​Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
I discovered these tiny ornamental plants last August in a wet mossy patch surrounding a rock pool on a granite outcrop at Highbury B Block. It is a bladderwort, a carnivorous plant. There are 15 bladderwort species in WA, mainly in wetter areas.
The plants are only about 3 cm high but brilliantly coloured.
I thought that the curved flower receptacle was the bladder, but no, it has another function.
Apparently, it is designed for pollination by the Western Spinebill.
Red attracts birds, its height is right for ground-hunting spinebills, and the curve matches the spinebill’s beak. As the spinebill inserts its beak the beak pushes on to a hinged ovary and pistil and collects a dob of pollen to take to the next plant as it withdraws.

The unique insect-catching bladders are tiny little vesicles underneath the leaves. I couldn’t see them when I searched recently. Luckily they are well described in this wonderful free PDF book: Plant Life of Southwestern Australia Adaptations for Survival

​Here is an extract
 
 Each trap is partially water- filled, and has a door surrounded by sensitive hairs that direct prey to the opening. The trapdoor opens inwards upon irritation by a passing animal such as a mosquito larva. After the prey brushes against the trigger hairs, it is sucked in because of the release of negative pressure maintained inside the utricle, engorging several times its resting volume. Traps are connected to the plant via stolons, stalks or leaves. Plants may even be rootless.
After firing, the trap restores the negative pressure by removing water from the lumen until the original compressed shape is returned. After this process is completed, which lasts about 30 minutes, the trap is ready to fire again.

I took a muntered flower that had been cut off by a grub home for dissection.
 
The flower has three parts:

• A curved nectar chamber with hinged anthers at the top.
• A rear tepal  that covers the top of nectar chamber, which has a hole in the centre and an upraised tip.
• A front tepal that looks like an insect landing pad with yellow bulges that resemble anthers.

 
The top view of the dissected flower shows an entry hole for a spinebill beak with a collar that would exclude all but the smallest insect. Side views show the (very dead) ovary on top of a hinged anther.  The normally yellow anthers are on the underside.
​In summer the plant dies back to a tiny over summering corm.

Reference Floral micromorphology of the bird-pollinated carnivorous plant species Utricularia menziesii R.Br. (Lentibulariaceae)

​Greetings fellow Foxies,
As soon as the weather warms up, you will see fist-sized holes with a round top and a flat base appearing in sandy and gravelly soils. These were dug by Varanus gouldii variously known as ‘racehorse goanna’ or a ‘sand goanna’ or even a Gould’s monitor. They commonly hide in hollow logs and may be seen sunning themselves on roads, rocks, and logs. They must be able to sense grubs or beetles in the soil.
Racehorse goannas may look fierce but always run away at great speed, which can frighten the daylights out of some. They have been rumoured to climb people, mistaking them for trees, but in my experience take off in the opposite direction. If you are a nervous type, just walk next to a tall person (who is also useful if there is a chance of lightning).

Western bearded dragons build similar but smaller holes, but are rarely seen. The shingleback lizard (bobtail skink - it isn't a goanna) is our most commonly seen reptile. These lovable reptiles try to look fierce, but are harmless. Please don't let dogs near them?

​Rainbow bee eater nesting burrows look similar to goanna diggings but are rounder and deeper, and occur in clusters. I used to see their nests in the road burden by the side of the track on the north side of the arboretum, but alas no longer. I suspect that chicks became goanna tucker, as  rainbow bee eaters normally burrow in gully walls that are harder for predators to reach.  Rainbow bee eaters appear in early summer. They are acrobats of the bird world being fast and agile, and doing loop the loops as they catch bees on the wing. They have a lovely rolling chirrup call. World War II Spitfire fighter planes copied their wing shape to maximise manoeuvrability.

If you cast your eyes upwards in Foxes Lair in February, you may see lovely red mistletoe flowers.
Ah mistletoe, the flower of love dedicated to the goddess Athena and placed above doors at Christmas where people who meet must kiss. If you have a hankering for osculation, arrange to meet the intended person in Foxes Lair.

Now that you are fired up note that Mistletoe is a stem hemiparasite and the name literally means ‘dung-on-a-twig’. The mistletoe bird, which has a very short digestive system, eats the berries and deposits droppings containing seed on host branches. A germinating seedling produces a connection like a vegetative placenta (haustorium), which enables it to tap into the host’s sap.
Mistletoe berries are a bush tucker, which are sweet but so sticky that they the flesh can't be separated from the seed; this helps the seeds to stick on branches after passing through whatever eats them.
This fabulous blog shows that mistletoes are an integral part of the bush. Their fruit is food for several birds and animals, They do not necessarily kill their host, and are sensitive to fire.

The Mistletoe Moth Comocrus behri caterpillar can be found in spring (caterpillars( and summer (moths)