SHAGS, DARTERS OR CORMORANTS ?

I got somewhat side-tracked the other day. Things have been hectic hereabouts, but I shant bore you with explanations.

Now, our friend over in Norfolk often posts pictures of what he calls cormorants and what I call shags. And now, just to make things even more mystifying, here, they’re called darters. This is a driftwood sculpture by Pete Rush and apparently, he made this especially for the darters, as a place for them to perch while drying their wings. (found on facebook) The birds seem appreciative.

This was posted from a Facebook page and, if the sculptor ,Pete Rush and photographer, Tim Freer object to my re-posting, here it is. I’ll take it down

We’ve had more good rain, coupled with (oh, joy!) lower temps. Gardeners are happy and all sorts of plants are putting on a late show.

The Gloriosa, so late to flower this year, has romped away after good rain. No, the Weed Police don’t like it, but we wont tell ’em, will we?

Another gem, struggling, but coming back is one I call by its Maori name, manuka. It’s a Leptospermum scoparium and probably has a varietal name, though I’ve no idea what it might be. Very pale pink and fading to white on hot days; you can just see the faint blush in the bud. As kids, we used to make huts of these tough little plants and quite a few people used cut branches as screening material around seedlings.

The Dioscorea along the front deck also goes bonkers after rain and this late in the season I don’t really care. I’ll be

cutting it back, before it starts to dry-off. Once the sap’s stopped it’s like trying to cut wire.

I’m fed up with this editing nonsense. I think, if you want a bigger picture, you’ll just have to do your own thing! But here’s a slightly bigger manuka flower!

Pigeon orchid, Dendrobium crumenatum

.Lichen on a tree fern.