Home Top Index Australian Pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) and Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia) in the shallows of Lake Goegrup. The photo was taken by my Mavic Mini drone, 2021/01/06. This seemed to be as low as the drone could go without significantly disturbing the birds; I didn't go lower and the birds were still in place when I brought my drone back. Clicking on the image will show them in more detail.

The same birds seen from ground level Photographed using a Canon Ixus 190, 2021/01/06

A section of the Serpentine River from above. Photo taken by my Mavic Mini drone, 2021/01/01. St Ives retirement village in a loop of the Serpentine River. This is illustrative of the way that human development is encroaching on the bush of the Peel region. Just in the 28 years that I have periodically visited WA, Mandurah in particular, I have seen huge areas developed for housing and commerce, largely at the expense of the native bush. Photo taken by my Mavic Mini drone, 2021/01/01. Australian pelican, Pelecanus conspicillatus, on the Serpentine river, Greenfields Riverside Gardens Reserve. Photographed using a Canon Ixus 190, 2021/01/16 Australian white ibis Threskiornis molucca, less complimentarily, but perhaps more commonly, known as bin chickens, because of their habit of picking up scraps and scavenging in bins. Unlike so many birds, they are often conspicuously dirty. Photographed using a Canon Ixus 190, 2021/01/14   Home Top Index A black cockatoo. There are several species, there is not enough distinguishing characteristics on this image to identify the species. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/28 Serpentine River, Greenfields, a Mandurah suburb Koolyanga Reserve, Greenfields; Serpentine river on the left. My drone attracts interest from passers-by. I'm the one in the foreground on the right here, the walker with his dog stopped to chat. This was one of the first photos I took with my first drone, a Phantom 3 Advanced. Unfortunately, keeping up even a light conversation does not aid the concentration required to fly the drone and take photos, especially when you are learning. Photo December 2015 The Serpentine River at Greenfields. Dolphins are often seen feeding in this river. Photo 2021/01/13, Canon Ixus 190   Home Top Index A jetty on the Serpentine, Riverside Gardens Reserve, Greenfields. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/12/27   Home Top Index An Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae), on the Serpentine. An alternative common name is the snake bird; it has a long thin neck, not conspicuous here because it is folded. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/12/26 Relaxing on the Serpentine on Boxing Day, 2006. Australian pelican and silver gull. Riverside Gardens Reserve, Greenfields.   Home Top Index At crossed purposes Photo iPhone 7, 2006/12/26 Grey Teal, Anas gracilis, on the Serpentine river, Greenfields Riverside Gardens Reserve. Photographed using a Canon Ixus 190, 2021/01/12   Home Top Index A cormorant dries its wings on an early morning with a mist on the water. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2008/06/03 Early on a misty morning on the Serpentine river looking toward the low sun Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2008/06/13   Home Top Index A rush forming a tiny island on the Serpentine river (or the Peel Inlet). Reflected sky and gum trees. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2008/06/13

Home Top Index Sunset at Dolphin Quay Photo 2020/12/29, Apple iPhone 7 panorama

A calm evening, Dolphin Quay Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/25   Snowy egret A snowy egret, Egretta thula, at the Mandurah foreshore. It seems there is little or no distinction between herons and egrets, or perhaps egrets are a sub-group of herons? Photo 2021/01/14, Canon Ixus 190 Wildflowers, probably garden escapees, on neglected land on the island in the lagoon to the southwest of central Mandurah. (I think, from memory, it was Boundary Island.) Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/22 A macro photo of another of the ferals. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/22 And another... Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/22 Leaves (of a Hakea?) and papery-bark of a Melaleuca (commonly called a paper-bark tree), also on the island southwest of central Mandurah. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/22

Home Top Index Sunrise over the Peel Inlet. The Peel Inlet covers an area of about 135 square kilometres, with an average water depth of around 1 to 2 metres. It is very popular for recreational boating, dolphin spotting, and crabbing. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/14

Sunrise on the Peel Inlet Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/13 Sunrise (or was it sunset?) on the Peel Inlet Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/09 An island in the Peel inlet, late afternoon light Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/27 Crabbing on the Peel Inlet, a Pelican in the distance Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/10   Home Top Index

Caspian tern

A Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia), with pied cormorants and the Peel Inlet in the background. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/09

