Honeycomb covered with bees

Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
16.01.2012

Gulshan is an extremely crowded area of Dhaka full of shops and swarming with people doing all kinds of things. What I wasn't expecting was the sight of a honeycomb covered with bees on the pavement!

Beautifully laid out honeycomb covered with bees

Communication was very difficult but they made it clear that if I wanted to take a picture I would have to pay the mighty sum of 100 taka [around 80 p]. About what a street vendor might make in an afternoon. Of course, I went ahead and they let me take as many pictures as I wanted. Bangladeshi men love being photographed and these honey vendors were no exception!

The guy on the left is showing off

If you look closely he has quite a few bees on his hands. The non-lungi wearers were part of the crowd that I managed to gather in no time at all. Rather embarrassing but it wasn't going to stop me.
The container on the right had honey, some strange lumps and drowned bees, see below.

Contents of the other container

While I was there they did sell some of this liquid stuff in glasses to be drunk on the spot. And one of the vendors was quite willing to demonstrate.

Dripping honey

They did offer me some, perhaps I should have tried it!

Water monitor lizards

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Singapore

12.01.2012

As soon as we arrived we were shown a monitor lizard Varanus salvator sunbathing on a raft in a pond - great excitement. Soon after that we realised that they were literally all over the place, but they never failed to impress us as they are a rather large animal. They can reach 2 meters!

Large monitor lizard blocking the path

Or they were swimming in the lake while we had our lunch.

Water monitor swimming with the legs close to the body

It really didn't seem to move the legs at all, all the work was done by the tail perhaps.

Their tongues are forked and perhaps they use them to smell like the snakes do.

Tiny water monitor with its tongue fully extended

The males fight and we did see one fight; it took place in the water. Great splashes.
Also, we saw a male with a scar.

Large male with a gash in the middle of its back

Was it the result of a fight? The curious thing though is that unlike crocodiles their teeth didn't show up. Indeed they are rather a harmless reptile. However, they are carnivores; their prey is fish, birds, lizards, carrion, etc.

Water monitor with the month open. Note the nostrils are close to the end of the nose.

I have searched in the Internet for their teeth. No Luck.  If you know anything about it, do let me know.

Later, in the Sundarbans NP, we saw a water monitor by the edge of a mangrove. The same species but its skin was rather folded indicating old age.

Water monitor at low tide among the mangrove roots

It was a rather small animal by comparison to the ones in Singapore. But it caused great excitement in our boat, of course.

A durian experience

Singapore
 10.01.2012

Two kinds of durian for sale

We saw these durians for sale on a street stall and, of course, we had to try this tropical fruit. They sold us four slices on a nice take away container PLUS two plastic gloves because durians smell very strong. We found ourselves a suitable place nearby and had a go. Not a success, but we kept the rest just in case it was an acquired taste. Back at our Fragrance Hotel room we soon realised that keeping the package inside *several* plastic bags wasn't having an effect on the overpowering smell. At which stage we decided that it wasn't worth having another go... I took it to a guy having a rest on a recess on the pavement and his face lit up with delight at the word durian!

Singaporeans love this fruit, however there are some regulations about it in public places. We soon found here that they are forbidden in the underground.
Just in case, next day on our way to the Botanical Gardens we checked in the underground and indeed there it was the same notice, see left.

Coincidentally, at the gardens there was the most amazing Elephant Parade and one of them was a Delightful Durian by Nat Posila & Ed Robinson.

To cap this durian experience, at the Singapore National Museum I bought a tee-shirt with a durian drawing from the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. No smell.

Flying foxes

Sydney Botanical Gardens, NSW, Australia

05.01.2012

Flying foxes are huge fruit bats. We were positively delighted when we found a colony or camp in the Sydney Botanical Gardens. This was most unexpected because they colony in the Melbourne Boatnical Gardens was no longer there and this was rather disappointing because back in 1990 there were many there. 

Grey-headed Pteropus poliocephalus fying foxes roosting on a Casuarina tree

 They were rather restless.

Male flying fox stretching its wings

Even though grey-headed flying foxes are an endangered species they weren't exactly welcome in the gardens. They are doing too much damage to the trees and ideally they should not be there, at all. This is rather embarrassing. However the colony is beeing heavily monitored.

Ringed male flying fox

Note the colour bands on the thumbs of the wings: red on the left and blue on the right.

