Bearded Dragon

The other day spotted this lizard sunning itself near my shed. By the time I went to get the camera it had moved to a nearby tree ( a brushbox or Lophostemon confertus) and was most aggressive when I approached too close:

Common Name : Bearded  Dragon  Binomial name : Pogona barbata

The other larger lizard we have is the Blue Tongue and there seem to be a few varieties of smaller skinks and lizards here as well that I have yet to properly identify

Tailed Emperor Butterfly

A few days ago Anne noticed a chrysalis  (or pupa) on an agapanthus plant underneath a frangipani.  We snipped a section of leaf that held it and placed it into  container.  Today it hatched into a very spectacular butterfly :

It is a Tailed Emperor or Polyura pyrrhus

ref : http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_nymphs/TailedEmperor.htm

The above site has, as usual, a good description and details.

I'm not sure what it had been feeding on, but it is more than welcome in our yard anytime. I haven't noticed this species around before.

Amorphophallus titanum

Last week Anne had an email about this aroid type plant coming into flower in a garden near  Beenleigh.  We went to have a look and even though it was still not completely "out" it was still spectacular.   This is the first time this plant has flowered - it is about 8yrs old apparently.  When opened out properly the skirt part drops out like a fan around the central portion.

Info : http://www.nurseriesonline.com.au/Articles/Amorphophallus-titanum.html

Although impressive I'm not tempted to have one of these in our garden. I prefer the native plants although Anne has more diverse botanical likes.

Limnodynastes tasmaniensis

With the wet weather it has been frog heaven again with a delightful chorus at night.

I have been collecting toads again - I have picked up  and dispatched about 100 in the last week. I wonder where they keep coming from  - they must move quite some distances each night to keep repopulating our property.

Here is a photo of a small and very active spotted marsh frog that I spotted tonight whilst out toad hunting:

proper name is :   Limnodynastes tasmaniensis

My ID of this is not 100% certain and I could be wrong!   He was released of course after the photo shoot.   

ref for Brisbane frogs :   http://frogs.org.au/frogs/ofQld/Around_Brisbane

Birds, Frogs and Butterflies are a real pleasure to have share our property.

Wet weather

Heavy rain past two days -  the rain gauge was overflowing this morning so we had at least 185mm in the past 24hrs as I had already emptied it at 65mm. Fortunately  we do not have any problems with flooding here.  My aquaponics systems this morning were dead electrically ( fish all ok) -  problem was moisture in a power board from the heavy rain. Even though the electrics are well covered there is still splashing of water that can get into the electrics from underneath. The power board was removed and replaced and all is now functioning normally. I need to rethink my waterproofing system after this rain system has gone.

Noticed some large mushrooms had erupted in the northern chook pen :

but I wouldn't dare pick them for eating as I know next to nothing on which types of mushrooms are edible or not.


Also I have recently made another pond in the back of our property using a large fibreglass  tray that I had left over from when I set up the Aquaponics - I lined it as it had several holes.  The area still looks scarred and needs planting up but the rain has filled it to overflowing :

It is another area of the garden that can provide frog habitat and water for birds
and creates a different micro climate for plants

We have some good sized butternut pumpkins this year :

The plant isn't as rampant as the Jap or Kent pumpkin I have previously grown
so I'll probably replant this type again next spring.

Net casting spider

Spotted this spider sitting quietly on the north side of the house the other day

It is called a Net Casting Spider - binomial name is : Deinopis subrufa

 http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/501.htm

The name arises as it makes a "net" at night to catch any nearby insect

We were taken by the length of the legs

vegetable grasshopper

There has been a bit of lull posting but gardening has continued unabated.

With the hot humid weather the bugs are out in force especially this type:





They are called Vegetable grasshoppers - binomial name is : Atractomorpha similis or A. australis.

Usual ref site : http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_grasshoppers/GrassPyrgomorp.htm

Although they aren't considered major pests they have been having a good feed on the silverbeet :

So action was needed. I tried Neem several times - it had no noticeable effect on them. So off to the Hardware store  for other options and I purchased a garlic/onion/pyrethrin trigger spray and another one that was  straight pyrethrin based. The former seems to have knocked them back quite a lot even with one spraying.

The silverbeet struggles here over summer but I have seen some from other gardeners that puts mine to shame, so that is a stimulus to "try harder"