In the Darebin Parklands, a short walk from my home.
This post is part of the Weekend Reflections meme,
and also part of the My Sunday Best meme,
and also part of the Photo Sunday meme.
The superb fairywren (Malurus cyaneus) is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and is common and familiar across south-eastern Australia. It is a sedentary and territorial species, also exhibiting a high degree of sexual dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue forehead, ear coverts, mantle, and tail, with a black mask and black or dark blue throat. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in colour; this gave the early impression that males were polygamous, as all dull-coloured birds were taken for females.
Six subspecies groups are recognised: Three larger and darker forms from Tasmania, Flinders and King Island respectively, and three smaller and paler forms from mainland Australia and Kangaroo Island. Like other fairywrens, the superb fairywren is notable for several peculiar behavioural characteristics; the birds are socially monogamous and sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they form pairs between one male and one female, each partner will mate with other individuals and even assist in raising the young from such pairings. Male wrens pluck yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship display.
The superb fairywren can be found in almost any area that has at least a little dense undergrowth for shelter, including grasslands with scattered shrubs, moderately thick forest, woodland, heaths, and domestic gardens. It has adapted well to the urban environment and is common in suburban Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane. The superb fairywren eats mostly insects and supplements its diet with seeds.The two males in breeding plumage below are from the Darebin Parklands in suburban Melbourne.
This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.
Tahbilk Winery is situated 120 km north of Melbourne in Shire of Strathbogie in the Nagambie Lakes region of central Victoria, near Nagambie. The name Tahbilk originated from the wineries location, Tabilk. The aboriginal people first referred to the site as "tabilk-tabilk" meaning "place of many waterholes", the 'h' being added in by Tahbilk Winery to assist the wines sale-ability in Europe. Until 2000, the winery was known as Chateau Tahbilk. Original cellars from the 1860s and 1870s are still in use. These and the buildings are classified by the National Trust of Australia. The winery also runs the Tahbilk Cafe and the Tahbilk Wetlands and Wildlife Reserve.
The winery specialises in the Rhone varietals of Marsanne, Viognier and Roussanne and also produces Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon blanc, Verdelho, Grenache and Mourvedre. Some original pre-phylloxera Shiraz vines survive from 1860.
Tahbilk is the oldest family owned winery in Victoria, Australia, established in 1860. Tahbilk is part of Australian wine alliance Australia’s First Families of Wine a multi-million-dollar venture to help resurrect the fortunes of the $6 billion industry highlighting the quality and diversity of Australian wine. The main criteria are that the family-owned companies need to have a “landmark wine” in their portfolios listed under Langton’s Classification and/or 75% agreement by group that a wine is considered “iconic”, must have the ability to do at least a 20-year vertical tasting, have a history going back a minimum of two generations, ownership of vineyards more than 50 years old and/or ownership of distinguished sites which exemplify the best of terroir, commitment to export and environmental best practice, appropriate cellar door experience, and be paid-up members of the Winemakers Federation of Australia.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.
At the Latrobe University Sunday Market, which had been closed for a few months due to the Lockdown. Even after more that three weeks without a COVID-19 case or death in Victoria, we are still wearing masks everywhere and there are still quite a few restrictions to adhere to. Tomorrow, we shall be allowed to not wear masks outside, provided we can practice social distancing; while we still are required to wear masks inside shops, halls, shopping centres, indoor public gatherings.
This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.
Living in a big city like Melbourne can be quite stressful. Thankfully we still have many areas of unspoilt natural bushland right in the midst of our city. These little islands of serenity and repose are places where we can take refuge in and recover some of our sanity... This sunset is at the Yarra Bend Park.
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus Rubus in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus Rubus, and hybrids between the subgenera Rubus and Idaeobatus. The taxonomy of the blackberries has historically been confused because of hybridization and apomixis, so that species have often been grouped together and called species aggregates. For example, the entire subgenus Rubus has been called the Rubus fruticosus aggregate, although the species R. fruticosus is considered a synonym of R. plicatus.
The flowers are produced in late spring and early summer on short racemes on the tips of the flowering laterals. Each flower is about 2–3 cm in diameter with five white or pale pink petals. The drupelets only develop around ovules that are fertilised by the male gamete from a pollen grain. The most likely cause of undeveloped ovules is inadequate pollinator visits. Even a small change in conditions, such as a rainy day or a day too hot for bees to work after early morning, can reduce the number of bee visits to the flower, thus reducing the quality of the fruit. Incomplete drupelet development can also be a symptom of exhausted reserves in the plant's roots or infection with a virus such as raspberry bushy dwarf virus.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
The Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. Although once considered to be three separate species, it is now considered to be one, with nine recognised subspecies. A member of the Artamidae, the Australian magpie is placed in its own genus Gymnorhina and is most closely related to the black butcherbird (Melloria quoyi). It is not, however, closely related to the European magpie, which is a corvid.
