“No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.”
In case you hadn’t noticed, spring has arrived.
The grand final has been played (and well and truly won).
Daylight saving time is upon us – yey or boo depending on your outlook. The
lawns are beginning to need mowing a bit more frequently. It’s 29 degrees one
day and 15 the next!
Five sure signs in the bush that spring has begun in
Victoria:-
Our national floral emblem the Golden Wattle, Acacia
pycnantha, has almost finished flowering. Although endemic to Australia,
the Golden Wattle is grown world-wide and is a weed species in many countries.
Birds are nesting and Magpies are swooping. The little
Spotted Pardalote, a common eucalypt canopy species, comes to ground at this
time of year to dig a nesting tunnel in some soft earth.
Spring wildflowers and orchids have begun blooming. The
stunning Wax-lip is a terrestrial orchid found right throughout Victoria and
really can’t be missed in the bush.
Many of our lizard and snake species spend much of winter in
a state of torpor – a mild version of hibernation – and as the weather warms
up, they begin to appear in sunny spots such as on rocks and logs.
Fantail Cuckoos (and others), have arrived and are on the lookout for suitable
nests into which to lay their eggs for the unsuspecting host parent to
unwittingly rear the baby cuckoo.
All thanks to the tilt of the earth’s axis!
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