Gardens of whatever size can be a place in which to relax or a place where one can closely observe the small creatures that live there. It is surprising how many of nature’s family co-habits with human kind. At the moment two colonies of honey bees are busily collecting the necessary ingredients to produce, in the bee boxes, the sweetness we so enjoy.
As this is a heavily treed garden with many shrubs to help conceal small bodies the watcher must stand or sit quietly, without much movement. The reward might be a view of a praying mantis. This insect is to be welcomed as it eats other harmful insects. A shy small creature, ready to bolt, is the field mouse. Move to another part of the garden and watch how a gecko can move about, with the aid of ‘adhesive toe pads’, in a horizontal or perpendicular position. This is the one who, if alarmed, loses a part of its tail.
Do you have pot plants? Take a good look and a skink might be seen either resting on whatever plant is growing there or moving around a group of plant pots. Sometimes the observed will come out of hiding and become the observer. I once placed a tiny piece of mince meat on a paved area and waited. The skink looked around, then seemingly at me and disappeared under a nearby Barleria repens ‘rosea’. The piece of mince disappeared but it is not known if what was offered was eaten.