We head off to Western Australia soon to explore some remote islands.More on them soon.

Some weeks ago now we heard the news that H5N1 Bird Flu reached those western shores and is spreading eastwards. It is affecting many shore birds, penguins and water birds and now there is some evidence it is getting into mammals. Its devastating news and while they may be looking at vaccinating some of the penguins on Phillip island the reality is that this virus will spread and many, many birds will die.

An expert on the radio said there was an inevitability of the virus wreaking havoc- and I can understand that. It doesn’t stop me sitting here worrying about my birds and what might happen to them.

Meantime though I can share some photos of my recent encounters, the kestrel in Sydney and the king Parrots back in Brisbane. Just glorious.

These two were male and female.

It’s such a joy to have the wildlife literally on my back deck.