February socials
Here is a round-up of our social media posts from February. This collection is for those who don’t spend much time on Facebook or Instagram, and apologies to those who have already seen these. (Please do click on the gallery photos to see them in their full glory!):
The wetlands on Raakajlim, incredible colors on a Flower Chafer Beetle, a juvenile Brown Snake, a visit from the Mildura Birdlife gang, the fence is finally finished, and the Sand Goanna mystery solved.
On World Wetlands Day we actually have a wetland. This is our temporary wetlands on Raakajlim after 34mm of rain. A week after that event, we had another 54mm of rain so it's looking even more spectacular now. See if you can spot the tiny person. That's me, searching for Shield Shrimps. (don't worry, you'll hear about them if I find some!)
Our rainfall total for January is an amazing 100mm. That's wet for us!
Rain in the Mallee makes everything grow, flower and breed. Our wetlands are full of all sorts of bugs like this freshly minted grasshopper and flowers like Quena (Solanum esuriale). Even the Mallee flowers are putting on a show (Halgania cyanea).
Sometimes I see things and wonder why?? Why did this Flower Chafer Beetle evolve such beautiful patterns and colors? And why such yellow legs? And then I remember, nature is awesome and surprising, and leave it at that.
Flower Chafer Beetle - Chlorobapta frontalis
I rescued this from a chook feeding frenzy. Sadly, too late to save it.
Apparently, the black head and collar is typical of juvenile Brown Snakes.
We were so pleased to host a big group from Mildura Birdlife earlier in February. Highlights included a family of Sacred Kingfishers, seeing the endangered Arid Bronze Azure butterfly. Lowlights included seeing a group of Rainbow Bee-eaters eat some of the butterflies ... Thanks to Kerry Laming and Kerry E Whitelegg for the photos
And on the 21st February - The fence is finally finished!
We are celebrating the completion of a 13 km long fence around our 490ha conservation property "Raakajlim". The old netting fence is no longer a hazard to wildlife. The new fence will help us manage grazing pressure but will allow the movement of smaller critters like echidnas, goannas and snakes.
I've just crunched the numbers: 465 volunteer hours to pull down the old fence, 50 person days for the contractors and 524 volunteer hours to construct the fence. Phew!
Our fencing project was supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Volunteer Action Grants, the Australian Government through the Murray-Darling Healthy Rivers Program, a Gallagher - Landcare Australia grant, and with help from the Jesse Chaplin-Burch Trust and Bio·R.
The first of many threatened plant translocations into the Mallee Conservation sanctuary!
This is Prickly Bottlebrush (Callistemon brachyandrus). It's endangered in Victoria and mostly grows around Hattah Kulkyne National Park. We have two patches already on Raakajlim, and we've just planted out our third.
Thanks to mum and dad for producing such healthy tubestock from our seed.
Spoiler alert! If you like your bush mysteries to remain unsolved ... scroll past really quickly!
After years of speculation, I have discovered that the Sand Goanna did it!
"Prey are dug from underground, with characteristic V-shaped diggings frequently found along the edge of vertical spider burrows" - Robertson & Coventry (2019) Reptiles of Victoria
(This Goanna is just a tiny baby - so cute).