Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

We’ve had a couple of chilly, wet days which always brings down more birds looking for shelter and food. There seems to be a growing number of crested pigeons who love our yard but in particular out neighbour’s roof.

This little fellow was actually asleep and all puffed up in the afternoon chill.

They seem to love hanging out on our neighbours’ TV aerial and I wonder if they get poor reception as a result!

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I happened to spy this itty bitty gecko when I was in my garden today and he was about the size of a matchstick.  He kept sticking his tiny little tongue in and out but I couldn’t quite capture this in time.

This feathered friend was very blasé and normally when I get anywhere near the galahs they get nervous but this youngster was quite happy when I pointed the lense at him - he was not about the give up the seed bell that he was happily munching on.

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This is a heartwarming tale of an adventure for six ducklings and their mom in Gosford, Newcastle.

A MOTHER duck braved traffic and a housing estate during a TWO-MILE chase to rescue her babies from a sewer.

The six ducklings fell down an underground access and were swept away – but mum could not fit through it.

So the mallard followed their frantic quacks overground across two main roads and a railway line until they stopped under a manhole in Gosforth, Newcastle.

She then sat quacking loudly for at least four hours until jogger Peter Elliott, 59, and daughter Vicki Jefferson, 30, stopped to see what was wrong with her.

They were amazed to hear the faint sound of quacking coming from under the cover and, with the help of friend Jim Calder, lifted it off with a crowbar.

They were even more stunned to see the six ducklings below — and lifted them all out to safety with a child’s fishing net.

Northumbria Water staff used a laptop showing the sewage layout to work out where the babies had got into it — and how far the mother had walked after them.

A spokesman for Northumbria Water said “It was an unbelievable journey.

The storm drain where it all began and the mother duck’s incredible journey

The two men who rescued the six trapped ducklings

Original Post by R Perrie: Sun UK

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I have seen this miniscule critter twice in my garden and despite looking up my reference books and scouring the internet, I cannot identify this bug. He is tiny, measuring about 1cm in diameter and I don’t know if he is a young butterfly/moth/grasshopper who will grow into something larger or if this is as big as he gets. I have nicknamed him Casper the Friendly Ghost as he is so ghostly white, almost transparent like his identity! It’s really bugging me, excuse the pun and there must be someone out there who can identify him. Please put me out of my misery and I would really appreciate any help you can offer. Here are some pictures of my friendly ghost …

He looks as if he is turning green in this photo - could he be a very young grasshopper?

He is attached to my black car in this shot and you can just see his reflection!

A fellow blogger has identified this bug for me and he is a planthopper - This planthopper is white with pale pink margin round the wings, pink legs and faint pink dot in the centre of the wing.

Source: Oz Animals

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I’ve been brushing against spiders and their webs but they just keep on building them despite me accidentally breaking them apart when I’m trying to get a bit closer to nature in the garden. I do try to tread carefully but sometimes it’s hard to see the fine, intricate webbing that they weave..

See more of my abstract spider webs here

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A big and fat caterpillar but I don’t know what kind of butterfly or moth he will turn out to be and two damselflies getting very “intimate”.

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This is a sad story … We had a galah come down to feed for a few days last week who just did not look right. He pecked on the seed and often just remained quiet, by himself and rested (as in the first photograph). He flew away on the first few afternoons but then one day he chose to remain in our garden after snacking on some seed and perched himself ontop on some palm fronds next to our car port. I named him Gustav and took a few photographs of him before I had to go to work. My husband phoned the Wildlife Care Network who came to collect Gustav and take him to the local veterinary clinic - we were worried about Gustav’s welfare and we have two cats.

We later phoned the local veterinary clinic to be told that Gustav did not make it and passed away but we do not know how or why. He looked unharmed - maybe he was old but we might never know and we are going to contact the vet who took him in on Monday to perhaps find out a little bit more about this poor creature’s demise.

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While I was happily celebrating with you all about the 24,000 visitors to my site, I was joined by a garden guest. I have no idea what this “drinking buddy” is and he looks like a young orange palmdart butterfly but I’m not convinced due to his very long legs but they might look longer because he is so tiny. Again, if any of you can help me out here with identification of my new friend, I would appreciate it. Here he is..

I recently discovered what my drinking buddy is - a Plume Moth

Plume Moths hold their narrow wings at right angles to their body when at rest. Their flight is fairly weak. The antennae are short and held out in front of head at right angle to each other. They have long thin legs with spines. The species shown here is common in gardens where the larvae feed on geranium plants. Pupae are thin with many white bristles.

Source: Oz Animals

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I took this favourite photograph of mine a couple of months ago, which I had forgotten about and just came across it again which prompted this post.  This little fellow, a young pied butcher bird has made himself at home in our hanging basket, maybe just waiting for his next meal or just shooting the breeze.  He sings his little heart out as well and the sound has to be heard to be believed, quite a range and talk about making yourself comfortable -  I have never seen a bird actually sit before and it’s an interesting position for a bird.  Since we have been feeding these pied butcher birds, we are now on to our fourth group of youngsters!

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We’ve had a lot of rain over the last month or so which is fantastic for the drought Queensland is suffering from. When it rains here, it really RAINS and I thought the rain was bad in Scotland!  The rain always brings down more birds and they just love our garden on a wet afternoon and we see the rainbow lorikeets sheltering together under the eaves of our pergola or canoodling together on our fence, totally drenched!  The Galahs seem to just love sitting out in the rain and they almost fall asleep on the clothes line with the rain pelting down.  I love the atmosphere the rain creates and enjoy trying to capture the dewy, misty mood surrounding our garden guests.  A few captures …

top to bottom: “Singing in the Rain“, “Rainy Day Blues“ and juvenille pied butcher birds on a rainy afternoon

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