It had been a while since I visited Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside. I had been wanting to go there for a while, but I was not keen to who during railway track work, and it was also closed for a while due to flooding.
This visit proved to be fairly quiet in terms of the birds I photographed. I was after Sacred and Azure Kingfishers – but saw neither. And no Blue-faced Honeyeaters or other interesting birds.
Here are some that I did see – Continue reading
I joined Deb, Valerie and Sue for a very pleasant day walking around the Waterfall Walk on the south side of Lawson. We travelled up to Lawson by train, and after a coffee break at the Cakeshop, we were soon walking down to the start of the track.
The Autumn colours were out as we walked down the path along the side of Honour Avenue. Continue reading
This was another morning trip to photograph some local birds. This time I started at Barton Park, where it was fairly quiet, so I later stopped off at Cahill Park on the Cooks River to see if any Sacred Kingfishers were around.
When I arrived at Barton Park, I spotted a Heron flying off. I think it is a juvenile Nankeen Night Heron – Continue reading
I went for a morning walk along the Cooks River – from Illawarra Road – to the Princes Highway, and then walked back the same way. I was on the lookout for birds.
In particular, I was looking for the Sacred Kingfishers I had observed in the mangroves along the revere recently. Continue reading
I had seen a photo posted on Facebook of a green waxcap taken at Ferndale Park a few days before. I decided to make a visit to see if I could spot any. I travelled to Chatswood by bus, 2 trains and then another bus (yes, there was track work), and then walked down to the park on Swaines Creek.
There was not that much fungi out along the creek. Here is some that I spotted as I walked downstream. Continue reading
I had been planning on going on a fungi survey in the Blue Mountains at Coachwood Glen. But the road had been washed out due to recent storms and was still closed. So I was now able to join the Tempe Birdos on their monthly bird survey.
This time, I joined the group surveying Tempe Reserve. As usual, the survey ended with morning tea. After that, I walked home via the Cooks River. Continue reading
I travelled up to Springwood with Sue and we visited Birdwood Gully to see what the fungi would be like after the recent rain. After good falls of rain, you expect the fungi to be abundant a few days later. But – with massive fall of rain, the fungi is often not as good as you expect. There had been over 300 mm of rain fall in the area about a week earlier, and a further 11 mm two days before our visit.
The fungi turned out to be reasonable but not brilliant. And we had to hunt for what we saw. We also saw some nice birds. Continue reading
Bob was back from a New Zealand holiday, and suggested a walk to visit Goochs Crater. We were hoping to see it still full of water after the recent heavy rain event. I had seen some photos taken recently on Facebook.
So Bob drove to Bell and we then set off along the track to the Crater. It was pleasant walking along the easy ridge. Continue reading
I took part in the Greenway Bird Survey along the Hawthorne Canal between Taverners Hill and Hawthorne Light Rail Stations. The weather had turned quite cold – and this resulted in not that many birds being active. Particularly at Taverners Hill Light Rail Station.
Perhaps one reason, the birds were quiet at Taverners Hill could be that a Brown Goshawk flew over – Continue reading
Back in March, I gave a presentation on “The Magic of Fungi” via Zoom to the Southern Sydney Branch of the National Parks Association of NSW. The talk was recorded and is now online on YouTube –
