Birds at Nurragingy Reserve – 15 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

I made another visit to Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside to see what birds were out. My last visit had been very good – I was able to get some reasonable photos of a pair of Azure Kingfishers (although not at the same time), and had spotted a Rose Robin. I was again on the lookout for these birds and perhaps some others as well.

I arrived early, and went to the pond where I had seen the Azure Kingfishers on my previous visit. None were around, so I visited some nearby pools, looking for them or other birds. Continue reading →

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Birds at Warriewood Wetlands – 14 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

I travelled up to the Northern Beaches to visit Warriewood Wetlands and the adjoining Irrawong Reserve to look for and photograph birds. I didn’t have too much success spotting unusual birds on this visit.

I got off the B-line us at Warriewood and walked the short way past the shopping centre to the wetlands. There were lots of noisy Rainbow Lorikeets near the entrance. Continue reading →

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Back to Bushells Lagoon – 13 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

My previous visit to Bushells Lagoon at Wilberforce had only been a morning visit – and it had provided many opportunities to observe and photograph birds. I was keen to make a second visit to continue what I had been doing earlier.

Black-shouldered Kite

Like the last visit. I caught a train to Windsor, this time arriving earlier, and cycled out to Bushells Lagoon, this time via Freemans Reach. When I arrived no one else was around. Continue reading →

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Malabar Headland National Park – 12 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

I hadn’t been to Malabar Headland National Park for a while and thought it was time for another visit. It was not the most productive day it terms of photography however. I didn’t see any passing whales and not that many birds were active.

I did spot the resident Peregrine Falcon. It was around earlier, but in the late morning it had returned to one of its usual perches. However, it sat in the one spot for the rest of my visit. I had lunch while waiting for it to fly, looked out for whales and photographed gannets hunting for fish, but the Peregrine Falcon seemed happy to not do anything during the two hours I was in that area. Here it is just before I left two hours later – Continue reading →

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Birds and Fungi at Sydney Olympic Park – 11 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

The Sydney Fungal Studies Group were doing their second fungal survey at Sydney Olympic Park. The first one had been quite successful and was at the Newington Armory. This second one was at the Wentworth Common.

Brown Quail

At Wentworth Common, we were met by Tina, an ecologist working at the Park. The fungi turned out to be very poor, which was not surprising given that it haas been quite dry. Here are some of what we found (mainly old looking puffballs) – Continue reading →

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An Unsuccessful Attempt at Spring Creek Ridge Pass – 9 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

Bob had been keen on exploring a few of the lesser known passes on Kings Tableland. He devised a trip that sounded reasonable. Drive out Kings Tableland Road, park at the starts of the Lion Head track, then walk along the road for about 2 km then head off into the bus to a headland south of Spring Creek, hopefully descend the pass off the headland, then cross Spring Creek and ascend Holbeachs Descent – a pass onto Lion Head.

Lion Head from Spring Creek Ridge

The trouble was we had very limited information on the Spring Creek Ridge Pass. The Jamison Project lists the pass and has some information here, but the author did not actually traverse the pass. Continue reading →

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Birds at Bushells Lagoon and Pitt Two Lagoon – 8 May 2019

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Dave Noble

I had wanted to visit some of the wetlands near Windsor for a while now. The logistics of getting there via public transport was not too difficult – train to Windsor, and from there I could cycle to the locations.

Whistling Kite

I first visited Bushells Lagoon from the Wilberforce side – and there were quite a few birds around. Some were ones I had not seen a lot of before – like Straw-necked Ibis. There were also a few raptors flying around. Continue reading →

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Sassafras Gully Fungi – 7 May 2019

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Dave Noble

This was my next trip to Sassafras Gully to record the fungi. This time I started by going down to Fairy Dell and then to Glenbrook Creek via Magdala Creek, and then along Glenbrook Creek to the Lagoon, then up Sassafras Gully Creek and out via the track to Sassafras Gully Road.

It was a full day with a lot of fungi found. In particular, it was very pleasing to see quite a few waxcaps out. Here are some – Continue reading →

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Birds at Tempe Wetlands and Barton Park – 6 May 2019

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Dave Noble

I had an interesting day in my local area taking photos of birds. I spent about two hours at Tempe Wetlands (and Tempe Reserve) in the morning. I was looking out for honeyeaters, but things were a bit quiet. Perhaps not enough trees are flowering? Lots of them are in bud, so things should improve soon.

I did spot a few New Holland Honeyeaters and a White-naped Honeyeater. Continue reading →

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More Fungi of The Lane Cove Valley – 4 May 2019

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Dave Noble

I had visited the Lane Cove Valley not long before looking for fungi. On that occasion I had found some interesting species and want to make another visit to see how they had changed with time.

In particular, I had observed a species of Helvella. It was then small and quite hairy. What would it look like now? This trip, I entered the valley from Cheltenham – walking down Devlins Creek. The Helvella was just a short way upstream of the junction with the Lane Cove River (and on the Great North Walk track). I soon found the fungi, and could see they had grown, and now looked more familiar. They were Helvella aff. macropus. I had seen this species at Ferndale Park a few years before. Continue reading →

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