David Neate
@neatedavid.bsky.social
Retired teacher, living on the land of the Wadawurrung people near Ballarat, Victoria. Working with my local Landcare Group to restore and protect our environment keeps me grounded. Caring for creation is an outworking of Christian faith.
On a Landcare Group walk through a wooded block in Ross Creek, nr Ballarat, yesterday, came across many of these little #orchids. Fellow walker with much better knowledge of such things provided the identification as Caladenia transitoria (green caps). A genus with so many species across Australia.
November 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
On a Landcare Group walk through a wooded block in Ross Creek, nr Ballarat, yesterday, came across many of these little #orchids. Fellow walker with much better knowledge of such things provided the identification as Caladenia transitoria (green caps). A genus with so many species across Australia.
Just searching the roadside veg outside our place for sun orchids (Thelymitra); found some in bud. The October wet spell may have sprung them out of torpor. Excited to discover this little Caladenia in flower nearby. So many locals garden the verge by blitzkrieg - this is what they miss out on.
November 6, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Just searching the roadside veg outside our place for sun orchids (Thelymitra); found some in bud. The October wet spell may have sprung them out of torpor. Excited to discover this little Caladenia in flower nearby. So many locals garden the verge by blitzkrieg - this is what they miss out on.
Gazanias are spreading from plantings, on roadsides outside #Ballarat. I put a reminder in our local community newsletter recently of how they destroy indigenous biodiversity. Ironically, at the same time locals mow the heck out of indigenous kangaroo grass, preventing it seeding.
November 4, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Gazanias are spreading from plantings, on roadsides outside #Ballarat. I put a reminder in our local community newsletter recently of how they destroy indigenous biodiversity. Ironically, at the same time locals mow the heck out of indigenous kangaroo grass, preventing it seeding.
Presume you know this one? Tony Rinaudo's "The Forest Underground". Definitely Australian and with a global impact.
November 1, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Presume you know this one? Tony Rinaudo's "The Forest Underground". Definitely Australian and with a global impact.
A great day to visit the #DiggersClub #GardenOfStErth at Blackwood, just an hour or so from Ballarat. The garden looking its finest after a wet October. One of the beauties was this #Davidia involucrata - one apt common name is "handkerchief tree". Part of the beautiful flora of China.
November 1, 2025 at 6:36 AM
A great day to visit the #DiggersClub #GardenOfStErth at Blackwood, just an hour or so from Ballarat. The garden looking its finest after a wet October. One of the beauties was this #Davidia involucrata - one apt common name is "handkerchief tree". Part of the beautiful flora of China.
I eventually accessed #BOM #Meteye via a link to "Meteye Victoria" from Google. Seems a roundabout way to get to it. Are the Bureau making it difficult to access, so that they can claim no-one uses it, & then can shut it down?
Given how windy it is here, it must be awful on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Given how windy it is here, it must be awful on the Bellarine Peninsula.
October 22, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Friends from NZ visited a few weeks ago, & Ian's camera caught what I couldn't - the spotted #pardalote building a nest in the end assembly of our retractable clothesline. Sharing this even though the #birds eventually chose somewhere else nearby to nest. Seen around since; into #AussieBirdCount.
October 21, 2025 at 6:29 AM
Friends from NZ visited a few weeks ago, & Ian's camera caught what I couldn't - the spotted #pardalote building a nest in the end assembly of our retractable clothesline. Sharing this even though the #birds eventually chose somewhere else nearby to nest. Seen around since; into #AussieBirdCount.
The "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia" says the thornbill's #nest is "domed, of bark shreds, grass, spiders' web and egg sacs; low in undergrowth". Yep, I suppose that matches. Certainly not your stereotypical bird nest. 🪶
October 19, 2025 at 8:09 AM
The "Field Guide to the Birds of Australia" says the thornbill's #nest is "domed, of bark shreds, grass, spiders' web and egg sacs; low in undergrowth". Yep, I suppose that matches. Certainly not your stereotypical bird nest. 🪶
Today I found what a brown thornbill nest looks like. Looked into the orchid & thought "oh, someone's nest has fallen in there". Picked it up & it started cheeping, & the parents rallied angrily. Put it back hurriedly & carefully! #Thornbills (Acanthiza pusilla) plentiful #birds here all year. 🪶
October 19, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Today I found what a brown thornbill nest looks like. Looked into the orchid & thought "oh, someone's nest has fallen in there". Picked it up & it started cheeping, & the parents rallied angrily. Put it back hurriedly & carefully! #Thornbills (Acanthiza pusilla) plentiful #birds here all year. 🪶
The #Azaleas beside the Prime Ministers Avenue at #Ballarat #botanical gardens are looking their best right now. Gough Whitlam looking sanguine amidst the colour.
October 11, 2025 at 12:22 AM
The #Azaleas beside the Prime Ministers Avenue at #Ballarat #botanical gardens are looking their best right now. Gough Whitlam looking sanguine amidst the colour.
A full two months after our jonquils heralded the close of winter, their cousins the hoop petticoat daffodils (Narcissus bulbocodium) are brightening a grey mid-spring day. So "my heart with pleasure fills", etc.
October 9, 2025 at 1:39 AM
A full two months after our jonquils heralded the close of winter, their cousins the hoop petticoat daffodils (Narcissus bulbocodium) are brightening a grey mid-spring day. So "my heart with pleasure fills", etc.
Now it's apple blossom time. Chiming away in the background is one of the crimson rosellas 🦜 that will be back in autumn to strip all the crab apples. Just have to enjoy the flowers, and the summer shade ahead.
October 9, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Now it's apple blossom time. Chiming away in the background is one of the crimson rosellas 🦜 that will be back in autumn to strip all the crab apples. Just have to enjoy the flowers, and the summer shade ahead.
Just finished my September buy: #TheImpossibleFortune by @richardosman1.bsky.social.
As ever, this #ThursdayMurderClub tale was superb. I loved Richard's wry insights into the human condition. From Ch. 46:
[Danny] "has what passes for pride in men who grew up with pride denied to them." #booksky
As ever, this #ThursdayMurderClub tale was superb. I loved Richard's wry insights into the human condition. From Ch. 46:
[Danny] "has what passes for pride in men who grew up with pride denied to them." #booksky
October 8, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Just finished my September buy: #TheImpossibleFortune by @richardosman1.bsky.social.
As ever, this #ThursdayMurderClub tale was superb. I loved Richard's wry insights into the human condition. From Ch. 46:
[Danny] "has what passes for pride in men who grew up with pride denied to them." #booksky
As ever, this #ThursdayMurderClub tale was superb. I loved Richard's wry insights into the human condition. From Ch. 46:
[Danny] "has what passes for pride in men who grew up with pride denied to them." #booksky
The gentle sunlight of a #spring day filters through wattle blossom and new leaves on the crab apple - soon to be in flower. My favourite spot for the Birdlife Australia #AussieBirdCount later this month. Trees are already full of chirping. #Ballarat
September 30, 2025 at 5:03 AM
The gentle sunlight of a #spring day filters through wattle blossom and new leaves on the crab apple - soon to be in flower. My favourite spot for the Birdlife Australia #AussieBirdCount later this month. Trees are already full of chirping. #Ballarat
Congratulations to a most worthy recipient. Tony Rinaudo's book #TheForestUnderground is a marvellous record of a man of faith, perception & determination, and of the tremendous good that's been done around the world as a result. @worldvision.bsky.social
September 26, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Congratulations to a most worthy recipient. Tony Rinaudo's book #TheForestUnderground is a marvellous record of a man of faith, perception & determination, and of the tremendous good that's been done around the world as a result. @worldvision.bsky.social
Eucalyptus grandis (flooded gum) photographed at the #anbg, May 2024. @eucalyptaus.bsky.social #eucbeaut in the rainforest gully.
September 23, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Eucalyptus grandis (flooded gum) photographed at the #anbg, May 2024. @eucalyptaus.bsky.social #eucbeaut in the rainforest gully.
It's one of those botanical quirks that Australia's most widespread & best known gum tree ( #Eucalyptus #camaldulensis, the river red gum) was named for the monastery of the Camaldoli (several centuries after this monk was painted).
September 22, 2025 at 9:01 AM
It's one of those botanical quirks that Australia's most widespread & best known gum tree ( #Eucalyptus #camaldulensis, the river red gum) was named for the monastery of the Camaldoli (several centuries after this monk was painted).
3. Good rains have meant Fourth Creek is putting on a good show over the Morialta Falls. And the signs of last year's drought on vegetation seem to be receding generally.
September 22, 2025 at 4:26 AM
3. Good rains have meant Fourth Creek is putting on a good show over the Morialta Falls. And the signs of last year's drought on vegetation seem to be receding generally.
2. Further up, beyond the soursob, I found chocolate lily and the nasal leaves of other orchids yet to flower. /3
September 22, 2025 at 4:21 AM
2. Further up, beyond the soursob, I found chocolate lily and the nasal leaves of other orchids yet to flower. /3
I was struck today by the beauty of our Satsuma plum tree. Not quite the exuberance of a Japanese cherry, but full of flower today. Our main supply of plum jam, sauce & chutney is this one generous tree. Coincidentally, this week we stewed the last of the plums stored in the freezer since February.
September 12, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I was struck today by the beauty of our Satsuma plum tree. Not quite the exuberance of a Japanese cherry, but full of flower today. Our main supply of plum jam, sauce & chutney is this one generous tree. Coincidentally, this week we stewed the last of the plums stored in the freezer since February.
Phebalium woombye (Pink form) is, I discovered today, native to the south coast of Queensland. It seems to have taken to life in a very different climate (extended drought and many frosts this year) and the cruddy soil on offer in Victoria's central highlands with aplomb.
September 12, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Phebalium woombye (Pink form) is, I discovered today, native to the south coast of Queensland. It seems to have taken to life in a very different climate (extended drought and many frosts this year) and the cruddy soil on offer in Victoria's central highlands with aplomb.
Why yellow is such a good colour for vehicles on a dull day ...
... #daffodils catching what there is of morning light on a misty spring day.
... #daffodils catching what there is of morning light on a misty spring day.
September 8, 2025 at 11:55 PM
Why yellow is such a good colour for vehicles on a dull day ...
... #daffodils catching what there is of morning light on a misty spring day.
... #daffodils catching what there is of morning light on a misty spring day.