The baby plovers have finally hatched out and they are so cute. We have endured a month or so of being swooped by the parents and not being able to mow that section of the paddock.

They are actually called Masked Lapwing, and are a protected species despite that people think they are a pest. If you can put up with them for about a month or so, the babies hatch and then they are gone, all the swooping and screaming is only about protecting their family, and that is fair.


Ours didn't cause us much grief, they did some screaming, and of course they didn't like the men who live here as they made some aggressive moves (like trying to look at the nest). If you don't get too close and ignore them they only seem to be a bit noisy, and they seem to like the ride-on mower as they can get more bugs and things.

The behaviour of the mother had changed in the last couple of days, and then yesterday my partner in crime and life woke me up early (on a Sunday) to see the babies playing in our mud. They are very cute, little and round and short, there was three of them and whenever there was some perceived danger the parent would call out and they would bob down and disappear. However I do think the parents had some trouble reigning them in and keeping them under control, like most parents I think :)

So after playing at our back door for a while, they gradually moved off and are gone. So, after seeing the mother nesting every time I looked out, and hearing them screaming at us for some transgression, they are just gone, and have taken their little balls of fluff. I feel strangely alone, but in a good way, as I can now walk across the paddock in peace.


Actually, I would walk across the paddock if it wasn't raining. I suppose I could if I put on my gum boots and raincoat, but the view from here is pretty good and the dog is all curled up in her bed (she is not a rain dog) and the water is splashing away into the dogs' pool.


The tank must be filling and the dogs' pool is overflowing, all good things, I have become obsessed with the rain and now we have our new rain gauge up, am keeping a log of how much rain we are getting. Doesn't seem like much in the gauge, 8 1/2mm, 16mm or 5 1/2mm, but it is a lot on the roof. Still waiting on the new tank but if we keep getting this sort of rain, this regularly, then when it does get here it won't take long to fill :)