Butterflies by Emma

I saw these butterflies at the Mapleton Camp Site's Nature Centre. The top blue one is my best one! And Mom and Mrs Shellard like the one above best. Imagine if we could see all those butterflies flying around our garden! I wish I could catch butterflies and mount them in a big room like that, it must have taken ages to collect so many! How awesome is our wonderful creator to give us such pretty things to look at and enjoy! (All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

Cape Town's Company Gardens

When I was a little girl in South Africa, I used to love watching and feeding  squirrels in the Company Gardens in the central city part of Cape Town. The gardens were planted to give food to the sailors who stopped there on the way to the East, in an attempt to prevent scurvy. It is a dream to be able to take my children there one day to see the squirrels. there are no squirrels in Brisbane.

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/mammals/rodentia/sciurus_carolinensis.htm
http://www.capetownpartnership.co.za/about/gallery/company-gardens/

Tawny Frogmouths, by Erica- Ruth

When we went to camp last year we stopped at the interesting Malanie Cheese Factory, to taste some of their cheese. But the most interesting discovery was promoted by a man who was standing outside the factory shop.   At first we could not see what he was pointing to as it was so well camouflaged.  But then we spotted it, a Tawny Frogmouth couple sitting in a tree!There are four species of Frogmouths in Australia., but the most common is the Tawny Frogmouth.
They normally eat mice, crickets, beetles and insects.
Here is a poem

The Tawny Frogmouth by Jan Wade:
Tawny Frogmouth in my tree,
Thinking he can hide from me,
Sleeping quiety, oh so wise,
Unseen, except for his golden eyes.


For more information see WIki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawny_Frogmouth. Be sure to see the photograph at the bottom with the mouse tail sticking out! 

Theses photographs were taken by Jessica Murray in 2004 and are all copyrighted, used with permission. 

Camouflaged bark! (Giggle.)(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

.

Again the bark is camouflaged very well.(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

It looks like it could still be a bit of a baby!(All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

Who are you looking at? (All photographs copyrighted and the property of Joy Murray, not to be used without permission)

Magpies on You Tube.

My little children for some reason have always called Magpies, Magggin Pies. Here is a You Tube video of baby Magpies being fed. We have often seen this happen. Sometimes you cannot tell the difference between the mother and baby except that one over grown child is still asking for food! And the sillly mother is still feeding it!

One of the loveliest things about coming to Australia was to discover and enjoy the lovely song of the Magpie! One of the worst things about coming to Australia was the Magpies swooping us in nesting season. We had never experienced anything like this before - ever, and found such aggressive behaviour quite shocking! Doug had a Magpie attack him for the whole of every nesting season, every time he cycled to the station when we were in Ipswich. 

There are lots of very cute baby magpies on You Tube! Take a look for yourself!

WIllie Wagtail by Emma- Jane

Look at this Willie Wagtail helping with the garden! What a lucky person to have such a friendly Willie Wagtail. I wish I had a WIllie Wagtail.

I have seen Willie Wagtails in Granny's garden. I think they nest in the trees with pink flowers. I really, really would like to find a nest one day and keep it but if it had eggs, I would keep them warm and look after the babies when they hatched and then let them free when they were old enough. Maybe I wouldn't do that because when the mother came back she would be very sad. Maybe I could capture the mother so she could look after her own eggs; maybe not as wild birds are happiest free. But it would be nice to tame a wild bird. I would like to have a male and a female then they could have eggs. Do you know that Willie wagtail's nests are cup shaped and are made with spider web threads.

Willie Wagtails are back and white. They are tiny birds and waggle their tails. Wiggle Wagtails can catch their food in the air. They eat insects and worms.

Cows, by Timothy

Here is a poem that is one of Mom's favourites

The Cow by Robert Louis Stevenson

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.

She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;

And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.

I see cows when we drive to church. I like cows because they give us milk and cream. You can make cheese, ice cream and butter with milk and cream. My favourite colour cow is black and white. Do you know what they use Black and White cows for? Roasts! Yes, for meat! Jersey cows are usually brown; they usually give us lots of jerseys, I mean milk!

(This picture was taken at Wolston House. It is a cheese dish and a butter dish. The cheese dish is the triangle one. In the olden days they made cheese in a round circle then cut off pieces in triangles. they had lids to keep the flies off. )

Australain Nature Study with Flower Fairies: by Jan Wade

http://mustlookgoodbook.blogspot.com/2011/05/australain-nature-study-with-flower.html