On 15 July, Darwin City Brass Band will be playing from 4pm to 6pm in Anula Park. Get a group of friends together, take your chairs and a picnic and enjoy a beautiful dry season afternoon. A liquor exemption has been granted, so you can take along a beer or bottle of wine. More information on 8927 2676.

Government House on The Esplanade, the official residence of the Administrator of the Northern Territory, will – as well as its beautiful gardens - be open to the public from 3pm to 7pm on 20 and 21 July. For further information call 8999 7103.

The City of Darwin will be hosting the inaugural Swap@The Top event in Raintree Park between noon and 2pm on 13 July. To take part in the event you just have to take along up to five unwanted items in good condition, and you will receive a token for each item. During the swap you can then exchange your token for any item of your choice. Items can be dropped off at 9am at Raintree Park. In addition, old printer cartridges and mobile phones can be handed in for recycling on the day of the swap.

If you have moved recently, you will need to ensure that your current details appear on the electoral roll – the Territory elections take place on 25 August. There are several ways too update your details: call 13 23 26, go to www.aec.gov.au, or pick up a form at the Post Office.

Territory Craft's annual Dragonfly Craft Fair will be held from 10am to 3pm on 22 July in the grounds of the Museum and Art Gallery. For further information call 8981 6616.

Part Eight – Honey-eaters: a miscellaneous lot

Mid Dry Season and this cold weather period is known as "Wurrgeng", bringing with it a profusion of flowers and a plethora of honey-eaters – large, small, colourful, drab. They are searching for sweetness but also any accessible moisture. In the early morning, I see a small red-headed honey-eater flit in to sip from the water beads left on the banana leaves by the sprinkler, his brilliant scarlet head and black wings contrasting with the pale green of the young banana fronds. This small bird lives in coastal forests and woodland, and, although a bit larger, is often mistaken for the scarlet honey-eater which has a red breast and a white under-belly. Another look-alike is the mistletoe bird which does not have the long beak of the honey-eaters.

Other small and large tropical honey-eaters drop into my garden as plants become established, making my yard more inviting to small animals. The rather drab, most common, dusky and rufous birds contrast quite spectacularly with the larger friarbirds and blue-faced honey-eaters. While the smaller birds dart nervously from flower to greenery seeking sweet nectar, the larger ones make use of the rapidly denuding branches of the "green ant" tree. Hopefully they will assist in ridding me of the green ants still stubbornly hanging on in the defoliating tree.

Nearby, an umbrella tree with its long, red, nectar-dripping spikes pointing ever upwards, attracts a harem of screeching red-collared rainbow lorikeets. These seemingly bad-tempered quarrelsome birds are never quiet or still for more than one second at a time; their constant noise and movement are designed to discourage other honey-eaters from participating in the excess of the sticky sweetness produced by the umbrella tree blossoms.

As the lorikeets' loud chattering attracts more of their ilk, increasing the noise ratio to a crescendo of raucous pandemonium, other honey-eaters creep silently around the edge of the lorikeet flock, until, on some unheard command, the birds depart with a single, concerted "whoosh", leaving blessed golden silence in their wake.

Next month: Doves – the good and the bad.

This month, Leonie Norrington will be giving gardening tips and advice for seniors at 10am on 15 June at Karama Library; morning tea is also provided. As the library is normally closed on Friday mornings, booking is essential; you can reserve your place at your local library.

If you're looking for ideas or inspiration for your garden, the Tropical Garden Spectacular is taking place on 2 and 3 June in the Botanic Gardens; for more information go to www.ntha.com.au.

The Transit of Venus across the Sun is one of the rarest cosmological events you'll ever see. In early June, Venus will pass between the Earth and the Sun for the last time for more than 105 years: the next transit will not happen until 2117. The last transit occurred in 2004 — the first time that the event could be seen using modern space telescopes. Scientists hope the 2012 transit will give them more clues about the atmosphere of Venus and planets in other solar systems. The timing of the movement was critical to astronomers during the 18th and 19th centuries, as it provided a way to measure the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This measurement, known as the astronomical unit, allowed them to work out the scale of our solar system and the distances of each of the planets circling the sun.

In our part of the world, the transit will be visible at dawn from sunrise on 6 June, but it should not be observed without appropriate eye protection.

For more information go to www.abc.net.au/science/articles.

Some of the territory's best local artists will be creating art for One Word One Day – an initiative of the Australian Society of Authors - to raise funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation to help disadvantaged children in remote parts of Australia. The event takes place from 10am to 2pm on 6 June in the Northern Territory Library, Parliament House, and is open to the public.

On 15 and 16 June, Michael Cormick is joining the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and the Darwin Chorale to present highlights from favourite musicals at two open air concerts – commencing at 6.30pm – at the CDU Soundshell. Seating is provided, and you can take a picnic (BYO drinks) as the gates open at 5.30pm. For further details and to book, go to www.dso.org.au.

Then, on 17 June, it's the DSO's Family Proms in the CDU Theatre with an interactive musical, What Happened to Humpty?, for children aged 0-6. More information from www.dso.org.au.

This month's free movie screening at the Waterfront on 2 June is Moulin Rouge. The screening will be preceded at 6.30pm by Cabaret Random, a performance presented by year 12 Creative Arts students from Casuarina Senior College. Take a chair or a blanket if you go along. More information from www.waterfront.nt.gov.au.

Part Seven: Seasonal Change: the Dry cometh

As the Dry season creeps in, known by the indigenous people as 'yegge, the cool weather time', both the parkland lake and the one in the nether regions of my yard slowly evaporate, leaving behind – in my case – the odd patch of tall, weedy clumps of grass, and exposing the rest as soggy, residual MUD!

In contrast, the park remained a well-watered, reticulated, lush, verdant, pasture-like meadow; regular mowing kept it in its manicured state, perfect for man, dog, ibis and other furry or feathered friends. A bit disheartening, but '....into the fray dear friends....'; at least I have a blank canvas to start my new animal-, insect- and bird-friendly garden, with hopes of emulating the verdancy just beyond my back fence.

As the leaves continue to fall from the 'green ant tree', the huge ant nests also come apart and fall with a flurry of white, gummy stickiness, bringing a plethora of ants which seem to treat the whole event as though it is some specially designed roller coaster ride. I sometimes feel that I am wading knee-deep in a tidal surge of green, stinging, biting, crawling ants when I venture out to water my newly-planted bananas.

I fervently wish that some ibis or pheasant coucal would come along into my easily accessible yard on an ant-pecking foray, but my own small, yapping, fluffy slipper dislikes large birds and gives chase on sight!

She is, however, more tolerant of the bar-shouldered and smaller peaceful doves which ground-peck for tasty insects. Bar-shouldered (or mangrove) doves appear in squadron numbers in the Dry, and share patrol duties and breadcrumb reconnaissance with the laconic ibis over the larger park area and into the back yards of dog- and cat-less residents.

Next month: Honey eaters – large and small.