Wolli Creek Walk – 19 March 2021

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Dave Noble

A wet series of days was forecast for Sydney, so I slept in, and then noticed it was not raining outside. It was still not raining at lunchtime – so I decided to head out and do a local walk. I caught a bus to Bexley North and then started out down the Two Valleys Track along Wolli Creek. As it happens, no sooner had I started walking, then it started to rain! The rain did not last long – but it did reoccur on and off during my walk – and was a bit of a nuisance.

I carried two cameras – one for fungi and the other for birds. Because of the rain, it was a lo of trouble setting ip the fungi camera on a tripod etc, so it was not used much. Also – there was not a real lot of fungi out. Continue reading →

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Blue Mountains Waterfalls – 18 March 2021

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Dave Noble

I was heading up the Blue Mountains with Bob. We had cancelled plans to visit a canyon due to a lot of recent rain and instead decided to visit some waterfalls. We first went to Minnehaha Falls north of Katoomba, then went to Reids Plateau on the other side of Katoomba and visited the nearby Katoomba Cascades and the Witches Leap. Then mist cleared to give us views of Katoomba Falls from Reids Plateau. Next was a visit to the cliffs of Leura, and a stop at Gordon Falls Lookout and the Pool of Siloam. Our last stop was at Wentworth Falls. We had rain on and off all day – but nothing really heavy.

Minnehaha Falls

Minnehaha Falls at North Katoomba were impressive in high flow. Its a short walk down to the falls from the carpark. Continue reading →

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Birds at Sydney Park – 17 March 2021

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Dave Noble

Wet weather was forecast, so I decide to do a short local trip – a visit to Sydney Park at St Peters to photograph the birdlife.

As usual, I was after photographs of the more seldom seen birds – Rails and Crakes for example. But on this visit, I did not see any. I spent a fair bit of time walking around with binoculars scanning the  reeds at the edges of the ponds. Continue reading →

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Birdwood Gully – Fungi and Birds – 16 March 2021

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Dave Noble

After seeing a lot of the pink Clavaria sp, Coral Fungus out yesterday in Terrys Creek, I thought it would be worth looking for it in Birdwood Gully at Springwood. This was the spot where my friend, the late Liz Kabanoff first found the species a few years ago.

So I set off for Springwood. The weather forecast suggested there may be some rain, and in that case, Birdwood Gully makes a better place to visit than Sassafras Gully to the south. Its a much shorter walk and there are some sandstone overhangs at places along the track to shelter in if the rain becomes heavy. As it turned out, there was no rain on my visit. Continue reading →

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Terrys Creek and Lane Cove River – Fungi and Birds – 15 March 2021

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Dave Noble

This was an afternoon walk from Eastwood, down Terrys Creek, then I went down the Lane Cove River a bit, and back up, and continued to Devlins Creek and up that to Epping. I was mainly on the lookout for fungi, but was also looking for birds.

I was looking for certain fungi that I had seen on previous seasons, to see if they had reappeared. One species had – Helvella fibrosa, an interesting cup fungus. I found it in the same two places I had seen it – a small area along Terrys Creek and at another small area on the Lane Cove River a short way upstream of Devlins Creek. At the first site I found two and only one at the second site. Perhaps more will appear in the future? Continue reading →

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Wolli Creek Walk – 13 March 2021

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Dave Noble

I had been to Tempe in the morning, but was keen to get out again. The weather forecast was not that good for the next few days, so I thought it best to take advantage of good weather while it lasted. So in the afternoon, I decided to visit Wolli Creek. A big storm from the evening before could mean that some slime moulds may be out, so I took photo gear for fungi and slime moulds – a tripod and camera with macro lens. I also took small camera to photograph any birds I saw.

I ended up not using the fungi camera. The birds I saw were quite reasonable. Continue reading →

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Tempe Bird Survey – 13 March 2021

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Dave Noble

The second Saturday of the month is the time for the Tempe Birdos to meet at survey the birds at Tempe Wetlands and Tempe Reserve. The group meets in the open area near the bottom pond of Tempe Wetlands – from 7:30 am and then splits up around 8 am – one subgroup surveys the Reserve and other stays in the Wetlands.

Australasian Grebe

This survey, I was in the group that surveyed the Wetlands. Here are some of the birds we obscured – Continue reading →

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Back to Sydney Park – 12 March 2021

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Dave Noble

I was able to spend a few hours at Sydney Park in the afternoon. When I arrived however, I was a bit worried as there was a big storm nearby. I consulted the rain radar ands that it was to the south and should miss where I was.  So I started looking around for birds.

In the top pool, at the far end was a Pied Cormorant – Continue reading →

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Walking Near Clarence – 11 March 2021

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Dave Noble

A wet day was forecast, so not good weather for canyoning, so Bob and myself decided to do a bushwalk instead. We decided to go to the Clarence area and do a walk where we could find plenty of caves, in case we needed to shelter from the rain. As it turned out, we had not rain on the walk. But it was grea to visit some very interesting scenery – and there was a major bonus – there were plenty of pink Flannel Flowers.

Our access was via the climber’s track to the Freezer and Cosmic County climbing area. These took us down to some service roads for the railway and the railway powerline. This led us to a very interesting area – with lots of pagodas, cliffs, caves and a nice natural arch. Continue reading →

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Birds at Sydney Olympic Park – 10 March 2021

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Dave Noble

In the afternoon, after the Greenway Bird Survey, I headed with my bike to Sydney Olympic Park.

I went by train to Strathfield North and then cycled down to the Mason Park Wetlands. I didn’t see any notable birds there, so continued on. In the concrete creek nearby I spotted a Great Egret. It looked like it was fishing. I stopped to see if it would catch anything. Continue reading →

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