One year on...

On 18th Nov 2013 we got smashed by an intense hail storm. We had to have new roofs on the house, garage, workshops and chicken coops, a new solar hot water system, down pipes, guttering and four windows.  The surrounding woodland was shredded with hardly a leaf left on any of the trees and there were numerous casualties amongst the wildlife population.

Battered Tree Ferns

Stripped Gum Trees

Nature had a nasty fit and unfortunately we were the collateral damage; however, a year has passed and the land has largely recovered.  It took some months for the foliage to return to its former glory, but it got there, and the wildlife has bounced back, but there have been changes.

The Brush Box and Casuarinas stripped of leaves.

The Back Dam and surrounding forest stripped bare.

By January the foliage was recovering well, although my tea was getting a tad cold!

By March the Tree Ferns were surging back.

And now, 12-months on the gardens are lush again.

Whether they were there before and I just didn't see them or maybe they've come along since, we have benefited from both new plants and birds. Rising from the leaf litter smaller flowers have sprung up and the native Raspberries have spread considerably.

Native Violets

and Hyacinth Orchids

The Back Dam has recovered, although more recently has taken a hammering from an overabundance of Plumed Whistling Ducks, but it's the Lap Swamp that has flourished.

The Lap Swamp after the storm

One year on

The water level is down but the reeds are flourishing.

and the margins have been colonised by Wavy Marshwort

Nymphoides crenata - Wavy Marshwort

On the wildlife front we have seen an increase in Koalas and now we hear them growling in the trees virtually every night.

An apparently contented Koala

There seems to have been an increase in the number of lizard sightings, especially the large Lace Monitors.

A Lace Monitor stalking the Back Dam wall.

The changes on the bird front have been obvious as well. On the downside we have lost the resident pair of Bush Turkeys. They haven't been seen since the storm.  On the positive side we have picked up a resident pair of Purple Swamphens, who are even now nesting on the Back Dam.

Purple Swamphen on the nest

The Plumed Whistling Ducks have been a bit of a mixed blessing. The first group of around a dozen arrived the day before the storm and stayed. Their numbers increased to a peak of 135 by April and now have dropped down to a far more reasonable 50-60 ducks.  They are beautiful birds, but they've worn away much of the grass on the Back Dam wall, eaten all the Water Milfoil on the dam (which was a weed anyway!) and for a while drove away the other ducks. I had expected them to fly off for a breeding season, but they've now been here for just over the year so maybe they are here to stay.

Plumed Whistling Ducks

Another bird that has become resident this year is the Little Corellas, with a pair now visiting the feeding stations daily.

Snowball & Snowflake at the feeding station

There also seems to have been an increase in the numbers of smaller birds such as Leaden Flycatchers and Eastern Yellow Robins, both identified as breeding on the land.

Leaden Flycatcher

Eastern Yellow Robin

And so, all in all, nature appears to have achieved its balance once more, but I do hope that we don't get another hail storm like that again.