Floriade

Magpie Swooping

Spring is lovely in Canberra. The blossoms along the lake are always pretty and the smell of the gumtrees and the chirp of the cicadas reminds you that summer is approaching.

The only blight on the calendar is Spring  also heralds the start of 'swooping season'.

Magpies are members of the crow family, but the Australian magpie is a unique subspecies not related to the magpie found in the UK and across Asia. The Australian bird is a lot more robust with a big beak and generally quite a bit larger. Throughout most of the year they keep themselves to themselves. They are clearly smart birds but also fairly unobtrusive.

When they nest in Spring though they show their true colours!. For some reason (I'm not sure whether anyone has adequately explained it!) they hate people walking near their nests. Specifically they hate cyclists. 

I ride my bike to work and the other day was attacked. You don't realise it at first (they tend to come at you from behind) but I was suddenly aware of a flapping/pecking sound on my bike helmet. They dive you a few times before you move/ride out of their area and to be honest although it's funny, it's also fairly scary. 

I found there was a good resource to log any attacks - magpie alerts so I dutifully logged my attack.

What's remarkable about the site is the sheer number of incidents (the bird is a protected species so no revenge is permitted!) Many of the sites injure the victim and people have told me stories of ears and necks being pecked and blood being drawn. This year sadly a man even died after he veered off the path in the park he was riding on and sustained serious head injuries.

The birds typically have two young (so you usually have to be alert for at least six weeks) but I'm always grateful when the hatchlings are flying and the swooping stops!

Eli (having come from football training) helping me collect horse poo for our garden

The sign of pleasure that the job brings him is etched on his face...

School Strike

The kids took part in a school strike to protest against government inactivity towards climate change. Originally the brainchild of the Swede Greta Thunberg the strikes have become a major global movement. Right-wing governments like we have here in Australia have tried to be polemic about the concept of children missing school to attend rallies and protest. 

I was proud that my kids chose of their own accord to go. Above all else I think the marches embarrass governments and may hopefully lead to some kind of change before things are too late. Either way it is the right of the kids to protest given that they will inherit what world we have left for them. 

Just another Saturday...

End of netball season

Audrey's played netball for the school netball team (Jets) for the last couple of years. This year they reached the finals but unluckily fell at the final hurdle to CGGS. She's really developed as a player. If anything she's too polite and my efforts to teach her how to 'trash-talk' the opposition always falls on deaf ears.

I was ever so proud of her achievements and I know her Mum would have been too.

It was a bit of a watershed really as all of the girls (and two boys) will go in different directions so this was the last time they'll all play together.

BT21 cupcakes....

Bendora Arboretum

Bendora Arboretum in the Namadgi National Park was established in 1940. It comprises no less than 52 species of trees laid out in 9 x 9 blocks (81 trees per block) to assess which trees thrived or struggled in Canberra's climate.

The trees are all predominantly pines. We learnt that ideally you want your pine tree to grow quickly (and straight) but have quite hard timber. In doing so you produce a tree that is perfect for construction and useful to build the Canberra that has grown exponentially since the 1940s.

It was a short walk round the place and we stopped for a quick bite to eat. The kids found some trees to climb. The arboretum was a nice place to visit and I think we'd go back again. If you're thinking of venturing there you'll find that the terrain makes for relatively easy walking and the path round the place is only about 3km long.

Canberra had been enjoying a number of snow showers and despite the day being warm and sunny we still found a little pile of snow that had settled in the shade of one of the copses.