It had been a while since I had been to Emu Green Reserve at Emu Plains. So I though I should make a visit to see what birds were around.
Compared to previous recent visits this one was relatively quiet. As usual I was on the lookout for Emu Wrens, but as I have often found – they were not to be seen. But there were some other nice birds out. Continue reading
John had organised a photographic trip to visit the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. It turned out to be a very pleasant day out in a beautiful part of the city. The aim was to photograph the flowers, trees, birds and insects.
On our visit, it was a quite windy, which made it hard for insects such as butterflies to settle and able to be photographed. Continue reading
This was another enjoyable day out in the bush at Royal National Park with friends – Valerie, Sue, Deb, Brian and Faye. It was hot weather so the walk was not energetic – we walked from the south end of lady Carrington Drive to the Palona Cave, then back down and up Lady Carrington Drive a short way to Palona Creek picnic area for lunch, and then back to the start.
The Palona Cave is a sandstone overhang that features some interesting limestone formations. These have formed from calcite that has precipitated out of the sandstone. Continue reading
I headed up to Springwood and met Wendy and then Don and we drove in Wendy’s car to Blackheath and then down to Megalong to look for Fairy Lanterns. A friend, Greg, had recently posted some photos of these unusual plants on his Facebook page. So we knew they would be in flower. I had previously seen one of the species before – back in April 2015 on a field trip with the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc.
Fairy Lanterns are the flowers of the genus Thismia. These are very strange plants. They grow underground and obtain all their nutrients from a fungal partner. The fungal partner is also in a mycorrhizal relationship with another plant – in this case, a vine that often grows in the rainforest. Continue reading
I was keen to return to Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside after my previous recent very good bird photography visits. This visit, for some reason, a lot of the birds I photographed had some blueness to them. I was only the lookout for Kingfishers and Nurragingy often provides good opportunities to observe these beautiful birds. I saw them on this trip, but I also had my best observation session with Blue-faced Honeyeaters.
I was looking at an Azure Kingfisher at one of the ponds, when a family of Blue-faced Honeyeaters turned up. They spent about 15 minutes in that location. Continue reading
Back in 2011 I posted about the Pink Flannel Flower – Actinotus forsythii. I have been fortunate to see this remarkable species quite a few times over the years. When it flowers, it flowers en masse and this is very spectacular to observe. I have previously seen the species at Kanangra Walls, Narrow Neck, the Wollangambe Wilderness and the Newnes Plateau.
The species, unlike the more common species of Flannel Flower needs two conditions for the seeds to be able to germinate. One is a bushfire, the other is good follow-up rain. The seeds seem to be able to stay dormant, yet still viable for many years. When I saw them in flower on Kanangra Walls back in 2011, there had been a bushfire there in 2010 which burnt out part of the plateau east of the Gingra Track. It was in this burnt out section that the Pink Flannel Flowers were present about a year after the fire. I first visited Kanangra Walls as a child back in the 1960’s and cannot recall any bushfire from then to 2010. So it seems the seeds can remain dormant for at least 50 years. Probably a lot longer than that. Continue reading
I headed up the mountains with Bob for four days of canyoning. We first went to the Wolgan Valley. The plan was to camp in the valley and do day trips to various canyons.
On the way to Newnes, we visited a short canyon. This one was easy to get to and did not have any swims. It was a trip up through the canyon and then back the same way. Here are some photos taken in the canyon – Continue reading
Don had organised a trip to a campsite near Centre Mountain in the Blue Labyrinth. It was originally going be a weekend trip, but some potential attendees could not make it for Saturday night, but come earlier, so the trip ended up being Friday afternoon to Sunday, with people coming and going at various times.
I went up the mountains with Dave Os, and on the way we picked up Don and his daughter Elata. As we were going to drive out along Kings Tableland Road, I suggested a short trip along the first bit of the Lion Had track to see if any Pink Flannel Flowers could be found. Continue reading
I spent another nice day at Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside photographing some of the resident birds. It was warm weather with the possibility of rain, and I was not sure how many birds would be out and about. I think the Kingfishers dominated the day.
I am always on the lookout for the beautiful Azure Kingfishers when I am at the Reserve, but the last few visits the Sacred Kingfishers have been the ones I have most photographed. When I arrived, I looked around to see if I could spot any Azure Kingfishers at locations I had seen them before – but had no luck. I could hear the call of a Sacred Kingfisher however, and soon spotted it. Continue reading
I had been keen to get to Sassafras Gully to check out the early season fungi for a while now – but had been reluctant to commit to a trip because of adverse weather forecasts. For this trip, the forecast was not the best – some showers were possible, but in the end it turned out quite a good day. I saw a lot of interesting things including some beautiful light blue Entolomas.
I started on the track down to the gully from Sassafras Gully Road, and then walk down to the Lagoon at Glenbrook Creek, then along the creek and out via Magdala Creek. Continue reading
