Just thought I’d share a picture of these two guys.
We rarely see Goldfinches in our garden, just maybe once or twice a year, and this is the first time I have managed to get a photo. The focus is a bit soft due to the effect of shooting through double glazing and being at full zoom.
Well, not really the view from the conservatory. More about what’s been happening in the garden, supported by a couple of photo’s.
We have had a couple of really nice days, blue skies and sunshine that have spurred us on to set about tidying up the garden. Not of course without having a spot of breakfast out on the deck. Whilst we were having our breakfast the fellow below was obtaining his.
This Great Tit was helping himself to the peanuts. Access had been made very easy due to the large hole the squirrels had made in our “squirrel proof” feeder. Of course I don’t begrudge him the peanuts, I don’t mind that the squirrels managed to break into feeder. My only objection is that I paid good money and that the manufacturer claimed that it was squirrel proof. I guess their product testing didn’t take into account that juvenile squirrels are small and that their head and shoulders could get through the same gaps that birds use. Oh, and that squirrel teeth must be diamond tipped as they can quite happily gnaw through steel mesh.
So back to work. Having finished our breakfast I set about a serious pruning of our apple tree. The level of my attack is such that, for the tree, it is a case of sink or swim. I’m pretty sure there won’t be any apples this year. But I am sure, assuming the tree survives, that we will be in full production for future years. The label on the tree when we planted it said the variety was Egremont Russet and that the harvest period would be late September / October. Once the tree got into its stride, it always produced hundreds of fruit. Not that we ever managed to harvest many. The local wildlife always got there first.
First would come the squirrels. Did I mention we have squirrels ? They don’t wait for fruit or nuts to ripen. As soon as they can they are there, chomping on the green apples. Again I wouldn’t mind but I noticed they were a bit free and easy with my crop. They would grab an apple, eat half, toss the uneaten half and go get another.
Later, as the year progressed and the fruit ripened, along come the Blackbirds. They like to peck their way around the tree. They don’t eat whole apples either, just peck their way into the core then leave the apple to rot on the tree.
Finally, there are the wasps. Now these crafty blighter’s start on the really ripe apples. They seem to deliberately choose the side nearest the main trunk of the tree. Which means I couldn’t see what they were up to. I have lost count of how many apples I went to pick only to find an empty skin, still retaining the original shape. Hanging like a chinese lantern.
So this year they are all in for a shock. No apples.
Mr Robin, picture below, was very vocal during my pruning actions.
I haven’t seen any Robins eating apples but I am pretty sure they enjoy the various bugs on the tree so he was probably berating me for cutting back on his food supply.
So having decimated the apple tree, I turned my attention to cutting back the Jasmine. This was something we planted a few years back. It steadfastly refused to grow where I wanted it to go, ignored the trellis installed especially for it. That is until high winds broke said trellis causing it to hang down. The Jasmine immediately climbed aboard and smothered the trellis. The most amazing thing is that, somehow, a new clump of Jasmine self set about seventy-five feet away from the original plant and set about clambering over everything in sight. Rose bushes, Lavatera, Sweet Pea sticks and the back fence have all been fair game.
The trouble with trimming this stuff back is the way in which it twines itself around other plants. You can’t just set to, hacking and slashing, but have to unravel all of the vines, which can be a bit painful around the rose bushes which are well endowed with large thorns. We also found some sneaky brambles lurking in amongst the Jasmine vines. The spines on brambles are, I find, infinitely worse than rose thorns. Needless to say, I have several scratches and puncture wounds to show for my troubles.
All of my efforts have been overseen by Masher from his vantage point in the bird bath.
He’s called Masher as that was his previous function. He is a spud basher extraordinaire. However he was damaging our saucepans, so he was evicted from the kitchen and now spends his time trying to intimidate the pigeons who come for a drink. They don’t seem to care about his evil eye so he has become redundant as a bird scarer.
As I said, we’ve had a couple of really nice days. On the second day I took advantage of the fine weather to start another project, the laying of a base for the BBQ.
I am cheating somewhat, having purchased a few square metres of interlocking plastic shed base. The idea is that having roughly levelled the ground, I will position the plastic interlocking tiles on the prepared ground. Then a cement mix will be poured over the whole, filling the spaces in the tiles and providing a level base for the positioning of patio slabs. That’s the theory anyway. At this point I have levelled the ground and positioned the interlocking plastic tiles.
Also keeping a watchful eye on my activities was Arry the Ant. I think he could tell I was getting a little overheated and offered a refreshing drink of water.
The BBQ base has not been completed, unfortunately, it has rained all day today so the final stage, the cement and laying of the patio slabs has been deferred.
