DOUBLE JONQUILL
Flowers are growing, birds are building nests, insects are flying, Mother Earth is ignoring these "powerful men" having their talkfest in a faraway city. The paddocks are covered with green stuff - not all of it, not half of it edible. Much of it is capeweed - commonly called "daisies". It is a broadleaf plant, not very digestable. Pretty, though. It is a wonderful sight to wake up to a paddock sprinkled with daisies.
DAISY
There are giant thistles everywhere, not very tasty but important in the 'succession' between bare earth and native pastures. They cover the ground, encourage microbes to colonise the soil and make organic matter by living and dying. These thistles stablise the surface of the ground and protect it from erosion.
Former owner of Uamby Mary Bird planted so many bulbs. The pop up through the lawn. Mary's garden was legendary. Her son David tells me that it took 2 tanks of water a week (pumped from the river) to keep it looking beautiful. Marriage parties held their photo sessions in Mary's garden.
JONQUILLA
These 'bells' emerged in the garden for the first time this season. The flowers here at Uamby are nothing compared to the masses of wattle in the countryside. What a gardener God is!
BELLS
The birds are flocking in vast numbers. Galahs and cockatoos have such harsh voices. They stretch their vowels like true Aussies. Perhaps that's where our accent came from. I crept up to get a good shot of them bursting into the sky. But the shot didn't work. (My little Canon Ixus400 is not up to it. So I have a new camera. A Panasonic DMC FZ50 with x12 zoom and image stabilisation - which means I don't have to creep up so close and my shakey hands will be compensated for by the camera.)
GALAH FLOCK
We have a resident family of swallows, who we have tried to evict several times because they build mud nests in every crevice. They fly around the back verandar, depositing dung on the windowsills and walls. It's like Painting the Harbour Bridge - the cleaning job never stops. Occasionally one will find their way inside, flies around 'painting the walls' and has to be captured and evicted.
SWALLOW INSIDE
They are "Welcome Swallows", so I guess we shouldn't be kicking them out. But they have 2 broods of young each year. They breed like.... can't say "Catholics" anymore, expecially when I'm a Catholic.
SWALLOW ON LIGHT
I will be using my new camera to get some beautiful shots of the new lambs. You see, we can't go too close to the new mothers. They can easily get spooked and abandon their lambs. Itb is a sensitive time. So I can't rush around. It takes a lot of patience to sit still while the flock slowly grazes up the hill towards you, hoping they'll keep coming even after they have seen you. Bruce Christie from the Catchment Management Authority also teaches Stress-Free Stock Handling (which training Louisa and Daniel have done) told me never to circle around sheep because that is the action of a predator. Instead you walk in straight lines and invade their personal space by small increments.
LAMBS AND EWE
This little fellow is a good example of how a blundering photographer can endanger lambs. He/she was just born and I moved into the area without noticing until I had practically stepped on it. It's mother had moved off with the flock. She camed back and the little one got up and ran off with her.
RECENTLY BORN LAMB:
The whole countryside around Goolma is dotted with new lambs. It is a carnival of woolly wonders. Soon they will form little gangs and race madly together across the paddocks, leaping for joy. The joy of being alive. They are the spirit of Spring.
NEW BABY LAMB
Finally, meet Joe. The Father of both Ravi and Kodie. He's Col's working dog. He is normally muzzled. (Bites sheep.) He's an intelligent dog, but he can sometimes appear to be hard of hearing. Ravi is the Brad Pitt of kelpies and Kodie is the Big Bear (his Mother's name is Bear).
THIS IS JOE.
Kodie is our new Kelpie - didn't need her but Daniel came home with her after a night drinking around a campfire with Col. Many truths were told that night. Kodie is a willing worker - loves chasing after sheep. Still, as a puppy, she is stealing our shoes from the back door and hiding them. The Joy of Childhood. Life. Spring.
KODIE
