Nature's Place

 
When it is cold enough to rug up you know summer is over. A cold wind blows in across the sea and over the fields here at Wooyung and the light, the space, is crisp and clear in the morning sun. Beautiful is the word that comes to mind. Simple.
 
Some time ago I wrote of a wasp nest that I allowed to be made and develop under a table I don’t use at the back of the house. To see what eventuates.

Well, predictably, what eventuated was more wasps. They became so numerous the young ones that would seek to return to the nest at dusk had begun to swarm at other places around the house. The nest was so successful they couldn’t fit there any more.

This happened just as the weather turned cold recently, especially at nights. And I noticed the neon fly was no more abundant on the leaves of the Passionfruit plant. All the small forms of life had begun to withdraw, from view at least, though there is waves of coming and going with the heat of the sun.

I can tolerate anything nature presents as long as it doesn’t threaten the balance, as I see it. Swarming, or homeless wasps looking to establish themselves, are threatening. And not just to me.

Apart from the physical danger to me should the hive be unintentionally or unknowingly disturbed. It seemed to me the wasps were cleaning the place out of other insects that my green tree frogs need to survive. That is my perception anyway.

My green tree frogs because I take some responsibility for their welfare.

So I had to take action.
 
The wasp is a magnificent creation, I have the same respect for it I have for the green frog, but the balance had become disturbed. The balance of the nature where I am. My balance.

If you ever see a wasp close up you will notice the appearance of a meanness in the visage. It’s not really meanness since it is an instinctive expression, meaning the wasp doesn’t think about it the way a man might. But it is a positive deterrent to interference. The words ‘What you lookin at?’ aggressively spoken, come to mind.

I have also observed the wasp will not waste its energy on useless action opposing a form in its world that presents no threat, like me. Nature is not stupid or belligerent.

But one has to be very careful, with some creatures more than others, not to do anything that may be perceived as a threat.

I didn’t dare interfere with the nest during the day when the wasp is so active and protective of its territory. And I knew from observation it isn’t equipped to function at night.
 
After much consideration over a period of time it became imperative the nest be moved, if not destroyed. Here’s what I did.

One night, long after sunset, I dressed up in as much protective clothing as I could still function in. I went to the table with the nest attached and lifted it, gently, so as not to disturb the hive. Then brought it to a tree about fifty metres away from the house and left it there.

The hope, as I see it now, was that the wasps would fly away to the surrounding nature and not stay around to build more hives. But it didn’t work that way.

When the young wasps left the nest the next day to search for food and eventually return at dusk they returned to the house, not the hive. Same problem.
 
So there was nothing else I could see to do but destroy the hive. But I didn’t want to kill the wasps, just move them on.

I had left the hive protected from the weather, under the table, under the tree. Now I had to change that.

One night, about a week ago, I snook up on the hive in the dead of night. I put my foot up to the edge of the table, keeping my body and exposed face furthest from the hive, and pushed the table upside down exposing the hive to the sky, where the weather comes from.

Then I ran back to the house, not stopping till I was safely inside, just in case.

Since then I have gone to see what’s happening at the hive and the origional makers, the mature adults, were gone within the first two days. After that some young ones returned for a while, possibly to nurture the still emerging young, but definitely to scavenge.

Yesterday I saw the hive was deserted so I broke it off the table leg and turned it to see inside and it was hollow. Except for one last wasp, tiny compared to his now departed siblings.

It always touches me that life will take form against all odds, as long as the form is viable. As long as there is enough focus of intelligence to give the form life.

What I did was alter the balance of focus. Or more correctly, I acted as I saw the need – according to my perception, life changed the balance and it turned out to be good for me.

Thank God, whatever it is, for that.
 
Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery
 

 
The last of the day’s sunshine coloured the red flower a rich yellow. Sunlight bursts into a deep yellow just before night falls from the ocean east. You can almost taste it at times.

It looks like culling the cane toads has paid off. When I got here over a year ago there were just three green tree frogs in the drainpipes. Now they are many and in various nooks and cranny’s about the place.
 
This morning I had a job to do with the truck so I checked the usual spot for the green frogs, under the door above the front wheel, but there was nothing there. Often there is and I put them in a place I have made for frogs I have to move during the day.

