Nature Study - Rocks & Wildflowers

We only managed one bush walk this month but we came across the first blooms of some our native wildflowers as we come to the end of winter here.

 Crowea Exalta (Boronia family)

 Acacia Lineata (Wattle)

Australian Wildflowers to Cultivate by Alec M. Blombery is a good book we use to help us identify the wildflowers we don't know.

We live in an a predominantly sandstone area. This honeycombed sandstone formed the roof to a rock projection we came across in our walk.

Rock Challenge - a guide to observing and identifying rocks at The Handbook of Nature Study Blog.

We have an abundance of sandstone rocks around our home and a few of them have been carved over the years and have been used for car tracks. This is a rock my daughter has been working on with her chisel and hammer and when the neighbourhood children hear her hammering they come over and join her. Her 14 year old brother offers his advice now & again which is bit of a worry because when he was about 8 years old he decided to build a base in the bush and tried to roll a sandstone rock to where he wanted it to be. It was rather large and once he got it moving it took on a mind of its own and rolled down the slope into the door of his big brother's car. Though I don't expect this rock to go anywhere.

A chunk of the outer sandstone which has been chipped off the rock.

By bashing the rock you get gritty sand

A seat my husband carved out of sandstone rock using an angle grinder. At the moment it's almost submerged under a pile of mulch.

Sandstone rock covered with moss

This video explains how sandstone and other rocks are formed