Adventure at Perenjori - Wildflowers & Lizards

It's amazing what can be achieved in just one weekend. My husband and I had been told this was one of the best wildflower seasons ever. So we decided to travel over 720km just to take in the breathtaking sight of wildflowers (and hopefully a fascinating creature or two) in the Perenjori region. We were not disappointed on either account. We walked for kilometres surrounded by carpets of pink, white and yellow everlastings. Granite outcrops sheltered a variety of orchids, lizards and other creatures including cockroaches that sprayed a foul smelling deterrent designed to protect them from predators. Waterholes were filled with the fattest tadpoles and fat, lazy frogs sheltering under rocks from the perfect blue-sky days. I was so busy enjoying my weekend I managed to capture only a small portion on camera. Enjoy!



Video Music: Strobelites (Escapism) by The Womb can be found at http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/819443

Why Creepy Crawlies? (Narrating Personal Interest)

Photo by Debbie Rudd - CC BY NC ND, used with permission

“Hold out your hands….be still….I’m going to show you something incredibly special…”

Why am I interested in butterflies, slugs and all things creepy crawly? It’s because it reminds me of the special times I spent bonding with my father as a child. I was (and still am) my father’s princess and I adore, admire and respect him.

Skipping and dancing I followed my father everywhere, his little shadow. As he worked in the garden in the evenings, often by the light of my dancing torch, or as we walked through bushland on the weekends, he would pop insects, lizards and all manner of creatures into my hands to observe. We carefully over-turned rocks, waded through creeks and peered into trees and bushes. 

“Look… a stick insect. The colours on the outside camouflage it, but look at the amazing colour on the underside of its wings – reds and pinks.”

“See the dragon lizard waving one leg in the air.. It looks like its saying 'tata' (goodbye), but it’s just cooling its foot down because the ground is so hot.”

“Shhh…. listen …you can hear the cicada telling us summer is here….tick, tick, tock. Follow the sound and we should find one…. and if you look very carefully at the base of a tree you might find an empty larvae case.”

Being still enough to find and observe the creatures shown to me was like a form of meditation. My father’s patient, soft spoken and gentle nature was a calming and soothing influence and one of the best lessons in both parenting and self-preservation I could have learned.

Now, I have children of my own and it’s such a pleasure to see their faces light up when I spend time with them, sharing experiences, examining all the wonderful, unusual….and sometimes-scary creatures in this world. We often pull over, when driving, to watch a snake sunbaking, to examine a spider web glistening in the car’s headlights or to investigate what is living in the waterlogged road verges during winter. These frequent stops make the journey just as rewarding as the destination.

I know I have done my job as a parent, just as my father did, when I see my children escaping outside, sitting quietly and finding inner peace while observing butterflies, slugs and all things creepy crawly. Again, I am reminded of my special bond with my father.

“Hold out your hands.…be still….I’m going to show you something incredibly special…”

Photo by Debbie Rudd - CC BY NC ND, used with permission

Photo by Debbie Rudd - CC BY NC ND, used with permission

Crawling with Geckos

It’s time to prune the palm trees and I worry about my husband balanced on the top of an extended fire ladder.  It is a long, long way up.  
Using a pruning saw and a length of rope he cuts, pulls and coaxes bunches of berries, spent palm fronds and closed pods from the palm. The berries crash to the ground with an earth shaking thump, the pods spear aggressively into the ground.

However, every now and then he lowers a frond down on a rope. Gently, gently.

These fronds are for me to look at, sheltering little surprises: doe-eyed geckos, a clew of worms, or an occasional spider. There are lots of geckos this time.  I struggle to hold all of them at the same time.  As I try to photograph them with one hand, they run up my arm and out of focus.  They won’t behave and pose for the camera.  I love the feel of their soft padded feet and looking at the colour variations and camouflaging patterns on their scaly skin. 

I have to be careful not to frighten them too much or they will drop their tails in an effort to distract me, so they can escape.  Although the tail will regrow, it is where lizards store their fat supplies to keep them healthy and last them through winter or when food is scarce. 

When the pruning has been finished, I release the geckos onto the trunk of the palm tree.  They don’t take long to run to the top and find a place to hide at the base of the remaining leaves.  At least the geckos are not scared of heights.

Lots of lizards

On the weekend, a typical Perth, blue sky, sunny day, we went four wheel driving with a number of friends.  At one point, in the middle of the track was a large ‘sleepy Joe’, also known as a bob tail skink or blue tongue lizard. So we stopped to get it off the track before it was run over.  Of course everyone came to see why we’d stopped so suddenly.  With so many people around the lizard, it couldn’t be convinced to move in the right direction, so my husband picked it up to take it off the track.  As expected, the lizard wasn’t particularly happy about being handled, opened its mouth threateningly and showed that wonderful, distinctive blue tongue. 

Further along on our expedition I noticed something move behind one of the cars as they were trying to pull up off the main track.  I was out of the vehicle in a flash, camera in hand, so I could photograph a beautiful goanna with golden stripes on its belly.  Being one of Australia’s faster lizards, it didn’t hang around for long, raced off and ducked under a rock ledge.  My husband, who followed, stepped onto a large sheet of stone that rocked back and forth. Worrying that he might have crushed some wildlife under the rock, he lifted it, only to discover an amazing barking gecko.  Handling it gently, we checked that it hadn’t been hurt.  It hadn’t. It was photographed and released it.

Seeing these three completely different lizards was a great experience, especially as some of our friends were new to Australia and hadn’t seen anything like this before.  I particularly loved seeing the leaf gecko as I’d not seen one of these in the wild before, and geckos would have to be one of my favourite creatures. It just shows what you can see when you take the time to look around you when in the bush. Australia has lots of amazing lizards.

Slugs

Isn’t it wonderful how children have a natural fascination with the creatures in our world, even the slimy ones? 

My nephew, who is autistic and my daughter have always loved to find quiet nooks in the garden to relax and de-stress.  They spend hours examining leaves, flowers and ‘creatures’.  They use all their senses – smelling the perfume of the flowers and crushing scented leaves; listening to the sound of insects and the creak of the trees; feeling the different textures, feeling insects, caterpillars and slugs crawl over their hands, looking closely at all the tiny elements and colour that make up a backyard garden; talking and singing quietly to themselves the whole time.  I deliberate plant gardens with as much variety as possible, both for the children and to provide a home for insects, lizards, birds and frogs and any other creature that finds its way in.

Recently the kids went outside to play in the sandpit only to discover it still contained the sandpit toys, but had been emptied of sand.  In amongst all the toys were slugs – lots of slugs.  Instead of being upset they sat in the empty sandpit letting the slugs glide over their hands for hours. Feeding them blades of grass, being fascinated by the slug’s mouth and how the optic and sensory tentacles retracted when touched.  Yes, they had to wash all the slime from their hands when they came inside, but they had fun.  They were peaceful.  They giggled.  They were gentle.  They enjoyed an amazing creature that we usually just try and eliminate from our gardens.

For an interesting look at how leopard slugs reproduce view the following video from the BBC wildlife show and hosted by Sir David Attenborough.