@flashes.blue 1: an echidna. 2: an echidna was here: the Australian egg-laying mammal that is a far greater delight than the platypus. They feed mainly on ants, poking their snout into the ground. As they withdraw the snout, it trails across the sand. The scaling coin is 32 mm, from side to side.

This was the result of being an anarchist/surrealist bureaucrat, trained in the art of stippling in biological illustration. The morons in meetings would watch my doodle develop, rather than make inane comments. I added the labels later...

“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

Grandson Will and me, in two of my shirts. He knows more about penguins than I know about echidnas,

To celebrate the nature of North Head, nice people can now get a t-shirt of this, at cost. With postage, close to $40, I imagine. In person, $30.

Animal signs on North Head today: bluetongue lizard, bullant (~25mm long), snout drag of an echidna dig, a masked lapwing chick that I have known since it was an egg.

Plants on North Head today: a persevering flannel flower on the track, a bloodroot (Haemororum), Dianella fruits and grass flowers: most people don't realise that grasses have flowers as well

Why not know more earth science than the Trumpty numpties? It won’t be hard, just read my book.
I am looking for test readers who will tackle a 4 meg lo-res PDF with lots of pictures (even one of Humpty Dumpty, illustrating metastable). Please PM me or email me at [email protected].

This is Liesegang weathering on the shores of Deerubbin ( the Hawkesbury to gubbahs). Iron salts in the sandstone are reduced to soluble iron-2+ (ferrous to people my age), they diffuse out, and oxidise to iron-3 (ferric to the toothless).

This is a beard orchid from North Head, Sydney, Australia. That area of sterile quartz sand has some 500 flowering plants in 250 hectares or a square mile.

One for the hearing impaired.