Who are you?

No, this is not a philosophical blog post on the meaning of a life but a challenge to name an unidentified creature. Found at the start of Lady Carrington Drive in Royal National Park on an owl spotting expedition. We came across what looks like a small mouse when traipsing in the dark alongside the creek. The little creature was on a branch when we first spotted it. It played around on the branches whilst we took a bit of video footage and then nimbly ran down the tree and hopped off towards the river into the night. The poor quality image is captured from the video footage. The characteristics that we observed included:

• Body size between 5 - 10 cm
• White belly
• Grey fur on top
• Tail appeared shorter than overall body length, black near end
• Black eyes
• Pointy and pink nose
• Dominant ears with white fur on inside

Update February, 2012 - a response from Fiona Brell,  Australian Museum
Our creature is a young Brown Antechinus. Thanks, Fiona!

Dear Catherine,
Thank you for your enquiry. Your image shows a young Brown Antechinus, Antechinus stuartii. It is a native predatory marsupial mouse, a distant relative of the Tasmanian Devil. The fact that your animal had a short tail is probably due to an accident as the tail length is normally almost equal in length to the body.
More information about this species can be found at the following website:
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Brown-AntechinusPlease let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
Kind regards,
Fiona Brell
Interpretive Officer

The Christmas Day Koala

It was Christmas Eve, the presents were wrapped, the gingerbread decorated and Rosco was looking good. All was ready for the onslaught of relatives on Christmas Day. Purely as a precaution to allow more time for cooking on Christmas morning some presents where opened on Christmas Eve. One of these was a very exciting Led Lenser torch, the P7. So as the fairy lights of Sydney turned on and children everywhere where waiting with anticipation we set off to the local bush for a test run. What a torch, we found our usual Koala, then a fox a football field away and then a pair of juvenile owls.

Finally, as we where about to reenter suburbia a new Koala was spotted, close to the road and with easy access for everyone. Early Christmas morning Stephen and Rosco checked it was still there, then after lunch and before pudding a trip to view the Christmas Day Koala was made by assorted family members. Finally they got to see one of Campbeltown Koala’s. 

Weeds are everywhere

Scotch Thistle is a major weed in our area. The plant is propagated by seed and grows up to 2 metres high. Scotch Thistle is native to Europe and western Asia however it has naturalised in many other parts of the world including Australia. The spread is currently from Queensland / NSW boarder right around to Adelaide.

The colour and intricate pattern of the thistle is very appealing however the stings on your skin and spikes on your clothes are very unpleasant. This is one weed that is not going away.