• Friends annual Night Garden Walk

David Rentz AM

Friends of the Cairns Botanic Garden’s annual Garden Night Walk was attended by 50 people who partook of the sausage sizzle while awaiting for it to get dark. (Why do sausages always taste better with the Friends?) The tour crossed the road from the Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre to Fitzalan Garden and then onto the Rainforest Boardwalk. As it turns out, we saw a nice variety of insects, spiders, a Velvet Mite, and at least one fleeting Striped Possum. Several frogs were spotted but only one or two Cane Toads. A number of sleeping Dragonflies were seen by everyone. It seemed that a single species was represented and all were hanging from low vegetation. A few katydids and crickets were in evidence. Many leaf beetles were observed defoliating small shrubs and small weevils were seen feeding on the smorgasbord of floral parts accumulating on leaf surfaces. I think everyone felt it was worthwhile — and the mozzies behaved themselves. Photos by: Buck Richardson and Mikey (Hidetoshi Kudo)