New Year.....

.....New Visitors.

This morning I was greeted by this pair of Rainbow Lorikeets sitting happily in my Mulberry tree and I was jolted out of my festive haze. I looked at the calendar and realized that I am already over one week into 2015 and the Christmas decorations are still proudly spread throughout the house. Wow!

Every year these birds arrive in my garden just as the first figs ripen on the tree, so after sneaking up to take this picture before they flew away I raced over to the Fig tree and what I found was four ripe figs. How do they know? Animals will never cease to amaze me, I have so much respect and love for them and I'm more than happy to share my figs if it means that I have the privileged of enjoying these beauties in my garden for a few weeks each year.

.......New Life.

This picture isn't very good but it was taken through the gauze on the window in the spare room. My mother in law spent Christmas and New Year with us and she was the first to spot this Willie Wagtail's nest. For two weeks we watched as the mother and father would sit on the nest and turn the eggs and chase away any predators that got too close, these little birds are fiercely protective and territorial but also have a great sense of fun, they regularly dive-bomb the dogs and get up to mischief. A couple of days after we took P home we noticed a lot of activity in the nest when we were in the garden so we raced upstairs to the spare room and found these babies freshly hatched.
The only way to get a better picture would be to climb a ladder but I'm reluctant to do that in case I disturb the family.

....... New Challenges.

D & I have spent the last couple of days mustering cattle, basically moving them from one paddock to another, which usually take hours on the bike in the sun. Thankfully temperatures have stayed steadily in the mid 30's which is bearable....just!
Can you see the green grass??? We had six inches of rain through December so our dead, brown, brittle, straw-like grass has been transformed into lush green seas of cattle feed. It is soooo good to look out of the window and see green again; to have this great body of feed for the cattle to enjoy.

I decided to take the camera with me today and set myself the task of finding as many wild flowers - A.K.A flowering weeds as possible. I had a great time spotting them and D even played along and pointed some out to me. Here is what I found growing down in the paddock.

.......New Growth.

I have no idea what these weeds are called, hopefully one day I will, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying the beauty and surprise of these tiny, delicate flowers which somehow manage to survive in our harsh environment.

.......Green Grass.

More green paddocks - I just can't get enough!

Happy New Year - xxx