I don’t think I saw any Fairy Wrens last year at all, they didn’t even come when the “Stinky Bush” was flowering and they seem to love that. Today they reappeared and although the Red Wattlebirds chase them off as soon as they’re aware of them I did manage to get a couple of shots.
Below is a flower of the stinky bush, I have no idea what it is but it’s certainly tough.
At last some caterpillars seem to be surviving. Today I found two outside on one bush, obviously they hatched on different days.
After several days of high temperatures it’s lovely to get some cooling rain.
Today it’s hot, currently 36 deg. C in the shade, and this Paper Wasp has brought water droplets to cool her egg cells.
I’ve had to start again, unfortunately ants disposed of the first lot of eggs despite my attempts to thwart them with grease on the Swan Bush stems. I didn’t want to use Ant Dust but that’s what stopped them in their tracks.
There have been some changes this month with a few varieties finishing their flowering and a couple of replacements. This past month we’ve had some days in the mid 30s C and others barely scraped into the teens.
This is a Wanderer Butterfly egg about a week after it was laid. I’ve done some Googling and the information I found said the eggs hatch in 3 – 5 days. There are no signs of any caterpillars on the bush but there have been small ants. I’m not sure if the ants would eat the eggs but I’ve put some Vaseline around the base to discourage them.
I’ve marked the leaf this egg is on so I can check it over the next week.
snaphappi 