This will hurt me...

People in Tasmania store all manner of things in their front yards: cars, broken washing machines, unwanted children et cetera. In Battery Point, however, things are quite different. Ever since the suburb threw out the prostitutes and drunks was gentrified, the front gardens have assumed an air of little England circa 1907. Roses, violets and stiff upper lips reign supreme. Houses named " Charlesworth ", " Heathcliffe " and " Edgar " abound, and one assumes that the abodes simmer with firm manners, forced smiles and repressed sexuality. Occasionally though, one bucks the trend. This little split terrace features an old weather beaten plough shear not fashioned into a tank, rather a novel little perch for a concrete cockatoo. This household better be careful, I suspect that the neighbours are already preparing the giant wicker man to burn them in, lest they continue to bring down the tone of the neighbourhood....

Cockatoos looking for a feed by the side of the highway at lunchtime, Geilston Bay. The cockies are back, and by golly they don't half make some noise! Think thirty newborns eager for a feed, and you're on your way to imagining the delight of a big flock of cockatoos. That said, flock is entirely unsuitable as the collective noun. If pressed, the appropriate term of venery might be " an ebullience of cockatoos ". How about " an exuberance of cockatoos "? " An imbroglio of cockatoos "? " A seraglio of cockatoos "? I dunno. What do you reckon?

Here we have some fine looking cockatoos grazing at the top of a hill. I wanted to get a photograph of a smaller mob of galahs, but they weren't playing ball. I think that they were playing gin, but maybe that was just the effect of the gin I'd been drinking. You might remember that all through last week I was asking some very important questions, they're still open for for answers, but I will start reflecting upon them soon, so don't miss having your say. So, whether it is your favourite accents , your ideal gang name , thumbs up or thumbs down on flags , the casting couch for the most appropriate movie star , or indeed the tastiest creature on god's green Earth, click on the link and vent your spleen.

Ahhh, but yesterday wasn’t just about ducks. Once off the bus here on the Lindisfarne/Geilston Bay border, I couldn’t miss this crowd of cockatoos having a cheeky feed by the side of the road. So I took their photo. Anyone who might be interested in the kind of birds that we have here in Tasmania, I can’t recommend a blog more highly than noted Tasmanian twitcher (and keen photograpoher)Alan Fletcher's blog Birds in Tasmania . The little boy in me would love to say “click on the link and see the lovely pair of tits”, but I would be lying. They’re Pink Robins. Time for bed now.

So here I am, back at work again, this time in a suit. You know what that means: another VERY IMPORTANT MEETING . Have I mentioned how much I like meetings before? But enough of that, I have a photograph to comment upon. I took this snap this morning on the way to the bus stop. If you look through the gums at the front, and ignore the mountain at the back, you should be able to see a bunch of white things in some trees in the middle distance along the bottom left of the picture. That, my friends, is a rag tag group of cockatoos that hang around these parts for a good portion of the year. I’ve shown them grazing about on the grass before, but they seem to like to hang about in the trees this early (this was taken at 7:20 am). Excuse the brevity of this one, for unfortunately I have a meeting to prepare for!

In order to get to play group, Henry and I generally cut across the lower fields of Geilston Bay High School. I have noted something on these fields for the past two months, but have thus far failed to secure a decent photograph. That didn't change today, but I am noe prepared to settle for something less than a decent photograph. Can you see them? Look closer. Click on the picture to enlarge it if you like. See it now? Yes, as I posted some time ago, the birdies are back! Eastern Rosellas , to be precise. Here you can see the two that I got closest too. And here were a bunch hanging around just behind them. I'd guess that there are maybe a good thirty or forty that have taken up residence directly across the road from us. Them and a huge mob of cockatoos , numerous 'plovers' (well, 'banded lapwings' to be precise), and quite a few breeding pairs of magpies . It's not a bad scene each morning.