The Botany Bay Cockroach
While I’m pretty much into all insects, I have to admit that cockroaches are my kryptonite. But this one was seriously beautiful.
One of my absolute favourite things in the world is doing a ‘head down, bum up’ walk. For the uninitiated, that’s one of those wanders, either a long walk in a National Park, or just a potter around your garden or your local park, where you slow right down and really focus in on the little things. Those small worlds, the little colonies of ants greeting each other, antenna to antenna as they cross paths, or a tiny, laced-wing insect spotted briefly as you turn over a leaf, a blue-banded bee that buzzes up to your face, as curious about you as you are about it, and a mumma wolf spider, her body shimmering with newly hatched babies that she carries with her on her back – these small worlds ground me. It really amazes me that all of these countless lives, these tiny societies are constantly unfolding around my feet while I struggle to remember to pay my phone bill!
The best thing about these focused walks is that you never know what you’re going to find. A couple of weeks ago, I spotted an animal trail off the main path and into the bush at Darkes Forest. The flattened grass was obviously used as a bit of highway for the local wildlife and looking at the space carved out between the shrubbery, I’d hazard a guess that wombats and swamp wallabies were likely the regular commuters down this road. Now, I’m not the type of person who can just look at one of these pathways and not at least venture partly down it and so I took two steps in and was just floored by the incredible landscape within.
And then I spotted some movement amongst the leaf litter. A small grasshopper jumped out of my way and up onto a nearby stem. If it wasn’t for this flash of movement, I would never have spotted a very large, armour-plated native cockroach! This beauty was around 6 or 7 centimetres in length. That’s a serious sized cockroach and, while I’m pretty much into all insects, I have to admit that cockroaches are my kryptonite. There’s just something about that icky scurry when you turn on the light at exactly the wrong time in the middle of the night. But this one was seriously beautiful.
I’d never seen a Botany Bay cockroach before, so was really excited to find this one foraging around for decaying leaf matter, but I’ve since learnt they also love to feast on pollen, which makes them important pollinators as well. Can’t leave all the heavy lifting to the bees! These cockroaches are diurnal, so you’ll spot them during the day when you might even find them sunning themselves on a branch, which is pretty adorable, if you ask me. There, I said it, some cockroaches are adorable!
I’d love to know what discoveries you make on your next ‘head down, bum up’ walk.
Nature Notes, 22 April 2022
Love is in the air for region’s P’Owls
The Powerful Owl breeding season is upon us, so you may hear single birds calling for a mate. Others who have paired previously, will call to reestablish their bonds ready for nesting.
Listen out for a low, drawn out, almost mournful ‘hoo hoo’ after dusk and be on the look out for other signs that these incredible birds are around. You might find feathers or ‘white wash’ (big splotches of white poo) on the ground under a roosting site. A big ruckus of other birds focused in on one tree is another great giveaway that there may be a bird of prey nearby.
Hello, Halo moon
Did anyone spot the huge halo around the moon on Good Friday? In one of those right place, right time moments, I stuck my head outside before ferreting myself away for the night and was greeted with a beautiful full moon sporting this gorgeous halo.
The halos are caused by millions of tiny ice crystals forming in cirrus clouds.
Trash and Treasure
Lots of fascinating finds, and ridiculous amounts of rubbish, still being washed up after the recent mammoth seas.
This Spiny Pipehorse, was indeed very spiny (ouch!) These totally fascinating fish have a prehensile tail which they use to hold onto seaweed. And as with Seahorses, the male carries the eggs until they hatch.
