Frosts and fungi families

It was a cool 0.5°C when I pulled the curtains back this morning and the deck was icy so I was very careful going down the slippery steps to read the rain gauge. The 2mm of water had to be shaken out rather than poured, the stars were twinkling brightly and I could feel the frost on the rhubarb leaves.

Leaving at 7.30am for work produced another surprise when a female kiwi started calling; she was just a few metres away and I stood still for 5 minutes hoping that she might walk past. A male kiwi answered her call but he was quite a distance away; I'd love to know what they are 'saying' - is it 'Hey Babe, I'm off to the burrow, are you coming?' or maybe 'Those two-legged people will be up soon, we'd better scarper!' I walked down to work with a big smile on my face - and taking careful steps on the icy tarseal.

I had a slow walk home in the sunshine on Monday and found more fungi families...

This wee chappie was on one of my rat traps - according to Landcare Research (link opens in new page) there are 21 species of stick insects in New Zealand out of maybe 3500 species worldwide. They are usually active after dark and taste good to rats and possums. Some species (eg Acanthoxyla) can reproduce without males - I must do more research as they are fascinating creatures.

I'll finish with this pic that made me smile - my nephew had it on his Facebook page...