originally posted June 13th 2012
The snakes have gone into hibernation for the winter. The wombats are coming out earlier. Saw a big beautiful adult in great condition at dusk a couple of days ago. Larry managed to get the old ferguson tractor going and slashed our flat paddocks before winter set in. The grazing animals are loving it and the paddocks are full of roos and wallabies when I when I go for my early morning walk. We have 3 resident Wedge Tail Eagles that give us a flight show nearly every day at the moment .It never fails to mesmerise me and I can’t believe how high they soar.We also have a Sea Eagle visiting so the river must be good fishing currently
sea eagle visit
poor cold little finch
We were bought a yellow breasted finch that had fallen into a tub of water and couldn’t get out .He was wet and cold but we revived him overnight keeping him nice and warm in a container by the fire ,gave him a teat flight in the lounge the next morning and then released him back where he came from making sure the outside tub had a climbing perch in it!
release
mum and babies
We have had some new additions ,not native but very welcome. Our rooster who we call “Handsome” who is also very nice natured ,treats the hens with respect and was also born here has had some babies with “Little Black Hen” who is a really good mother.
mum taking babies for a walk
A couple of months ago I applied for a small grant to assist with some equipment to start removing tiger pear from the property.
tiger pear
I had a successful outcome so that is now an ongoing task. We spray some and dig some out by the roots .We have iron rectangle enclosures that Larry has constructed .The tiger pear gets put in to these which have a cochineal bug living in there which feeds exclusively on tiger pear. This was introduced by NPWS to help land owners dispose of the pest. Some of it we burn .Tiger pear is an invasive pest, It was bought into the Hunter region many years ago by someone who thought it looked “nice” It is now spread through the Goulburn river NP and peoples properties and is a dreadful thing to get rid of. We can get some control over it but I believe eradication would be impossible unless everyone was constantly working at it
Chris posing for a write up in the Muswellbrook evening paper.
Larry spraying tiger pear in the grazing paddocks