Day 34 of lockdown. This was a good opportunity to catch up with Valerie for some exercise walks and to visit three small reserves new to me.
We met up at Stotts Reserve at Bexley North. This is a small bushland remnant hidden in the middle of suburbia. Its entrance is through a small area along Slade Road. You need to look out for this sign –
I had cycled over to the reserve, and wheeled my bike with me. This was awkward in places, and it would have been better to have brought a lock with me and left the bike in the street.
The Reserve is not that large, and looks small from the entrance, but it is fan shaped and get wider the further you walk into it. There were some rough tracks through the bush, which is in remarkably good condition. I think a lot of very worthwhile bushcare has been undertaken here. Valerie had been to this Reserve before, and it was certainly a good place to visit.
There are a lot of nice trees in the reserve, and many of them had bird or bat boxes. Nice to see.
Stotts Reserve was a pleasant place to wander through and spend some time in. After we had finished our stroll, we decided to next visit Coolibah Reserve on the lower part of Barwell Creek (at Bardwell Park). This was was a short bike ride to get to.
This Reserve is more open, and has a lot of nice large trees.There is a wetland area that is currently being redeveloped.
We saw quite a few birds –
Crested Pigeons –
Rainbow Lorikeet
Here is Bardwell Creek below the wetland –
Noisy Miner
Eastern Rosellas
Note that the male has a more purple than white front. It could be a hybrid with a Crimson Rosella perhaps? Some more birds –
Pacific Black Duck
Dusky Moorhen
Another Rainbow Lorikeet.
And a Laughing Kookaburra –
We had a short lunch break in the Reserve, and then headed upstream top check out the Shepard Reserve. It was another pleasant park that leads to a golf course.
On another trip, we will explore the Bardwell Creek area upstream of the golf course. I farewelled Valerie and then cycled home via the Cooks River Cycleway. No Kingfishers spotted.
Inspired by this report, I also checked out Stotts Reserve. Delightful! Visiting it combines nicely with a walk from Turrella along the Two Valleys track, across a few streets and nice lanes to Coolibah/Shepherds, then all the way along the very degraded Bardwell Creek. Although on the map it looks like a street detour is necessary around the golf course, in fact everyone walks round the edges and then back onto the Bardwell Valley walk. A bridge across the creek near the end of the golf course takes you to Stotts, with a return the same way to continue the walk. I was surprised how few people are following the creekside track, which looks like prime runners’ territory. Thanks for the inspiration and gorgeous pics!
Hi David,
It looks like you had a hybrid Eastern x Crimson Rosella there with the blue cheeks and extent of red… a very interesting find!