Visit to Mt Kaputar National Park – 26 October – 1 November 2024

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Dave Noble

My friend Wendy invited me to join her on a trip to visit Mt Kaputar National Park. It’s a place that I have never visited, but have been keen to go for a long time. We had a marvellous and fascinating trip.

Mt Kaputar in the highest point of the Nandewar Range which lies east of Narrabri. It features a wild volcanic landscape, a bit like the nearby Warrumbungles.

Wendy drove all the way to Mt Kaputar National Park in one long day from her home in the Blue Mountains. On the way there, via Mudgee, we stopped at the small town of Mullaley where we had lunch in a park. There was a surprising amount of birds within this small park. Continue reading →

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Jungaburra Ledges and Wilkinson Hill Walk – 24 October 2024

Posted on November 12, 2024 by Dave Noble

I think this walk is a staple of the Upper Blue Mountains Bushwalking Club. It uses a rock climbers access track, from Bells Line of Road,  then deviates through untracked bush, and then you descend to a lower ledge, which you follow around into Jungaburra Brook. This takes you to the rock climbing area – Bell Supercrag. You then cross Jungaburra Brook and continue in the other direction – downstream, on the same ledge, past more of the crag, and then eventually you can climb up an easy pass to Wilkinson Hill and then back to Bells Line of Road.

I had long wanted to explore the area around Wilkinson Hill, and Bob suggested doing the ledges as well. The sounded like a good plan. Continue reading →

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Cooks River Birds Update – 23 October 2024

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Dave Noble

In the afternoon, I walked along the Cooks River, upstream from the Lang St Bridge up to Canterbury Road. I was mainly wanting to see how the Tawny Frogmouths were going.

I first stopped off at the cricket nets. I soon found that the Tawny Frogmouth chick had fledged. Here is the family – Continue reading →

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Birds at Sydney Park – 23 October 2024

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Dave Noble

I spent a few hours in the morning at Sydney Park to see how the birds were going.

Here are some photos – Continue reading →

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Malabar Headland – 21 October 2024

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Dave Noble

I joined Sue for a pleasant day on Malabar Headland. We were hoping for some Peregrine Falcon action – but we totally failed in that regard. We saw a single Peregrine Falcon fly past the cliffs at high speed a few times, but it didn’t seem to stay around.

Here are a few photos – Continue reading →

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Nurragingy Reserve – 20 October 2024

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Dave Noble

I spent a very pleasant and interesting day at Nurragingy Reserve photographing mainly birds. The highlights were a family of Australasian Grebes and the Sacred Kingfishers.

I started with the Australasian Grebes. There were four chicks – often residing on their mother’s back, which is what Grebes do. The parents are basically mobile nests. Continue reading →

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Northern Beaches Peregrine Falcons – 19 Oct 2024

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Dave Noble

I travelled up to the sea cliffs of the Northern Beaches of Sydney again to hopefully photograph some young Peregrine Falcons. I was hoping that the chicks may have fledged.

I for that one of two chicks had fledged and appears to be flying well. The second chick seems to be a lot less developed, and while it could fly between rock ledges, I never saw it do a large flight. It also exhibited some strange behaviour that perhaps indicates a problem. Continue reading →

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Sculpture By The Sea – 18 October 2024

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Dave Noble

I joined Valerie and Sue for a visit to Sculpture By The Sea – 2024. We started at Bondi Beach and walked to Tamarama Beach and then returned the same way – so we could see most of the sculptures twice. And by “most” – I mean that not all of them were assembled or in place.

Here are some photos – Continue reading →

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Northern Beaches – Aboriginal Art Sites and The Dee Why to Curl Curl Undercliff Walk – 17 October 2024

Posted on October 25, 2024 by Dave Noble

Bob and myself had been talking about doing the under cliff walk between  Dee Why and Curl Curl for some time now – but to do it requires not only a low tide, but a very low tide. And with some probable wading – it would be good to attempt it during the  warmer months. We had suitable conditions on the afternoon of the 17 October. That left us the morning to visit some Aboriginal Art sites in the area.

Bob picked me up at Gordon Station, and on the way, we  stopped off at St Ives to see another heritage horse trough. This one is an Annie and George Bill Horse Trough – Continue reading →

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Photographing Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS – 16 October 2024

Posted on October 23, 2024 by Dave Noble

I had previously photographed Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as an early morning object. It was then quite bright. It had now been around the Sun and was visible as an evening object. I had looked a few nights earlier and had no luck spotting it. There were some clouds and it was probably still too close to the Sun. This afternoon had stated cloudy, but the clouds seemed to be lifting as evening approached. I made my way to Dulwich Hill Station – a place that gives a reasonable view to the west.

It took a long while to spot the comet (forgetting to bring binoculars didn’t hep). I eventually spotted it on the back screen of my camera, and then centred the camera on it and took more exposures. Here are two photos –

Continue reading →

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