Kowmung River Slide Show

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.

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Fungi at Ferndale Park – 24 May 2020

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 →

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Wolli Creek Nature Walk – 23 May 2020

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 →

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Greenway Bird Survey – 23 May 2020

This was a pleasant morning spent with the Greenway Birdos doing a survey along a section of the Greenway near Waratah Mills Light Rail  Station.

Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading →

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More Canyon Slide Show Videos

I completed two more projects during the lockdowns. Both were videos composed of photos from sandstone canyons in the Blue Mountains.

The first consists of photos from the beautiful Hole in the Wall Canyon.

The second is photos of Wollangambe Canyon and some of its canyon tributaries.

Like my previous videos of this format, they were created in 4K format, and best viewed on an ultra high definition TV or monitor. If you are viewing on a Macintosh computer then you need to use the Chrome browser to see the 4K stream.

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Lapstone Monocline Walk – 21 May 2020

With the easing of the lockdown, I was able to resume by midweek bushwalks with Bob. We headed up the mountains with several trips in mind, but the weather looked bad higher up – rain, so we thought it wise to stop at Glenbrook and walk there. Bob hadn’t done the walk around the Lapstone Monocline that I had been on the year before and I was happy to repeat it. In the conditions it turned out to be a good walk.

Bob parked near the Visitor Information centre, and we soon crossed the highway and walked around the oval. Continue reading →

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Fungi in Sassafras Gully – 20 May 2020

This was my next trip to Sassafras Gully at Springwood to check out the fungi. This time i started down Fairy Dell and continued down Magdala Creek to Glenbrook Creek, then I walked upstream to the Lagoon, and out via the track at Sassafras Gully Road. I saw a reasonable amount of fungi out, and also got some good exercise.

A friend Liz, had recently seen a lot of Hygrocybe Reesiae out in Fairy Dell. They were still out and easy to spot. There were large troupes of them along the creek in the moss. Continue reading →

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Basket Fungi at Rhodes and Birds at Bicentennial Park – 19 May 2020

I was planning another day of bird photography at Sydney Olympic Park combined with some bike riding for exercise, and then I heard from Irene abut some Basket Fungi she had seen at Rhodes. I thought the two could be combined.

I took my bike on the train to Rhodes and then rode the short distance to Kokoda Park. Nearby, I found the Basket Fungi. This is the first time I have seen these amazing organisms. These ones are Ileodictyon gracile. They are a type of stinkhorn. And like stinkhorn they emerge from “egg” shaped structures. Continue reading →

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Curra Moors Walk – 18 May 2020

With the easing of the lockdown, it was nice to join Brian Everingham and some friends in the National Parks Association of NSW for a walk. Thanks to Brian for organising the walk. He had chosen a walk, that was mainly along fire  roads – so plenty of space for social distancing.

Bird of Paradise Fly

In the party were Brian, Faye, Valerie, Helen, Ross, Ian, Allen, Peter and myself. Continue reading →

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Some Nice Fungi at Bola Creek – 17 May 2020

I decided to have another look at Bola Creek to see how the fungi was going. Since my last visit, there had not been much rain, but the area had received a fair bit of rain in April (more than other parts of Sydney), and cooler weather should have kept the rainforest floor moist.

It turned out to be an excellent trip. I enjoyed the walk down from Waterfall Station to The Forest Path. And this time I could cross the Hacking River on stepping stones rather that taking off my shoes and socks and wading across. I then made my way to the rainforest section near Bola Creek as spent some time wandering around with my camera and tripod. Continue reading →

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