Nature's Place

Haven’t had time to prep anything from Brisbane to take advantage of this window of connectivity so here is one that’s been waiting in the wings of my mind. You have to love these guys, such efficiency, such single pointedness. No emotion whatever, thank god.

“Not Guilty! Your honour.”

For three days now I have been down the same track to the same spot at the same time of day and the ‘same’ robber fly showed up in the same spot, on the barbed wire fence. That’s a lot of the same.

I wonder how some creatures get their name. Robber fly? I suspect it’s called that for the ease with which it takes its prey. It snatches them on the wing, gripping them with its long thorny legs and robs the life out of them. I have seen one on the back of another flying creature, poised on a branch, sucking the life out of it through its proboscis. I also saw one sucking the life out of another robber fly. Indiscriminate? Or, like the famous black widow spider she was done with him, he had served his purpose?

Many creatures have a proboscis of some kind, usually the pointy kind. I just haven’t seen many actually use it. The cicada has one, the shield bug has one, the assassin bug and so many more small creatures I have never known the names of have one. I have pictures of them though, dead and alive.

The proboscis must be a very efficient killing and eating tool. Well it is, isn’t it? As efficient as a knife is at cutting, a spear is at piercing or a tube is at siphoning. That’s where we get our tools and weapons of war, from nature. Our beautiful nature, put to use.

© Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge

Time has come to move from Wooyung, soon, back to Brisbane where there is what I need right now. I wonder what to do with the cat that came with the house here. I arranged for someone to take her and then he didn’t show up, yet. A week late usually means no show.

I was just watching her chasing a small water dragon in the garden. Dragons are fast when they need to be and this one was up the mulch mound around the tree and gone at a run. They look funny running, though not to a dragon I’d say. I wonder if the cat could handle being in the town.

Queenie, the name I gave the cat when I got here nearly two years ago, is very comfortable with me now. She always talks to me, says hello and loves the attention I give her. I usually stop to pet her and acknowledge the form and beauty. She enjoys lounging around in the heat of the day, often in the shade outside the wide sliding doors of the living room. She is more mature now, older too, and a far sight from the hungry cat who was abandoned and depressed when I found her.

What to do?

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Plenty to do getting this house ready to hand back. The gutters and water tank filters were next and when I went to the first and easiest filter it was occupied, by a Python, with a tick on it. That will have to wait. Later, as the sun was going down, she was out on the tank top. I say she because it is a small snake, about 2 ½ feet long but the belly was huge as if she’d just eaten the cat – I checked, no. I suspect babies are not too far off now. Another hoard of hungry mouths about and I won’t be here to see it play out.

The gutters had paper wasps squatting so eviction was necessary. There was a massive cellular hive under the electric meter that had to go too, otherwise the reader would have had trouble. Plenty of spiders had their homes demolished. So long as they don’t rebuild before I go I don’t mind. Ran into a few frogs along the way I didn’t know about.

The place is its own little ecosystem and no doubt it will recover from my interference, cleaning up. By the time someone else moves in it will all be back to normal and then it will be too much work for anyone to undo, so they won’t, probably. Wasps a hiving, spiders a weaving, slugs slithering, snakes hunting, mice, birds, frogs, ants singing in harmony. Nideep! And the cockroaches, beetles, earwigs and those little black biters that just showed up and leave a maddening itch so I can’t leave a light on for too long, can’t leave any of them out.

The plants are getting more attention than they have had in a while, arranging, re-potting, transplanting. Some are doing better to be left behind in the ground. We’ll see about the ones that are coming, they will need some lovin.

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And when a day’s work is done? Fresh, ripe, sweet, cold from the fridge mangoes on a hot summer’s day. Aromatic. Heavenly sensation.

© Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge

There are places in the coastal wetland forest near Wooyung in NSW that have special significance, apparent to the small creatures at least. When I take the time to look it’s not difficult to see why they are special from a purely utilitarian point of view. One such place is where a track cuts through the dunes to the beach. It rises the dune somewhat, cuts into it towards the top and falls down to the beach and the open ocean and sky with low bushes and small trees to either side fanning out and thinning as it resolves to the sandy beach.

A large dragonfly patrols and protects the open space of the track on the forest side of the dunes where the wind dies down after coming in fast through the cutting, carrying with it the forms that are food to the dragonfly. The cutting acts like a funnel to the wind off the sea and anything on it. The dragonfly clearly recognises this advantage, in its own terms. It makes sense to be where there is greatest chance of survival though there are dangers to go with the apparent bounty, being open to the elements, flying sand and things, and predatious birds for instance.

The obvious significance is in the abundance of food carried on the wind and corralled to a narrow passage that ends in a death zone. The wind rises up the dunes and then over the low forest canopy and dumps anything riding it just over the dunes as the track descends to the forest floor, where the dragon waits. Anything riding this swift wind has a good chance of dying here.