Perhaps tomorrow, for now I have aches in places I didn’t know existed. But I do have a sense of having achieved something. The garden is looking tidier.
Oh and something else, people keep asking me how I am enjoying retirement. Well over the last couple of days I have come to realise that I am liking it just fine. Being able to do stuff when you want to, being able to sit out in the sunshine having breakfast or lunch on a weekday seems to good to be true. But after all, that’s what I worked 38 years for.
The skies of steel and fields white with frost
Are memories of yesterday
And white scarecrow children search the hedgerows … and splash
Through muddy pools for secrets … the spirit of the spring,
With the sunbeams on her hair … shakes the sleeping earth …
And with the pilgrim by her side … she murmurs in the trees …
And in the ears of all who listen … “Now … time to wake … for winter has gone”.
Credit to Chris Simpson of Magna Carta from their fabulous album “Seasons” and quoted here because I was reminded of the album, as I was preparing to post some photos from my back garden, and it seemed rather appropriate.
Spring is well and truly here and there are fresh shoots and flowers appearing all over the place.
One of the first flowers to put in an appearance has been this white Camellia, a gift from our granddaughters a couple of years ago. This is one of three, unfortunately only two survived the first winter.
Always quick off the mark are the roses. Sometimes I find the fresh leaves bursting forth much more attractive than the flowers. I have no idea of the species name for this example but it always produces wonderfully blousey pink flowers with a beautiful scent.
A couple of years ago we planted half a dozen Primula in a small raised bed. They refused to obey the rules of boundary and are steadily spreading throughout what we laughingly call our lawn. The flowers are so pretty that I have to avoid them, when I eventually get round to mowing the grass, leaving ragged tufts of long grass scattered around the garden. At least until the flowers are gone. Then it’s a Primula massacre.
Of course it’s not only the plants that burst forth, full of the joys of spring. The birds are at it too. Over the last few days we have noticed many species visiting our garden including Jays, Woodpeckers, Wrens, Blackbirds, Robins and Tits. Of course the tits are with us all year round as are the Robins and not forgetting the vultures, sorry, Wood Pigeon’s.
As the Jays, Woodpeckers, Blackbirds and Robins have been arriving in pairs I have been half expecting Noah to pull up alongside our deck aboard his Ark. Of course the Tis always arrive en masse, especially the Long-Tailed variety. Hustling through the trees, chattering away. Raiding our garden and feeders before moving on to the next.
We have had a Hazel tree ever since we moved into this house some thirty years ago. Every year it gives us a grand display of red leaves and later carries large numbers of nuts. Of course we never get to harvest them. The squirrels always seem to discover them before they get a chance to ripen. The ground below the tree is strewn with the discarded shells with tops cut off. Just like a decapitated hard-boiled egg.
Our Grape Hyacinths grow in number every year. Unfortunately, due to our garden being churned up during the conservatory rebuild, this year the numbers are down. We are looking forward to them reclaiming the garden over future years as things settle down.
We are now looking forward to getting out there and making the most of the garden as the warmer weather comes along.
Feeling chuffed with myself due to some recognition that I have received over the last few days for photos that I posted on the Photography Cafe website.
I thought I would post the photos here for your perusal ….
I just saw my first ever Firecrest, I think !
Until today I didn’t even know they existed. Such a tiny bird, flying into the garden with a bunch of tits. I guess it was trying to lose itself in the crowds, if it hadn’t been for that bright head cap I wouldn’t have noticed that there was an interloper.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture as the visit was so fleeting.
Has anyone else seen one of these in the Waterlooville area?
And so to my final post inspired by our trip south of Perth. Our route has taken us from Perth, through Margaret River, Pemberton, Walpole and Denmark to our final destination, Albany.
Albany is the oldest permanently settled town in WA. It was founded on 26 December 1826, predating Perth and Fremantle by over two years. Its creation was part of a plan to thwart French ambitions in the area.
As it was too early for us to check in we headed down to the town centre to stretch our legs and grab a bite for lunch. It was a lovely day, albeit very windy.
Found ourselves on York Street and dropped in to Cosi’s Cafe for a spot of lunch and a coffee. York Street is very busy but at the same time has the feel of an Australian country town.
While in York Street, we ventured into the visitor centre and booked ourselves onto a four-hour river boat cruise for the following day. We also decided that we would take a run out to The Historic Whaling Station after we had checked in at our hotel.
This was our second visit to Albany, Gerry and I having been here some eighteen years ago. It only seemed fitting that we should stay in the same hotel, The Dog Rock Motel …..
…. named after the large rock shaped like a dog’s head.
Having checked in and unloaded the car we set off to be educated about the whaling industry. The following is from Wikipedia …..
