I’m just back from ten days “respite” in Sydney and Adelaide, and my house is shielded from the worst of the noise, even so I am COMPLETELY OVER cicadas.
So you can imagine that this sight cheered me up no end …
Only 999,999 cicadas to go !!
Another of the consequences of our recent rain has been the emergence of thousands of cicada nymphs from their seven-year hibernation underground, to shed their skins, mate, lay eggs and then die. All this occurs in the space of a few weeks.
For some people these are the longest weeks of summer, as waves of ear-piercing calls roll through the bush, drowning out all other sounds and making conversation difficult if not impossible. My friend Mary Ann who lives just out of Bellingen on a farm, is being driven slowly insane by 14 hours of non-stop noise every day.
I discovered that Australia has over 200 species of cicada. Amongst them the colourfully named Black Prince, Floury Baker, Yellow Monday and Whisky Drinker (due to its red nose). Fortunately, it appears that only the Golden Drummer, Bottle, and Green Grocer have so far found my garden attractive. Unfortunately though, the Green Grocer is said to be one of the loudest insects in the world!
They are quite an attractive insect, but this amazing and slightly creepy film on American cicadas will make you look at them in a new light!
There’s a patch of lawn at the back of the garden that catches the early morning winter sun, and around this time of the year I sometimes see a wallaby with her joey warming herself and nibbling the grass. I remember earlier this week wondering if she would visit again this year, and this morning there she was …
She’s very timid so I had to take the photo through my bathroom window. I suspect from the size of her tummy that she has a joey in her pouch, but this time it didn’t show its face.
A Bellingen Diary 