After a local fungal survey, I headed up to the Blue Mountains by train and got picked up by my friend Wendy, then we travelled out to the Newnes Plateau to meet a group of friends for a nice overnight camping trip.
We had three birthdays to celebrate, and so had great campfire – sharing food a drink. Continue reading
Wolli Ck is in my local area and its a place I visit a lot for Nature walks. This time it was an organised fungal survey with the Sydney Fungal Study Group. It was also a joint activity with Wolli Creek Preservation Society.
Entoloma sp.
The participants met up at Girrahween Park and set off at 10 am. One group, which I was in heading upstream, and the other group going downstream. We would meet up again at lunchtime. Continue reading
This was a repeat of the trip I had been on four days earlier. On that oaccasion, I had visited Ferndale Park, Blue Gum Reserve and he Lane Cove River on a bushwalk that linked them. That trip had been one of the best fungi photography days of the season, but I had been somewhat restricted by rain. The rain had truncated my visit to Ferndale Park before I had finished looking for fungi, and at Blue Gum Reserve, the rain had stopped but the creek was high – making crossing it tricky, so I didn’t check out a lot of spots.
So I decided to repeat the trip. This would also give me a chance to see how some of the fungi had changed. As it turned out, it was not early as good as he first trip. A lot of the fungi had dried out, not much new fungi was out, and some seemed to have been eaten by animals or fallen to bits. But I did manage to find a fair amount that was interesting. Continue reading
This was a pleasant walk in the Mt Alexandra Reserve near Mittagong. I was walking with Bob. I hadn’t been on this walk before, but Bob had quite a few years earlier. The walk is described in the National Parks Association’s book “Bushwalks in the Sydney Region, Volume 2“. A pamphlet available at the Southern Highlands Visitors Centre at Mittagong describes two parts of the walk. You can download it here.
After getting copies of the pamphlet at Mittagong, we continued on in Bob’s car to Welby and soon found the start – a large carpark and picnic area. Continue reading
A Lunar Eclipse was taking place during the evening. I was ready with my camera, telephoto lens and tripod.
It was going to be a Super Blood Moon. “Super” because the Moon was at a close point in its orbit – making it larger in apparent size than it often is, and “Blood” because of its red colour when totally eclipsed.
Here are some photos taken as the eclipse was beginning – Continue reading
I thought it about time I visited Bidjigal Reserve again near west Pennant Hills. The reserve is in upper tributaries of Darling Mills Creek, which flows south to join Toongabbie Creek, and the combined creeks form the Parramatta River. On previous visits, on two trips walking all the way down Darling Mills Creek to Parramatta, I had thought the valley offered good habitat for fungi, and I had recently seen good fungi from photos taken in Bidjigal Reserve posted by others on Facebook.
I caught a train to Beecroft, then a bus from the station to the Richard Webb Reserve on Aiken Road. I then followed a fire road down to Darling Mills Creek. Further downstream, I noticed a nice waterfall, that will be worth returning to for some photos in higher flow. Further along the fire road, I left it and followed a track that went along the creek, crossing it and then continuing to the junction with Excelsior Creek. It was Excelsior Creek that I wanted to check out. I turned off and followed a track upstream. Like nearly all remnant bushland along valleys in Sydney, there are tracks that follow a sewer line. Continue reading
I spent the last part of the afternoon at Sydney Park photographing birds.
Here are some photos – Continue reading
This was a really good day out, despite some rain, I saw a lot of nice fungi at three different locations. I linked up these locations be walking from Chatswood Station to Macquarie Park Metro Station.
Ferndale Park Continue reading
My friend Wendy invited my to join her on a visit to the Australian Museum in Sydney. I had visited the museum, not that long ago, but there was a new exhibition to visit – “Unsettled” on the Aboriginal history of Australian when Europeans arrived.
Hobbit Man Scull
After being entertained by an Aboriginal Dance performance, we visited the Aboriginal Gallery and then the Pacific Island Gallery. In this gallery I took some photos of the masks. Continue reading
While in Tasmania, I had missed some local bird surveys, so it was good to again take part in a survey along the Greenway near Waratah Mills Light Rail Station.
Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading
