It was a wet day, so Bob and myself decided to do a walk on West Head in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park to continue our quest looking for Aboriginal engravings. Many of these engravings are very faint – and easier to see when the rock platforms are wet.
On the day we visited five art sites. Continue reading
I had recently heard a talk on the history of the Quarantine Station on North Head by archeologists Greg Jackson and Pam Forbes. They gave this presentation to the South Sydney Branch of the National Parks Association of NSW, and it is available online on YouTube (see link below). So when Brian Everingham put on a followup walk to see the Quarantine Station on there NPA Walks Program, I took the opportunity of joining him. I turned out to be a very interesting place to visit.
The Quarantine Station is at present a ‘hotel” of sorts – with accomodation for paying guests in a unique part of Sydney. But the land is owned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and there is full public access to the site. Continue reading
This was a return visit to spot I had already been twice previously to look for Parrot Waxcaps (members of the Gliophorus psittacinus group). On the last visit, I had seen one, but had found six on the first visit. Would more be out?
After a lot of searching, I spotted one of the Gliophorus psittacinus group. See the photo above and below. Continue reading
After more recent rain, I decided to check the status of fungi along Wolli Creek. I checked out areas near Bray Avenue, and then walked all the way downstream to Jackson Place, then walked over the hill and down the steps to Illawarra Road, and caught two buses to get home.
Here are some of my photos I took along the way. First I looked off the track in a section upstream from Paperbark Creek. In past years I have seen good fungi here, but so far this year, there had been very little. Now things were at last starting to improve. Continue reading
I had a very pleasant day with Sue and Valerie at Birdwood Gully at Springwood. We travelled up together by train and after a coffee stop, we were soon walking down the track. The rain at Springwood in the recent storm had been a lot less than in Sydney. The rain gauges at Faulconbridge had recorded about 25 mm on Saturday (compared to over 100 mm for many places closer to the coast).
We had good weather, and found a good amount of fungi. Here is a selection – Continue reading
On my way back from Ferndale Park, I decided to stop off at Sydney Park and see if any new stinkhorns had appeared after the recent big fall of rain. I had visited the park a few weeks earlier and found an amazing number of stinkhorns in some of the new garden beds. These beds had fresh wood chips – and for a year or two, leech out nutrients favoured by certain fungi like stinkhorns. My previous visit had been a few days after a big fall of rain, and a lot of the stinkhorns I saw there were well past their best. This time, the rain had been the night before, so I was hopeful more would have popped up.
I did find a lot of stinkhorns, but a lot of them were still in pretty poor condition. I now think that it’s due, not them drying out, but rather due to too much rain falling and water logging them.The stinkhorns were of two species. Continue reading
During the afternoon and evening of the day before, a Saturday, around 100 mm of rain and fallen in Sydney. The Sunday forecast looked a lot better, so I set out for Ferndale Park to see how the fungi was going.
I found a fair bit out, although some of it had been washed out by too much heavy rain.
Here is a selection – Continue reading
Saturday was a very wet day – with close to 100 mm of rain falling. But the rain came later in the day, and the bird survey along the Dulwich Hill section of the Greenway went ahead as usual. (Note that this survey was not held on the usual day)
Here are some of the birds we saw – Continue reading
Bob had suggested a walk to visit Bennett Gully at Blackheath. So after parking at the Hat Hill carpark, we set off along the ridge up to Hat Hill and beyond out towards Bald Hill.
A lot of the way along there were great views. And some flowers – Native Iris – Continue reading
I had a few hours spare in the morning, so I made a visit to get an update on the fungi at Wolli Creek. I only had time to check out the area around Girrahween Park – downstream to the climbing area.
Here is some of the fungi I saw – Continue reading
