It had been quite wet about a week before, so I was hoping some late season fungi may be out at Ferndale Park and Blue Gum Reserve at Chatswood.
I started out at Ferndale Park, then walk to Blue Gum Reserve. I was a bit disappointed with the fungi I found. There was a not a lot out and little of what I found was fresh. Continue reading
Enmoore organised this walk. It was one I had suggested a while back as being well worth doing. This was after doing it back in 2017. In the party were Enmoore, Wendy, Martin, Steffy and myself. And special thanks to Wendy for picking me up at Queens Road after an overnight bushwalk.
We started out at Delmonte Avenue at Medlow Bath, and then followed the fire road that leaves he avenue about 100 m from the highway down towards an old flying fox. On the way, we turned off and followed a track to The Three Brothers. Our plan was to descend to the half way ledge and then follow that to Blacks Ladders in the new Ngula Bulgarabang Regional Park. Continue reading
On our overnight bushwalk to Lawson Castle, I took advantage of the clear skies of the early evening to look for and photograph Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). Like my attempt a few days earlier from Sydney, I could not see the comet with the naked eye. Nor could Don with his binoculars. The sky was a lot darker up in the mountains compared to the light polluted sky of Sydney. But the nearby almost full Moon was a bit overpowering making it hard to see faint objects.
But the camera easily picked it up. I took a few photos. The red lines in the photo above mark the position of the comet. It has the same green colour that it had when I photographed it from Sydney. Here the details are – 85 mm f 1.8, 4 seconds, 1600 ISO. Continue reading
Two friends, Dave Os and Don, had organised an easy bushwalk out along the fire trail that leaves Queens Road at Lawson. The plan was to walk out a few kilometres, then look for a campsite on a high point, then spend some time exploring the area. They were joined by Rik, Digi Dave and myself.
On the walk out, we were on the lookout for wildflowers and birds. Here are some birds we spotted – Continue reading
I travelled by train to Wyong and spent a nice day at the Central Coast Wetlands at the old Pioneer Dairy. I had been a fair while since my previous visit – in late February.
Southern Emu-wren
I had a full day of bird photography. Here are some of the birds I saw – Continue reading
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) has put on a very good show in the Northern hemisphere. It was however briefly visible in Australia – but it was when the comet was moving away from the Sun and rapidly fading. Could it be seen from Sydney? The location of the comet was shown in Stellarium, so I knew where to look.
The evening of the 29th July was fairly clear of clouds around dusk, so I started scanning the sky in the comet’s location area with binoculars. I could not see anything. So I set up camera on a tripod and took some photos. By looking at a magnified image on the rear LCD screen I could clearly see a tiny green dot – it was the comet. I centre the camera at that spot and took some more photos. My view was hindered a bit by some overhead cables, and I was hoping that as the comet lower in the sky, the view would improve. Also, it would then be a bit darker – so the comet may show up better. But no. A bank of clouds rolled in and that was that. Continue reading
This was a walk of the National Parks Association of NSW. It was organised by Brian Everingham, but at last minute he was unable to attend. But we still completed the walk and had a very interesting and enjoyable outing. In the party was – Deb, Sue, Pam, Jitka and myself.
We met at Waterfall Station and then travelled to the start of the walk at the south end of Lady Carrington Drive by two cars. We then set off around the loop walk of the Forest Path in the clockwise direction. Continue reading
During a period of wet weather where I was confined indoors, I completed a project on the Grose Valley. This is one of my favourite places in the Greater Blue Mountains. It is a place I have photographed many times. So I hunted through my photo library and compiled a selection taken in the Grose Valley into a 4K resolution slide show. The completed project is now available for viewing on YouTube.
The video slide show features the massive sandstone cliffs that flank the upper part of the valley and the waterfalls around its rim. Some of the plants, animals and fungi that can be found are shown. Blue Gum Forest and the Grose River are featured. Continue reading
It had been a very wet three days. Not worth venturing outside. But during the time, I was distracted by the calls of some birds outside. I went out to my balcony and noticed a small flock of Australasian Figbirds in a tree nearby.
There were about a dozen of them. All looking very wet. They seemed to be eating the fruit in the tree. Earlier in the year, this same tree attracted Flying Foxes when the fruit was ripening. Now the fruit seemed old, hard and dry. Continue reading
I had been looking forward to a fungal survey of Wolli Ck with the Sydney Fungal Studies Group, but that had been called off due to hardly any fungi being out along the valley. This cancellation enabled me to join the monthly Greenway bird survey near Waratah Mills.
The weather remained fine, and we found quite a few birds out. The highlight was a White-headed pigeon that flew past at speed, too fast for me to see or photograph. They are rarely seen in the inner west. But some of the other birds were easier to photograph. Continue reading
