Tuesday, 30 November 2021

YARRA RIVER SUNRISE

The city is certainly more lively now that most of the COVID restrictions have been lifted. The Omicron strain is causing some worry and many people are reacting by doing very silly and risky things. My favourite time in the City is at sunrise. Quiet, with few people around and lovely light!

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.


Sunday, 28 November 2021

THE CREEK

Edgars Creek flows along a 17km course from its headwaters in Wollert through the highly urbanised suburbs of Epping, Thomastown and Reservoir, finally joining the Merri Creek in North Coburg. It is a seasonal creek, susceptible to drying out during the hot seasons and flooding during periods of high rainfall. Parts of the storm water management systems in the Cities of Whittlesea and Darebin drain directly into the creek.

In the vicinity of Craigieburn Road East in the City of Whittlesea the creek runs through the 9000 dwelling Aurora estate development in Epping North. Here the creek is characterised by shallow banks and is often dry. Although sections of the creek around Coburg remind us of how the creek once was before urbanisation, much of the creek between the headwaters and Edwardes Lake Park in Reservoir is now artificially channelled.

Only 55% of the creek remains in semi-natural form with approximately 11% of the creek no more than a concrete drain. Nevertheless, the water attracts many birds, including grey gulls, ducks, brown ducks, purple swamp hens, moorhens, coots, and crested pigeons.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme


Saturday, 27 November 2021

ROSELLA

The eastern rosella (Platycercus eximius) is a rosella native to southeast of the Australian continent and to Tasmania. It has been introduced to New Zealand where feral populations are found in the North Island (notably in the northern half of the island and in the Hutt Valley) and in the hills around Dunedin in the South Island.

The eastern rosella is 30 cm long. It has a red head and white cheeks. The beak is white and the irises are brown. The upper breast is red and the lower breast is yellow fading to pale green over the abdomen. The feathers of the back and shoulders are black, and have yellowish or greenish margins giving rise to a scalloped appearance that varies slightly between the subspecies and the sexes. The wings and lateral tail feathers are bluish while the tail is dark green. The legs are grey.

The female is similar to the male though duller in colouration and has an underwing stripe, which is not present in the adult male. Juveniles are duller than females and have an underwing stripe. The diet of eastern rosellas mainly consists of fruit, seeds, flowers and insects.

The natural range of the eastern rosella is eastern Australia, down to Tasmania. The species is found in lightly wooded country, open forests, woodlands, gardens, bushlands and parks. Eastern rosellas usually breed in spring but if needed summer as well. They can have 2-9 eggs. In the wild their breeding hollow is 1m deep and 30m high up a tree. The sign the eastern rosella mostly shows that they would be breeding is that they give food to each other.

This post is part of the Saturday Critters meme.


Thursday, 25 November 2021

ALNWICK ROSE

The Alnwick® Rose is an English Shrub rose bred by David Austin in 2001. It is an exceptionally reliable rose with richly fragrant blooms. It produces pretty, many petalled, cupped blooms of soft pink. There is a rich old rose fragrance with raspberry notes. It flowers in flushes from early summer until the first frosts. It forms a nicely rounded, slightly upright, bushy shrub with plentiful, glossy green foliage.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.







Tuesday, 23 November 2021

ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL

As Victoria and Melbourne approach the magic 90% COVID double vaccinated, things are getting back to near-normal, slowly... Hopefully, Christmas will be almost normal this year!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the 
Wordless Wednesday meme.





Monday, 22 November 2021

MAGICAL

A digital collage of three different photos taken within 50 metres. It's interesting joining the three in such a way so as not to get an uneven and jarring seam.

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