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Early Spring Bush Blossoms in Sydney (Part II)

Amazingly enough, there are still many more Spring bush flowers that can be photographed and identified. Below are a couple more that I have come across on my travels.

Left to right from top: 1) I have only ever seen two of these white flowering bushes and they were standing next to each other! I'm guessing it is a Crowea/ wax flower of some sort, 2) Wiry Bauera/ Dog Rose 3) two photos of the native irises out at the moment. The darker purple iris I've blogged about previously (the Short Purple Flag), but the paler purple iris on top is called the Leafy Purple Flag or Wild Iris, and I only came across it recently. When seen in person they are very distinctively different types of purple, which I'm not sure you can gauge here. 4) Pink Matchheads/Heath Milkwort, 5) I see this upright white flower cluster in various bush parks a lot, but have been unable to find a name for it!  6) the tiny but perfect (and in some parts abundant) Lesser Flannel Flower.

Early Spring Bush Blossoms in Sydney

Here are some (yes, that's right - some!) of the Spring flowers that are blossoming in the Sydney bush. It is by no means a comprehensive gallery, as there are many that I have not included. I feel pretty certain I will be an updating who's who in the bush flower scene in a week or two. Meanwhile... 

Clockwise from left to right: 1) A pink boronia - but uncertain of the exact type. My money is on it being a Pinnate Boronia. 2) An Austral Indigo (a pink pea), 3) a pale yellow gum blossom, 4) a mauve wax flower, 5) Short Purple Flag/ Fragile Iris - these are absolutely everywhere is some parts of the bush and are especially eye catching as they tend to cluster around the bush paths in a very fetching manner, 6) Blue Dampiera which is really quite abundant also along paths in attractive electric blue clusters, 7) the tiny and delicate Slender Violet Bush, 8) the small but all of a sudden (like just today) everywhere Violet Kunzea.

Clockwise from left: 1) Large Leafed Bush Pea, 2) Smooth Parrot Pea, 3) a maroon Boronia (which I only see in one particular sandstone heath), 4) Slender Sun Orchids, 5) Fine leafed Bush Pea, 6) Coast Coral Heath, 7) Pink Wax Flowers. 

Clockwise from top left: 1) the beautiful Waratah I photographed a week or two ago opening up as the days get warmer, 2) Red Spider Flowers absolutely everywhere - I had thought they had had their season, but no they seem to be only just starting! 3) Grey Spider Flowers also really only just hitting their stride, 4) the very delightful and showy Rose Boronia or Sydney Rock Rose that I only see in one location, 5) a mumma sooty swamp wallaby with a joey in her pouch - OK not a flower, but anyway... 6) the pale green Common Chloanthes which actually flowers for most of the year, 7) an erect Guinea Flower, not to be confused with the Bundled Guinea Flower I blogged about in July, 8) the Narrow Leafed Hovea. Phew!

Most of this info I got from my trusty Cronin's Key Guide (Australian Wildflowers) by Leonard Cronin, and the very comprehensive Sydney's Wildflowers and Native Plants blog which helped out when I couldn't find something in Cronin's book.

Sydney: late August flora and fauna

A large pelican (are they any other size?)balancing comfortably on tree stump by a local lake,  Eggs and Bacon (Heathy Parrot Pea), Grey Spider-flower, Native Lilac (False Sarsparilla), a kookaburra, Heath Fuchsia with a backdrop of Showy Boronia and a rare pink Spider Flower.

Crimson Rosella

The ridiculously good-looking Crimson Rosella - accessorised with gum blossom.

Showy Boronia and July flora and fauna (part II)

Below is the first Boronia of the season: Showy Boronia. It's absolutely everywhere in some parts of the bush at the moment.

Below are more July (mostly!) flora and fauna. From top left: Pine-leaf Geebung (actually I took this photo in February, but only recently found the name for this flower), more wattle currently in bloom, a Phebalium squamulosum type flower out now, a Snow Wreath, Blackeyed Susans, bundled Guinea Flowers, a very large and industrious echidna foraging for food in a park I visited recently, a cobalt blue Dampiera triloba.

Sydney flora and fauna: July

Top left hand corner and down as follows: Acacia longifolia or Sydney Golden Wattle, Slender Rice Flowers (a lot along bush paths but only in one park!), Sweet Wattle, a mum Swamp Wallaby (joey in pouch), Long-leaved Fivecorners, Gingko tree, white duck, and black and white duck.

Sydney Wildflowers - Autumn/ Winter

The many and varied banksia aside, I would have thought the Autumn/ Winter Sydney bush flower scene would be relatively quiet as the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop. However, I have been amazed at the amount and variety of pretty flowers scattered around the heaths and  forested areas here in Sydney at the moment. Below are just some of the Sydney bush flowers now on display:

Clockwise from top left: 1) Red Spider Flower 2) Mountain Devil 3) Clustered Scented Myrtle 4) Mauve Wax Flowers 5) Sunshine Wattle 6) Red Fivecorners and 6) Needlebush

Sydney bush Autumnal flora and Fauna

A few photos of the flora and fauna I've encountered in the bush this month.

From the top left hand side and clockwise: fuchsia heath in full bloom, an eastern water dragon sunbathing on a rock, orange bracket fungi and rainbow bracket fungi decorating a tree stump, abstract designs created by lichen on a rock by the harbour, a handsome lace monitor striding purposefully across a bitumen path, a fit looking laughing kookaburra (actually taken in the city's Hyde Park), and cherry pink tea tree blossoms.

Out and about - March/ April photos

Here are a few photos I've taken on my travels recently:

1) The GPO clock 2) the stylish Art Deco entrance of the State Theatre 3) the decommissioned historic wooden escalator in Wynard train station now preserved and displayed as art: the "Interloop". 4) a handsome moth on the Great North Walk 5) a night jar in the Australian Museum 6) an example of a common mushroom sprouting up everywhere recently - this one from Garigal National Park 7) one of many sandstone faces that adorn the GPO (now Westin Hotel) 8) a rainy day reflection of the palm trees along College Street.  

Portrait of a Young Powerful Owl

It was very nice to meet an adolescent powerful owl the other day. He was very intense. About a year and a half ago, possibly his mother/ father was seen in the very same location. The mother/father powerful owl was head and shoulders bigger than this young owl (maybe 65 centimetres/ 26 inches tall)! Around the same time, I heard a local powerful owl (maybe the mother/father) hooting in the backyard - it was incredibly loud! It sounded like someone yelling "WHOO - HOO!!!" through a megaphone! They are not called "powerful" owls for nothing.