nature and travel – Page 60

Rocky Bay, Swan River estuary

Published October 19, 2022 by Pelidoug

Walking along the path atop Rocky Bay’s cliffs, full-on residential suburbia is generally only a few steps away.

If you look over and down to the other (south/ southeastern) side of the Swan, residential suburbia, yachting facilities, and assorted urban infrastructure oft encroach to within a few steps of water’s edge.

Miraculously, however, on the top/ edge of the steep, cliffy (North Fremantle/ Mosman Park) side – and immediately below, on/near that shoreline – Rocky Bay is altogether wilder and lovelier than is usually true of a riverine environment within a “premium residential real estate” area of a capital city

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Domestic front yards/gardens, North Fremantle

Published October 16, 2022 by Pelidoug

Domestic front yards/gardens, North Fremantle

16 October 2022 was – even by Perth standards – a particularly benign Spring day.

All photos in this post involved a long lens peeking over North Fremantle residents’ front fences, into gardens of highly diverse persuasions; the “unkempt” and the “manicured” proved equally alluring.

The two first images were taken from Stirling Highway’s western footpath; I suggest you zoom in/enlarge – the Hibiscus’s stamen is especially worth a closer view.

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Feel the serenity…and the aggro

Published October 13, 2022 by Pelidoug

Feel the serenity…and the aggro

During last Saturday afternoon’s “golden hour” at Lake Monger, both were very apparent.

Above: a Great Crested Grebe, newly in “breeding” mode/plumage.

Below: a very territorial Dusky Moorhen, in hot pursuit of a rival/“intruder”.

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Stolid feet, dancing bill…and a bit of “pelican yoga”

Published October 5, 2022 by Pelidoug

Stolid feet, dancing bill…and a bit of “pelican yoga”

Over the relevant eight minutes I remained seated, as the sole pelican’s feet stayed still, several metres away, ”planted” in shallow water near Lake Monger’s western shore.

S/he reminded me of several Irish button accordion masters I have viewed from a similar distance – their feet moving not at all, but their body’s upper half highly mobile, its many movements oft-unpredictable.

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150th Birthday today: Kings Park

Published October 1, 2022 by Pelidoug

150th Birthday today: Kings Park

On the first day of October in 1872 the British Parliament declared a Reserve on Perth’s Mount Eliza,

The new Perth Park overlooked the then decidedly modest capital of the Colony of Western Australia.

In 1901 Perth Park was renamed Kings Park, following the coronation of King Edward VII.

Until more than a decade into the 1900s, Perth was smaller than not a few of eastern Australia’s country towns.

Paradoxically, one reason why Perth managed to have a bigger, wilder – and, arguably, more wonderful, and equally central – city park than New York’s Central Park is that when it was p/reserved, Kings Park’s site would have been viewed as utterly superfluous to Perth’s future urban expansion.

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Teal, dependents…

Published September 28, 2022 by Pelidoug

Teal, dependents…

Perth’s Lake Monger sits within the Federal electorate of Curtin.

It was named after a Labor Prime Minister, but until 2022 Curtin was generally regarded as a perpetually-“safe” Liberal seat.

Curtin’s mostly-affluent electors include the adult residents of Australia’s wealthiest postcode.

In 2022, however, Curtin “fell” to “Teal independent” candidate Kate Chaney.

Apolitically speaking, Teals have thrived here for at least many thousands of years.

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Here comes the sun…

Published September 22, 2022 by Pelidoug

Here comes the sun…

..and the Sun Orchids, in Perth’s Shenton Bushland.

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Carnivore/ sexual deceiver (probably)/ bird-fanciers: Wireless Hill, Spring 2022.

Published September 14, 2022 by Pelidoug

Carnivore/ sexual deceiver (probably)/ bird-fanciers: Wireless Hill, Spring 2022.

Each of the headline’s descriptors applies to one or more of this post’s species – all blooming a deal less than a kilometre away from both a large shopping centre and one of Perth’s arterial roads.

For just about any “exceptional”, “extreme”, or “weird” form of flowering plant behaviour, southwestern Australia is the global hotspot.

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Birds, not bees: Wireless Hill, Spring 2022

Published September 12, 2022 by Pelidoug

Birds, not bees: Wireless Hill, Spring 2022

Unsurprisingly, southwestern Western Australia produces many different honeys, each deliciously distinct.

The most prized varieties are produced from rare, endemic species.

However, Western Australia’s southwest also has the world’s highest proportion of flowering plants that do not feed and/or seduce/deceive insect pollinators; these flowers (all, endemic species) favour birds.

(a few rely also/instead on particular, very small, also-endemic mammals)

WA’s floral emblem is bird-adapted.

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Winter afternoon on Smiths Beach (2 of 2)

Published September 10, 2022 by Pelidoug

Winter afternoon on Smiths Beach (2 of 2)

Above: dude running after “his” dog, as rain dimples the surface of Smiths Beach’s shallows,

Below: Big, wintry sky, Indian Ocean.

Both are colour photos, taken when shades of grey “ruled”, briefly.

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Category: nature and travel