Backyard Zoology · 9 December 2019
2019-12-09T16:57:59+11:00
https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/posts/pfbid0dmKaTZLxa2ksiMcyiboZGYhU6bxcEi3KYePTL7q837ZpoJkWPZ8ueMPof8q4vjjXl

We spent our weekend knee deep in dirt and mulch and various sticks and twigs and leaves and vines. It was better than it sounds though! We are pretty slack when it comes to our yard. It's not that we don't give a damn, but that it's just become so overwhelming and literally a dust bucket and when you could either a/ stay home and do yard work or b/ take photos, we're always going to choose the latter. But after having the old faithful gum checked and pruned by an arborist, along with various other trees that we've let kind of merge into a canopy because possums and birds and sugar gliders, we ended up with a butt load of mulch and the rest as they say is history (or almost history, with half a pile still left to spread around).

Have to admit, while the work was super hard, the results so far have been so worth it and my husband had loads of time whilst shovelling and pushing the wheelbarrow around to come up with plenty of 'great' jokes, that perhaps weren't quite as great as he might have thought. But we laughed our heads off and then he came inside and laid on the dog bed. Still not sure why but a hard days work will do that to you apparently!

This stunning critter turned up as we were moving the green waste bin from around the front and we both stood there and stared at him and kind of oooooed and ahhhhhed because he was so pretty in his big eyed way and then I realised that he wasn't moving far, even when I leaned right in to get a good old look at him and took off frantically running around to the back door, screaming inside and grabbing the camera and even then I was very surprised to see him still sitting there by the time I made it back around. Turns out, shouldn't have rushed at all as this Damselfly was just as curious about us as we were about it. Occasionally it would fly off but would perch again nearby, pretty much always facing us head on with those massive unblinking eyes. 

I had to do quite a few searches online to try and identify this lovely and was a little thrown to start with. Its eyes are fairly wide apart which is a good way to tell the difference from a Dragonfly, whose large eyes are usually very close together,  but it also kept its wings open and spread out during rest whereas most Damselflies will rest with their wings closed so it was a little bit of a head scratcher. But Dragonflies tend to be a bit chunkier looking (hey, no judgement here), and this one was delicate and pretty and completely tolerant as I got up in its face to try and capture just how pretty it was. So I present to you, the Common Flatwing Damselfly (I think 😂😉) 

Common Flatwing Damselfly
Northern Illawarra