12 September 2017
Now I can report sightings of more Kereru and feisty Tui birds around us again. We feel less sad. Spring is the highlight of the year for me! More and more yellow kowhai trees are blooming, and the kitchen window becomes a beautiful frame of the bush on the ridge opposite. You can sit on the outside deck and hear the Tuis as they feast and fatten. You can spot the white native clematis as they reach for the light atop the bush. They are sun seeking, so need to get up high to flourish. The pics of three of my clematis ‘babies’, planted on our driveway about 2-3 years ago, are now all fully in flower. The west end of our Te Aute Ridge are coming alive with both kowhai and clematis, and the song of Tuis birds can be thunderous as they compete, cavort and socialise for the sweetest nectar. At the end of the day, they can be seen flying high and purposefully as they return to their own territory, heading in the same direction.