Some interesting birds had recently turned up at Long Reef Aquatic Reserve on the Northern Beaches recently and I decide to make a visit. The tide was forecast to be low around 5:30 so an afternoon visit seemed ideal.
Common Noddy
After getting off the bus, I walked out to the lookout, and had lunch before venturing down to the rock platform. In the distance, I watched a Kestrel hunting. Continue reading
I joined local birder, Michael, for a day at Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside, then on the way home, we called into Sydney Olympic Park for a look.
At Nurragingy, we first visited the main ponds. Here we saw a pair of juvenile Australasian Grebes. Continue reading
I spent a nice day devoted to bird photography. I started at the Landing Lights Wetland at Barton Park, then later went to Tempe and walked home via the Cooks River.
The Landing Lights Wetland was fairly quiet. The lighting was dull and there was a breeze which rippled the water – less than ideal for photography of the water birds. Continue reading
I was pleased to be able to attend an event at Audley in Royal National Park focussing on the history of the area. The event was an activity of the National Parks Association of NSW and was organised by John Prats. The guide on the day was local historian, Greg Jackson.
It was a very interesting and informative morning wandering around Audley hearing about the early concepts of what should be in a national park – including introducing overseas animals such as Boa Constrictors. And there were at least three large aviaries for birds such as canaries. The flats still have many introduced trees. Continue reading
Bob and myself decided to walk to Goochs Crater. Its a place we had both been to many time before including recently, but we both had not seen it full of water. Photos of it recently posted on social media made it look quite different. It is not that uncommon for it to fill up with water – it would happen after big rain events, and these wold take place every few years.
The Glow Worm tunnel road being in very bad condition and probably the Dumbano Fire road as well – we decided not to walk in the shorter way from the north. Instead we decided to walk in from Sandham Road at Dargan. This was a route we both used to use many years ago 1970’s and 80’s) on circuit trips from Bell Station. But now, Open Street Maps indicated there was a track, so that would make things even easier. Continue reading
This was a day somewhat like the day before in that I visited two different places. But in many ways it was also quite different. I first headed to Eastwood and started walking down Terrys Creek – but got a bit washed out by rain, so headed home. Then after lunch, like the day before, I got a text message from local birder Michael. This time he was on the Hawthorne Canal and had spotted a Sacred Kingfisher. So I headed there in the late afternoon.
It had been raining in the Epping area, but I had been watching the rain radar and it looked like that by the time I could get up there, the rain would have passed over. This turned out to be correct, and I walked down from Eastwood Station to the start of the track and set off downstream. I was on the lookout for fungi and birds. Continue reading
This was a nice day out. The first part was a visit to Oatley Park with Digi Dave. We had a good look around and saw some nice birds and lizards. Later, on the way home, I got a text from another friend Michael, who was at Sydney Park looking for a recently seen Powerful Owl, so as it was not far from my route home – I made a short visit.
At Oatley Park, Digi Dave and myself first visited the lookouts. At the first one we bumped into David M who knows the park well. He gave us some advice for spotting some Sea Eagles. We saw two perched on a distant headland. Here is one – Continue reading
I spent a nice day at Sydney Olympic Park, but the day had an unusual start. I was intending to visit Nurragingy Reserve, and so caught a train to Doonside and walked down to the park gates and found it closed due to extreme weather. So I walked back to the station and got on a train back towards the city. On the way I thought about options and checked timetables. One option was Sydney Olympic Park, but I knew trains where not running to Concord West, but I could get a bus to the park from Strathfield.
So that was how I ended up at Sydney Olympic Park. I got off the bus near Lake Belvedere, so that was the first part of the park I visited. Continue reading
I had the whole day available for some local bird photography. It started at Tempe with the monthly Tempe Birdos Survey. After morning tea, I wandered around a bit more at Tempe Wetlands, then walked down to Barton Park. Then I caught a bus to St Peters and finished the day at Sydney Park. It was quite a good day.
I was keen to get to and visit some local rainforest areas to see if there was any fungi out. So I chose to visit Ferndale Park at Chatswood. I had the option of extending the trip by visiting the nearby Blue Gum Reserve if conditions were good.
Despite good conditions for fungal fruiting, the amount of fungi I saw was quite low. I think most of what I saw had been out for a while and very little looked fresh. Local parks and grassy verges have had an amazing amount of fungi at this time, but I think it takes longer for fungi to appear in rainforest areas. Continue reading
