Richmond Birdwing Butterfly

Well after last weeks little encounter I though I would like to find something light and beautiful to talk about and I had been wondering what to write until yesterday morning when I went outside to admire the gorgeous spring day and there was the season's first Richmond Birdwing Butterfly flying and swooping and obviously delighting in the mild sunny weather.

There are Birdwing recovery groups on the Sunshine Coast and in the Brisbane area helping to restore the habitat of this vulnerable butterfly but we have them breeding right here on our property.  Obviously somewhere in our bushland there is a very old Birdwing Butterfly vine (Pararistolochia praevenosa) and over the past few years we have also planted about seven of these vines to help preserve this species but at this stage our vines are still quite small.

This is a photo we took of the butterfly sitting on a white cedar that is near our house.

These are very large butterflies and they do not flutter like other butterflies but fly like birds, flapping their wings and swooping onto branches and flowers.

It is so very special to be able to go outside and see a species that is listed as vulnerable to extinction right in our own front yard.  At times I have seen three of these butterflies together all feeding from the flowers of our native frangipani (Hymenosporum Flavum) which is about 6 meters tall and at the moment is in full bloom.  A few years ago we were talking with someone who belongs to one of the Birdwing recovery groups and he said he had never seen one of these butterflies in the wild, we are fortunate indeed.

http://www.wildlife.org.au/wildlife/speciesprofile/insects/richmodnbirdwing.html


Ok, I couldn't go without showing you what we are having for morning tea this week, a lovely boiled fruit cake which has ground cinnamon, ginger and all spice added - a very old fashioned recipe but what a luscious cake! 

                                                                                 

The chickens are all doing well. : )



                                                                      

Huge Eggs, Broody Hens and ...............!!

Today I was planning on telling you about the huge egg one of the chickens layed that is twice the size of their normal eggs and then I was going to tell you about Ruby our broody hen and how she is sitting on the nest hoping to hatch out chicks from nothing!  As there is no rooster all her effort is in vain so I have been removing the eggs every day but she is still sitting there.  The only problem is the other chickens lay their eggs in that area also so we have a bit of a traffic jam in there at times but they seem to be working it out. 

As you can see, Esmeralda is squeezing into the same space - even though there are two other nesting boxes. : )

Ok I will put in a photo of that huge egg but I really want to talk about something else right now -
                                                                              

It's a beauty isn't it, I will crack it open tonight, it will have a double yolk for sure or maybe that Bush Turkey has also taken a liking to that nesting box. : ))

Well now it is spring and our lizards are coming out of hibernation - the Major Skink and the Water Dragons have made an appearance, so I have been thinking the snakes could not be far behind and this morning there was a carpet python near the chicken pen (we relocated two last summer) so I have been checking on them more often today but that is NOT the big story. 

This afternoon Leo and I walked out to the letter box to get our mail and when we got back up to the house we came face to face with two, BIG brown snakes that were in a "loving embrace".  Well Leo and I both backed off at the same time as these snakes are one of the deadliest in the world and they are aggressive especially when disturbed at such a "delicate" moment.  I have never seen anything like that in my life and I'm very sorry to say that I didn't have my camera handy so I could post a photo.  Unfortunately it is emblazzened on my brain!! 

These snakes were only meters from our front door and when they saw us they parted company and slithered off together around to the back of the house no doubt to take up where they left off.    Needless to say, I made sure all the screen doors were securely closed - I don't like snakes!  And I just saw three in the one day.  Now when I go outside and see the garden hose on the ground or a curved stick I get the same feeling for an instant - ahhhhhh  gross!

Here is a video from YouTube of Brown Snakes but beware it may also make you feel more than a little jumpy. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJu67SGalJU

Until next time.  xx