Ferndale Park Fungi – 5 May 2025

Another short trip, to look for fungi between squalls of rain. I was keen to head back up to Ferndale Park at Chatswood to look for fungi, but it was a bit difficult getting up there. There was a lot of trackwork on the railways which made things difficult. But I worked out a solution – bus to Sydenham, train to Town Hall, then a bus to Chatswood from outside the QVB. This worked out OK, except the bus was quite slow. All the way up, I watched the  rain radar, and when I arrived it looked like I would have a reasonable amount of time before the next rain came.

The fungi turned out to be quite good, and there was plenty to photograph. But the rain did come back a bit too early, and I had to curtail my activities before I wanted to stop. But it was still worth all the effort to get there. Continue reading

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Wolli Creek Fungi – 4 May 2024

Back home from Tasmania, I was keen to head outdoors and look for fungi. There had been a fair bit of rain in the greater Sydney region lately. But the rain was still around, and I had to make the most of short spells between showers. I decided to do a short afternoon trip to Wolli Creek Regional Park, and see if any fungi was out.

I was pleased to find a lot of fungi out, especially in Girrahween Park. Here is some that I spotted – Continue reading

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Tasmania – Goat Island Reserve – 27 and 30 April 2024

While I was visiting my sister and brother in law in Tasmania, I made two visits to the coast near their house. They live close to the Goat Island Reserve – a beautiful section of the north coast of Tasmania that is noted for its wildlife and geological features.

Goat Island can be walked out to in low tide, and is a very interesting place to visit. Here is a selection of photos – Continue reading

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Tasmania – Bird Photos – 26 April – 1 May 2024

While I was in Tasmania, I took some photos of birds around my sister and brother in law’s house at West Ulverstone, along the nearby coast at the Goat Island Reserve, and also at the Don Reserve at Devonport. But the first photos of the Pink Robin were taken at Philosophers Falls, near the carpark.

Continue reading

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Tasmania – Photographing Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks

While I was in Tasmania I thought it worthwhile having another attempt to photograph the Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. Earlier, I had photographed the comet in Sydney and only obtained very poor results. Would the darker skies of Tasmania be better? They should be. And also – this time there would be no full Moon, and the comet would be higher in the sky – making it easier to see in the twilight. But, the comet would be further from the Sun – so a bit dimmer in intrinsic brightness.

Finding the comet –

I was limited in the lenses I had available. I used an f4 20-70 mm zoom lens fully open at f4. Here is a wide angle shot taken at 6:46 pm. It is a 15 second exposure at 3200 ISO, at 20 mm. Continue reading

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Tasmania – Fungi at the Montezuma Falls Track – 29 April 2024

I had never visited Montezuma Falls before, and I would think they are one of the more spectacular waterfalls of Tasmania. The walk to the falls is very worthwhile – and easy walk along the embankments and cuttings of a narrow gauge mountain tramway – through magnificent rainforest, and past some old mining history.

Being more on the West Coast, it was much wetter than previous places we had visited, consequently the fungi was generally better. Continue reading

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Tasmania – Fungi at the Upper Natone Reserve – 28 April 2024

The next fungi excursion in Tasmania was to the Upper Natone Reserve. On this visit the fungi was relatively poor compared to previous occasions. But we still found some.

I was with my sister again, and we completed two circuit walks – the usual one around the large pond, and then a second shorter walk – signposted as the 15 minute walk (the walk took longer with photo stops). Continue reading

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Tasmania – Photographing the Aurora Australis – 26 April 2024

While I was visiting Tasmania, I kept a lookout for the Southern Lights – The Aurora Australis. There had been a very good one a day or two before my visit. During one evening, there was a reasonable Aurora Australis. It was difficult to see any glow with the naked eye, but it showed up in a long exposure photo. Unfortunately, my observing location was very poor at my sister and Brother in law’s house at West Ulverstone. There was a row of trees to to the south and the southern outlook was slightly uphill.

The photos were taken around 11 pm. Details – 20 mm f4, 10 seconds, 3200 ISO. Continue reading

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Tasmania – Fungi at Philosophers Falls – 26 April 2024

In the North West of Tasmania, Philosophers Falls near Waratah has been my favourite location for photographing fungi. So it was great to be able to visit this location again with my sister.

Here are some of the fungi we found – Continue reading

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Tasmania – Fungi at Castra Falls – 25 April 2024

The second fungi trip in North West Tasmania was to a favourite place to look for fungi – The Castra Falls circuit. Again, I was accompanied by my sister who spotted a lot of the fungi we found.

We started from the Silver Falls side. The waterfall almost had no flow. It has been quite dry in this part of Tasmania recently. But despite the dry conditions, a fair bit of fungi was observed. Here is some – Continue reading

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