When I got home after travelling about 100 kilometres I wasn’t surprised to see three green frogs emerge from a vent hole on the drivers side wheel hub looking a bit battered. They would have been subject to enormous G forces, not unlike the centrifuge pilots train in.

They were blackened and disoriented so I brought them to the old water tank for cleaning and refreshing. When I lowered one to the water he started jumping backward as if up was down and down was up. After spinning in the wheel as they did I’d be surprised if they survive.

I checked around the tank last night and I found one of the travellers. He was exhausted, barely enough energy to climb the last few inches of the climb I found him on. So I gave him a hand up. May see him again.
 
Not only are the common tree frog abundant now but different species have been showing up at irregular intervals. The latest is the Dainty Green Tree frog.

The ones pictured are just over an inch long, each a different individual found at separate places over the same night, and I haven’t seen them since.

Other species showing up recently are the Peron’s Tree Frog and another with a dark green skin and a dark red eye; I don’t know its name. I might post it here soon.

Frogs have been showing up in waves and I suspect they are coming out of the Billinudgel NR as they mature and need to push on to new grounds for the winter. It’s half a kilometre to the nearest entrance – quite a distance for these small creatures to travel.

Waves, everything comes in waves.
 
It is delightful to have these visitors appear in my back garden, on the Passion fruit vine and the rescued stag fern. Finding homes among the bricks and stone and in the shed.

A simple pleasure to me.
 
Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery
 

 
Bugs! Bugs?

All God’s children, no less than you or I. Some of them lend themselves to discrimination, like the wasp or cockroach, but that doesn’t mean they are any less created. And what is created is surely for the greater good.

Storm, quake, drought, car, skyscraper, strip mine.

That’s the ‘outer’ world of Nature and Man, whether I like it or not. So, being here, I might as well accept it all.

The other world, the world inside, is no different. The sun shines, the space is clear or crowded, and dark clouds form on the horizon.

Tracks of creeping thought mark the surface of mind, handholds to judgement. Another kind of death.

No matter how dark it gets it’s for the greater good. It’s only there to point the way to the light.

How long is a storm? As long as the Will of it.
 
Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery
 

 
Some people say if you can’t see it with the naked eye you shouldn’t be looking. It’s a form of discipline, like not walking on the cracks in the pavement.

Taken to the extreme you would never look inside, because inside can’t be seen with the naked eye.

We have the tools and tools are for using. The tools were conceived inside and made out here.

We can now go where no man has gone before. Into the wild blue yonder, or yinder.

The trick, or discipline, is not to get lost in what is seen. Outside or inside.

What we see out here is inside.

Where inside? Where I see inside.
 
Look at these magnificent creatures. You’d never see them with the naked eye. Neon fly I call it.

Twirling and dancing on the leaves about the garden they are as elusive to capture as the magical Faerie Queene.

Life, proud, contained, in a beautiful little body coloured and shaped as no man can make.

Standing alone in the vastness of my world, exposed to what may come.

Eating, another fly that also stood proud, contained. Could just as easily happen to him, my little neon fly.

Cleaning his wings after hectic flight, the way all creatures do. He eventually ends up in the drink. In the fish tank.

Reclaimed by strands of green algae, the colour and form reduced to whence it came.

Life returns home.
 
Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery
 

Wandering through unknown space the other day on my way to the bog I came upon these artefacts of a hand other than Man’s.

Shaped by an unknown intelligence it is clear evidence of ITI, Intra Terrestrial Intelligence. So there! Case closed!

Since I was just passing through at the speed of sense using primitive technology, a human body, I only got a few blurry images.

I picked up some bad fuel too, a long time ago, which sometimes gets into the vehicle’s optical system. So it’s not always easy to see clearly.

But after bumbling my way through the innerverse for a while I eventually made it to the bog.

 
Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery

I discovered another place today, filled with the creatures of this bountiful Earth. It’s by the Brunswick River and it is called Brunswick River NR, naturally. It’s surrounded by water on three sides, the ocean on one and the river on two.

I only got to see one side properly, the one nearest the car park on the northern arm of the river. I went along an old track through some trees and bushes and as soon as I got to the sand flats, it was low tide, I noticed mass movement in light blue all along the ground from my feet out to the water thirty metres away.

