Update 24th Sept 2026 - Blossom's new baby and Sprout returns

Yesterday Blossom arrived with her latest baby, back-riding for the first time, and Sprout returned for a visit.

Blossom with 6^th baby back-riding - 23^rd Sept 2026

Sometimes the babies take a little time to learn the best position to hang on while back-riding.

Blossom with 6^th baby hanging on to her tail - 23^rd Sept 2026

I hadn't expected Blossom's new baby to be out of the pouch yet. Normally there are some days of feet and tails sticking out of the pouch before that happens, but this time there were only a couple of days with the tail partly out of the pouch.

Blossom - 22^nd Sept 2026

Sprout

For a while now a female possum had been seen intermittently at the bottom of the garden. She was often seen with a baby (tentatively named The Sproutling) who was following her around but past the stage of back-riding. Since Sprout was last seen in that area we suspected it might have been Sprout.

Also, a possum like Sprout may have been occasionally visiting Box 1.

Later, a female possum with a wound at the base of the tail was seen near the house. I had assumed that the possum was Sprout and was worried that the wound may need treatment.

But yesterday, Sprout came right up to the house as if she had never been away. She had last visited in November last year. That's a lot of time in Possum Years.

Sprout - 23^rd Sept 2026

She was in very good health and the wound at the base of her tail had healed, leaving only a slightly thinner band of fur where it had regrown.

Sprout - 23^rd Sept 2026

Bisou

Bisou became independent from Blossom very quickly, but has been allowed to stay in the area, at least for the time being. She will sometimes sleep in Box 3 or Box 8 but seems to have another unknown sleeping place nearby.

Here are some photos of her growing up.

Bisou - 2^nd May 2026

Bisou - 5^th May 2026

Bisou - 14^th June 2026

Bisou - 20^th Sept 2026

Bisou - 20^th Sept 2026

Bisou has started to get staining around the opening of her pouch, meaning she is becoming an adult, although she still seems very small.

Bisou - 21^st Sept 2026

Although small, Bisou knows where she ranks and isn't afraid to chase off Gandalf, who is a large strong possum. She has even come up to him and taken food out of his mouth.

Bisou (top) and Gandalf (bottom) - 23^rd Sept 2026

Drak/Drake

In the previous update, back in April, a new possum appeared who may have been Drak. He looked like Drak and seemed to be very familiar with humans. However, Blossom didn't chase him off, which mothers usually do to their offspring, and especially male offspring. All things considered it was unlikely he was Drak and we named the possum Drake.

Drake - 3^rd May 2026

Drake - 20^th July 2026

Drake went away again late in August.

Ringtails

There has continued to be a lot of ringtail activity in the possum boxes. Ringtails have been bringing leaves into boxes 2, 3, 5 and 8. This has created a problem in box 3. Box 3 has the oldest and worst camera in it and now ringtails have piled so many leaves in front it that half of the field of view is blocked. This has interfered with motion detection to the extent that possums can often enter the box undetected.

One day a smaller ringtail entered box 3 and then, about 15 minutes later, a larger ringtail came into the box and ejected the first one. This is the first time I have seen a ringtail eject another ringtail from a box. Unfortunately I couldn't tell which ringtails were involved although I suspect the larger ringtail may have been Rudy who had been prevented from entering his usual box (box 2) by Blossom and may have been in a bad mood.

Rudy - 5^th July 2026

Rudy - 5^th Aug 2026

A female ringtail has been seen around (in fact many ringtails have been seen around but are usually too far away to be recognised). She is unafraid of humans and on a couple of occasions has come close enough to the house to be offered food, but has no interest in human-supplied foods.

Female Ringtail - 23^rd Sept 2026

Gandalf

Gandalf continues to visit regularly. Here is a photo of him in a typical pose - if food is delayed he is likely to jump down onto the balcony to come into the house.

Gandalf - 20^th Sept 2026

Other creatures

Merlin the brush turkey has started tending his mounds. One day two females visited him and he proudly showed off his mound to them, with exaggerated pecking motions, as if to say "look at my mound, it's so full of juicy bugs that your little chicks will have plenty to eat if they hatch here".

Elton and the other previous water dragons haven't been seen but a small male water dragon has been spotted. There was also a relatively large blue-tongue lizard, which I haven't seen in the area before. There are no doubt lots of things living in the garden which I don't know are there.