The adult Australian magpie is a fairly robust bird ranging from 37 to 43 cm in length, with distinctive black and white plumage, gold brown eyes and a solid wedge-shaped bluish-white and black bill. The male and female are similar in appearance, and can be distinguished by differences in back markings. The male has pure white feathers on the back of the head and the female has white blending to grey feathers on the back of the head. With its long legs, the Australian magpie walks rather than waddles or hops and spends much time on the ground.
Described as one of Australia's most accomplished songbirds, the Australian magpie has an array of complex vocalisations. It is omnivorous, with the bulk of its varied diet made up of invertebrates. It is generally sedentary and territorial throughout its range. Common and widespread, it has adapted well to human habitation and is a familiar bird of parks, gardens and farmland in Australia and New Guinea. This species is commonly fed by households around the country, but in spring a small minority of breeding magpies (almost always males) become aggressive and swoop and attack those who approach their nests. Juveniles have lighter greys and browns amidst the starker blacks and whites of their plumage and their eyes have darker irises.
This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.
Had almost forgotten what these looked like during our four months of lockdown and no flights allowed! Things are slowly going back to normal, a little each day!
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.
Acanthus mollis, commonly known as bear's breeches, sea dock, bear's foot plant, sea holly or oyster plant, is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae and is native to the Mediterranean region. It is a leafy, clump-forming perennial herb, with a rosette of relatively large, lobed or toothed leaves, and purplish and white flowers on an erect spike.
It is a leafy, clump-forming perennial herb with tuberous roots. It has a basal rosette of dark glossy green, lobed or divided, glabrous leaves 50 cm long and 30 cm wide on a petiole 20–30 cm long. The flowers are borne on an erect spike up to 200 cm tall emerging from the leaf rosette. The sepals are purplish and function as the upper and lower lips of the petals, the upper lip about 4 cm long and the lower lip 3 cm long. The petals are about 4–4.5 cm long and form a tube with a ring of hairs where the stamens are attached. Flowering occurs in summer and the fruit is a sharply-pointed capsule about 2 cm long containing one or two brown seeds about 14 mm long and 8 mm wide.
Acanthus mollis was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum. The name of the genus derives from the Greek name of the plant ἄκανθος ákanthos. This ἄκανθος ákanthos is related to ἄκανθα ákantha meaning "thorn" referring to the thorn-bearing sepals, or any thorny or prickly plant in Greek. The Latin name of the species, mollis meaning "soft, smooth", refers to the texture of the leaves.
Acanthus mollis is entomophilous, pollinated only by bees or bumble bees large enough to force their way between the upper sepal and the lower, so that they can reach the nectar at the bottom of the tube. Bear's breeches is regarded as invasive in some countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
The shape of the leaf of this plant inspired the ancient Greek sculptor Callimachus (5th c. BCE) to model the capital of the Corinthian column. Since then, the Corinthian order column has been used extensively in Greco-Roman and Classical architecture. For centuries, stone or bronze stylized versions of acanthus leaves have appeared as acanthus decorations on certain styles of architecture and furniture. Virgil described Helen of Troy as wearing a dress embroidered with acanthus leaves.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
Crux is a constellation located in the southern sky in a bright portion of the Milky Way. It is among the most easily distinguished constellations, as all of its four main stars have an apparent visual magnitude above +2.8, even though it is the smallest of all 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for 'cross', and it is dominated by a cross-shaped or kite-like asterism that is sometimes known as the Southern Cross.
Predominating is the first-magnitude blue-white star of Alpha Crucis or Acrux, being the constellation's brightest and most southerly member. Crux is followed by four dominate stars, descending in clockwise order by magnitude: Beta, Gamma (one of the closest red giants to Earth), Delta and Epsilon Crucis. Many of these brighter stars are members of the Scorpius–Centaurus Association, a large but loose group of hot blue-white stars that appear to share common origins and motion across the southern Milky Way.
The constellation contains four Cepheid variables that are each visible to the naked eye under optimum conditions. Crux also contains the bright and colourful open cluster known as the Jewel Box (NGC 4755) and, to the southwest, partly includes the extensive dark nebula, known as the Coalsack Nebula.
This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
The 'Remember Me' Rose bears blooms of deep copper blended with yellow that open from high pointed centres to become large gorgeous flowers. It has a light and delicate fragrance. This rose has dark glossy foliage and a bushy growth.
'Remember Me' is best placed in a position of full sunlight, as it does not handle the shade well. It prefers moist well drained soils, and benefits from applications of fertiliser during the growing season. This rose is very strong and healthy, with flowers of a lovely colour, making it quite popular.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.
