Some special visitors have graced us with their presence lately.
Never to be one to pass up on a photo opportunity, I grabbed my camera and quietly took some photos, being careful not to disturb them from their business.
These bees have a hive across the road in the petrol tank of an old car.
They have been frequenting my bird bath for quite some time now.
A goanna also came to visit.
On this day it was hot and he or she was looking for water.
I have since found a suitable bowl to add water to just for the critters at ground level.
And then there are the sleepy lizards. These are everywhere around here.
They seem to like our little piece of land as their home too.
This one was poking around near the compost bins, probably after having a belly full of apricots blown from the tree.
I love these types of visitors, they are welcome anytime.
How about you?
Honey bees are kind of scarce around here as there are lots of factors working against them. Plenty of wasps and hornets though. We have small blue tailed lizards that will lose the blue tip of the tail if attacked by a cat, the tail keeps wiggling and allows the lizard to slip off.
ReplyDeleteI presume you are referring to pesticides Sunnybook? They are a real problem for bees. We must stop using them!
DeleteThere are wasps making a nest underneath our carport. Not sure I really want them there though as I walk past regularly.
We have a similar lizard to the one you described and we call them droptails for obvious reasons lol :)
It's good you have bees nearby; Sunnybrook Farm is correct. Have you considered keeping bees? You may lose the ones across the road if they swarm someday.
ReplyDeleteIt is good to have bees yes! And yes we have thought about getting a hive. We have friends with bees and we buy honey off them, so probably no need to get them in a hurry. We definitely have looked into it though. It is a tad expensive to set up :)
DeleteI think the bees across the road have moved on as I haven't seen them for a while. Someone did say to put a hive next to where they are and hopefully they would move in to it, but we didn't get to do it...
I miss the Australian wildlife... but since our move from California to Georgia, I'm enjoying discovering all kinds of new critters! I put out a "bee bowl" last summer, to keep the bees out of the dogs bowl, and they loved it!
ReplyDeleteWell hello there Kate, it is so good to hear from you again.
DeleteI don't think the birds were too impressed with the bees hanging around the birdbath all the time. That is a good idea having another bowl just for the bees. Glad to hear you have bees in your area, that is a good thing :)
Much love,
Tania xx
I enjoy watching the bees lined up and having a drink of water. We have lots of bees - honey, small native, blue banded, teddy bear, and carpenter. It is good to have the bees and lizards as co-workers isn't it?
ReplyDeleteLuckily we have a variety of bees too. I am not sure what ones these are, but I love the blue banded and teddy bear bees, so cute.
DeleteYes I love nature, even the bad ones like snakes and spiders have their place in this world, just like we do. I do respect the dangerous ones :)
I have seen a few blue tongues on our block - one scared me in my garden back before Christmas. I hear they keep snakes away so I left him to it!
ReplyDeleteI hate to tell you this Joolz, but I think that is a myth. We have both sleepy lizards and snakes here :)
DeleteYes, I love these kinds of visitors and residents in my garden. On any given day, there's many bees, skinks, birds, blue-tongue lizard, wasps, ladybugs and the odd snake too. To have so many little creatures means, to me, that the garden is a healthy place for them to be. Meg:)
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear that Meg.
DeleteWe have planted a lot of native plants hoping to attract more wildlife. The trees and shrubs are starting to get to a nice size and I have noticed an increase in all sorts of new residents. These include blue wrens and finches.
Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you Angela xx
DeleteWe have blue tongue lizards here Tania and they frighten the life out of me as I think they are snakes suddenly moving into the long grass. My husband used to keep bees and still has old bee hives hanging around. We can get honey here at a good price so he doesn't keep bees anymore.
ReplyDeleteYes they frighten me quite often too! I tell them off for scaring the life out of me!
DeleteWe get honey from our friends who keep bees, so no need for us to worry about getting bees either :)
xTania
Hi Tania Your lizards are rather amazing. We have lots of bees here as we have hives not too far away. They are great for the fruit trees. My young cat bought a skink inside yesterday but I was able to rescue to & return it to the garden. Much to her disgust !!!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you saved the skink. Cats are well known for doing that to lizards and things. They usually are so proud of their efforts and bring their catch to show you :)
DeletexTania
Beautiful photos of your visitors Tania. Am so glad to see you providing water for the lizards as well as the bees. :)
ReplyDeleteSally, until that day I didn't think about water for lizards. I have placed a few lower bowls around our yard now so they can find water easily now.
DeletexTania
When we moved here three years ago we hardly saw a bee. We now get quite a few visiting. We also have native bees visiting. It's wonderful to see these wonderful little creatures. The skinks and lizards are all over the place.
ReplyDeleteOur honey comes from a friend with hives. My favourite honey is from his hives in a macadamia paddock. Yummy.
I bet that honey is delicious Jane! Macadamia honey...mmmm yum!
DeletexTania
Again, Tania, I am enjoying all your summer photography. I'm sure the bees are terrific for pollinating your fruits and vegetables. Do these sorts of lizards eat insects as well as fruit?
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Mrs.B
Hello Mrs. B.
ReplyDeleteYes the lizards do eat insects but I have also seen the sleepy lizards eating plants/weeds, chicken scraps, and bran as well.
xTania
Hi Tania, we are visited by a lot of wildlife quite frequently too and we aren't quite as rural as you are.
ReplyDeleteJust recently it was a blue tongue lizard..amazing colour blue tongue it has too !!
Hello Jo,
ReplyDeleteI just popped by your blog and saw your visiting blue tongue. Great job capturing photos of that giant blue tongue of his!
xTania
Lovely photos, Tania!
ReplyDeleteThank you Robyn.
DeletexTania
I so want a lizard and would love to have them in my garden. I grew up having geckos visit each night and eat the bugs while they did their little almost chirp like sounds. My grandmother even had one that she named George. He would climb up on the screen each night chirping away until Grandma said "goodnight George" and he would stop chirping for the rest of the night. :)
ReplyDeleteSpinach is an excellent vegetable to give your lizard, since it contains an enzyme that binds calcium. But if you want to keep it as healthy as possible, be sure to give it vegetables in smaller portions. Click here to get more information about safe food for baby lizard.
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