September 2010 Issue 102

There is nothing more wonderful after a prolonged drought than the sound rain makes pattering onto a roof. Our first hint that the weather was about to break were some heavy charcoal clouds glimpsed in the distance. It seemed as if the world was holding its breath, as if it waited for a giant sneeze [...]

It’s hard to think about anything good coming out of a prolonged drought. Except for the birds. Though our bush block was as dry as the proverbial bone and some of our trees suffering so badly I wondered if the fig-tree would ever recover, we have now have a semi-permanent colony of bellbirds and are [...]

Two dingoes live just down the road from our bush hideaway.  Sometimes of an evening we hear their distinctive wail. It reminds us of what this area was like before Europeans turned up to mess things around. Mother and son, the dingoes are walked every day on a two dog leash. Beautiful creatures with coats [...]

At the risk of sounding curmudgeonly, my least favourite time are those months between Christmas and the end of Easter. The rest of the year this rural area is totally mine except for those few locals who have the decency to stay out of sight. Winter is when our bush tracks are home to echidnas, [...]

With great respect to that classic picture book, I say Pooh to Possum Magic. My point being that the animals we celebrate in fiction have little to do with reality. Beatrix Potter’s rabbits might be lovable pets but we don’t want them roaming around our back yards or prowling our bush blocks. No one wants [...]

The trees, bushes and flowers on our bush block provide food and shelter for many birds. Amongst our visitors and residents we include blackbirds, wattle birds, mudlarks, rosellas, magpies, kookaburras, willy wagtails, finches, crows, galahs, wood pigeons, yellow and blue breasted wrens, honey eaters, minors, tawny frogmouth and barn owls and grey shrike thrushes. And [...]