Wallaman in winter

Winter seems to be my time for visiting Wallaman Falls, and my latest visit aligned exactly with the Winter Solstice – completely by chance, unless the world is more mysterious than we usually like to think it is. I introduced the falls and their surrounds quite fully in this post (May 2015). Nothing important has … Continue reading “Wallaman in winter”

Wallaman Falls after rain

My third visit to Wallaman Falls was a day trip with Wildlife Queensland. A full report will appear on their blog in due course but I thought I might quickly share this photo and mention my previous posts – from almost exactly one year ago and two years ago, as it happens. (This is a good time … Continue reading “Wallaman Falls after rain”

Wallaman wildlife 3: Golden orb weavers

I find myself with three quite different kinds of things to say about golden orb weavers, all inspired by seeing this impressive spider at Wallaman Falls a couple of weeks ago but otherwise unrelated. I will begin with the basic science. Three species of golden orb weavers Three species of large Australian spiders are commonly … Continue reading “Wallaman wildlife 3: Golden orb weavers”

Wallaman wildlife 2: various insects and spiders

Rather than try to upload all my other photos of the small wildlife of Wallaman Falls to this blog, I have added them to last year’s album on flickr – this link will take you a collection of some thirty photos, almost equally split between this year’s visit and last year’s. There are beetles, ants, katydids (I … Continue reading “Wallaman wildlife 2: various insects and spiders”

Wallaman wildlife 1: ant-mimicking spider

Jumping spiders are undeniably cute, even to people who ‘don’t like spiders’. They display a fearless, active curiosity about the world around them out of all proportion to their diminutive stature, and they have those big eyes which somehow prompt a gush of affection even across the huge gulf between two-metre anthropod (1) and five-millimetre arthropod. … Continue reading “Wallaman wildlife 1: ant-mimicking spider”