The World’s Ugliest Lawn competition has announced its winner for 2025 and I’ve put away the lawn-mower to enter this year’s contest, with the support of the turbo-chooks who have moved into my yard. My lawn and surrounding garden has all the qualities to put me in the running and join a previous winner of the global award who came from Sandford on the Eastern Shore. There’s knee-high grass in places, patches of dry, matted thatch and tangled vegetation at the edge of the … [Read more...] about My ugly lawn a cut above the rest
On The Wing
Passport to birdland
Birdland is a magical place where it’s possible to escape all the pressures and stresses of the environment of the city created and inhabited by one species – humans – and immerse yourself in a less one-dimensional world. Birdland is nowhere in particular, and does not have to be special or noteworthy. It could be in the wildest of wild forest, or in suburbia. It could be a pristine beach, a few hectares of eucalypt woodland, or a neatly manicured city park. It could be a backyard. That’s the magic of birds; they bring beauty and wonder to every corner of the planet, wild or untamed, and my On the Wing writing is their celebration.
Time flies when you’re a tawny frogmouth
The gentle stare, the silent watch of a tawny frogmouth carried the message that autumn was on the way. The temperature may have hit 22 degrees, the hot sun casting dappled shadows over the Waterworks Reserve, but the frogmouth just knew. It was the same last year. At the height of summer, the frogmouth was getting himself in position to prepare for the change of season. This year the male frogmouth – soon to be followed by his mate – arrived at his favourite autumn and … [Read more...] about Time flies when you’re a tawny frogmouth
Hedwig’s wild cousins quietly face extinction
The snowy owl of Harry Potter fame is flying towards extinction. The worldwide birding organisation, Birdlife International, has revealed that the beautiful all-white owl is rapidly declining in the colder regions of the northern hemisphere. It has already been declared extinct in Sweden. Although the snowy owl – one of the largest owls in the world – has long been on the birders’ bucket list it came to prominence with the general public in the hugely popular series of Harry … [Read more...] about Hedwig’s wild cousins quietly face extinction
Shape-shifters in the open sky
A panorama of fluffy white clouds spread out before me as I drove north across the wide expanse of the Midlands. I was transfixed and had to pull to the side of the road, for fear of veering off course. Usually on that road I keep a look-out for wedge-tailed eagles which I always seem to spot out of the corner of my eye in the vicinity of Oatlands but this time I was totally distracted by the clouds drifting across the sky. I couldn’t keep my eyes on the road. And so on … [Read more...] about Shape-shifters in the open sky
Fab fantails defy Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th might be an ominous signal of bad luck but for one of my readers it was a day of pure joy. A pair of grey fantails nesting in her garden – in fact metres from her backdoor – produced two chicks, which went on to grace her property in Sandy Bay with elegant, shuttlecock flight. This happened 12 months ago and the reader, Jo Bornemissza, is happy to report the nesting fantails returned this season, with the same result, although the chicks emerged not on Friday … [Read more...] about Fab fantails defy Friday the 13th