There were hundreds of blue crabs and as soon as they saw me they were off. Away from me in all directions, mostly towards the water.

Beautiful little things. You have to wonder at the intelligent creativity of the Earth. Certainly no accidental or incidental evolution, they are mystery manifest. As fitting of a place in the whole as you or I.

When they got to the water they didn’t want to go in. Possibly too visible to the many fish that also live in these waters. Including Dolphin.

I played with them for a while, herding them this way and that to see what they would do and to get a better look at them, nothing exhausting.

One small group split from the herd and went out on a small sand bank and got caught at the waters edge. They turned their backs to the river and tip toed this way and that and finally, with a little help, made their way, huddled together, back to the mass.

It was an unusual sight, another of the little secrets of this naturefull place where I live. There were a couple of crows in the distance seemed to be eating their fill, as crows do, being the opportunists crows are.

But no mass feeding by the many other birds that also live hereabouts. The Heron and Cormorant, Tern and Gull. That was unusual too.

The Dolphin is a very hard creature to photograph but I got one, sort of, from a long way off.

The picture is really not good but illustrates the fact. I only got it by guessing where it would surface next.

And all of the time I was wrong, so I had to fix focus and shift fast. This one looks a bit like the Loch Ness monster; nobody ever got a picture of it either.

You can’t have everything.

There were a few more creatures here today and they were at relative ease with me there, though still wild.

The fact people go there frequently has something to do with that. I’ll come back to this place.

A peaceful place.

All Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery

Out walking in Billinudgel NR yesterday. It was about an hour before sunset and it was cool and shady with the sunlight streaming through in places. These places were usually occupied by fly’s.

Clouds of them. Whirling in spirals, up and down, around an invisible central column. Causing the column to appear to move slightly, this way and that. Dancing they were, chaotic, in the last light of the day.

Maybe their last day, they don’t last long in the nature once their function is filled. There were webs about the place too. Spider webs. And they were full of fly’s. Spider’s appetite was sated.

It was nice to be able to walk there again after all the rain, and the mozzies. Now the mozzies are almost gone, as an intolerable nuisance. It was a pleasure to walk there again.

When I got home it was time to feed the fish for the last of the day. I inherited him too, a beautiful blue Siamese fighting fish. They are fighting fish because they can’t tolerate company, any company.

I believe they originate from Siam, now Thailand – I think, where they often live in little puddles of rainwater. They can be born, live, breed and die in the same little puddle. Like some people that. Lol.

His expected lifetime in captivity is about two years, it’s almost up. He looks as healthy as a young one so he could live longer, the exception to the rule. There is always one, in fact I’d say the exceptions are far more common.

It’s just we people who like everything wrapped in nice little packages, like rules and numbers.

I was about to feed him his ‘premium’ anti oxidant, full of vitamins, pellets when I noticed what looked like an ant walking along the rim of the glass side.

When I put on my glasses I could see no better so I got the camera and fitted a macro lens to it and had a good look. It wasn’t an ant after all, just a look alike, from enough distance.

It was a spider, about a half cm long. Maybe a young one but it looked like it could take care of itself. It was small but it was fully confident.

I teased it for a few minutes with a small stick, to see how it behaved. And it was not afraid in the least. It just took appropriate action to avoid injury. Sensible creature.

It walked slow and deliberate, carefully inspecting the landscape as it went. Its mandibles were working overtime. It’s not often I see one working its mandibles so much. Then, it’s not often I get to observe one for such a long time as I did this one.

Little jumping spider, though it didn’t jump once. Up and down the rim of the glass then off to who knows where. Probably wandering about the place in search of spider things, food, shelter, etc.

Hmm! Just like you and me.

This fly was sunning himself in the last rays of the sun when I took the photo. Quite deliberately, it was on a green stick used to support plants. It always chose a spot in direct sunlight, never once did it choose a place in the shade.

I had to underexpose so as not to blow the bright spots, maybe a bit too much. All the colours are as it is. It is wonderful how all things enjoy the sun, in their own ways. Soaking up its energy.