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Whatever gets past the dominant dragonfly then has to run the gauntlet of the defined space of the track, defined by thick long grass, bushes and dense forest. The track cuts directly inland from the dunes through the forest and along the first hundred metres or so there are more flying predators posted at intervals, each with its own territory that it too guards aggressively, aggression being death to any traveller that gets caught and can’t win out.

Patrolling this stretch of track were more dragonflies, robber flies and a few other large flies I can’t name but did get a few good shots of one, a zebra fly maybe. It had its own territory that it oversaw from various favoured vantage points. It would come to rest on one for a while only to take off again after something of the right size and speed flying within hunting range of it.

I noticed it could see something coming as it took to the air just before the traveller passed a foot or so above its perch. Up it rose as poetic as any man’s word, singing its hunting song, a buzzzing sound to my ear. Trailing the unwary traveller with unwavering tenacity as it dodged this way and that, with singular intent, kill to live.

Some travellers made it into the bush where there is enough cover to presume an easy escape, for now. One way or the other life goes on. Without taking the life of the others the living wouldn’t be. Death, the other side of this, intrinsic, essential to it all. Integrated.

This, inside, is a place of life, wild life. Beauty, wonder, intelligence. It’s a matter of perception and acknowledgement.
 
© Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
 

If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise. No bears here but nature fascinates anyway. While I was watching a robber fly do its thing, killing and eating with aplomb, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. As I turned to look she saw me and stopped dead in her tracks.

So many creatures have as their first defence to be still. No surprise since it is movement that usually gives them away. A stick insect, looks like, probably related to the mantis I often see around the house and forest, climbing the trunk of a tree about six feet from me. I only saw her because of the light background, otherwise she is just another brown stick at the edge of the forest.

She is about ten inches long and he, on her back, is much smaller at about half that. They are in the process of mating, to make more of themselves. That’s nature, always reproducing, always dying, to live again. I have heard the female mantis consumes its mate head first after mating, to feed the seed of the young he has just planted no doubt. Other females of their species do the same.

Man and woman, hmmm! I wonder. But these insects produce many offspring that take care of themselves very soon after birth, one for many self sufficient is good trade. One adult who can mostly take care of himself is not good trade for one baby that takes years to raise. Better to let him live if only for the money he ‘might’ contribute. Or the loving he might do.

I reckon men are safe, for now.
 
© Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
 

Ahhh! That’s the sound of the body as it exhales in relief at being in nature. The pleasure it is, no problem. It’s the sound of the world of mind leaving the body of earth. That it can be, what a wonder that is.

I found a new flower today in the coastal wetland forest Billinudgel NR is. A lovely soft yellow standing out in the greens and browns of the trailside brush. There were no visitors to them but many passersby, many different kinds of little cricket – if that’s what they are called, one big black wasp about two inches long – too quick to photograph, a lone hoverfly, restless robber flies, hunting dragons and a few fluttering yellow butterflies amongst others.

There was the rise and fall of the sound of cicada, a song of expectancy, in metamorphosis. One to the other and all around. An enveloping presence. A song of bounty. Death of the old and new life. It resounds in me still.

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I came to a creek where I know dragons dance, I have seen them, really. And they were dancing there today. But today they were not dancing for me, I’d had my special performance. Today they were just Dragons dancing. He, or her, displaying his aerial skills and dipping in the muddy waters shallow edge. She, red rising swiftly in chase as he dodged in short circuitous ways. Gossamer wings glittering in the sunshine between the shadows of the trees and reeds.

After watching a while I passed on, to another spot I know. Where I go is often a matter of the earth opening up as the tracks and trails that other creatures make, or are made by fallen tree or shade or clumped and dried out growth. I rarely go where people go.

There’s an old burnt out bridge across a wet creek where two red Dragons lay. One took away as I approached, the other waited a while then away it went. But soon enough the second was back to a different spot and I waited. To see what next. She came and sat beside me in the grass, no snakes about, who knows.

I got closer and closer till I was in comfortable shooting range, about ten inches from the camera. She sat there preening and alert for any passing food but not at all bothered by me. She flitted here and there but never far away and always back to the place comfortable for me. Then she took to the air and disappeared and reappeared on my flash diffuser. The one place I couldn’t get a photo of her. But I got a good look with my glasses on and it is a wonder to see them up close and live, I mean alive, they are not that dangerous.

A remarkable thing, not one mozzie bite today in spite of being in the shade most of the time. After a few hours I went home the way I had come and enjoyed the simple pleasure of the wind and sun and green things with the occasional bird dropping into my existence to say hello, in sense, of course.
 
© Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
 

After a few days rain I thought the dragons would be out today with the sun and it was so. I suspect they are hungry after sitting out the wet and windy weather. It showed in their unceasing movement, to and fro, chasing down the prey that is theirs to eat.

