Pale Banded Snail

We have seen this large snail a few times and this morning one of our Grandchildren found another in the garden.

Pale Banded Snail  or    Figuladra mattea

There is not much about it on the Internet and I don't have a reference book on Molluscs.
The shell is quite striking with alternating dark and pale bands.  This shell was empty,
but I have found others here with a "resident".

This afternoon on a walk in my favourite local bushland ( Mt Petrie) this wallaby was fairly unconcerned about my presence :

 

 Another "spotting" was this butterfly  near some milkweed

It is a Lesser Wanderer or  Danaus petilia .


The usual website of http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_nymphs/LesserWanderer.htm  has information and better photos than I managed to take

 

Broad-leaf Bramble

This post is to record the occurrence of the native raspberry species -
Rubus moluccanus var trilobus   or  Broad-leaf bramble in the Mt Petrie Bushland Reserve. It was seen in two  separate areas - I had noticed it before but had mistaken it for the introduced Blackberry.

Unfortunately there was no fruit to sample!

We have the Rubus parvifolius which does well on our property so this might be worth trying as well although it looks like it needs moisture and well drained condition.

Another plant spotted that was in flower was a Banksia sp (?spinulosa) :

I might try growing Banksia sp again, by being more careful where I plant them,
to allow for better drainage during wet weather

Slender Grape

A plant that I thought was a weed called Balloon vine in fact has turned
out to be a native vine - Slender Grape or   Cayratia clematidea:

We have it growing in many places here and we have been fairly active in pulling it out.

The difference between the two is fairly obvious once it is pointed out:
The Slender Grape has 5 leaflets (not 9 as does the Balloon Vine) and the petioles of the two lower pairs are distinctly forked at an angle of about 45 degrees, while the terminal, largest leaflet has an unbranched petiole.

According to this website :
http://www.butterflyplantsforpoverty.org/factsheets.htm
it is the host plant for a most magnificent moth  - the Joseph's Coat Moth:




 (image from Google images)


Needless to say we won't be pulling it out anymore without good reason and I look forward to seeing that moth around