Pond anniversary …

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It’s two years this month since the construction of my frog pond, and as you can see from my original posting, and the photos below – it’s come a long way since then.

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Pond September 2012

 

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Pond September 2014

There have been a few ups and downs along the way …

Like the goldfish which died within days of being set free, or became meals for kookaburras.  In retrospect, this was not a bad thing as they probably would have eaten tadpoles anyway, and the few that remain live up to their Comet name, being wary and probably slightly traumatised!

Then there was the soupy green algae which developed the first summer, and necessitated the installation of an unattractive shade cloth.  I’m hoping that by the end of this summer, the tree ferns I planted will sufficiently shade the pond to allow its removal.

And the substantial leak which developed this winter.  A messy digging session uncovered a subsidence problem, now fixed.

None of this, however, seemed to faze the frogs who turned up in great numbers to disturb my summer nights.  The frog species count currently stands at 9, and I’m hoping for more this season.  Visit my new Frog Page to see photos and videos.

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Does my bum look big on this bamboo ?
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Proper Rain at last …

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It has been been raining steadily for over twelve hours, the frog pond is overflowing, the ground is sodden, there’s a flood watch out for the Bellinger River, it’s a dark and dreary day … and everything is right with the world!

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Looking lush already

I’m going to take at least partial credit for this rain, as I’ve almost finished rolling out over 200 metres of hose and 100 drippers in preparation for a second un-seasonably dry Spring.  Of course, I should have done this a few years ago when first planting, but I was lulled into complacency by regular and bountiful rain.

The birds aren’t too impressed with the rain, especially the Tawny Frogmouths who are still roosting under the leaves of a dying banana sucker.  They look even more grumpy than usual if that’s possible?

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World’s biggest bower bird …

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The local rubbish tip is not the place you would normally expect to go bird spotting. And of course, we don’t call them rubbish tips any more, they are “Waste Management Centres”.  Many have re-cycle or re-use shops attached.  Ours used to be called The Eco House but it has been re-named in honour of the fabulous sculpture now standing at the entrance.

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The sculpture which stands several metres high was created by local “found” artist Nick Warfield over three months, and is surrounded by blue objects, like a giant bower bird “nest”.  Nest being the wrong word, because it’s really just a place for the male Satin Bower Bird to show off and to hopefully impress a female.  These are the same birds that featured in my Mango War posting.

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The bower bird was commissioned by the local council to celebrate the re-opening of the shop after some months of mysterious closure. (There are rumours of rubbish corruption!)  So our re-use shop is now called The Bower House.

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Unfortunately, it still contains mostly junk, but if you scrounge around the occasional treasure can sometimes be found.

 

A visiting python …

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Today I came upon this beautiful two metre python sunning itself near my back door.  From its markings it appears to be a Coastal Carpet Python.  According to my snake book, its movements when not disturbed are “slow and casual” which is a pretty apt description as it seemed quite unconcerned by my presence.

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Hopefully when it has finished sunning itself it will proceed slowly and casually to my compost bin to feast on a bush rat or two!