The Whaling Station, which closed operations in 1978, has been converted to a museum of whaling, and features one of the ‘Cheynes’ whale chasers that were used for whaling in Albany. The station was the last operating whaling station in the southern hemisphere and the English-speaking world at the time of closure.
On the way out to the whaling station we stopped off at the Vancouver Lookout to absorb the scenery …..
….. seems like every turn of the road offers us a new perspective.
Tearing ourselves away from the fabulous views we soon arrived at the Historic Whaling Station (previously known as Whale World). There is lots to see here, and whatever you think you know about whaling, this place will show you how little you know. For me, the overriding factor is the sheer brutality of the whaling process. There are some pretty graphic pictures around the site and, for the people who worked here or on the ships, it was a tough life. No health and safety regulations, no protective clothing, no sick pay and no pension.
We spent an enlightening couple of hours at the Whaling Station. No matter what you think of the morality of whaling, you have to remind yourself that was a different era. The world has moved on.
And so did we, heading back into Albany and the Dog Rock Motel to rest up prior to dinner.
We had dinner at Lime 303 where I was talked into having a cocktail, a “Blue Lagoon”. Needless to say I was soon back to drinking beer. The cocktail was like an alcoholic Gatorade…. Yuuuk !!! Regardless, the food was very, very good.
The next day we were up early and down to Emu Point ready for our river cruise aboard the Kalgan Queen …
Once we were all aboard we were treated to a display of pelicans and their party tricks. Our skipper would feed them but only after they had “danced”, twirled around on the water. He did this while explaining about the pelicans and there abilities and traits. As the Kalgan Queen is a glass bottomed boat we were also treated to the view of a large sting ray cruising under the boat.
After the regulation safety notices we were off on our journey, across the sheltered waters of Oyster Harbour and then up the Kalgan River.
As we crossed Oyster Harbour our skipper pulled out a whistle and tried to attract the attention of White Breasted Sea Eagles. Unfortunately, they did not put in appearance. However, later as we were running up the river we were treated to the spectacle of several Osprey plunging down to collect the fish thrown out onto the river.
Part of the cruise package is a wine tasting at Montgomery Hill Vineyard. To be quite honest, it was a waste of time. We all agreed that we would rather have stayed on the boat and perhaps travelled further upstream.
The folks in the tasting rooms made no attempt to tell us about the wines, didn’t even ask about individual likes or dislikes to try and match their products to our tastes. Most unlike any tasting I have ever been to before.
The only positive was the view from the tasting rooms and terrace …..
After thirty minutes or so we were bussed back down to the river and back on board the boat. Here we were treated to hot Billy Tea and Damper as we headed back down the river and on to Emu Point.
En-route we encountered other river users / inhabitants …
Back on shore we bade farewell to the Kalgan Queen and to “Perch” …
The cruise had been around four hours duration and was well worth the money.
After a spot of lunch the afternoon was spent fishing off the shore at Emu Point. On my first cast I caught a blowie and although I had many bites I didn’t manage to land another fish. Steve, on the other hand, despite also be plagued by blowies, managed to land a Port Jackson Shark.
While we were fishing there were rays constantly cruising along the water’s edge. Fascinating to watch.
All too soon it was time to pack up and head back to the motel to wash up and head out for dinner, this being our last night down south.
The lucky establishment to be blessed with our custom was the Mean Fiddler Restaurant. It was very busy and when I enquired, about a table for four, was informed that they had more tables upstairs but that there would be about a thirty minute wait.
Upstairs was much quieter and also cooler. Our waitress seemed to be a bit eccentric, a bit like Julie Walters as the elderly waitress in the Two Soups sketch from Victoria Wood As Seen On TV.
Quite early on, the waitress had handed out some crayons and informed us that we could use them to draw on the table-cloth, if we wanted to.
Despite the eccentricities of the staff, the food was good. By the time we had our main meal, the other upstairs customers had gone. We had the room and the balcony to ourselves and were able to wander around perusing the artwork and other curiosities.
From the balcony there was a view, both, up and down York Street.
After our meal we once again headed back to the motel. Sad with the knowledge that we had to head back to Perth the following day.
And so it was that the following morning we headed out on the Albany Highway for the journey home.
We arrived in Exmouth in the early afternoon of Friday, We were spending two nights so that gave us plenty of time to take a look around. What we didn’t realise is that, although it is summer time, we had arrived in the off-season. This meant that many of the tour companies were taking a break. It also meant that the whales were elsewhere along with the whale sharks who presumably were off on their holidays.
This left us to entertain ourselves, which we duly did.
On arrival at the Ningaloo Lodge we were greeted by this character …..
