So to start with Fred
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| Fred the "Guard Dog" |
He is a bit of an escape artist and takes off at every opportunity, so much so that the household is now on first name terms with the dog pound chap. He is also very strong and is not that keen on being taken for walks on a lead (I am talking about Fred not the dog pound chap). Much preferring to go and find his own playmates, have a good run and rough and tumble with them.
So I've been reading up on the various Idiots and Dummies Guide to Dog Training and brought him a Gentle Leader in which he looks very handsome, bright red obviously being one of his favourite colours. It came with a DVD which the store owner assured me was for me to watch not the dog.... all very interesting in theory and now to put it into practice.
Treats in hand I started training him to first accept the collar then walk with it on. The effect was immediate and gentle he can no longer pull away... at last the danger of me taking off after him hanging on to the lead never to be seen again has gone. Its taken only a couple of days for Fred and I to really get the hang of it but now he trots along beside me and it is a real joy to walk him. Deb came with us on the first walk was very impressed and Fred really doesn't seem to mind the collar.
We are much further south here and the weather is much cooler and wetter than in Adelaide. Its been a mainly stormy week, very windy wet and once so far there has been an exhilarating hour long hail-stone shower. Fred was not impressed or exhilarated and spent the time under the table and as close to the fire as he could get. Its taken a couple of goes but I think I've now learnt (thankfully) how to not only light but also how to keep a fire going. Thank goodness for fire lighters and matches I'd be hopeless with tinder and a couple of sticks.... obviously not good boy scout material!
In between the showers the sun has come out and I've been amazed at the variety of birds in the garden. This chap was mimicking and answering Debs whistles, they often come down to feed in this butlers sink only about 8 feet from where we were sitting.
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| Crimson Rosella or locally known as a Red Larry |
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| Mr Superb Blue Fairy Wren |
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| Mrs Superb Fairy Wren |
As we watched these two beautiful wrens arrived to have a feed. As you can see the male is very much more colourful than the female, they were very busy and moved at great speeds. Fascinating to watch and hard to capture with the camera.
And last but not least this little fella is one of a pair nesting in the garden. They have built a tiny round nest in one of the potted plants, we were able to have a quick look and found a couple of very tiny brown eggs. They were about the size of a finger nail.
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| A White-browed Scrubwren |
And they are not the only two nesting in the garden. Hidden away in the branches (which are heavy with ripening fruit) of the orange tree is a cylindrical nest of a honey eater. Its far to high up to see if there are eggs and as they are much more vigilant in their attendance of the nest it would be much easier to disturb them which we don't want to do.
The morning chorus starts about 5.30 am with the Laughing Magpies incredible call, sometimes we hear the beautiful song of the Blackbirds (which reminds me of the UK). Kookaburras sing out mainly in the late afternoons, their song bouncing off house walls. The daylight hours (if you ignore the gentle distant hum of traffic) are filled with the calls of Sulpher crested cockatoo, Lorikeets, Budgerigars, Rosellas, Crows, Peewees and Bower birds and at night Barn Owls and Frogmouth owls (to name but a few) hoot, it is constantly amazing, a Twitchers paradise.
Hopefully if we get the planting right on our block our backyard will be as rich in wildlife..........
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