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closeup view of praying mantis on a timber handrail

A common visitor

I love details, hence macro photography is always a cool thing for me.

Here’s a picture of one of our common visitors, a praying mantis. While common, I still find them fascinating little critters.

We have some native ones too, but sadly they are far less common.

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A photomontage of 4 different wasp traps made from coke bottle hung up

Wasp and Hornet traps

We typically put a waap trap up around the house in summer to keep the number of wasps at bay. This year, they discovered a queen yellow legged hornet in the early stages of building a nest in Glenfield on the North Shore in October, while two males were spotted earlier in the year in Grafton and Albany. It is the first time a Queen has been found in Aotearoa.
Closeup of some flowers

Spring has arrived – with its usual mixed bag weather.

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.” Spring came with beautiful warm and sunny days, storm, hail, rain and sunshine in between. It was cold and a few hours later warm again and vice versa.
Cows steaming in the cold air against the sunlight

Winter done and dusted

There was nothing extraordinary to write about this winter, really. It’s not been too wet and not too dry, neither too cold or too warm. We had a few frosty nights and a few pretty rainy days but all in all it was reasonably warm and okay from a mud perspective.

And just like that it’s winter again

Feels like summer was just happening. Winter started off beautifully with warm days and sunshine over the long King’s birthday weekend.
sunrays through pinetrees with a glimpse of blue sky through the trees

Springtime is here

The weather is getting warmer, and the days are stretching out longer, giving us more daylight to enjoy. The rain is slowly becoming less frequent, making way for sunnier skies.
Naughty Joey

Video Post: Joey

He looks like a deer from the distance, he’s fluffy and friendly, but he’s a naughty escape artist who typically is to be found on the wrong side of the fence.