It was good to be able resume going on bushwalks with the National Parks Association of NSW. I enjoy Brian Everingham’s walks as they go to interesting places, and there is always time to look at interesting aspects of Nature and to ask questions and take photos.
This walk, was from Engadine to Kangaroo Creek, then a climb up the far side and around Robertsons Knoll and then back to Engadine. In the party, as well as Brian and his wife Faye, were Sue, Allen, Roger, Helen, Claire, Ross and myself. Continue reading →
I had a pleasant walk from Bexley North to Tempe. Along the Two Valleys Track I was on the lookout for mainly birds and fungi.
Along the way I didn’t see too many birds (I probably heard more, but they were hiding), but I did spot some nice fungi. One of the birds I got a glimpse of was this Brown Goshawk – Continue reading →
On this walk I went from Eastwood, down Terrys Creek to the Lane Cove River, then followed the track by the river downstream (Part of the Great North Walk) to the DeBurgh Bridge, crossed the bridge and exited to Macquarie Park. I had two main aims – to check out the fungi in Terrys Creek and to also look to see if the Parrot Waxcaps, the Gliophorus psitacinus var. psittacinus, was out.
Well – I didn’t find too much fungi along Terrys Creek, but I was pleased to find the Parrot Waxcaps out lower down the valley. Continue reading →
This was a very pleasant and interesting walk in the Upper Blue Mountains with Bob and Douglass. Bob had worked out a good plan to visit Lerida Gorge which runs into Arethusa Canyon. It contains Alpheus Canyon which is often used as an exit route by parties visiting Arethusa Canyon. On my last visit to Arethusa Canyon we had exited that way.
We drove to Leura and then along the Mt Hay Road. We were stopped at the barrier due to road work ahead. We set off on foot and soon encountered the road plant. Soon past this, we continued walking to reach the Fortress Ck carpark. We walked out the fire trail towards the Fortress for short way before tuning off along a side ridge. Continue reading →
This was another nice day spent in Sassafras Gully at Springwood looking for and photographing fungi. On this trip, I started out at the track from Sassafras Gully Road, then walking down to Glenbrook Ck, and out via Magdala Ck and Fairy Dell.
I found a reasonable amount of fungi out – but only at certain places. It was not evenly distributed along the track. In particular I was looking for waxcaps, and I found a nice range of them. Continue reading →
I recently completed a video made up of photos taken in the Western and Eastern Arthur Ranges in South West Tasmania. This is one of my favourite places for bushwalking in Australia. Its also a place that I have visited quite a few times, and have been fortunate to experience a range of weather conditions. To view a sunrise from one of the high peaks of the range is very special. I think the Arthur Range contains not only the best glacial scenery in Australia, but also Australia’s best peak – Federation Peak.
It is not easy country to traverse. A lot of scrambling is required, all food and equipment must be carried – often for 12 days or more for a full traverse of both the Western Arthurs and the Eastern Arthurs. And the weather is often notoriously bad. The slide show is made up from scanned slides from trips in the 1980’s to the early 2000’s, and then digital photos taken more recently.
Like my earlier slide show videos, it is best watched at full 4K resolution on an ultra high definition monitor or TV. If watching on a Macintosh computer then use Chrome browser rather than Safari to see the 4K stream.
I hope it allows people who are not able to visit the Range to get feel for its grandeur and beauty.
I was joined by Digi Dave for an interesting and enjoyable day looking for fungi to photograph at Bola Ck in Royal National Park. There was a fair bit out.
Hygrophorus involutus
I was looking for waxcaps, and found a fair few. Here are some – Continue reading →
During the lockdown, I completed another slide show video project. This one features the beautiful Kowmung River in the Southern Blue Mountains.
The Kowmung River is one of my favourite places to visit. It is a great place to bushwalk to and to camp at. The crystal clear pools and the rapids that separate them are magic. It lies in Kanangra Boyd and Blue Mountains National Parks, it is a declared Wild River, and it is also within the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. And yet the NSW Government plan to destroy the lower part of it. This is what will happen if the height of the wall at Warragamba Dam is raised. Temporary flooding of the lower valley will lead to permanent damage to this pristine river.
Please watch the slide show video at the highest resolution (4K). The last section of it shows the part that will be destroyed.
I spent an interesting morning at Ferndale Park at Chatswood seeing what fungi was out. I think I was a bit too soon after recent rain, and more fungi will emerge over the next week or two.
It was pleasing to see he green clubs, Microglossum viride again after an absence of a few years. They were growing in exactly the same spot I had seen them before. Continue reading →
In the afternoon after the Greenway Bird Survey, I headed out to Wolli Creek to see how much fungi was out. I also took a camera to photograph any birds I saw.
As it turned out, there was not too much fungi around. There had been quite good rain in the area recently, but it was too soon after the rain for the fungal fruiting bodies to emerge. Here is some that I found – Continue reading →
