Nature's Place

The road outside is flooded again after the last couple of day’s rain. It has rained heavily, and what had already fallen for a while hadn’t yet run off to the sea as the land around here just soaks it up. And the coastal swampland/forest retains the water so it takes less rain to cause the same flooding.

I went to have a look and found a lot of caterpillars had been washed down this way. Many will have been drowned and many eaten by the birds, but that’s life. The birds are full and the farmers are pleased.

Down on the beach today there was only one other human, and he was running. He waved and smiled, we said hello.

Thunder rose from the surf, wild and windy it was. I’m sure I could hear the sand, megatons of it, being moved around by the sea by the shore. A gritty sound, like sand is. Dark clouds overhead, raining once in a while. Enough to keep most folk home it seems.

I just needed to get out. I’ve been working overtime on the blog site and it’s coming along nicely. Everything is finding its place and I do the next thing when I come to it.

Pictures are next, but not today. I’m still familiarizing myself with the software and how to do what I want without deleting anything. Finding out what can be done so it can be determined what I do.

Whenever I go to the beach, or anywhere near it, I always see these small white crabs disappearing down their holes. They always see me before I see them it seems. There are thousands of them and I have only seen the smallest of them in the open, a few centimeters across, until today.

There’s a little walkway from the road through the bush to the beach. It’s why I go to this particular spot, it’s very pleasant walking this track though it’s only half a kilometer long. There used to be a picnic area here but too many people used it for free camping so it was closed to cars.

The tables are still there and there is still a large cleared area that is open to the sky. And all around there are holes in the sandy ground where the little crabs live. The holes are all sizes, depending on the size of the crab. A small crab isn’t going to dig a large hole is he?

There is a large bushy area that I have discovered houses all sorts of insects. It’s a mecca for them, or it’s just relatively easy to see them here. There was the little Tiger Bug. And a new grasshopper I nearly missed, he blends in so well. Then this dragonfly flew in and around the place and finally settled down a few feet from me. The less I try to find them the more they sit for me.

What lovely and amazing creatures, the short broad Tiger Bug with its neat plump shape and bright colour. The hopper, disguised in plain view as the end of an eaten bunch of leaves, when I first saw it.

And that incredible dragonfly, this one could swivel its head, robot like, just like all the others of his kind I’ve seen close up. And look at those wrap around eyes, not much escapes his view at all.

When I finished taking these pix I turned towards the beach and as I moved I saw white, rapidly shifting on the ground near my feet. I stopped and looking down I saw the biggest white crab I’ve seen around here. They are all males today for some reason.

He quickly adopted that ‘don’t come near me or else’ posture some small creatures display when they feel threatened. Probably it works with the other predators around here to some degree, but I reckon their best bet is to run down a hole. Which is probably why they are so good at it.

Every natural creature naturally does what’s best for it. And everyone gets caught out some time. I caught him again looking like he thinks I can’t see him behind the grass.

Not much doing? It only feels that way to the unexcited mind.

These naturally uninhibited beings make me laugh sometimes.

All copyright reserved / Mark Berkery