Veerle's blog

Planning a trip to Australia? Think twice if spiders aren’t your best friends… The number of spiders in Australia, including potentially deadly redbacks, is exploding as scientists suspect global warming is wreaking havoc in wildlife populations. They said the migration patterns of birds were in disarray, and the status and distribution of many animals was undergoing fundamental change…

Bird feeding is a popular and convenient way to observe birds up close…

Since Winter has arrived we’ve put up a bird feeder in our tree in front of our office to help them bare the Winter the season. This way we help nature and we can enjoy the nice view of birds flying by. We did hang a feeder filled with peanuts. It attracts titmice, robins and finches. So far we have only seen titmice and one robin. The titmice are very font of peanuts and the are real acrobats, only they can fly directly to the feeder hang on like this while eating.

A few days ago there where 5 of them flying around. It’s very nice to watch them, they are lovely birds.

Tonight there is a total lunar eclipse for the second time this year in Belgium. An eclipse happens when the moon goes through the shadow-cone of the earth. During this period of several hours there is no direct sunlight on the full moon. The moon isn’t completely invisible because our atmosphere still bows some red sunbeams towards the moon. This red light gives the moon her typical red-orange view. It will start from 11.15 p.m. till 2.31 a.m.

Nearly every holidaymaker who has visited Ibiza must have seen some local lizard lounging on rocks in the sun and scuttling away when disturbed… But no one had realised that this little lizard is unique in the wonderful world of nature! Investigators at Spain’s top university, Salamanca, have discovered that the Balearic lizard is the only reptile in the entire world which helps to pollinate and disperse the seeds of certain plants. Without the lizard these plants would not survive.

I took this picture this Summer. He didn’t seem to be scared of the camera, even at a distance of 15 cm! It was also a large one. Most of the lizards I’ve seen at Ibiza are about 10 or 12 cm long (tail included), but this one was at least 20 cm and also a very nice one as you can see.