Part twenty: From no legs to 8 of them !

The months of June through September comprise Wurrgeng, or early Dry Season, which, during August, then extends into Gurrung – the hot Dry Season. October is the start of the pre-monsoon season.

Wurrung is the main cold weather time when plant growth slows down accordingly. Even so, this is also the busiest time of the year for our native bees who seek the orange nectar-bearing flowers of the Darwin Woollybuts and Northern Grevilleas, the purple Turkey Bush, the yellow Kapok and other native blossoms. In the absence of these favoured flowers the bees will do their best to pollinate plants like passionfruit or pawpaws and any other fruit and veg that we grow in our gardens.

While it appears to be the wrong time of the year, there seems to be any number of butterflies flitting around my pot plants also seeking pollen-bearing flowers. My passionfruit and winged bean flowers appreciate any available help for pollination as native bees seem to be in rather short supply this year.

Alas, these introduced plants encourage voracious grasshoppers, from the very small variety to the very large. THEY are not in short supply ! Because there is a "no insecticide" sanction in my garden, these pests chomp contentedly on the "growing nicely, thank you" bok choy, gai sum, mignonette, basil and any other such exotic plants they can decimate overnight. And, alas and alack, I must admit I am not very good with the squishing-thumb-and-forefinger method of quick demise for these pests, however much I dislike them.

We also have to contend with the brilliant Harlequin Bug and the Fruit Moth who, although they live mainly on the fruit of the native Cluster Fig, are also very partial to our five-corner fruit and guava, and even the odd tomato or two.

While on the subject of pests, I was recently moving a clump of pot plants and encountered a ginormous spider. Not waiting to identify whether he was huntsman, wolf or harmless daddy longlegs I rapidly back-pedalled to a safe distance preferring to leave him to his own devices. He had my blessing as long as he just STAYED PUT and didn't decide to MOVE HOUSE without letting me know !

With smoke haze hanging limply in the sky and the aromatic scent of burning wood drifting into star-space, the nights become colder and daytime often expels a dry searing heat. Surface water becomes scarce, placing stress on plants and animals alike. Reptiles which are normally diurnal often revert to night hunting in order to avoid the excessive daytime heat.

Late one hot afternoon while sipping Semillon on the patio, I caught a movement from the corner of my eye. Heading for a cool, secluded corner of the patio was a long, slithery snake. Discretion being the better part I leapt to remove my defenceless little mutt, and then to close the

sliding door. I did NOT WANT the snake inside the house ! Fortunately my frenzied movements discouraged him and he turned and slid away. Thankfully he kept on running and slithering because I never saw him again. Fingers crossed !

My most favourite visitor since moving here is a four-legged native animal. An introduced feral scourge in N.Z. and a bane to many an NT resident, Percy the Possum was a perfect guest while sharing my space. He appeared one day after I noted tree-cutters plying their questionable profession in a far corner of this enclave. He had undoubtedly lost his home due to their actions and so took up residence in my ex-green ant tree. Percy was a native Brushtail Possum and I enjoyed his company for about 3 or 4 months.

Unfortunately he heartily disliked my noisy lawn-mowing man with his mower, whipper snipper and leaf-blower. Maybe he will come back one day – I can but hope !

Next month: Possums again.