The curious thing was that the males were the restless ones.... Females protect their young with the wings during the day but at this time of the year their young shouldn't neede that. For more about these amazing bats visit SydneyBats

Later, in North Avoca we came across another camp by the lagoon. Someone told us about it and we knew when we were getting closer by the smell. Rather powerful. Again, they aren't exactly popular. Someone has tried to shoot them! See http://express-advocate-gosford.whereilive.com.au/news/story/shots-fired-as-bats-move-in-at-north-avoca/

 

Flowering pohutukawas and ratas

New Zealand
02.01.2012

Page under contruction!

I've managed to get nice photos the New Zealand Christmas tree in bloom. Also their magnificent cousins, the ratas. Just bear with me for the photos. Life is rather hectic at the moment...

 

Sundews in Pureora National Forest

River Waihaha Track, Pureora National Forest, North Island, New Zealand
01.01.2012

We came across a patch of sundew plants in a rather unexpected place along the trail, just a the base of a rather wet vertical slope on one side of the path.

Sundews possibly Drosera binata

 

 

 

To my inexpert eye these plants look very similar to the ones that we found in Fiordland NP, see 
http://maria-fremlin.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/carnivorous-plants-in-fiordland.html

Here they did seem to have accumulated a lot of dew or rain!. Here is a close-up of a big drop.

Close-up of a sundew with unfolded leaves

 Close by there was another mat of sundew plants that seemed to be more branched than the ones shown above. have a look and if you don't agree with me, please let me know.

Sundew plants rather branched 

Here is a close-up of the way it branched.

Lovely symmetry

Please, let me know if they were all the same species, that is, Drosera binata.

This is my fifth and last blog post about sundews. When I started this blog I knew nothing about Drosera species and had never heard about triggerplants and bladderworts! All carnivorous plants. Lots of fascinating learning. Please correct me if I have made any mistakes!
The other posts about carnivorous plants are here:

http://maria-fremlin.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/carnivorous-plants-in-fiordland.html

http://maria-fremlin.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/sundews-in-tongariro-national-park.html

http://maria-fremlin.blogspot.com/2011/11/sundews-in-western-australia.html

http://maria-fremlin.blogspot.com/2011/11/trigger-plants.html

http://maria-fremlin.blogspot.com/2011/11/sundews-on-table-mountain.html

Whitecliffs boulders - an exciting adventure

Whitecliffs boulders by the Rangitikei river, N of Bulls, North Island, New Zealand
 31.12.2011

A brochure about these boulders on private land attracted my attention when we first passed Bulls on our way south and on our return journey we decided that we had time for a little detour. The brochure had a very sketchy map and no other information about the path off the main road. First it was along a minor road, then along a very narrow unsealed road bordered by steep slopes and finally down a very steep track suitable for 4WD. Alas we realised that only when we were already on it and all we could do was to drive the most scary 600m down to ‘the flat’. Well David was at the wheel and brought us down safely.

Rather shaken we set out for the boulders without a clue about the walk, no water bottle and no food even though it was lunchtime. Fortunately there were some trail signs.

The landscape was pasture land rather beautiful. Stunning sandstone cliffs.

View at the beginning of the walk, the Rangitikei river is at the bottom

Then we had to get past some cows... Now NZ farmers are reverting to cows; more profitable with the Chinese market.

Watchful cows

The trees were oaks planted by setlers, of course. Exotic trees attain rather large sizes in NZ.

Soon we passed some sheep.

Sheep running away from us. The lake was covered with azolla

Down and down we went. Until, finally, right by the river we came across the boulders.

Notice board

Later, we discovered a pit toilet equipped with water, toilet paper and hand soap. Unfortunately, the water was not drinkable. I could have done with some!

Huge mossy boulders

Now, seeing the boulders was a bit surreal. The place was a little oasis that had escaped the systematic land clearing. One could imagine how the whole area could have been before the settlers arrived. Also how hard it would have been for them to clear the bush and the utter isolation of the place.

Lots of them!

Nice round boulder more than a meter high

 

Amazing how the trees took root on the boulders

Also ferns

 The trees had a primeval look to them. We couldn't see their tops but their roots were full of character.

Nice mossy roots

 In all it was the most amazing walk. The contrast could not have been greater from the DOC well sign posted and documented walks. A very nice change.
For more about the formation of these boulders visit http://www.whitecliffsboulders.co.nz/

PS: At the second attempt David did get the car up the steep slope. Just! I walked up and opened the gate at the top so that he could go through without having to stop. It was a tremendous relief to find ourselves and the car in one piece back on the narrow lane. Quite an adventure!