Fiery end

This dragonfly came to an untimely end on the front sun room floor, and was being dismantled by a small army of ants.

I think he's a Fiery Skimmer (Orthetrum villosovittatum), and he's a young male. Funny thing is, the older males seemingly have bright red tails, and are very distinctive. I don't recall ever seeing any of them around with bright red tails. Maybe the ants always get them before they grow up!

Glass half full (quarry half empty)

I did an inspection of the Hornsby quarry yesterday. You're not exactly encouraged to go inspecting, but I have my methods.

The quarry was an embarrassment for the Council for many years, having been obliged to expensively buy it when it closed, but without the funds or plan for doing anything with it.

Then along came the NorthConnex road tunnel project, and a plot was hatched to use the spoil from the tunnels to fill the quarry, and then to create 'the Centennial Park of the North' within the filled-in quarry.

It was understood that there wouldn't be enough fill to completely fill the hole, but at first glance I thought they hadn't put much in at all. It was still a very deep hole. There again, when I dug out a picture of the thing as it was a year or two back (second photo, courtesy Hornsby Shire Council), it was clear that much had indeed been achieved.

Here's a link to the Council's video about the project, with time-lapse footage and all:  Final Truckload video

I look forward to watching the creation of  'the centrepiece of the Shire's recreational facilities for generations to come'.

A load of old Cobbler's (Pegs)

Today it's a plant of the day. And it's: ........  Cobbler's Pegs. Known within my local Bushcare group by its scientific name of Bidens pilosa.

And what a horrible weed it is! Not the slightest bit attractive, incredibly invasive of our bushland areas, and its little black needle-like seeds get all over you and your clothes.

It's a native of the Americas, and it shouldn't be here. But it turns out there is a good side to Bidens. It's used in many parts of the world for its herbal medicinal properties, and it's said to be a natural antibiotic, effective on MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It's also edible, with the Vietnamese military in particular having consumed it when all else was unavailable during the Vietnam War. They called it the 'soldier vegetable'.

Why am I so energised by this ugly weed? It's because I spent all morning wrestling with it. It was my first session with my local Bushcare group, and Bidens was mostly what we were pulling out. We spent three hours on it, and dealt with only a couple of hundred square metres maybe. I felt good afterwards. Not sure if it was the exercise or the medicinal effect.

Insect of the day

This one is an Australian pug moth (Cloroclystis filata), I think. It's harder than expected to identify moths via internet image searches. Or maybe it's just this one.

Antlion

When we leave the porch light on at night, a collection of familiar and not-so-familiar insects usually turns up to welcome us back. I read that there's been a dramatic drop in the number of insects all around the world. Dramatic and very worrying. But there's still a few in our porch.

Here's one from last night. I was a bit stumped at first, but it's an antlion lacewing, no less (Glenoleon falsus). Its larvae are predators with long jaws and pincers. They live in the ground and build sandtraps into which other insects fall and get eaten.

I used to play a computer game called SimAnt.My ants were always being eaten by antlions.

Proud Indians

'Pride of India' is the name for several flowering plants, I read. For us it's the crepe-myrtle (Lagerstroemia speciosa). It's a good year for the crepe myrtle trees of Sydney. There's a particularly good crop of the pink and purple late summer blooms around the streets.

And our own Prides of India in the front garden have finally come good after a slow start several years ago.

Dover Heights: city views and radio astronomy!

I've usually seen Dover Heights as I've pounded along Military Road, towards the end of my City to Surf masochist sessions.

If you go there during your leisure time it all looks quite different. There are great views out over the ocean, lots of parks and reserves, and there's even a rather interesting radio astronomy exhibit.


It's in the Rodney Reserve, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and it tells us about pioneering radio telescopes that were here in the 1940s and 50s. Australia went on to be a world leader in radio astronomy.

And over at nearby Dudley Page Reserve, the view to the west is pretty special.

North Head & South Head

North Head (and Manly to its left), viewed from South Head.

Blue Triangle

Otherwise known as a Common Bluebottle, or Graphium sarpedon. Spotted on the coastal track near Diamond Bay.

Beaches

Slightly cooler weather today, and no rain, so I was out and about, pounding the footpaths of the eastern suburbs. My mission was to survey my coming annual 42.2km marathon walk, and the route took me past many of Sydney's most popular beaches - all doing a roaring trade. Here's Bondi Beach.












And Tamarama

 The next one is Bronte

Then there's the amazing concrete part of Clovelly Beach

I ended up at Coogee today. I still need to find another five or six kilometres for my big walk, and that will entail another beach or three.

猪年 - Zhū Nián - (Year of the Pig)

This post is in red because there's an awful lot of red around at this time of year, especially in suburbs blessed with a large Chinese presence.

It's about to be Chinese (Lunar) New Year again, and this year will be the Year of the Pig. Not just any pig, but the golden pig, the one that comes only once every 60 years. Babies born this year will grow up to be extremely prosperous.

I went along to Chatswood to get a feel for it all.

There were lots of pigs around, red ones and gold ones, and there was an excellent little concert going on, with music and displays of traditional dancing.

Every shop in the Westfield Shopping Centre was taking part in a well-coordinated New Year's discount campaign. I noticed this shoe shop was offering 88% off any shoe purchase. I think that may be something to do with it's bad luck to buy shoes during this period (but if you do, 8 is always lucky, and 88 more so).

You also need to wear red undies (I bought mine today), and you mustn't wear black or white (the colours of death). It's a difficult time if you're superstitious. Here's a guide, courtesy the Sydney Morning Herald: SMH Chinese NY guide
 

We're invited to a New Year's party next weekend, so we're researching all this carefully. The shopping centre had lots of helpful tips in this informative zodiac-specific display. After all these years on the planet, I learnt what my lucky colours are: blue, grey, and orange. I went off and bought myself an orange shirt straight away.