He was back again the following morning too !!!
During our first afternoon we went exploring and discovered Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt …..
The station provides very low frequency (VLF) radio transmission to United States Navy and Royal Australian Navy ships and submarines in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean. The thirteen towers are huge, the tallest is called Tower Zero and is 387 m (1,270 ft) tall. These towers are visible for miles.
…… further along the road we arrived at a car park with access to the beach to view the wreck of the SS Mildura …..
The SS Mildura was carrying Kimberley cattle south when it foundered on the reef during a cyclone in 1907. No human lives were lost but many cattle did not survive. During WWII, allied planes used it for bombing practice.
We spent an hour or more on the beach overlooking the wreck. Paddling and just sitting in the sunshine. We were the only ones on the beach for quite some time. We did have some wild company …
The wreck can be viewed from the beach at the end of Mildura Wreck Road. As I said we had the beach to ourselves until, just before we were about to leave, three guys turned up to fish.
We watched for a while, to check out their methods. However their method entailed wading a long way out until they were waist deep, fishing with a lure until they got it caught on the rocks and lost it. Then they would wade back to shore, re-tackle, and wade back out. One of them lost his tackle several times. I think they spent more time tramping back and forth than they did fishing.
Having decided that there was nothing to be learnt we headed back to Exmouth to search out somewhere for an evening meal. We eventually settled on 5 Kennedy St.
The food here is superb and if you are ever in Exmouth I highly recommend a visit. To give you a hint of what is on offer I had Chilli Pepper Squid, Berry Vinaigrette, Chilli Lime Sauce as an entrée, followed by Lamb Shoulder, Israeli Cous Cous Salad, Baba Ganoush, Dukkah. The lamb was quite a substantial dish and I didn’t think I would make it to desert. However, I struggled manfully on to round of the meal with Churros, Chocolate Chilli Sauce, Vanilla Ice Cream.
Feeling pleasantly plump we took ourselves back to the Ningaloo Lodge for a well-earned kip to prepare for the next day.
Saturday morning saw us up and out searching for a breakfast venue. And for the early morning jump-start we settled on See Salt. Suitably fueled we set of in search of the visitor centre.
They confirmed that we were indeed visiting out of season but informed us that one tour company was still operating and that they still had spaces available. We duly booked ourselves onto a glass bottom boat trip out over the reef. Our departure time was to be 07:30 Sunday morning.
That left us with the whole of Saturday to go and explore. After studying maps and brochures we decided that we would follow Yardie Creek Road which winds its way down the western side of the North West Cape. Our target was to follow this road all the way to Yardie Creek and then to wend our way back to Exmouth, stopping off en-route to go swimming and even get in a little fishing. As always our plans are flexible and any trip is likely punctuated by numerous stops to admire the views and take pictures.
Consequently we hadn’t been on the road very long when we detoured of to visit Vlaming Head Lighthouse.
The wreck of the SS Mildura was directly responsible for the building of this lighthouse. Vlaming Head was also the site for a radar station. There is quite a comprehensive set of information boards pertaining to the history of the area and providing information about the views and wildlife that may be spotted. It is well worth the visit.
Continuing along Yardie Creek Road we did eventually reach Yardie Creek. This is pretty much the end of the paved road. To continue on requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle and the courage to cross the creek.
As you can see from the photos this area is absolutely swarming with tourists. No room to move on the beach. Honestly though, I’m sure it would be busier here if it wasn’t out of season. Would love to have taken the boat trip up Yardie Creek Gorge. Perhaps next time.
So, we managed to drag ourselves away from the creek and start our meander back to Exmouth. Although there are many tracks off Yardie Creek Road, to various beaches, we had decide to visit Turquoise Bay. We were not disappointed ……
We spent a good couple of hours here. The water was warm and very clear with loads of fish. They, the fish, were big enough to have given great sport to a fisherman. Unfortunately, fishing is not allowed here as this is a protected zone. Great for snorkelers who can observe the fish and the corals on the reef. Once again the beach was absolutely swarming with people…… not.
Alas time, as always, moved on and we had to set off back to Exmouth. As the sun sets the kangaroos and other wildlife become active and it becomes decidedly risky to drive after dark. We saw several kangaroos as we motored along and Gerry managed to get a couple of pictures ….
Back in Exmouth we again ate at 5 Kennedy St and with it being Saturday night the restaurant was very busy. The food was really good, five-star. My compliments to Dexter and his chef.
Spotted over the back garden this morning……
The following photo’s are of birds that are visiting the garden here in WA. I have no idea what species they are but offer them up for your delectation.
Should anyone be able to identify the species, please let me know.
WrAnTz 