It was the morning of the Mudlarks Bird Survey along the Cooks River. This month, the group were surveying upstream from the Lang St Bridge to the Boat Harbour, then to Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands and back down that side.
Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading
Brain Everingham had organised a walk For the National Parks Association of NSW at Oatley Park, but before that he suggested a visit to the Myles Dunphy Reserve also at Oatley, and close to Oatley Station.
In the party was Brian, Valerie, Sue, Deb, Judy, Margaret, Suzanne and myself. The group met near Oatley Station, and then set off down one of the tracks into Myles Dunphy Reserve. Continue reading
I was keen to see what fungi was out in parts of Sydney before it dried out too much. So I set off from Macquarie Park Station and walked to Chatswood via the Lane Cove River, Blue Gum Reserve and Ferndale Park.
Here is some of the fungi I found – Continue reading
I attended the field study at the Waterfall Reserve at Mt Wilson with the Sydney Fungal Studies Group Inc. Rain data showed that about 60 mm or rain had fallen in the Mt Wilson area during the preceding week, but when we arrived we found conditions relatively dry. This meant that not that much fungi was found, and what was found was often in poor condition.
Nevertheless, we did find some interesting fungi.
Here are some photos – Continue reading
My friend Valerie had organised a trip to the Zig Zag Railway near Lithgow. One of the reasons for the trip was that she had never been to the Zig Zag before. Another reason was to celebrate her birthday. So with a large group of her friends, we boarded an electric train at Central bound for the tiny Zig Zag Station.
Except for the train being very crowded up to Katoomba, we had an excellent journey. We alerted the guard at Mt Victoria, and then detrained at Zig Zag. You need to use the last door of the last carriage to do this at the tiny platform. We then walked ashore way up to Bottom Points Station to board our train. Continue reading
Bob and myself decided on walk along the coast of Royal National Park in order to see big waterfalls and big seas. These were the result of the recent coastal low. We started from Wattamolla and walked along the Coastal Track to Eagle Rock, and then back the same way.
The highlight of the walk were the massive waves crashing against the coastal cliffs.
As we set off from Wattamolla, we saw this Rainbow Lorikeet – Continue reading
I spent another day at Long Reef, on the Northern Beaches, from about 10 am to nearly 4 pm, where I spent most of the time photographing the local Ospreys. Fortunately quite a few were around. At one stage there were five hunting for fish at the one time.
When I arrived at the lookout, there was one Osprey circling around. Continue reading
I was able to attend the Greenway Bird Survey – Dulwich Hill section. The weather was fine but quite cool, and we did not see as many small birds as usual.
Here are some of the birds we observed –
Rainbow Lorikeets
Brian Everingham had organised a morning walk, for the National Parks Association of NSW, in Royal National Park to look for winter orchids. In the party was Brian, Valerie, Elaine, Judy, Ken, Sue, Suzanne, Helen and myself.
The group met at National Falls, and explored the upper part of the falls. Continue reading
I was keen to visit an interesting nook part way down Leura Falls that I had read about in an essay by John Low in his book “Blue Mountains Byways”. The essay “A Secret Garden” is about a special place near the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls that was described in an early tourist guide as “Gwennies Grotto“. So I suggested a walk to Bob to visit the Grotto and some other nearby features.
It was quite cold when Bob parked at the top of the track, on Cliff Drive at Katoomba. Due to landslides and track work, a lot of the tracks were closed – including the Fern Bower Track and the Leura Cascades Track. Continue reading
