Another fox…..no, it’s an eagle!

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We seem to be having a run of death and destruction.…

It has happened from time to time….and now it is time again! THIS week we have lost two more animals…..to a Wedge-tailed Eagle!

One day we came home to a stripped duck carcass, and decided it was not like a fox attack….maybe it was a cat?? The next day we lost our gorgeous Australorp rooster….but there eating it was a magnificent Wedge-tailed Eagle. Well, what mixed emotions!! How amazing this creature was- huge, majestic…..but also hungry….and eating OUR stock! Needless to say the camera was grabbed, but it was a bit quick for us so the photos are blurry.

Quick photo before it saw us and flew off-eating the rooster!

Watching from a safe distance

Circling overhead- that beautiful wedged tail!

Seedlings ready for Autumn planting!

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The seed sowing was quite successful with most things growing in the new shade house! It won’t be long before they will all be able to be planted out into the veggie garden that the chooks have been scratching around in for the past few months, adding extra ‘fertiliser’ as they go through the scraps.

Seeds sprouted!

Fortunately, there are also a few natives we have managed to repot from other areas, so once the rains come we will be able to revegetate small areas that were burnt out in the fire.

We also have had a rush of field mushrooms come up in the paddock…a sign of the cooler weather!

Mushrooms grown in the paddock

Not another bushfire…..

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But this time it did burn through about 5 of our 10 acres…..fortunately for us the back five acres away from the house and animal/food production areas.

Fire burning in the paddock behind the veggie garden and orchard

Nonetheless, it caused plenty of damage to the natural bush plus the areas we had been regenerating-

Burnt through

Not a lot left!

the fences were either burnt or cut by the fire brigade to get to the fire. What an amazing job they do!

Leaving to get more water

The water pipes to each paddock for the sheep were melted, and we lost four struts and strainers for the gates…..

Strut and strainer and sheep feeder burnt

The Australian bush is amazing though, and will often come back very well after a bushfire…..so fingers crossed.

Visiting Heron!

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We have had a few visiting heron over the years, but not many as photogenic as this one!! We had mixed feelings seeing it- on the one hand it is lovely seeing the wildlife visit, on the other we knew it would be after the Silver Perch we put in the pond!!

White-faced Heron searching for silver perch!

Bushfire!

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The challenges of country living continue! In the space of four weeks we left a pump on running the water tank dry (our only source of water)- fortunately the pump wasn’t damaged. The following week was the snake in the house, then the fox attack….and this week a bushfire!

We were awoken around 5.30am with the strong smell of smoke, soon followed by the sound of numerous fire engines. It was obviously close by.

Water bomber in action

The view from the back door at 6.00am

Sunrise through the smoke

Thanks to the Bushfire Brigades! Now hopefully the unsavoury person who lit it (FESA say the cause is ‘suspicious’) will get caught.

Fox Attack!

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Yet more death and destruction at McCarthy Park this week……went out to feed the animals one evening, and came face to face with a mangy looking fox actually curled up IN the chook run. It had obviously got in earlier and killed three chooks, but couldn’t get out again.

It is so, so distressing….and annoying, to lose our animals in this way. Foxes tend to just kill for the sake of it rather than for food. This fox was very skinny, and must have been hungry, yet had killed three chooks and just left them.

After much searching, we found a possible entry point – a very small gap under a gate, not at all something we would have thought a fox could fit through. Fortunately all the other animals free ranging at the time were unharmed.

There’s a snake in the house!!!!

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Well, we do talk about the welcome and unwelcome wildlife that we encounter on a 10 acre property…..but this week we had a snake in the house! Ok, it was only a juvenile, about 30 cm long, but it was a Dugite!

Fortunately the yelling ‘there’s a snake in the house’ (while determinedly keeping eyes on the snake so it didn’t disappear off into a bedroom) finally had some effect on those outside. A net was grabbed, the snake caught, and then it was released in the ‘snake lake‘- the first repatriation of a snake there since we created it.

Juvenile dugite in the house

Releasing the dugite into the snake lake

Dugite's herringbone skin pattern

Everyone is cooling off!

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It has been a very hot period, and we have had to work at keeping the animals cool and the garden watered sufficiently. We have discovered that turkeys love to get wet! In this hot weather, they have gone into the duck’s water for a paddle and splash around!

Is it a duck? Is it a goose?......No, it's a turkey?