Tag:Parks Victoria

serendip sanctuary

Birding Hotspots – Serendip Sanctuary, Lara

One of my favourite birding hotspots is Serendip Sanctuary. Situated in Lara, not far from Geelong, the sanctuary is home to around 150 species of birdlife, plus kangaroos, wallabies, and emus. Parks Victoria uses Serendip for wildlife research. Additionally, it serves as a holding facility in the captive breeding program for the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Serendip also focuses on environmental education of the flora and fauna of the wetlands and grassy woodlands.

Serendip Sanctuary features open grassy woodlands and wetlands of the western volcanic plains.  Four interconnecting trails meander the sanctuary with predator-proof fencing providing a safe haven.  The trails start at the information centre; each path is no longer than 2km.

yellow billed spoonbill - serendip sanctuary
yellow-billed Spoonbill
Nesting Yellow-billed Spoonbill
History

In the 1860s, George Fairbairn Snr, one of Australia’s most successful pastoralists, established Serendip as a premier sheep stud.  He named it ‘Woodlands’ before changing it to ‘Windemere’ in 1880. Unfortunately, the grasslands vanished with the land cleared, driving all wildlife from the area. The Victorian Government purchased the property in the early 1900s.  However, the Lara Inebriates Institution took over the homestead and 258 hectares.  In 1930, James McDonald bought the land when the Inebriates Institution closed. He then turned it into a crop and sheep farm and leased the original homestead to the State Tobacco Company.  

tawny frogmouth at serendip sanctuary
Tawny Frogmouth

Oscar and Edna Mendelsohn bought the property when the Tobacco company folded in 1948. They named the property Serendip and established an almond orchard. In addition, the water reservoir was proclaimed a wildlife sanctuary for birdlife. Finally, in 1959, the Mendelsohns sold the land to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. The Department assumed control of the 240 hectares surrounding the wildlife sanctuary.

Emu - serendip sanctuary
Emu
Wildlife Walk

The wildlife walk is the most popular and allows visitors to experience a close encounter with wildlife.  This walk takes you past grazing Eastern Grey Kangaroos, then through a series of bird hides, viewing areas and finally into free-flight aviaries.

Blue Faced Honeyeater
Blue Faced Honeyeater
Wildlife

Over time, attracted by the wetlands, the number of species breeding there increased from 40 in 1959 to 150 in 2021.  Cape barren geese, magpie geese and yellow-billed spoonbills thrive in the shallow freshwater wetland. Additionally, the marshland is home to many ducks and white-faced herons, nankeen night herons, black swans and grebes. Honeyeaters and wattlebirds feed on the nectar and insects in the trees around Lake Serendip while Whistling and Black kites soar and swoop overhead, looking for small prey on the ground.

Turquoise Parrot
Turquoise Parrot

The Billabong habitat is home to Ducks, swamphens, moorhens, frogs, water rats, and snakes. In contrast, the north arm is a permanent wetland with reliable fish populations providing food for pelicans and cormorants. 

Bush Stone Curlew
Bush Stone Curlew
Protected Species

Australian Bustards and Bush Stone Curlew are two rare Victorian birds that were once common on the western plains.  As the Brolgas and Australian bustards were on the verge of extinction, they were selected for the captive breeding program.  The success of the program has since received international recognition.

Australian Bustard
Australian Bustard

Australia’s rarest waterfowl, the Freckled Duck, is also on display at Serendip, along with the most secretive of owls, the Masked Owl. Pademelons can be seen at the sanctuary but are now extinct in the wild in Victoria.

Brolga at serendip sanctuary
Brolga
Sulphur crested cockatoo feeding a juvenile cockatoo
Sulphur-crested cockatoo feeding a juvenile cockatoo
Where is it?

100 Windermere Road, Lara

Open 8 am to 4 pm.  Closed Christmas Day and Good Friday

Entry is free

Fungi Hunting at Mt Macedon

This week, along with three fellow photographer friends, we had planned to do some Fungi Hunting at Mt Macedon. So, we rugged up against the weather and headed to Sanatorium Lake at Mt Macedon.  Weather-wise it was clear, with only slight showers, but it was 6C at the lake. Cold, cold, cold.  That kind of damp, chilling cold that just seeps into your bones.  Rugged up like Michelin people, we left the car and headed for the lake.  The track was easy to follow, muddy, but not too bad.

On the hunt

We slowly walked along the path, eyes swivelling back and forth, looking for fungi and checking the sides of tree trunks and deadwood lying on the ground. When we found one, we noticed that there would be others in the immediate area. Never saw a single one by itself.  We went off the path into the scrub in several areas where we spotted them. Some were just too hard to photograph either because they were inaccessible, way up a tree, or the tree was on such a slope that we needed to be mountain goats to position the tripods and shoot them.

Focus Stacking

I was shooting with the Olympus OMD EM1 Mark II, giving the new 60mm Macro its first real run, and trying out Focus Stacking for the first time on the Olympus, which worked fantastically!  I just love it; it creates eight images at different focal lengths, then merges them in-camera into a single image (jpeg) that’s (theoretically) sharp front to back.  Considering these were taken on a macro, which usually has a very narrow depth of field, it worked great.  I can’t wait to try it on the 12-40 for landscapes.  You end up with eight jpegs, 8 RAW and the blended jpeg. As I prefer to work with RAW files,  I deleted the jpegs when I downloaded them to the computer and then blended the RAW files in Photoshop.  

