Sunshine and Shadows

Autumn is here in Auckland. The days are getting shorter and the shadows are growing longer. The nights are cool and the stars bright. Toadstools are bursting forth and the leaves will be turning soon.

Chickens: Chillaxing

Toadstools

Shield Bug

The Plagues of Auckland

To go with our frog, we also have an infestation of grasshoppers - the local equivalent of locusts? Every time I go in the garage, half a dozen little creatures scuttle off.

I don't think this one will be leaping out at me at least - it seems to missing one jumping leg, poor thing.

Frog-in-the-hall

When I opened the front door the other night to feed the rabbits, I found this little creature waiting for me. And then he hopped inside! He must have thought that our carpet was a lily pond.


We've worked out that he was a Southern Bell frog, a descendant of one introduced from Australia in the 1860s from Tasmania. He has a number of special features which helped us to identify him:

• Dark brown or black blotches on the back
  
• A pale green stripe down the middle of their back
  
• The belly looks granular
• The fingers lack webbing while the toes are almost completely webbed
• There are no suckers on the ends of their toes or fingers

The grass is always greener...

I'm beginning to worry that our neighbours will have bought their land, designed their house, obtained consent, built their house and moved in in the time that it's taken us to start renovating. They've chosen a G J Gardner home - I just hope that it's an interesting one to look at...