Frances Jill Studd: December 2019

Saturday 21 December 2019

This photo is a composite from several very old photographs, taken

almost one hundred years ago, of our trees and bush canopy. The rest are

some that I have taken more recently. May these amazing trees never

burn as Australian trees, native creatures and people's habitat are

burning at present.

Our beautiful Christmas tree, the pohutukawa

On Ulva Island

At Bushy Park

This paradise duck and her seven ducklings were all swimming in the sea

and digging into the seaweed. We saw them on Stewart Island just

a month ago.

Australia burning.

All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2019

Tuesday 3 December 2019

Last month we visited Stewart Island the third island of New Zealand.

We were lucky as it was a quiet couple of days before the

tourists returned after Labour Weekend. We went to

Ulva Island and this is the bay which we left from. The most

amazing amount of seaweed grew around the rocks and you

can see some in the foreground.

Here is a tui feasting on our native fuschia tree, this is unlike

the garden varieties as it grows into a small distinctive tree.

The tui is a honey eater.

This is the bush on Ulva Island, this island is alive with birds, many of

which can no longer be see on our mainland except in special reserves.

We had barely got off the boat than we saw yellow crowned parakeets

and the lovely kakariki nesting in a hole in a tree.

This is a sketch of the micro flora which grows beneath this canopy,

our amazing guide - also called Ulva, spent some time

naming the tiny mosses, liverworts, orchids and ferns

which were growing in the leaf litter.