Rocky Creek Wildlife Refuge

After six months

It is hard to believe that I haven’t blogged since December. I am not very good at it.

We have just had a lot of rain which is making all Jeremy’s plants grow. He has just started planting lots of natives to try and regenerate the property. We have been told that we perhaps only have one original 200 year old eucalyptus tree on the property as most of our trees have regrown since the 1930s when it was first cleared.

I continue to study at uni and have gone back to try and finish my vet nursing this year. i have created a website from Dreamweaver and it can be found here.

Link Update

I thought that I would remind readers of links and also add some other good sites for those interested in Australian Fauna.

Brett Clifton has a very special relationship with his Eastern Grey Kangaroos.

Sharyn Munro ‘The Woman on the Mountain’ has a diary and beautiful photographs of her mountain retreat.

Ray Drew is a photo journalist who supports our kangaroos.

Sunday 17th January, 2010

Rocky Creek continues to wear its new coat of green, despite the very high temperatures that reigned last week.

17.01.10

At the moment we do not have a rain gauge, the one we had was placed on the ground and the beautiful donkeys in their excitement about getting a carrot accidently stomped on it.

We were privileged to observe a large brown snake last week making its way through the grass. I was fascinated by its movement patterns and relieved that it was moving away from me.

Rosiella continues to visit and delight us with her chirps, she is often seen proudly walking along the telephone wire a great height above the ground and will fly seemingly from out of nowhere, as she was so well hidden in the nearby trees.

Lulu will often come with us for a walk in the afternoon when it has cooled down. She follows at a respectable distance and stops frequently when we do and finds a succulent piece of greenery to munch on, none too quietly. The three ‘girls’ are queens of their domain and thriving in all the new grass.

17.01.10 What was that noise?

17.01.10 Poppy deep in prayerful contemplation.

Jacqui has been moved to the wombat yard and has started to excavate her own burrow. Unfortunately this has come at the cost of a heavy tick burden and we have had to treat her for this. Jacqui’s mum was quite compromised with mange and a large parasite burden when she was killed and even Jacqui herself had mange and too many ticks for such a little girl. She has never been quite as robust as some of the other wombats that I have raised and we continue to watch her carefully.

17.01.10 Jacqui leaving her burrow.

Tuesday 5th January, 2009

We have finally had some good soaking rain and already Rocky Creek Wildlife Refuge is starting to wear brighter colours and has a fresher, greener look about it. There is already shoots of green grass emerging and the local ‘mob’ are enjoying the tasty shoots. Kangaroos don’t destroy the areas over which they graze, despite the publicity that  this myth is sometimes given.

5.01.10 Lulu Enjoying the new green grass.

Our tank is about two thirds full and we should not have to use bore water in it for awhile. Jeremy has been planting the new native trees that he purchased for Christmas so that they can take advantage of the moist ground.

The gums are blossoming and providing lots of “Blossies for Possies” for Daniel and Jules.

5.01.10 Blossies for Possies

26th December, 2009

Christmas has come and gone. Two magpies have gone, one still hangs around and our beautiful Hopskip that had a curled foot which we managed to straighten died suddenly after attempting to eat a spider. I was devastated and will post some photos of him.

Bobbie was Hopskip the magpie's best mate. He used to sit near Bobbie as you can see from the 'magpie messages'. We found him here minutes before he died.

One of the last photos taken of Hopskip. He was called Hopskip as he was still learning how to walk on his now straight foot and it was a little like watching a child with a hopskip toy on their leg.

Rosiella our name for the Rosella, is out and about roosting up a gum tree each night and stoppping by for a bit of extra food support now and then, In fact I just heard her then, perhaps on the roof. Some days she flies to our bedroom window to say hello.

Rosiella, our name for her, demonstrates her high flying ability by landing on our bedroom window high above the ground.

Lulu is still not a mum, we saw the male who follows her again this morning.  She is a beautiful girl and has been doing well since her release.