Yesterday someone wanted a photo of a coot, so I had a scout
around the margins of LBG. Very scarce they were too, none in the
usual spots until I came across 5 in the shallow part of Nerang Pool near the
nesting swan. This is evidently one of those times when they move out of
Canberra to take advantage of newly flooded areas elsewhere.
I was very surprised at the number of flying foxes still in
Commonwealth Park, about a third of the summer numbers but still a lot.
There is perhaps nowhere else in the world that you can walk
beneath hundreds of chattering flying foxes with
natural ice crunching underfoot.
In the broader section of Nerang Pool a water rat chomped on
something held in its little pink feet. At least we do have a genuine
water rat in this part of the world, unlike the UK where the mis-named Ratty in
Wind in the Willows was a Water Vole, a species now at some risk from predatory
mink apparently. Ratty was a fairly puny kind of non-rat, too, reaching
300g compared to the 1275g of our chap.
