Geographe Bay and the Margaret River

Staying at Geographe Bay. Watching the humpback whale migration from Cape Naturaliste. The flowers and vegetation are all so interesting and colourful.

Humpback Whale migration South

New Holland Honeyeater

 Photos and  more to follow ..........

Perth WA by Dreamliner - Rottnest Island by ferry.

Great to be in  Perth  Its a great green city with a wonderful botanic garden in the Kings park and great river and coastal walks and cycleways. The birds are all so interesting and I have set out to photograph all that I see.

Wetland interpretive sign in Perth city centre

 

Galah bird in Kings park Perth

 

Rottnest Island off the coast of Freemantle is beautiful and we are staying right on the beach in a beautiful bay. The Island has stunning scenery and several large saltwater lakes in the centre and its here that I started my search for Fairy tern nesting sites. Its a bit early in the season but it will be good to suss out local knowledge for later in the season.

Rottnest Island secluded beaches

Osprey  Rottnest Island

 

 

White - fronted chat.  Rottnest Island

 

Red-capped Plover.  Rottnest Island

 

Crested Terns. Rottnest Island

 

Red-capped robin. Rottnest Isalnd

 

 

Quokka Rottnest Island

 

Bob-tailed lizard Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island

                             

'Giving Nature a Voice'

It was a surprise today to see that we made front page news  following our Naturepath press interview at Tuff Crater with Hannah Morris from the North Shore Times.  

Anne and I were very pleased to be able to express the views of our Forest and Bird North Shore Branch that a route incorporating Tuff Crater could avoid the NZ transport  option of a pathway running on the Eastern side of Shoal Bay so putting at risk and possible causing disturbance to our threatened NZ dotterels nesting along the edge of the motorway.

Naturepath would also be very accessible to the community to join at many points along its route.

Cinnamon

At the Ngataringa Community gardens today on a photographic project and watched this whitebird (blackbird) gathering nesting material.

When I  mentioned this to the Ngataringa team people they just casually said "Oh that's Cinnamon".

Piha with Bot Soc

The weather forecast was not looking good for the Waitakere Ranges however the rain kept off for most of our walk today. The sea was wild with a very strong westerly.

 

More to follow and photos

Press Release!

Enjoyed meeting up today with Hannah Morris from the North Shore Times and Anne, another North Shore F&B committee member. Hannah had shown an interest in Naturepath and had agreed to meet at Heath Reserve right next to Tuff Crater so that we could outline the route of Naturepath.


Hannah Morris photographs Anne and I overlooking Shoal Bay and the entrance to Tuff Crater.

Hannah and I have corresponded before regarding the pelicans on the Northern Waroa River near Dargaville when a small group from our local branch went on a pelican hunt in September 2013.

Hannah wrote up an article complete with photos about these visitors from Australia.

Tuff Crater entrance and the proposed route of Naturepath

Today we were showing  Hannah the  advantages of this nature friendly route, Naturepath, which would help protect the dotterels nesting on the East side of the motorway and also would link with community and Tuff crater.

New Website

That is protecting the NZ dotterels nesting in  Shoal bay.  Please check out my new Forest & Bird web for Naturepath. http://naturepathnorthshore.blogspot.co.nz/ and the 'About Me' link with NZ dotterel information.

 It's gradually being added to..........................

Bryde's Whale on East Coast Beach

Thank you Judy for allowing me, at late notice, to photograph your class at the Kaipatiki nursery this morning. It was a good opportunity to learn the process which will help with other sequencing photos that I may be taking soon.

A Bryde's whale was washed up on the East coast beach below Mangawhai but my change of plans didn't allow me to get to see this and the flooded river would have been impossible to cross particularly with the high tides at the moment. A team from the University were called.  I gather that the whale was approximately 11 metres long.

 It appears from expert examination that this whale was hit by a ship. Unfortunately this is how many of these whales are killed in the Hauraki Gulf. 

Good to meet up later Eliane and I enjoyed Rixs party. The fireworks were hilarious and some of the conversations and although I believe you could have danced for another three hours, I'm pleased that I didn't.

Under the Clock Tower

It's a date Eliane. I will be wearing something sassy-my walking boots!
And so we met for lunch and then had a muddy climb all the way to the top of Mt Tamahunga checking a new trap line that followed the fence line which appeared to be a favourite path for cattle hence the deep mud almost all the way to the top.

 It was steep and a funny moment when after negotiating some mud Eliane decided to clean her boots in the stream only to sink deeper the moment she stepped out of the stream. We laughed as her boots sunk deeper than before into the sticky squelchy mud but then I had to follow her and do the same.

 The descent was better via another trap line which followed a drier route. Just rats in the traps today which seems to correlate with winter and wetter weather as they search and take more risks for food.


