With a forecast of good weather, Bob and myself, changed plans, and headed out to Kings Tableland again. On previous trips to the Tableland, our main aim was to look for Aboriginal sites. On this trip, our goal was to climb a mountain part way along a ridge. So Aboriginal sites were a secondary consideration. But, as it turned out we had to pass one site that we knew about, and found two other sites that we did not know about.
As usual, we started with a fire road walk – Continue reading
Long Reef has been a very good location lately for bird photography, particularly for Ospreys. So with Malabar Headland closed off due to nearby shooting, I headed up to spend the day at Long Reef.
I arrived at the lookout on the headland around 10:45, and I spotted two Ospreys circling below the clifftops. Continue reading
I had the morning free, so headed to Sydney Park to see what birds were around. It turned out to be relatively quiet while I was there.
Here are some birds that I photographed – Continue reading
A new Regional Park had been announced by the state government at Woronora Heights near Engadine. It would be on land that was once formally owned by Sydney Water and had been earmarked for housing development. So it was good to see its conservation status being preserved. This is a very important area on natural land that links up with other natural areas in the Woronora River area. Brian Everingham had organised a walk in the area for the National Parks Association of NSW, and I joined the party.
Here are some photos from the day – Continue reading
I decided to visit Malabar Headland, as the eastern part of the National Park would be closed later in the week because of a school holiday shooting events at the rifle range nearby.
My visit started off very well, when I spotted a Black-shouldered Kite perched in a tree near the ridge range fence. There were plenty of people walking past it, that didn’t seem to notice it. Continue reading
It was the morning for the Tempe Birdos survey. As I had missed some recent surveys due to Fungi Group commitments, I was keen to head to Tempe once more. After the survey (and its concluding morning tea), I walked part way home along the Cooks River to photograph some more birds.
At Tempe, I joined the group surveying at Tempe Wetlands. Here are some birds we found. Continue reading
After being very disappointed at not seeing any reasonable fungi in Birdfwood Gully in the morning, I decided that when I got off the train at Central, I would catch a train to Turrella and walk along the Two valleys Track to Girrahween Park at Earlwood, to see if any fungi was out along Wolli Creek. I did find a bit out. And there also were quite a lot of orchids.
Gliophorus graminicolor
I travelled up to Springwood with Sue for a look down Birdwood Gully. We were hoping to see some fungi, but very little was out, and most of what we saw was in very poor condition. But, there were quite a few orchids out, and we also saw some birds.
Nodding Greenhood Orchid – Pterostylis nutans
Recently Bob and myself had been on two excellent walks on Kings Tableland to look at some of the amazing Aboriginal art that is hidden away in the bush. See here and here. We were keen to return, but the road had been closed for a period while grading was taking place. It had recently re-opened, so we headed out for our next trip.
Most of the art we saw on this walk, were motifs done in charcoal, and many were very hard to discern. But they were still very interesting. Continue reading
After the Greenway Bird Survey, I caught the light trail into the city, then changed to the light rail to South Sydney Juniors, then a bus to Maroubra Beach, where I met up with Sue. We were going to spend the day out on Malabar Headland.
Despite the rather late start, we had a great day, observing a pair of Peregrine Falcons, a Black-shouldered Kite and some Dolphins jumping out of the sea.
Near the National Park entrance, we spotted a sleeping Seal – Continue reading
