Balijup in Spring

I returned to Balijup last week. Having only seen the landscape under the summer heat and walked over dry lakes I was keen to see the changes after some rain. I had window of opportunity and I took it. This is what I found.

Water in all of the lakes. Even a few ducks and herons around.

 On the back lake there were even some swans but I didn't get out there. I only had a day. As it was I managed to get to six of the lakes and swamps on the property. There are a lot of wetlands there. I still find it amazing.

Beautiful golden button flowers carpet the ground on even the badly salt/alkaline affected lakes. 

The reflections were to be savoured.

As were the spring flowers.

And lichens.

Golden sticky modified leaves of a carnivorous Drosera.

Continuing the golden theme - a canola paddock. Last year this was a hay crop. 

A scarlet robin entertained me while I ate my lunch. Flying down to catch insects then up into the tree to look out for his next victim. The female was much more circumspect.

Three and one third by five

Or seeing the tiny up close. These are all plant parts, collected inland and pressed between glass in slide transparencies. The 'frame' is approximately 3 1/3 cm by 5 cm. 

  

From the top:

Pimelea flowers from the Hills

Red Velvet calyx near Sandstone

Ephemeral dancers near Paynes Find

Everlasting bracts near The Granites

Hair leaf in cross section near Paynes Find

Ptilotus flowers and granite sand near The Granites

Spinifex and dune sand near Virgin Springs

Lichen and everlasting bracts near Wiluna

Below are images of the type of country in which the above plants were collected.

Silver shimmer

Walking down by the inlet the last few days the water has been a gentle reflection of the pale cloudy sky.

The water birds are making the most of the still shallow waters - easy fishing and feeding on the water weeds in the shallows.

A flotilla sails by.

Spoonbills taking time out from feeding.

An ibis comes in to land.

The lichen covered rocks glow in the late afternoon light.

all hover and hammer

And I was alive in the blizzard of the blossoming pear,

Myself I stood in the storm of the bird-cherry tree.

It was all leaf-life and star-shower, unerring, self shattering power,

And it was all aimed at me.

What is this dire delight flowering fleeing always earth?

What is being? What is truth?

Blossoms rupture and rapture the air,

All  hover and hammer,

Time intensified and time intolerable, sweetness raveling rot.

It is now. It is not.

Written on May 4 1937, from Stolen Air, a book of poems by the Russian, Mandelstam, selected and translated by Christian Wiman, 2012. This was one of the last poems written by Mandelstam.

Through his poetry  and essays Mandelstam was increasingly critical of the Stalin government. He wrote and conducted private readings of his poem 'Stalin Epigram' during 1933.  This led to his arrest in 1934 by Stalin's henchmen. He was sent into internal exile with his wife.
After a suicide attempt by Mandelstam his exile was modified to ban only the big cities so they settled in Voronezh. By 1937 his work was being discredited again and he was arrested in May 1938. This time he was sentenced to five years in a correction camp and sent to a camp near Vladivostok. He died on December 27 1938 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
In 1956 he was partially exonerated, and in 1987 he was fully exonerated of all charges against him by the Gorbachev government. 

(The birds above were clamorous, keenly feasting on the nectar rich flowers.) 

Table skinks and tomato frogs

King skinks are newcomers to our garden. They first showed themselves as a rustle and disappearing tail in my vege garden. And a tail that was distinctly not snake, which was a pleasant change. Next I came across a big one sheltering in my garden shed. Just today I came across this.

A king skink sunbaking on our garden table. The top slab is made from a huge lump of marri and it sports a large crack along the length of it. A perfect hiding space if you are a large skink. This king skink would be close to forty to forty five centimetres long.

Egernia kingii hiding in the table

These Egernia's are usually found not too far from the coast and love to shelter beneath rocks, in crevices like our table and burrows. They are omnivorous so I'm hoping they may have developed a taste for snails and slaters along with the usual insects and other small animals. I expect they will be munching on the plentiful tomatoes too.

On the subject of tomatoes - we have a plentiful supply of young frogs hanging out in the tomato bushes. I guess they like the humidity there. If they are not careful they may well become king skink dinner. Frog with a side serve of tomato. Delicious??

The frogs are Litoria moorei, or Western green tree frog. They have a distinctive call rather like a motorbike changing gears. Their other common name is the motor bike frog. When there is a moist change on the way they usually start calling about a day in advance. When rain is forecast and the frogs don't call we know the rain is probably going to bypass us.

Littoria moorei