the garden as habitat

Sometimes the camera picks up what the eye doesn't notice. In this case, the bee harvesting pollen from a lavender flower is rolling the pollen into a ball and holding it between its lower legs.

Dragonflies inhabit the garden but are hard to photograph because of their size and shimmer. This photo, a bit hard to see, shows two dragonflies mating. They were there for about a quarter of an hour. You can see the so-called 'mating wheel' formed when the male dragonfly grasps the female's neck with his hisanal appendages, raises his abdomen and invites the female to bend her abdomen to join her genital organ with his copulating organ. 

This dragonfly conveniently posed for me, when the light was right. You can tell it's a dragonfly not a damselfly because at rest the wings are held apart, not together. Dragonflies are described as aquatic insects. I'm not sure how they manage in my garden without a pond, but they do.

Summer's here, and Magpies and other birds depend on the birdbath for their daily drink and wash. I have to remember to change the water every day and scrub it out so it's clean.

I spend quite a bit of time trying to photograph spider webs. It's difficult, so much depends on the light. Rain presented an opportunity, glistening drops highlighting the pattern. This huge web in the front garden was spun by a teeny tiny unidentified spider. The web is so strong, it sways in the strong wind but doesn't break. The tensile strength of a spider web is comparable to steel.

This magnificent small spider is a Garden Orb-weaving spider, aka Eriophora biapicata. I observed it in the back garden above a wallflower bush, aka Cheiranthus cheiri. The web is usually constructed in the evenings, designed to catch its prey of mostly flying insects. The lifespan of this spider is usually about a year. The eggs are laid by the female in late summer to autumn. They are encased in a sticky cocoon that sticks to foliage. I have noticed these eggs in the garden, and try not to disturb them.

While taking the photo of the spider, I noticed a dragonfly hanging off a branch of the C. cheiri bush. It is clearly a useful plant for providing habitat for insects and spiders. And it isn't even a native of Australia! It's European, but has made itself at home here, and survives hot dry summers with no extra water.

So, although I am still trying to use plants endemic to this area, I won't exclude plants like this Wallflower that grows well and provides habitat for wildlife.