A good fun walk with our usual humour and a very enjoyable day also visiting a little island before the light faded and not quite getting marooned for the night and having to fight over my muesli bar for breakfast. This was followed by a delicious Indian meal accompanied by a glass or two of Pino Gris.

Botanic gardens for the spring blossom

The botanic gardens put on a great show today of spring blossom and tuis were feeding everywhere. This is a great time of the year to relax and have time for reflection in these beautiful gardens.

Then later to Shoal Bay to check out the 3.3metre tide. Met up with one of the locals and passed on the good news that the Interpretive sign I have been working on with Forest and Bird using my  bird photography to show off the habitat has had the go-ahead from the Council. All we have to do now is cost it out, build it and then install it.

Kaipatiki Project planting at Eskdale Reserve.

I was pleased to be asked by Lisa to photography the Kaipatiki Project community planting at Eskdale Reserve this morning. This followed Andrea helping out on one of our recent Forest and Bird planting days at Tuff Crater. There was a great turn out of families and local supporters today.

 It had rained heavily last night so the planting area soon became swampy but this deterred no-one and I think for some of the children it added to the fun.

A great effort by all and a well organised planting by the Kaipatiki Project team.

I couldn't stop for the sausage sizzle as I had a lunch date at The Lake house in Takapuna and it was good to chat with a friend who I haven't seen for some time..

Boats cancelled -Strong Easterlies.

My visit today to Motuora Island has been cancelled due to strong Easterlies. The Tiri Island catamaran has also been cancelled. So we will catch up on other things today.

I was hoping  to be involved in more weta survey work. But also wanted to photograph spring flowers on the Island.

Karo is now in flower at Tuff crater, some trees showing their seed pods too.

I expect these high winds will cause many Karo flowers to drop.

Kahikatea Planting at Tuff

Ten large and very heavy kaihikatea trees donated by Don Turner of Takana plants were planted in wet areas this morning at Tuff Crater by a small group of Forest and Bird and other community volunteers. These trees love to have their feet wet and I have often watched silvereye birds searching for insects in kahikatea on the other side of the lagoon. Monarch  butterflies seem to also like feeding on them and I'm sure other small insects too..

Photos to follow....................

Fishing or Trapping?

Well actually some of both. We waded across the river, it was cold just 10 degrees. The air temperature around 11 degrees with the wind chill of a persistent southerly breeze down the river. But the sun was shining and Eliane was keen to continue her fish survey.

Native freshwater Crayfish / koura





I was keen to help and see what might turn up this time. This survey should give an indication of the health of the river and show the potential for food for foraging terns to feed their chicks. These native crayfish/koura are a good indication of healthy water quality.

Great evening with Suzy, George,

Anne, Eliane. Thanks All and a great wine choice Anne. You danced  your legs of at the 'Harley D' club Eliane!

 

More to follow.....................

Naturepath

Introducing Naturepath. A North Shore, Forest and Bird initiative for a proposed NATURE friendly cycleway and walkway linking the proposed harbour bridge Skypath, linking Northcote and Takapuna via Tuff Crater Reserve. This route avoids the sensitive Shoal Bay area which is a Site of Special Wildlife Interest.
 Naturepath Cycleway Route

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Harker Reserve -Tuakau

                                       Vivien falls Harker Reserve

A Bot Soc walk today. in the Harker bush reserve. I was pleased to get to grips with the identification on Diplodium trullifolium  with help from the group pointing out the embossed lower leaves and trowel like upper stem leaves

Mt.Tamahunga

Tagged along with Eliane for  a stroll checking 28 traps on Mt Tamahunga today along three trap lines.
Access to the forest across farmland to reach the  bush with stunning views to the coast.

Large rimu, tairaire, tawa and nikau.
The bright small red  berries of nertera carpet the forest floor in some place as we climbed the ridges and crossed streams in the valleys of Tamahunga bush reserve following the trap lines.

Then checking six coastal traps.

Thank you Anne for cooking dinner for two hungry people and thank you John for entertaining us. A neat evening

Karekare-Waitakeres

Following on from our recent trek up Whatipu beach I wanted to explore the Karekare end in more detail.

The idea was to  walk over the Zion hill track then down to the beach to check out the Tunnel campsite, exploring the wetlands on the way. It was a bit of a mud-slide coming down the hill but what can you expect it's the Waitakeres in winter.

I have been wanting to do this for quite some time but have been beaten by time, tide and weather. You can see from my star jump attempts that I was pleased to be here. Eliane was keen to explore a new area too.

Today was perfect and there are now plans to camp at the Tunnel campsite sometime in the future.

 Waterup or waterfall? Eliane is checking.

The longest mud slide?

Wrybill

Late entry.  I watched 43 wrybill feeding at low tide on the Bayswater side of Shoal Bay on Monday 28th July. Apparently there are 2500 at Miranda at the present time.