The next fellow is all colour. In my quest to get the perfect pic of these neon creatures this is the latest best. I can quest after these fellows because there are so many out back of the house. At least for now, it is still warm. And not too cold at night.

If I am here next year I expect the place will be incomparable to the place as I found it. It was almost barren of wildlife when I got here one year ago, and overrun with cane Toads.

Now there are dozens of green frogs, and other gentle coloured frogs. At least one water dragon. A few lizards that I’ve seen. And there are many plants that weren’t here before. The two Jacaranda’s are four foot tall, from scrawny little throwaway’s I found outside a plant nursery in Brisbane before I came down here.

A few other plants around the place. Including Metropolis – where so many creatures live, different ferns, grasses, water lilies and more. Passion fruit and flower plant, tomato’s, and more.

All surviving because they are watered regularly. They are loved, you could say.

The grass got mowed today too.

All Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery

Change is the nature of the game. Change is what causes pain, is pain. And change is all there is in existence. In fact existence is change. The key to freedom is to not hold on to what changes. Gracefully.

A tall order indeed! But one that nevertheless needs filling, eventually.

It’s been raining again. Surprise, surprise!

The cats are lazing about the place, Queenie has been sleeping on the warm bonnet of my car. Djinn is sitting in the dark on the table down by the frogs, listening to the rain and watching for anything that moves.

I’ve told him the frogs are friends and are not to be eaten except in emergencies. I remind him and he seems to get the idea. He hasn’t brought a frog into the house for ages.

The frogs are in abundance. Another two have moved into the sanctuary and I found another two on the dry side of the house last night. Brought them round to the water tank, they’ll enjoy that.

I also found a little Pobblebonk, what a name. Apparently it gets it from its song, plonk! It was under the light out back of the house, no doubt feeding on the insects that inevitably fall to the ground. They are not like the green tree frogs in that they run (jump) when they are disturbed.

This one was so fast it was amazing. Ping, ping, ping and it was gone, off into the dark of the night. Not even enough time to think, ‘camera’. So no picture of it today.

It was only 3cm long and it jumped one and a half feet with each bound. And as soon as it hit the ground it bounded away again. I could have caught it with some effort and risk to its life, as in it getting squashed by me landing on it, but I thought I’d let it get away.

Trusting it’s still out there to jump and sing another day. Plonk! Plonk! Plonk! Ok. Serious now.

The desperate flight of the last yellow butterfly of the day finally ended on one of the tomato plants by the rainwater tank. I had turned the light on a little early, before the light of the day had really gone, and it seemed to confuse the little creature.

For a while it didn’t know which way to go. Fluttering around a foot off the grass it made a few attempts to reach the light but clearly it wasn’t where it needed to be for the night. It isn’t nocturnal after all.

You might say butterfly’s always look like they don’t know which way to go but I would differ. Butterfly knows what butterfly needs, most of the time. This one was just late up, possibly disturbed from its resting place, and I’ll check later if it is still on the tomato plant. We’ll see.

Five hours later and she’s still hanging sideways on a leaf in the rain. A bright yellow spot in the darkness at the end of the house. With just a few drops of rain sticking to her. I wonder if frogs see colours?

The five tree frogs from the yellow plant holder are out on the wall of the house. Making their way slowly towards the light. All different sizes, different ages. All young compared to the big green tree frogs that live in the drain pipes.

I have heard these green frogs have a life expectancy of about twenty years in captivity, outside is another matter. The bats, birds, snakes and dragons, and the cats all change the numbers at different times.

Though once one gets to a certain age I suspect it has learned enough to survive to old age, with a bit of luck. The older ones live up off the ground in the down pipes from the roof, a very safe place. The young ones live closer to the ground, not so safe at all, but safe enough for now.

They also live in various places in and around the garage, they really are populating the place. I am pleased to see them as they come out just after the sun goes down. Slowly, carefully, when they know the daytime predators are settling down for the night.

It can take quite a while before they move far from their sleeping place, from where they emerge into the night. They might take one jump every half hour or so, though they can also move with intent. It’s one way of conserving energy and if they sit still long enough they will see what else moves. And if it’s edible they know. If it comes close enough they eat it.

Top of the class in survival technique these fellows.

All Copyright Reserved / Mark Berkery