in the afternoon, after helping with the Greenway Bird Survey, I decided to walk down the Two Valleys Track, along Wolli Ck, from Bexley North to just below Turrella.
In the first part of the track, I did not see much fungi or birds. I ddi photograph some Greenhood Orchids – Continue reading
An early morning start to meet the others from the Inner West Environment Group doing the monthly bird survey along the section of The Greenway between Taverners Hill and Hawtorne Light Rail Stations. I arrived at the 7:30 meeting time. It was quite cold and still fairly dark, with the threat of rain, so the group as smaller this time.
White-plumed Honeyeaters
We found a good collection of birds along The Greenway. Here are some we saw before Marion Street – Continue reading
After visiting some fungi sites, I made my way down the Lane Cove River to see the nesting pair of Osprey. On the way to the park where their nest is, I had to negotiate a short section of cliff above the river. Here you need to place you feet in cut out steps and hold onto spikes. Its actually very easy to do, and you are just above the high tide level.
While I was doing this, one fo the Osprey flew past. I had my bird camera around my neck, but it is hard to hold onto spikes and take photos at the same time, so I missed the best shots. Continue reading
I plan to spend a full day in the Chatswood area, visiting two sites to look at fungi in the morning and then to walk along the Lane Cove River in the afternoon to see the Ospreys. For the fungi, I visited Ferndale Park and then Blue Gum Creek Reserve.
Ferndale Park Fungi
I was mainly looking to see what waxcaps were out. I didn’t see too much difference from my previous visit 8 days earlier. If anything some of the fungi had gone and not that much new had emerged. Here are the waxcaps – Continue reading
This turned out to be a fairly quiet day out on the headland. Not much bird or whale activity.
White-bellied Sea Eagle
I walked out to near Boora Point. I did spot some whales, but they wee not very active as they cruised past. Continue reading
Our Bushcare Group had been unable to operate because of the lockdown, and this was our first outing for many months. We were working on West Head close to the lookout.
We started off in sunny spot as it was a cold day. But it gradually warmed up and we were able to move into shadier zones. The weeds we removed were nearly all Mother of Millions. This invasive weed is easy to pull out – but the whole plant must be collected, bagged and then taken out. Our group removed around 300 kg during the day. Continue reading
This was a most interesting field activity with the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc to survey the fungi at Bola Creek in Royal National Park. We met at 10 am and then walked down to Bola Creek and next looked for, photographed and in some cases collected fungi till around 12:30 pm. After a lunch break, we discussed what we had found.
What was nice to and was an intriguing turquoise – teal coloured waxcap. We spotted two specimens. From the cap splitting, it looks like it may be a new species of Humidicutis. Here are some more pictures – Continue reading
It was nice to be able to visit the Zoo again. This was my first visit since the lockdown. Some new animals – a baby giraffe. And the return of the Lions. The new Safari section was now open.
I had to book my visit. Asa Zoo Friend this was easy to do, and just had to nominate a day for the visit rather than a time slot. When I arrived all the Zoo seemed to be open. Continue reading
Bob suggested a walk to Goochs Crater in Blue Mountains National Park. This sounded like a good idea. On the way we could visit the nearby Aboriginal site at Bald Trig.
Billabong Canyon
We turned off the Chifley Highway at the Zig Zag Railway and travelled out the Glow Worm Tunnel Road before turning off to Bald Trig. The past oar two the road was very rough, so we parked and walked he last part. I had been to the Aboriginal art sit there a few times, and on the second visit, knew it was hard to find. we were on the lookout for a small cave with a single faint hand stencil. This time it didn’t take too long to find – Continue reading
I joined Liz for a walk down Birdwood Gully at Springwood to look for fungi. I did not have that high hopes we would find a lot, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. We found quite a few waxcaps and also some other interesting species. There was also a lot of orchids out. This made for a nice morning.
Hydnoplicata convoluta
Early on, not far down the track from Poland Avenue, we found some Hairy Trumpet – Panus fasciatus out. Continue reading