A beautiful but unidentified flower Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/29 Eucalypt flower and buds Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/29 Len Howard Conservation Reserve, on the Peel Inlet, Mandurah   White ibis A feeding white ibis, Threskiornis molucca, commonly called a bin chicken (but we shouldn't be common should we - LOL). Some typical vegetation of the banks of the Peel Inlet. Melaleuca (paperbarks) in the foreground, a red samphire (Tecticornia species) beyond that. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/20   Home Top Index   Galahs Feeding galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla), one of the most common of the Australian cockatoo species. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/20

Left of centre is an egret (snowy egret? Egretta thula) and right of centre is a yellow billed spoonbill (Platalea flavipes). There seems little doubt that the other two would be one or other of those species, but the photo shows insufficient detail to be sure.   Home Top Index Seen from the Len Howard Conservation Reserve trail. Among the dead trees is a red samphire (which indicates frequent flooding with saline water and that is probably a factor in the deaths of the trees). Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/25

Another view in the Len Howard Conservation Reserve. The bird in the centre appears to be a snowy egret. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/25 Is a place where many birds roost called a rookery, or should that word be reserved for rooks? Anyway, in this little lagoon off the Peel Inlet in the Len Howard Reserve it is common to see a great many roosting or preening water birds. In the foreground are at least some Pacific black ducks (Anas superciliosa) and it seems like some grey teal (Anas gracilis), which look very similar. The Pacific black duck has a distinctive black line through its eye. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/25

Yellow billed spoonbills

Yellow billed spoonbills in the same 'rookery' as the ducks above. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/25

Pied oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris) Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/29   Home Top Index Halls Head (?), Mandurah I'm not at all sure of the location of this scene, but it could be Halls Head beach. The limestone columns are remarkably similar to those of The Pinnacles, north of Perth. There are also a very few that can be seen from the train just a few kilometres north of Mandurah. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/11

A Grevillea flower with a nectar gathering bee in the township of Dwellingup. Dwellingup is a small town in the Darling Range that runs roughly parallel to the coast. The rocks of the Darling Range (alternatively called the Darling Scarp) are some of the oldest in Australia and the world, about two and a half billion years. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/12 Eucalyptus erythrocorys, red-capped gum, blossom and cap, Dwellingup.   Home Top Index With its strongly contrasting flowers and caps this is one of the more showy of the gum trees and one of my favourites. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/12

Looking northward along the coast of Lake Clifton, many thousands of thrombolites. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/13 The west coast of WA is one of the best places for harvesting clean, sustainable wind energy. A wind farm was proposed for the Lake Clifton area, but the proposal was dropped because of the selfish opposition from a number of the local people who placed their personal aesthetic preferences before the urgent need for action on reducing the emissions from fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels is widely recognised as the main cause of climate change, ocean acidification, sea level rise and ocean warming. The air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels kills millions of people world-wide each year. I have written elsewhere about why I support a wind farm proposed near my house and why might someone oppose wind power.   Home Top Index Perth

A beautiful park on the south side of Hay Street in the Perth CBD. I sometimes enjoy a few minutes relaxing in this park after donating blood at the nearby blood bank. Photo 2018/04/03, Apple iPhone

The Western Australian Museum was closed for more than four years for renovations.   Home Top Index It is a pretty terrible thing for a city as isolated as Perth (about 2,500km to the nearest similarly sized museum at Adelaide) to go over four years without a major museum; a great loss to the children of Western Australia in particular. But the rebuilt museum is extremely good, perhaps worth the wait. Photo 2021/12/30

