Koala in my patch last week

[Starling]

Not sure what it was doing in the tuckeroo tree. They don't eat those!



A welcome guest really--well, at least welcome compared to the fruit bats which are the bane of my existence.

[kris1960]

i came from the outback (actually the back of Bourke) but moved to the New England when I was 10 and we had a decent population of koalas out Nowendoc way.
Have been in England since I was 22. It is great growing things here ( I have recently got an allotment which I love to bits) but never enough rain and at the moment unseasonably cold.
Welcome to the forum- what vegetables do you grow?

[Starling]

i came from the outback (actually the back of Bourke) but moved to the New England when I was 10 and we had a decent population of koalas out Nowendoc way.
Have been in England since I was 22. It is great growing things here ( I have recently got an allotment which I love to bits) but never enough rain and at the moment unseasonably cold.
Welcome to the forum- what vegetables do you grow?

Well, at the moment I'm only attempting to grow peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, melons and sweet & regular potatoes. I'm not much good with vegies yet--many of my attempts at growing more demanding crops have been total failures.

Main problem I have is with powdery leaf mildew...I can't seem to keep it off the pumpkins and melons.

[kris1960]

We also struggle with powdery mildew.
Am trying melons but although I have some tiny fruits they are very unlikely to succeed- enjoying giving it a go though. Pumpkins do well here.
What is your soil like and how much rain do you get?

[bearded bloke]

i came from the outback (actually the back of Bourke)

Is that the Bourke famed by the Bourke to Burketown Bash ? That has gotta be one of the coolest races on the planet

[kris1960]

That's it- we lived about 100 miles the other side of it. I was born in Bourke hospital. My mother was born in Temora, also featured in "bash".

[rhonsal]

So cute - and not likely that I'd spot one of those in central Scotland!

[Starling]

I suppose that all depends on what you're growing, Rhonsal

They look cute, yes. Probably not a good idea to try and give one a hug though. I once had to rescue one that had been attacked by my horse. When I threw a bath towel over it, it shredded the thing like tissue paper. It was pretty impressive.

[kris1960]

You have fab wildlife in Scotland Rhonsal!
Similar experience Starling- I thought that I was rescuing a baby koala that was on the ground when I was about fourteen, it shredded my thick denim jeans and my leg before racing up the tree I thought it had fallen out of!

[Bill HH]

I share your mildew problems but as far as wildlife go I have a panic attack if i spot a green fly!

[Starling]

I share your mildew problems but as far as wildlife go I have a panic attack if i spot a green fly!

Not everything around my patch can kill or maim me Bill lol. I don't worry about much other than the snakes. I get some beautiful birdlife including black cockatoos, white cockatoos, pretty face wallabies, pale headed rosellas etc. Sometimes, when there's been a lot of rain, fireflies blow down from the mountains, its incredible. Rare event though.I have a pet rainbow lorikeet which is a rescue bird. He can't fly and wouldn't survive in the wild anymore, so can't be released.

Some pics--forgive the cage, believe it or not that's only 4 days worth of lorikeet poop. I had the flu last month and ever since he's been copying my coughing fits. He does a good job of copying the phone too ( ringtone). He tricks me with that about once a week...

[Bill HH]

Lovely bird, you are most fortunate. I would be more worried about all that wildlife eating my produce than tearing my leg off but I think i might retire to the house at the sight of a snake or poisonous spider. i reckon the nearest thing we have to a koala would be a badger, I once found one on our farm caught in a wire that someone must have set to catch foxes. It was caught round his waste and had dug a hole three feet deep trying to escape. I tried to hold his head down with a hay fork (two prongs) while I cut the wire, he bit the fork and left teeth marks in the steel. Got him free in end.

[Starling]

Lovely bird, you are most fortunate. I would be more worried about all that wildlife eating my produce than tearing my leg off but I think i might retire to the house at the sight of a snake or poisonous spider. i reckon the nearest thing we have to a koala would be a badger, I once found one on our farm caught in a wire that someone must have set to catch foxes. It was caught round his waste and had dug a hole three feet deep trying to escape. I tried to hold his head down with a hay fork (two prongs) while I cut the wire, he bit the fork and left teeth marks in the steel. Got him free in end.

Good on you Bill. It's good to hear there are people out there doing what they can for native animals, it's not getting easier for them in most places. I'm encouraged by stories like that.

The lorikeet is a handful, he's a bit snappy being a wild bird. Strange to think that those colours are for purposes of camouflage, but you'd be surprised at how well they blend in with some of the native flowering trees in spring/summer.

The two main fruit vandal species I have to contend with are fruit bats, and possums. The bats are probably the worst because they are very clever animals--more intelligent than dogs, apparently, and can thwart my best layed plans of deterrence pretty easily. Unlike regular bats, they also have incredibly good eyesight ( equivalent to that of owls). I adopt a live and let live policy. They are endangered in Australia as a lot are killed by farmers and backyard growers. They are a royal pita in summer as they tend to fly off with mangoes in their claws, get tired of carrying them and drop mangled fruit on my roof at ungodly hours of the night. I basically have to bag whatever I want to eat, and what's left over is generally bat/possum food. Sometimes bandicoots will have a bit of a rummage through the sweet potatoes, but not often.

Although they aren't local to my area, if I had to name the strangest Australian bird, it would be hard to go past the satin bowerbird. They have black and midnight blue plumage, sapphire blue eyes, and a penchant for anything blue. They will fill their nests (referred to as 'bowers') with anything blue they can pilfer , and where they are present in the tropics, it is common practice to not leave anything blue coloured on one's verandah otherwise it will disappear never to be seen of again. Candles, cutlery, bottle caps, decorative stones--anything is fair game. Some pictures of discovered bowers:

[Gilberd]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your post Starling. Your wildlife there looks simply wonderful and enchanting. Thank you for the great photos.

[Bill HH]

Well I am ashamed, we moan and groan about the odd problem in our gardens and yet you are facing unbelievable challenges. I think if it were me I would give up gardening and take up photography with all the wild life you have.