On the Subject of Critters

In the 18 months or so we've been living in our lovely new home in the South West we've had to chase out more critters from the house than we did in the 30 plus years we lived in Greenmount.  The creatures in Greenmount were apparently better versed at the difference between the indoors and outdoors, with the exception of one blue tongue which clearly got himself very lost.  Here, they struggle to distinguish between the two.   We've had an endless variety of frogs (and yes, one has been on the toilet seat and I'm not sure who got more of a fright, the frog or R),  an array of insects including beetles, millipedes, midgies, moths, butterflies and others we've not been able to identify (they have alarming orange bits on them and look slightly like something that came back with Dr Who) along with an endless amount of spiders, most of which are completely harmless. In fact, if you sit still for more than five minutes it's guaranteed you'll end up with at least one web stretching from your shoulder to the nearest sofa arm or window.  Oh and one (yes one) mosquito. I know there has only been one because the sodding thing bit me and I am a veritable mosquito magnet.  

R has become an adept hero-esque catcher  and re-locater of a variety of critters to the outdoors,  with the aid of his trusty Critter Catcher (known to us mere mortals as an ice-cream container).  I'm pretty handy with a cob-web broom, albeit the spiders seem largely unperturbed by my efforts.  

Probably the most unusual critters we've had to chase out of the house have been two micro bats.  I'm not sure what sort of micro bats they were, they wouldn't sit still long enough for us to ask.  There are several species that are native to this part of the world.  I googled to see what I could find out and there are lots of images if you want to see what a micro bat looks like (pretty much like most bats).  But here's an interesting fact, according to Zoologist Tony Hodge (and he should know, he is a Zoologist) bats' closest living relatives are horses and rhinoceros.  True! They're quite tricky to get out of the house as they flit all over the place. The second one took the combined effort of four of us (luckily our friends G and J were staying with us for the night). 

We've also had the pleasure of lots of critters in the garden, although sadly no Quendas. We really miss the antics of our Quenda families in the Perth Hills.  We've had lots of little lizards and one big one.  Thankfully he didn't come inside the house.  I'm pretty sure he would have been chasing us out.  I'm not a lizard expert but I think he is a monitor lizard.   He is a handsome fellow. 

The most annoying critters to date is the rabbits. They pulled up, ate and ring barked a very large percentage of new plants we put in our garden in a very short space of time.  Although, they didn't touch the lettuce. Not one teeny little nibble.  And it was lovely lettuce too. I'm slightly offended by  their refusal to partake.  Now everything we put in the ground has a tree guard put around it.  Which has worked...somewhat. 

We have also heard from our neighbours that there are deer in the forests, which sometimes come down on to the paddocks and wild pigs, which thankfully don't.  The deer, local legend has it, were released from a deer farm that went bust some years back and have continued to breed in the forest.  I do believe our lovely family in Williams had a deer trying to disguise itself as a cow in order to go unnoticed on their property (epic fail deer!). I wonder if they've spread from here or escaped from somewhere else.

We do get kangaroos feasting on our lawn on a regular basis, especially after this long week of hot days (boo hiss to those, the long days not the kangaroos).  But the most exciting thing we've seen is an emu and her chicks  (six or seven of them) which we spotted at the end of the gravel road on our way home from work one evening.  How excited were we! Very!! They move so quickly and we couldn't get a snap.  But we'll have the memory for a long time to come. 

On an unrelated topic, a few blogs back I was lamenting the loss of our roses with that first unseasonal burst of really hot days that hit us even before Sumer had arrived.  I tip pruned all of the roses and I'm pleased to say, they've all produce a new and very bountiful flush.  Yay!  

And just to end on a joke (which I stole from the internet).  Last night my mouse Elvis died.  He was caught in a trap. Ba boom!!

I'll write again soon. Until then, take care and stay safe.