Kings Park, Perth The botanic garden section of Kings Park is one of the best and most interesting in Australia, not least because many Western Australian plants are endemic to WA, not found anywhere else in the world. Kangaroo paws (Genus Anigozanthos, kangaroo paws and catspaws) Photo iPhone 7, 2018/09/26 I believe that the common name for these is catspaws (Genus Anigozanthos, kangaroo paws and catspaws). Photo iPhone 7, 2018/09/26   Xanthorrhoea in Kings Park A view from Kings Park over South Perth; yaccas (Xanthorrhoea) in the foreground, Swan river lakes in the middle distance and the Darling Scarp in the far distance. Yaccas (and the similar looking but unrelated Kingia) are distinctively Australian, for more information on the genus see Wikipedia. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/09/28   Home Top Index Sand plain plants in a Kings Park botanic garden bed. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/09/26 A very tame red wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata) looking for crumbs at one of the cafes in Kings Park. Photo iPhone 7, 2021/01/10   Home Top Index Zamia Park, a part of Kings Park 'Living rocks' in the Zamia park area of Kings Park, Perth. Quoting the sign in the foreground, "Stromatolites and thrombolites are lumpy, layered living rocks. They are built by slimy, microscopic life forms with ancient ancestors, called cyanobacteria. Once found in oceans, lakes and swamps with enough light, today stromatolites and thrombolites only occur in bays and lakes with a rich supply of limestone. Stromatolites and thrombolites are easily damaged and are protected in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area and Lake Clifton by boardwalks." Photo iPhone 7, 2018/09/26 For more information see stromatolites and thrombolites in Wikipedia. Stromatolite or thrombolite fossil limestone pavement at Kings Park. The paving slabs have apparently been cut using diamond saws. Living stromatolites occur in Hamlin Pond at Shark Bay and thrombolites occur in Lake Clifton, both in Western Australia. Stromatolites also occur in some of the salt lakes in Innes National Park of South Australia and precambrian fossil stromatolites occur in the Flinders Ranges of SA. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/09/26

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Wave Rock is something like half-way between Perth and Norseman, the beginning of the Eyre Highway. It is on the Granite Woodland and Discovery Trail. Quite a long way from anywhere very much, but well worth a visit. I don't know the people in this photo, but it was fortunate that they were there, they greatly improved the image. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/31

Another section of Wave Rock. The rock is a large granite insulberg. Part of it was once used to collect rainwater. The town of Hyden is nearby (was it built nearby because of the potential of collecting water from Wave Rock?) Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/31   Home Top Index Lichen on Wave Rock. Lichen interests me, as a photographic subject and botanically too. Similarly to coral, which is a symbiotic relationship between an animal and an alga, lichen is a symbiotic relationship between a fungus and an alga. In both cases the alga is provided with a home by the hosting organism, and both benefit. Lichen also features on my page of macrophotos. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/31   Home Top Index Manjimup Diamond Tree The Diamond Tree was one of several tall kerri trees (Eucalyptus Diversicolor) that had a fire lookout box built on the top. Three of them were open for the public to climb - a remarkable thing in a time when all public authorities seem terrified of accidents and public liability claims. I was not surprised when I looked up the Diamond Tree at the time of writing to see that it "is now permanently closed to climbing". However, the closure was not due to an excessive concern about possible accidents, it was due to an apparently reasonable concern over fungal rot in the tree. The two similar fire-watch trees, the Gloucester and Bicentennial trees, were still open for the public to climb. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/05/19 The Diamond Tree and the ladder that the public was allowed to use to climb it. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/19 Climbing the Diamond Tree. It was challenging to climb for someone like myself who was uncomfortable with heights. My granddaughter, Anna Uren, also climbed it later, about 2017, when she was about seven. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/05/19   Home Top Index Stirling Range I've posted more photos and written about a later, September 2022, visit to the Stirling Range elsewhere on this site. Stirling Range vicinity A canola crop on the way to the Stirling Range from Esperance. Photo Canon EOS 350D DSLR, 2009/10/08 "The Lily", a dutch style windmill near the Stirling Range. See The Lilly for more information. The owners provide accommodation and "The Lily Windmill is the only operational flour producing windmill on mainland Australia." Coincidentally, a great grand uncle of mine, John Dunn, in 1842 owned a flour grinding windmill near Nairne in South Australia, before changing to steam powered flour milling. Photo Canon EOS 350D DSLR, 2009/10/08 Bluff Knoll

Bluff Knoll, the highest peak in the southern half of Western Australia. I climbed Bluff Knoll about 1961, on my first visit to Western Australia. At the time the road across the Nullarbor had an unsealed section of several hundred kilometres, from Penong in SA to the border as I recall.   Home Top Index Bluff Knoll, the highest peak in southern WA is a similar altitude (1098m) to Saint Mary Peak, the highest peak in southern SA (1171m) and the climb up Bluff Knoll (645m) is a similar vertical distance as that up Saint Mary Peak in the Flinders Ranges (630m). Perhaps the main difference between the two climbs is that while Bluff Knoll is mainly a steep climb from the beginning, one must walk more than four kilometres along undulating ground before starting the climb to St Mary Peak. Photo 2018/10/05

