Tasmania – Photographing Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Dave Noble

While I was in Tasmania I thought it worthwhile having another attempt to photograph the Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. Earlier, I had photographed the comet in Sydney and only obtained very poor results. Would the darker skies of Tasmania be better? They should be. And also – this time there would be no full Moon, and the comet would be higher in the sky – making it easier to see in the twilight. But, the comet would be further from the Sun – so a bit dimmer in intrinsic brightness.

Finding the comet –

I was limited in the lenses I had available. I used an f4 20-70 mm zoom lens fully open at f4. Here is a wide angle shot taken at 6:46 pm. It is a 15 second exposure at 3200 ISO, at 20 mm. Continue reading →

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Tasmania – Fungi at the Montezuma Falls Track – 29 April 2024

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Dave Noble

I had never visited Montezuma Falls before, and I would think they are one of the more spectacular waterfalls of Tasmania. The walk to the falls is very worthwhile – and easy walk along the embankments and cuttings of a narrow gauge mountain tramway – through magnificent rainforest, and past some old mining history.

Being more on the West Coast, it was much wetter than previous places we had visited, consequently the fungi was generally better. Continue reading →

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Tasmania – Fungi at the Upper Natone Reserve – 28 April 2024

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Dave Noble

The next fungi excursion in Tasmania was to the Upper Natone Reserve. On this visit the fungi was relatively poor compared to previous occasions. But we still found some.

I was with my sister again, and we completed two circuit walks – the usual one around the large pond, and then a second shorter walk – signposted as the 15 minute walk (the walk took longer with photo stops). Continue reading →

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Tasmania – Photographing the Aurora Australis – 26 April 2024

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Dave Noble

While I was visiting Tasmania, I kept a lookout for the Southern Lights – The Aurora Australis. There had been a very good one a day or two before my visit. During one evening, there was a reasonable Aurora Australis. It was difficult to see any glow with the naked eye, but it showed up in a long exposure photo. Unfortunately, my observing location was very poor at my sister and Brother in law’s house at West Ulverstone. There was a row of trees to to the south and the southern outlook was slightly uphill.

The photos were taken around 11 pm. Details – 20 mm f4, 10 seconds, 3200 ISO. Continue reading →

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Tasmania – Fungi at Philosophers Falls – 26 April 2024

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Dave Noble

In the North West of Tasmania, Philosophers Falls near Waratah has been my favourite location for photographing fungi. So it was great to be able to visit this location again with my sister.

Here are some of the fungi we found – Continue reading →

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Tasmania – Fungi at Castra Falls – 25 April 2024

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Dave Noble

The second fungi trip in North West Tasmania was to a favourite place to look for fungi – The Castra Falls circuit. Again, I was accompanied by my sister who spotted a lot of the fungi we found.

We started from the Silver Falls side. The waterfall almost had no flow. It has been quite dry in this part of Tasmania recently. But despite the dry conditions, a fair bit of fungi was observed. Here is some – Continue reading →

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Tasmania – Fungi at Ferndene Reserve – 24 April 2024

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Dave Noble

I was on a short visit to Tasmania to see my Sister and her husband. But while there, I was also keen to see some of the fabulous fungi that Tasmania is famous for. However, this time, I was visiting during a drought. Would any fungi be out? The first place my sister and myself visited was reassuring – Ferndene Reserve, at the base of the Dial Range near Penguin.

It was quite dry, but we still managed to find some reasonable fungi. Continue reading →

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Photographing Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Dave Noble

I had tried on two earlier evening to photograph the Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks without even seeing it. My observing location was the bridge over the railway line at Dulwich Hill Station. The first of the night was not that clear, but the second was, and I concluded that the comet was probably behind some trees. So I tried a different observing location – on the foreshore at Leichhardt where I could get a much better view to the west.

This time I was successful. But the photos are poor. You can see the comet – but not much of its tail. In the photo above – it is the higher object – the pale green one. Continue reading →

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Fungi at Ferndale Park – 21 April 2024

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Dave Noble

With an improvement in the fungi at Wolli Creek, I thought it may be worth seeing how the fungi was going at Ferndale Park. It has a better rainforest environment – and retains moisture for longer. But the area near the creekbed (Swaines Creek) has been scoured out – so no fungi there at present.

On this visit, I did find the fungi much better than my previous visit a week earlier. A lot of the fungi I found was growing on wood. And it was pleasing to see some colourful coral fungi appearing. This is often a good sign that waxcaps will appear soon in hopefully good numbers. Continue reading →

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Wolli Creek Nature Walk – 20 April 2024

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Dave Noble

In the afternoon, I headed to Wolli Creek Regional Park for a Nature walk. I was on the lookout for fungi, and also birds.

I did find some fungi. The amount out, is not huge – but better than previously. Continue reading →

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