BADGE HUNTSMAN SPIDER

Neosparassus diana (L. Koch, 1875), the Badge Huntsman spider is widespread across all of Australia in woodland and dry to moist eucalypt forest, less common in the tropical north and the arid areas. It is a large spider, active at night, hunting for prey on treetrunks or on foliage. It has a daytime retreat, sometimes made from leaves woven together, occasionaly under bark.

The female is fawn to orange to pinkish brown. There is a distinctive black shield with two white spots on the underside of abdomen, usually with an orange stripe further towards the rear, this orange sometimes bordered by a black line. The body is flattened, the first two pairs of legs distinctly longer than the others. The female's roundish egg sac is flattenened where attached, about 6mm high and 12mm wide. It feeds on a wide variety of arthropods, including spiders. ♀ 20mm ♂ 16mm 

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme

SUNSET

A wintry sunset.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

MIDWINTER ROSE

It's Winter here in Melbourne and the temperature this morning in our garden was 4˚C. All of our rose bushes are bare and pruned, except one, which is persisting to keep its leaves and I was keeping an eye on a bud growing. As it rained and was cold the previous couple of days, I forgot about it. This morning, I saw this rose which had opened. It's a 'Mr Lincoln' dark burgundy rose with a delightful fragrance. As well as that there was a garnet red carnation blooming, this too very fragrant. Odd, but they had to come indoors to enjoy a little of the heat and be admired!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

MERRI CREEK IN WINTER

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

WINTRY PARKLANDS

At the Darebin Parklands on a wintry morning. Still a beautiful walk along the Darebin Creek!

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

BRUNSWICK ST, FITZROY

Brunswick Street is a street in inner northern Melbourne, known for cafés, live music venues, quirky shops, street entertainment and alternative fashion boutiques. It is a melting pot of culture, arts, music, alternative lifestyles, fun and trend-setting. No visit to Melbourne would be complete without a visit here.

Brunswick Street runs north-south through the inner northern Melbourne suburbs of Fitzroy and Fitzroy North, from Victoria Parade at its southernmost end, crossing Alexandra Parade, and continuing until it reaches St Georges Road in Fitzroy North, near the Edinburgh Gardens; there, its former northward course is continued by a much smaller residential street named Brunswick Street North. Tram route 112 runs along the entire length of Brunswick Street for part of its journey.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

MELBOURNE BY NIGHT

The lit-up city looks great on a long Winter's night.

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme.

KOI

The playful kitten
Gazes deep into fish pond -
Koi watch and wait

This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the Saturday Critters meme

GREY SKIES

This is taken on the Princes Bridge, looking towards the Northeast, towards the Central Business District. I really like the old street lamps on this bridge and I always try and get them into the photos I take on the bridge.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

VIOLETS

Viola odorata is a species of the genus Viola native to Europe and Asia, but has also been introduced to North America and Australia. It is commonly known as wood violet, sweet violet, English violet, common violet, florist's violet, or garden violet.

The sweet scent of this flower has proved popular throughout the generations particularly in the late Victorian period, and has consequently been used in the production of many cosmetic fragrances and perfumes. The scent of violet flowers is distinctive with only a few other flowers having a remotely similar odour. References to violets and the desirable nature of the fragrance go back to classical sources such as Pliny and Horace when the name ‘Ion’ was in use to describe this flower from which the name of the distinctive chemical constituents of the flower, the ionones – is derived.

The leaves are edible and contain mucilage. This year our violets are blooming early (in mid-June, our first Winter month), which certainly provides opportunity for collecting a cheerful little fragrant bouquet.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme