My Australia Down Under

Next stop on the calendar is the Bathurst 1000. Since I was a kid at boarding school in Bathurst I have been a huge fan, who knew when I grew up I would have the chance to be part of the event in an official capacity for so many years. Looking forward to catching up with old friends and new and seeing another chapter written. I’m all packed with a selection of clothing to cover off all 4 seasons, let’s see if the rains play a part this year.
In case you are wondering who Red Hot Shotz is that’s just my business name.

Happy Weekend everyone.

A female Red Rumped parrot performing a perfect handbrake slide into the perch.

Lots of nesting and new life around the farm at the moment. We have our resident Tawny Frogmouth sitting on her eggs hopefully we should see the chicks any day now. A Ground Cukoo-shrike feeding its young and of course a regular visitor a male Red Rumped Parrot.I have noticed several other nests around including an Indian Myna which I’m not too happy about and by the sound of things they have two or three chicks in their nest.

I’d love to hear people’s thoughts and suggestions.

Over the last couple of years I’ve used my “bird garden” as a prop for many of my bird photos here at home. It’s been extremely rewarding, but I’ve always wanted to take it a step further and make the whole area bigger and more natural.

Alongside the original prop area, I’ve planted quite a few native trees and tried to make our place as bird-friendly as possible. More recently, I’ve started creating a completely new area, which currently includes another 18 native trees and bushes.

Long term, I’d like to incorporate a larger, more natural-looking bird bath or water source, along with taller and more substantial perches. The idea is to create something that feels as natural as possible for the birds, while still giving me access to photograph them in an environment that doesn’t look too “staged”.

I’m fortunate enough to have a great supply of dead timber and fallen trees, as well as almost unlimited rocks and plenty of dirt to help shape and build the area.

I put it to ChatGPT to come up with a couple of ideas, and the concept below is fairly close to how I envisage the area looking once it matures.

I’d really love to hear from anyone who has created something similar — bird photographers, wildlife lovers, or anyone who has designed a bird-friendly garden.

What would you add? Are there any glaring omissions? Is there anything you’ve found works particularly well — or something you wish you had done differently?

I’m still very much a work in progress, so I’m keen to hear your ideas before I get too far down the track.

I forgot that I took this shot of the sunset during the bushfires earlier in the week. It’s amazing the difference the smoke makes to the colour of the sky.

Another few photos from the Campdraft in Allora over the weekend.

I hope we aren’t in for a another season of bushfires here on the Southern Downs as we copped back in 2025. This stacked image is of dry lightning caused by the huge bushfires in and around Millmerran in August of 2025 . Dry lightning forms during or over intense bushfires because extreme heat from the fire creates its own towering storm clouds, known as pyrocumulonimbus clouds.