Susannah and James's Engagement/21st Birthday party was wonderful. James has posted some of his photos on his facebook page.
Anyways, I was feeling somewhat lazy so I just took a little walk around the place this afternoon.
Here is another picture of the swamphen that I saw the other day (or possibly a friend)
After much searching I was able to identify this little fellow as a "noisy miner" aka "garrulous honey-eater." I used to lump a whole bunch of birds into the generic category of honey-eater, thinking they are all the same, but there are lots of different species. This guy wasn't at all noisy, but he was eying off a much bigger magpie sitting on top of the fence and thinking that he didn't like the other bird being there at all.
Finally, a very resistant paper wasps nest at the back of our shed. For non-Narrabrians we have here two common types of wasps (there are probably hundreds of types but most people recognise two). Mud wasps look fearsome. They are quite large and hover around the place largely un-bothered by people. They build their nests out of "mud". Generally they leave you alone. Then there are the evil cousins who build nests from a paper-like substance. These insects are smaller but far more aggressive and if you venture too close to a nest, they will sting quite ferociously- I think there must be some variability in people's reaction to the stings as some people say they are excruciating whereas I've never thought they are that bad.
Normally one spray of surface spray kills a nest fairly quickly. This one's been done about three times and there are still wasps buzzing around. Looks like I'll have to try something stronger.
Congratulations on Susannah and James's Engagement/21st Birthday! I think we have the same wasps as you show. They are between my window and screen and I've sprayed them several times without success. A friend suggested knocking out the nest, then wiping down the area with gasoline, otherwise they will come back.
ReplyDeleteThe "recommended" method here is to use some sort of big flame (for example set fire to a stream of aerosol or use a rolled up piece of paper) and set fire to the nest first, then knock it down. If you try to knock the nest down first it will stir up the inhabitants. Apparently the insects are terrified of fire and will flee.I'm reluctant to use flame on this one though because it might shatter the fluoro tubes and send glass everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWell..... don't try both methods at the same time. I know bees become very drowsy with smoke, maybe the smoke would be enough.
ReplyDeleteI'd better do something soon I suppose! One of those jobs that seems to get forgotten most days- out of sight, out of mind.
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