Bluff Knoll and Kingia australis This view of Bluff Knoll was recorded when my wife and I visited twelve years before the photo above. The grass tree on the left is only distantly related to the superficially very similar Xanthorrhoea. This is Kingia australis. The seed heads of the two species are very different; this one has a short stalk with a 'knob' on the end, the Xanthorrhoea seed head is a long, usually straight, stem. Kingia occur naturally only in WA, Xanthorrhoea can be found in many parts of Australia. See Wikipedia for more information on the Kingia species. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16 Kingia, mist, burned scrub and mountains. A shot looking toward the west from the Bluff Knoll car park early in the morning. An area of ground-hugging mist is visible beyond what must be an area burned by bushfire. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16   Home Top Index Looking toward the west from the car park at the foot of Bluff Knoll. Bluff Knoll is near the eastern end of the Stirling Range. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/05

Home Top Index My wife and I had a cabin at Stirling Range Retreat. We got up before sunrise this day and drove to the parking area at the base of Bluff Knoll. This photo was taken on the way. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16

Looking back over the ground-hugging mist from the elevated ground at or near the Bluff Knoll car park. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16

A more distant view of the ground-hugging mist. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16

Stirling Range compared to Flinders Ranges and the Grampians; All three are beautiful, the latter two are very popular with nature-loving tourists but the Stirling Range is relatively rarely visited; why? It has long intrigued me that while the Stirling Range is comparable in beauty to the Flinders Ranges of South Australia and the Grampians of Victoria there is very little accommodation and other development for nature lovers in the near vicinity.   Home Top Index Near the Stirling Range National Park there are, so far as I know, only a couple of accommodation places (Stirling Range Retreat, "No-nonsense lodgings with kitchenettes" and The Lily, which has as a feature a replica of a traditional Dutch windmill, see above) and one cafe (Bluff Knoll Cafe) - I can recommend both the Retreat and the cafe, I haven't visited The Lily - but that is all. The closest town of any size to the Stirling Range is Mount Barker, about 40 kilometres to the SW. (I've mentioned Mount Barker Wind Farm on another page on this site). There are a number of cafes, hotels, caravan parks and other developments in the Flinders Ranges and the Grampians. (I have also written some comparisons between the Flinders Ranges and the Grampian in a page on biocrusts.) The Flinders Ranges covers much the greatest area of the three, 30,000 square kilometres, 400 kilometres from south to north; the Grampians covers about 2,400 square kilometres, 85 kilometres south to north and the Stirling Range covers about 1,100 square kilometres, 60 kilometres east to west. I should also mention the much smaller Porongurup range here too, about 12 kilometres long and 30 square kilometres in area, 30 kilometres south of the Stirling Range. The Porongurups are much more developed for tourism than the Stirling Range. There is much to attract anyone with a love of nature, geology, botany, wildflowers, views and hiking in all three (or four). A difference between them is that while only parts of the Flinders Ranges are protected by national parks, all of the Stirling Range and Grampians are within specific national parks (or forestry reserves in some parts of the Grampians). The Stirling Range National Park in particular contains largely undisturbed bush. Another difference is that while the Grampians and particularly the Flinders geology is dominated by distinctly bedded and folded sedimentary rocks, forming long typical cuesta ridges, the very ancient (1.2-2 billion year-old) rocks of the Stirling Range are metamorphic and lack the conspicuous bedding of the other ranges. (The Porongurups, of similar age to the Stirling Range, are remnants of granite intrusions.) The Flinders Ranges are also known for their colour, showing more of the red of the arid inland than the other ranges. The distance from Adelaide to the most popular part of the Flinders Ranges (440km) is similar to the distance from Perth to the Stirling Range (400km). The Grampians are 260 kilometres from Melbourne and 460 kilometres from Adelaide. The relative lack of interest in WA's Stirling Ranges is a mystery to me. The fact that they cover a smaller area than the Grampians and Flinders would be a factor, but the Porongurups are even smaller and are much more developed for tourism. It could be a matter of few people go, few people spend time there because there are few facilities and there are few facilities because few people go and spend time there; a 'catch 22' situation. Another relevant factor would be the great distance from the big population centres of the Australian east coast and the fact that there is plenty to attract interstate visitors to WA that is closer to Perth.

