15 Oct 2014 FILM DIARY

The second night shoot of the season in Palm Grove NP was petering out after a promising start, until Robyn spotted a cricket with a small body but inordinately long hind legs which I am pretty sure I have filmed before and Hugh spotted a large, very hairy caterpillar which was new to me. Not far away were two mating flies I also wanted to film with my PANCAM, which I was mysteriously unable to switch on, though there was sufficient battery life the last time I used it. This was the second equipment malfunction of the day. (I was working on the settings of the latest videos when my broadband suffered an outage. Telstra is sending a technician to my place tomorrow morning). We were not far from the entrance when I filmed a large trapdoor spider frozen on the path in mid prowl. Then, just inside the park I was lucky enough to film a pademelon perhaps 15 metres away amongst the vegetation. It was a female with joey, whose presence was revealed by its movement in the pouch. The pademelon sat quietly for several minutes before slowly moving deeper into the undergrowth. This was the first occasion I have filmed a pademelon at night, although we have often seen and heard them in Palm Grove.