After finding some nice fungi and slime moulds in Sassafras Gully at Springwood, I thought it would be worth taking a walk down the Lane Cove Valley. I did indeed find a lot of Nature on display.
The Lane Cove River
I caught a train to Thornleigh and walked to Thornleigh Oval and then along the Great North Walk track. Not far along I found a nice cluster of Bonnet Orchids. Continue reading
After recent rain, I thought it worthwhile to return to Sassafras Gully to record some of the fungi and slime moulds. in 2015, I began a project of regular visits to the gully for fungi photography and I intend to continue this during 2016.
Inocephalus virescens
The good rainfall has meant the fungi season has started early this year. During last year’s fungi season, on visits to Sassafras Gully one thing that became readily apparent was that different specials of fungi appear at different times. Like last season, there seems to have been an early fruiting of red waxcaps (probably all Hygrocybe miniata). Waxcaps normally fruit only in colder weather (typically May – June – July), so it is interesting that at least some types do fruit earlier, and then have another burst of fruiting later in the season. Continue reading
Here is a list of fairly popular sandstone canyons giving what I think is grading for quality (1 – 5 with 5 highest quality) and technical difficulty (E = Easy, M = Medium, H = Hard)
Brian Everingham had organised a visit to the Landing Lights Wetland in the Rockdale area for the National Parks Association to mark World Wetland Day. I joined his party. This wetland is just within the Cooks River Catchment.
I had never been to this wetland before. This was despite it being adjacent to the Cycle Path I have often ridden along that connects the Cooks River to Botany Bay. The Landing Lights Wetland is quite different to the other nearby wetlands at Cup and Saucer Creek and Tempe in that they attract a lot of migrating birds. Continue reading
After visiting Hole in the Wall Canyon the day before, Dan was keen to visit Bowens Creek – South Branch on the Sunday. I had visited this canyon, not that long before, so suggested we enter it part way down via a small tributary canyon from the south. This small canyon is probably the most popular entry point to the south branch, but it had been many years since I had gone in that way. My memories of that canyon was that it was nothing special and I had tended to avoid it as it takes you in too low into the south branch. This time, it was quite nice – with high water after the thunderstorms the afternoon before.
The party was the same as the day before – Dan Lauren, Sharon, Gabriel, Bridget, Wendy and Dave. Continue reading
Dan and friends were coming up from Canberra for a weekend of canyoning. Wendy and myself joined him. The party was – Dan, Lauren, Sharon, Gabriel, Bridget, Wendy and Dave. The first canyon Dan wanted to visit was Hole in the Wall Canyon in the Wollangambe Wilderness. Dan, and the Canberra group had driven up the night before and camped near the Waratah Ridge carpark. There had been some thunderstorms that afternoon (and Wendy had had her power cut off for an hour or so). Wendy and myself joined Dan’s group on the Saturday morning at the carpark.
I had visited Hole in the Wall Canyon not that long before, but it is a “showcase” canyon that I am always happy to visit again. Continue reading
An old friend, Blue Mountains based nature photographer Ian Brown, has an exhibition at Braemar at Springwood coming up soon. Should be worth a look.
I spent an enjoyable afternoon walking along Wolli Creek between Bexley North and Tempe yesterday. I was mainly on the lookout for any fungi, but I also spotted a lot of lizards and a multitude of millipedes.
Blue Tongue Lizard
It is very early in the fungi season, but there has been a lot of rain recently, so I thought it was time to check out Wolli Creek. There was a fair bit out, but most of the fungi was not that interesting – just white Amanta species (white mushrooms). Continue reading
Wendy had organised two days of canyoning in the Blue Mountains. Digi Dave and myself joined her. On the first day, Jan was also along. As the weather forecast was for cool and wet weather, we chose some drier canyons. As it turned out, on the second day we thought is was too cold for canyoning so we went to Medlow Bath for a walk.
The two canyons we visited on the first day were The River Caves and then Deep Pass Canyon.
The River Caves
We walked down the track to the top of the canyon. Once in the canyon we took our time walking through it. I think I walked down it and back up it twice – taking photos as I went. We had lunch in a nice cave at the bottom end of the canyon. Continue reading
I was hoping before setting out on this walk, that the water levels in Kanuka Brook would be higher than on a previous visit to Grey Hat Falls so I could obtain some better photos. Also, it was an overcast day – much better for photographing waterfalls.
Grey Hat Falls and the Crayfish Pool
So I left from Glenbrook Station, and walked to the Blue Mountains National Park entrance and down to the Causeway. Glenbrook Creek was flowing nicely but it was still easy to cross. I then proceeded up the track up Camp Fire Creek to Red Hands Cave. Continue reading