Fungi Hunting at Mt Macedon
Sanatorium Lake

By around 1.30 pm – hungry and chilled to the bone, we headed back to the car, grabbed our picnic lunch and headed to one of the picnic tables. We quickly ate our lunch and then dived back to the warmth of the car for the trip home.  We had a fabulous morning, we all got a great crop of images, but all need warmer winter gear 😉

A Weekend In The King Valley

Once a year, hubby and I make our annual pilgrimage to King Valley Camp, visit friends, take photos, cruise the wineries, and have some ‘downtime’.  And with no internet at the camp, downtime is total. So I found myself driving down the road each day and pulling up to the side of the road to catch up with emails and FB.  Shocking, I know. 

Rain, Rain, go away

The weather forecast for the weekend was rain, but we were lucky with no rain except late at night when we were all in bed. So we could do a bit of travelling around during the day.

The King Valley
The King Valley

On Friday, we drove up to Powers Lookout.  Named after the bushranger who reputedly had a camp there in the 1860s, he used the high vantage point to watch for approaching troopers.   We usually just stop at the upper lookout and take a few shots. 

Powers Lookout

This time, feeling a bit stupid and adventurous, I decided to try the ‘other’ northern lookout.  The steps seemed ok at the start, heading downhill via steps cut into the rock, but ok.  Then they got steeper, massive, single steps where really two would have been better. The stone steps kept going down, then changed to steep metal stairs, shimmy through a gap,  past a big rock in the middle of the path (glad I hadn’t had lunch yet), then UP metal stairs to the northern lookout. (I should have stopped and taken photos of the track, but I was saving my energy to keep the lungs and legs working)

The King Valley
The King Valley

The northern lookout gave a different and better view, so the walk was worth it. But OMG I paid for it the next day with very sore legs. So we shot off quite a few photos, then started the trek back, with lots of stops along the way to catch our breath, admire the view. 

powers lookout
powers lookout
The King Valley
powers lookout
Chrismont Winery

From Powers Lookout, we headed to lunch and then Chrismont Winery.  It’s a beautiful building that won a design award and offers magnificent sweeping views of the valley from the tasting room.  I may have liberated a couple of bottles of their delicious Prosecco while I was there.

The King Valley
The King Valley
The King Valley
The King Valley

That evening we played with some light painting, new toys, trying out various ideas.

The King Valley
lightpainting
light painting
light painting

We did see some rain that night, but the following day was lovely and sunny again.  We enjoyed a slow start to the day and then headed up the road to Lake William Hovell.  Fabulous reflections and very quiet, we had the place to ourselves, apart from a few fishermen.

The King Valley
lake William hovell
The King Valley
reflections
The King Valley
reflections

We had planned to do more light painting that evening, but the rains really came down not long after dinner, and we were futilely huddled under the awning waiting for them to pass, which they really didn’t.  The Olympus held up well in the rain, but I found that the wi-fi to my iPhone doesn’t work too well when I have cold, wet fingers. So mental note to self, make sure I have my wired remote in my bag!

A Visit To Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory National Park, or ‘The Prom’, as it’s affectionately known, is the southernmost point of mainland Australia. It’s also a top-rated destination. It has stunning coastal scenery, pristine wilderness, massive granite mountains, open forests, rainforests, sweeping beaches, and abundant native wildlife. It serves to make Wilsons Prom a photographer and holiday delight.

Accom at the Prom

Accommodation ranges from camping, and caravans to huts, cabins, and lodges. The prom has become so popular in recent years that it has its own manned police station in the summer months at Tidal River. It’s a far cry from my first visit 35 yrs ago. There were no amenities for campers save for a lonely toilet block back then.

Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory
Yanakie

We stayed in Yanakie just outside ‘The Prom’ on this visit. The main reason is that the caravan park was right on Corner Inlet. So if the weather gods were kind to us, we could get sunrise right outside our cabins without leaving the park. Some of our group took that to heart and came out to shoot the sunrise in jammies, only a few feet from the cabins. Why get dressed? 🙂

The weather gods did indeed smile on us. We had a magical sunrise on Saturday morning from blue hour, red skies and golden hour.

Wilsons Promontory
sunrise at Yanaki
Wilsons Promontory
sunrise at yanaki
Wilsons Promontory
corner inlet
Tidal River

After a hearty breakfast cooked in our cabins or the bush kitchen for those camping, we headed into the park and made our way to Tidal River. Following the sunrise, it had rained, but the sun was now out, and we had stunning blue skies (prom weather is highly changeable)  The temp climbed to around 30C. We were all melting. sun hats, sunnies and find shade became the order of the day

Wilsons Promontory
tidal river
Wilsons Promontory
Wilsons Promontory

By the time we got back to the general store for lunch, the weather had turned again. The temp had dropped around 10°, and we were all reaching for the jackets we discarded earlier. 

Squeaky Beach

After lunch, we headed to Squeaky Beach, so named as the fine sand squeaks when you walk on it.  By now, the weather had indeed turned, and a storm threatened, so our time was limited. Nevertheless, the sand had a fabulous array of colours, and little streams led across the sand to the water.

Wilsons Promontory
squeaky beach

We stopped off at Picnic Bay lookout – didn’t do the walk as it looked too long with the skies threatening.

Wilsons Promontory
Agnes Falls

The weather wasn’t kind for either sunset or sunrise the following day. However, we decided to call in at Agnes Falls on home from Wilsons Promontory. Considering it was the end of summer, the amount of water flowing over the top wasn’t too bad.

agnes falls
Agnes Falls
© Bevlea Ross