Orange Hippeastrums where starting to bud at the end of October

Getting this photo of a white Daisy and a tiny Ghost Crab Spider, I took quite a lot from all angles. I wrote a post called What do you think? which generated so much traffic, in fact one of my most “popular” posts with 223 views and 124 likes 110 comments. The post was about whether I should delete or keep a photo of the Daisy and spider from another angle completely, as I am trying to be ruthless about keeping some photos that really should go.

On the way to my besties along The Summerland Way, the Coreopsis is flowering and the wind was blowing.

and the flowers stretched out along the side of the road. The background is a forestry pine forest that was burnt in the horrible 2019 statewide fires. Some tree are recovering while others have died. The understory are Eucalypts growing where they used to grow before the pine plantations. Some trees love fire to germinate the seeds that have been stored in the ground for years.

Many years ago there were Impatiens plants in garden beds at the front of my house. I have since removed those garden beds. This year all of these plants have sprung up all around the place with lovely flowers but not necessarily in the garden bed they were planted originally.

Going for a walk at Evans Head we were lucky to find some Flannel Flowers still growing. One of my favourite Australian Native Flowers.

A few days before a Full Moon, Our Moon was around in the early afternoon

I love it when the sunset is so good from my besties place in a spot we call Sunset Hill, the highest part of her place. My favourite is capturing these four trees that are a long way in the distance

Here is the same sunset a while later on from lower down in the yard. The tree and fence posts on the right hand side is Sunset Hill

I do hope you enjoyed a scroll thought my October. Any favourites?

I should add this into Cee’s FOTD

Discovering your emotions

The Ragtag Daily Prompt Tuesday: Emotion

Can you find your emotion among this lot? No responsibility taken for any mental scaring, they are your emotions. Perhaps I can facilitate some change. Try and stop for a while and appreciate the colours or patterns of the photo that builds a flight response or just stop on the photo that makes you go aahhh and soak up the emotion

I’ll come to your emotional rescue

I know what your phobia is so look away now

The Ragtag Daily Prompt Wednesday: Phobia

As usual a word of warning follows…….

You know I’ve got them
here on the screen
ready to make you scream
Some that slither
some that fly
some with many legs
hairy and slim
Who will bite?
Who will sting?
They await you
to make you sweat
tremor with terror
or shake like a leaf
Yes almost time
to peek through your fingers
if you dare
ready to scream
soon, here on the screen
You know I’ve got them.

The Phobia Gallery – not full size so you won’t faint with a surprise at the end