Privets and Hay Fever

This morning I woke with my house filled with the nauseating scent of Privet everywhere.
It is overpowering on humid nights (like last night) and mornings like this morning.

The culprits are the custodians of the Railway Line (who would probably be ARTC). But also the next offenders are the non-existent Committee in charge (nobody is actually in charge) of the School Forest.

Privet is the problem.

Privet is in the same family as the Olive - a fact which only comes obvious when the little black seeds develop in a couple of months. Small birds love them, So do bowerbirds unfortunately, and so also do White-headed Pigeons which last year swarmed all over these same trees and bushes, eating the fruit, and thus spreading the seeds. Damn.

White flowers of Ligustrum sinense
The Small-leaved Privet 

Flowers and small, slightly crinkled edged leaves of Privet
Leaf margin referred to as wavy, which is good word.
It helps people trying to weed out Privet seedlings.
Because the leaf edges are
distinctively wavy when plants are very small.
http://www.iewf.org/weedid/Ligustrum_sinense.htm

This is why I get cranky about the lack of responsibility
for these plants.
They are not on railway land, but have spread from the close-by
Railway easement to the "School Forest".

The Railway line is visible on far left of this image.
The Laurence Langley Memorial Redwood Grove
 is visible in the background.

An as-yet unknown (to me) Moths which was on my fly screen
this morning.

And my first Christmas Beetle of the season.
Because Robertson does not have many Eucalypt trees
we do not get many true Christmas Beetles like this one.
Lots of annoying small Brown Beetles do occur here.

Hay Fever is directly triggered by the sweet and overpowering scent of Privet. However, technically, it is classed as an allergy. Hence runny eyes as well as sneezes and difficulty in breathing. In fact, the scientists say that the problem with Privet is a direct irritation of the sensitive mucus membranes of the nose. I'll leave that for the experts to sort out.