A Walk on the Wild Side - Nature Study

We had an impromptu walk this afternoon, only three of us today. Our mission - to find a cicada or its shell. We know there are many around at this time because we can hear their incessant noise.

 So off we went, Bengy showing Moozle the mountain bike trail he'd been on earlier in the week which is marked out on a plaque at the beginning of our local fire trail.

 I hadn't planned to go off the beaten track but we followed a couple of bush trails...

 

We sang (or I should say dirged) this song as we tramped through the ferns and the shaded parts of the bush. Not quite the misty mountains cold but parts of the bush do have a mysterious feel to them and at this spot it was very quiet. We couldn't hear any cicadas and only the occasional twittering of little wrens.






And in keeping with The Hobbit theme...a real live dragon

Another dragon, a much smaller one, having a sunbake

 


A quick look at our local waterfall, which is rather dry at present, and the rock pool at the bottom. One very wet day earlier in the year two of the boys ran down here in their shorts and went for a dip in the rain. The waterfall was quite impressive that day.





Still no cicadas but there's a rustling in the bush and Bengy spots an echidna. We always hear these before we see them. At the base of the rock below you will notice some yellowish tipped spikes - that's him burrowing into the dirt.

We head home, mission unaccomplished but hey, we're happy. The cicadas will wait for another day.

I get out my copy of Nature Studies in Australia by William Gillies and over some afternoon tea (leftover chocolates after stocking up the Advent calendar the other day) we learn a bit more about this unique egg-laying mammal.