A change of focus

You must be wondering what I have been doing since I did not post as soon as I had intended to and the time has just whizzed by which happens in summer when a lot is happening.
For a little while, it seemed that the main area of my garden which I had christened the Mantid Microcosm had become far less active and there was not a great deal to report.
I had already mentioned in my last post how the number of saltie's (jumping spiders) had reduced drastically and then it seemed that the mantids began to disappear also. I was suspicious of the wasps or maybe the carnivorous birds like the Wattlebirds that hunt in my garden but whatever the reason, the Hydrangea bushes which had been teaming with spider other invertebrate life was rather sedate and even the plant hoppers slowly diminished since my last post.
The one species that has remained is the fungus eating Ladybird beetles. In fact, over the last month their numbers have increased since clearly the fungus on the Hydrangea leaves is encouraged by the hot weather and then the watering we have to give the garden for it to survive provide just the right amount of humidity for it. So I have now managed to photograph the larva, pupa, and adult but I still have not found any eggs! I looked again today and got quite a sweat up standing out in the sun searching on and under leaves. Every other stage is there but where do they hide their eggs?

Sequence showing ladybird beetle stages of development:  larva, pupa and and adult with a pupa next to it.

I am happy to say that despite the reduction in numbers of invertebrates in the main area of the garden; the MM (Mantid Microcosm) I have found praying mantids dotted around the garden and various other interesting creatures including a beautiful moth which only flies and feeds just before dusk. It was on the Buddliea bushes in my backyard which for some time had a mass of lavendar coloured flowers all over them. I think I had seen this moth before but it flies really fast and is a dark, mainly black colour so I had decided it was an Australian(Yellow) Admiral in a hurry which they often are and can look quite dark especially from a distance. 

However, the beauty I discovered was a Grapevine Moth - Phalaenoides glycinae,  and it is just as beautiful as many butterflies!

Grapevine Moth  on Buddleia davidii flower.

Here is a link to some information about the Grapevine Moth 

Another interesting moth that may have been disturbed and flew
 into me one day.

So, in order to make this more interesting I have decided to post about what is happening in my garden as a whole since the small area I concentrated on has either lost or dispersed its population. 

The other thing that kept me busy for a while was the new pond I decided to put in next to my other pond. We have a lot of Pobblebonk (Eastern Banjo Frogs) - Limnodynastes dumerilii calling in our pond and, although we also have a pond down at the back of the yard, it is under the overhang of a huge Sugar Maple tree next door and has never really attracted the frogs much since it fills with leaf litter.It has now has become more like a bog as the plants in it have spread and multiplied until they almost fill it. I did take them out and divide them once but it is a huge job and so now I decided to leave it as a bog garden rather than tackle it since it never really worked as a pond.

Lucky for me, my son pulled out his pre-moulded pond to make a larger one with a pond liner and gave me his old one. Then, lucky again; he suggested that he and his brother both come over and we have a working bee to put it in so we did!

This is how we put in our new pond. The old pond is hiding behind all the reedy plants in the background.

The boys dug out the very tough, vigorous Buffalo grass lawn to the shape of the new extended pond garden and then dug a hole for the pond, all the while checking with me where I want things. It was great; we bought some new plants to place around the garden and then a few days later I got stepping stones to make a path through between the two ponds. 

The plants I bought to put between the stones should have been spread out more as you can see in the picture below. They are lawn substitute plants and one of them, Penny Royal - Mentha Pulegium, is meant to deter fleas so good for the dog and fragrant when stepped on. It is the one that has grown over the pavers at the lower half and I will need to lift them over it or cut it. 

New pond garden now it has grown a bit, getting a sprinkle of water.

The good news about this extended pond garden is that I saw a couple of frogs testing out the new area only the next night. One hopped past me across the path and the other was in the pond giving the water a trial swim around. I suspect it will be a while before they breed in there since it does not have adequate shelter for them  but I do believe they will eventually!

Here he is "hiding" under a leaf.

He did a rapid swim around the pond and ended up back
staring at me!