Winter at the Holt

I'm never quite sure when a season starts and begins in Australia, but July and August I can safely say is mid-winter....(waiting to be corrected) in South-East Queensland.  That means generally dry weather with warm sunny days and cool evenings, resulting in a little dew, but otherwise it can be very dry.  From the gardening point of view it's a time to catch up with cutting back the grass, reducing the fuel load, and doing the maintenance work.  The exception is the vegetable garden as its now the time to grow those vegetables more common in the European climates including cabbages and sprouts.

Here's my patch, protected from the possums by chicken wire, bird netting, and the dogs! The 'lawn' is open to all and we are lucky enough to have Red-necked Wallabies as regulars on the dam wall.

Despite it being a period of slow growth for many of the natives, it's also the time when many of the flowering shrubs come into their true glory.  The Grevilleas are putting it out there for all its worth at this time of year and that means beautiful blooms and lots of small nectar eating birds.

Marmalade Grevillea

 Here's a Scarlet Honeyeater on the 'Marmalade' Grevillea and following is the same bird on the classic Robyn Gorden Grevillea.

Robyn Gorden

And just to finish the same bird (because I like Scarlet Honeyeaters) on the Fire Sprite Grevillea.

Fire Sprite

Sorry about the repeats, but I just think it's one gorgeous budgie!


The Grevilleas are not the only plants that I have introduced to attract the birds.  In some cases it's for the nectar as with these Kangaroo Paws and Pineapple Sage;

Kangaroo Paws

Pineapple Sage

..but its also plants that provide berries, including Hairy Pittasporum and Midyim Berry.

Hairy Pittasporum

It's not just the honeyeaters that build in numbers, but the ducks do to.  I'm unsure as the the migratory patterns of birds in the Southern Hemisphere, but at this time of year the duck numbers will increase from a dozen or so to near a hundred.  Of course that means I have to supply more bird seed and feeding time can be a bit of a quackle & squawk affair.

Ducks waiting for chow time

 Early morning and they are waiting for me to come out, and when the food is down then it's a bit of a rush...

Feeding time at the dam

The ducks will feed for an hour or so on the dam and then late morning they will move round to the lap swamp to let their food go down.

Ducks on the Lap Swamp

Whilst the duck numbers rise the parrots generally stay steady, although Sparky and the King Parrots disappear to mate and don't really make a comeback before September.

Galah & Rainbow Lorikeet

The Galahs and Rainbow Lorikeets are pretty much all year rounders, and are usually straight onto the tables as the food is put out.

Bronzewing

Whereas the pigeons, such as this Bronzewing, are more timid and will wait until the fuss has died down a little. Here's some more birds that I've managed to catch passing through...

Noisy Friarbird

Above is the Noisy Friar Bird, one of the largest of the Honeyeater family and not blessed with the good looks of his smaller cousins; however, they are comical creatures with their bald heads and honking voices that can often be found having a conversation with themselves using the car's wing mirrors.

Double-barred Finch

Laughing Kookaburra

The cuddly Kookaburra is a regular visitor, but below is a White-bellied Sea Eagle that I caught passing through.  Now he caused a commotion amongst the ducks I can tell you!

White-bellied Sea Eagle

 And this is the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo that has a very distinctive mournful cry and can be heard coming from miles away.

Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo

This is a great time of the year for morning walks in the bush, unfortunately its also tick season, so I have to ensure the dogs are protected with various tick defences and then inspected on return, however, the fun they get out of a good walk is worth it.

Bitsy in the morning dew

Tolkein leads Bitsy along the Jasmine Path

So, there's a snapshot of winter at the Holt.  Spring is on the way and I have all sorts of ideas ranging from expanding the Ginger Garden, to bigger veggie patches and even more varieties of Grevillea.  So, I'll try and write some more next month.