Shelter, then food. That’s the order of things. The body needs protection first or all the food in the forest will do no good.
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There were a few dragons on the trail but none were inclined to sit still for more than a few seconds at a time. So I observed and enjoyed the display of aerial mastery that is the dragon’s sig-nature. I don’t know their names, just their colours, and many there are. Green, blue, yellow, brown, red, grey and striped. All magnificent creations. Beautiful little forms of life.

This forest, Billinudgel NR, is a sponge to the rain that comes down from the hills to the west and in places it is nearly always wet. It is at these places where I find the most dragons, though my best pictures are from alongside the trail where the open space is better defined.

In spite of the wet and warm weather there are few mozzies so I can stand around in the shade at the wet places and wait for whatever happens along. Today it was a red dragon. She? Perched on my stick for just a few seconds, long enough for me to get the camera out but not for a shot. But she didn’t disappear.
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From perch to perch she went, from twig to grass to stone and eventually to rest on the forest floor a few feet away. It is a real pleasure when they rest close by and I can see their detail. And since I can’t chase and stalk them as I did in the beginning close proximity is a necessity for a good shot.

I got a few and just after the last one she took to the air and was mating in the blink of an eye with a yellow dragon. It was amazing to see, an extraordinary occurrence. They flew in perfect harmony and hovered over the pool of water at my feet, moving slowly over the surface. They parted for a time and the yellow one, still airborne, dipped his rear end in the pool and used his tail to flick water up. Curious behaviour. While he was doing this she was hovering over him, following him around the pool. Proud beings they were, unselfconscious.

I felt privileged to be there and witness this dance of life in these little beauties.
 
© Mark Berkery…… Click any Picture and click again to enlarge
 

There is an old rotting tree deep in the forest where a lady lizard lives. It is home to many creatures, such as ants and termites and other intelligent crawling things. I have met her on many occasions, usually as she was sunning herself. That would be a certain time of day since the sun can only reach the spot for a couple of hours at a time.

She got used to me very quickly, not so she would let me pet her but I was allowed to photograph her close up. The first time was when she was moulting, early in the spring. You can see where the old scales are off or are coming off. Everything grows anew in springtime. The later photo’s, which are the first two, are of her new beauty, her new coat. And she is beautiful, if you can see it.

There is a softness about this little lady lizard that touches a softness in me, and I am softened. A little more.

Lovely little lady lizard.
 
© Mark Berkery…… Click any Picture and click again to enlarge
 

Clouds come and go, shade – light. Inside and out. The track is an uneven surface so I need to keep an eye out for rock and hole and fallen branch. Spider webs too, and mozzies. Against the light ahead through the overhanging foliage I see a fluttering shadow, a dragon in the distance? Butterfly dancing?

Eyes up, down and up again as the shadow quickly resolves into a small dark brown and orange moth. It’s only two feet away now and heading straight for my face. I ducked and past it went, heedless of the near collision. It turned out to be a different colour under the flash, beautiful thing.

Some encounters are to be sidestepped, some are opportunities. And some opportunities are missed when the inner vision is blurred with stuff of the mind, the past.
 
© Mark Berkery…… Click any Picture and click again to enlarge
 

Or, keep your feet on the ground of sense kid!

I was out looking at the sky and things, stars, insects around the light, frogs at the water tank. One of the frogs favourite places is a little water bowl by the old tank. I was looking into it to see if there is any mosquito larva in the water when I heard a buzzing of wings rapidly approaching from behind. Then plop, into the water bowl a huge green cicada flies.

As the sun was going down I saw a big butterfly land in a nearby tree. I stopped to have a good look and eventually disturbed it so it flew away, but not far. It was getting dark and butterflies don’t fly at night. It landed in another tree so I noted its position to check on it later. Much later, around 2am it is still holding on to the tree in a blustering wind.

Have you ever wondered what butterflies do at night, where they go? I’ll tell you. They seek a sheltered place, like you and me. Sheltered from the many predators there are at night in the forest, bats, snakes, all sorts of creatures would find a butterfly good eating. Shelter to a butterfly is out on the end of a branch where few other insects wander. It folds up its wings and hangs on in the wind. There it stays till sunrise. At least this one did.

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And the sky, I mustn’t forget the sky under which all this nature happens. What magnificence, majestic, mystic clear endless space with all those stars bright. An unusual brightness tonight.

I have to give the night sky more time, just to look at it. Here in Wooyung it is dark and clear enough at times to really see it, simple and wonderful.

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Smells of sweetness from the forest, aroma of mint – the tractor had been this way this morning. Today it is vanilla cocoa carried on the breeze. An unbelievable lightness of sense. And fresh mown grass.

Emotions overboard. Help! Help! Whatever will I do without my unhappiness!

I know, I’ll make some up. :)
 
© Mark Berkery ……….Click on pictures, and click again to enlarge.