Home Top Index A view of the Stirling Range looking back toward the east from near the western end. The Stirling Range is not far from the Porongurup Range which seems to be geologically distinct but also has a number of attractions (and more accommodation and other developments). Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/05

Yacca A telephoto view toward the west from the Bluff Knoll car park; a Xanthorrhoea in the foreground. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16 Wildflowers in the Stirling Range

Pincushion Hakea, one of the more spectacular of the Western Australian native plants. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/16

Wildflowers in the Stirling Range - I don't know the species. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/05 Another wildflower in the Stirling Range. Again, I don't know the species.   Home Top Index Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/05 Several species of wildflowers of the Stirling Range. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/05 The pink flower is a member of the Fabaceae family (pea or legume group), also in the Stirling Range bush. In the background is a yacca (Xanthorrhoea). Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/05   Home Top Index Unidentified wildflower in the Stirling Range Photo 2009/10/08

Stirling Range view

Hiking in the Porongurups, getting close to Castle Rock. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/06   Home Top Index This photo may have been taken in the Stirling Range, but I think it is more likely from the Porongurups. In the foreground is, I think, woolly bush, Adenanthos sericeus. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/17 Wildflowers, Porongurup Range Flowers on a vine of the Fabaceae family (pea or legume group) in the Porongurup Range. The photo was taken on the climb up to Castle Rock with an iPhone 7, 2018/10/06 Porongurup wildflowers. I would have liked to have more time to photograph wildflowers in both the Porongurups and Stirling Range on this visit, but as I was with my wife, daughter and daughter's family I had to 'keep up with the crowd'. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/10/06   Home Top Index Denmark, south coast

Sunrise on Wilson Inlet south of Denmark. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/18   Home Top Index Part of Wilson Inlet to the south of Denmark. Again, early morning, the best part of the day for photography. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/17 Melaleuca trees in the Denmark River. The section of the river that this photos was taken in is probably tidal and the water brackish. Melaleuca, common name paper-bark (another form is the tea tree), are very salt-tolerant. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/17   Home Top Index

A Grevillea blossom near Denmark Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/17 Coal mine, Collie One of the less attractive places in Western Australia; Griffin coal mine and Blue Waters power station, Collie. The Blue Waters power station has two 233 megawatt turbines. At the time of writing the state Liberal Opposition in WA had ambitions of closing down this, and the only other coal fired power station in the state. Australia's energy future is with renewable energy although various federal Liberal/National coalition governments, including the Morrison government, in power at the time of writing, are doing everything they can to support the dying coal industry and fossil fuels in general. Photo Canon PowerShot S2 IS, 2006/05/15

Some of the outdoor part of the Gravity Centre. The panorama photo above was taken from the top of the leaning tower. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/04/19   Home Top Index One of the telescopes used in the public astronomical viewing evenings at the Gravity Discovery Centre, others are in the background. The roof of this building rolls away while the viewings take place. Photo iPhone 7, 2018/04/19

Eucla, in the far southeast of WA The Eucla telegraph station, now overrun by coastal sand dunes, was built in 1877 as part of a chain of telegraph stations from South Australia to Western Australia. Wikipedia provides a substantial article on the town and telegraph station. I don't recall, but think that this photo must have been taken in the late afternoon, judging by my wife's shadow and the sea in the background (it must have been taken facing the south). Photo iPhone 7, 2006/06/02

The old Eucla telegraph station, about sunset. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/06/02

Pied cormorants on the old Eucla jetty Photo iPhone 7, 2006/06/02   Home Top Index Eucla coastal sand dunes. We stayed in Eucla over night and came back for some more photos early in the morning. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/06/03 Eucla coastal sand dunes early in the morning. We were on our way home from Western Australia to South Australia. Sometimes these dunes are depicted as desert dunes. There are no desert dunes in this area so far as I know. Certainly there are many in various Australian deserts, but all the Australian desert dunes I've seen are fairly well vegetated, not mostly bare like these. There are dunes on Kangaroo Island at a place called Little Sahara. Certainly they couldn't be called desert dunes, the area gets a substantial annual rainfall. They are about three kilometres from the coast, with quite a lot of vegetated land in between. Photo iPhone 7, 2006/06/03

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