Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
No prize for guessing that you are looking at a male of its species.
This species – Malurus elegans, the Red-winged fairywren – can only be looked at in Australia’s southwestern corner.
Shy and secretive. Difficult to observe, says The Complete Guide to Australian Birds.
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Yesterday afternoon, overlooking an “iconic” Perth beach, I had an astonishing avian encounter.
I in no way resemble any alleged version of St Francis, and Cottesloe is very far from Assisi, but…
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This post’s photos were taken about 40 minutes after we had crossed the “vandalised” footbridge over the Denmark River.
Both show the same individual.
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The image shows the sign on the footbridge over the Denmark River, as recently modified.
Leave a CommentHarewood Forest is definitely not “virgin”.
Until well into the 19th century it was a pristine, very tall, Karri-dominant forest
By circa 1900 no grand trees remained; all millable timber had been “mined”.
Happily, however, the forest has regrown well.
Magnificent as are southwest WA’s tall trees – all, WA-endemic – they are far from their forests’ only “WA-only”, wonderful/wondrous-strange plants.
Leave a CommentThis series is the fruit of our most recent trip to our favourite part of Australia.
The featured image looks east from Wilson Head (which is immediately west/southwest of Denmark’s Ocean Beach and the Wilson Inlet) over to West Cape Howe.
Torbay Head – on the far/hidden, southeast tip of West Cape Howe – is Western Australia’s southernmost point.
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Where else in the world could one be less than 20 kilometres distant from an eminently civilised town of more than 40,000 permanent residents (plus a large number of tourists) , and enjoy the pictured experience?
My beloved and I are not visible in the featured image.
It does, however, show all other humans present at Muttonbird Beach during the late afternoon “golden hour” on 21 March 2021.
To reach this glorious, safe-swimming spot, on a perfect “beach day”, we drove for less than 30 minutes, on good roads…
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Some well-meaning 20th/21st century humans have viewed the pictured dunes as an unfortunate byproduct of 19th and/or 20th century overclearing and overgrazing.
In fact, this particular dune field was already part of the local landscape long before Europeans reached any part of Terra Australis.
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Both photos were taken late on a winter’s afternoon, near Margaret River.
Running on sand, through shallow water, is a pleasure enjoyed by many humans, horses and dogs.
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Sitting 450 metres ASL, atop Mount Barren at 9:43 am on 21 September 2021, all land within my westward field of a view – and very much more, well beyond it – was part of Fitzgerald River National Park.
To the west, the nearest coastal town was Bremer Bay, just outside the National Park’s western boundary.
Were I able to fly, Bremer Bay would be 80 kilometres distant from my vantage point.
By road, the distance is nearly twice that – the near-coast road only extends a few kilometres west of East Mount Barren
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