Random encounters and the year's first twitch

I've always got my camera with me just in case I come across something interesting and so here are a couple of the critters that I've stumbled across in the last couple of weeks...

Lace Monitor

This Lace Monitor was hanging out in a picnic ground at Bobbin Head when some little kids chased it across the grass. As goannas do, it rushed up the nearest tree. After a while when the danger had passed it decided to settle down for a bit of a snooze and to catch some sun.

Bottlebrush Sawfly

The sawfly is related to wasps and things but doesn't have a sting so they're alright in my book. They're called sawflies because the female uses a saw-like egg-laying tube to cut a slit into the stem of a plant to lay her eggs inside. This one is a Bottlebrush Sawfly and lays it's eggs in the native bottlebrushes of which there are several in my in-laws' garden. 

Ringtail Possum

This Ringtail Possum has been hanging out in the back yard for a few weeks now. We surprised him on the back fence when we got home the other night.

St. Andrew's Cross Spider

Not all spiders are horrendous. Only most of them. The St. Andrew's Cross Spider is one of the prettier orb weaving spiders and is a common sight round Sydney. They're so called because of their web design which often includes a big white diagonal cross at it's centre.

Grey and drizzly Shoalhaven Heads

The first twitch of the year has also been successfully completed! The trip took me south of Sydney to the Shoalhaven Heads where I've picked up a load of vagrants in the past. Either this is one tremendous hotspot for rarities or it's a tremendous hotspot for rarity spotters. Either way, a young Inland Dotterel #483 which is normally found in the dry desert and gibber plains of the interior was reported down there and so I was into the car and heading south once again. Thankfully it was the only cool and overcast day we've had this year and so it wasn't too much of an ordeal to be walking about on the beach looking for the bird. It was tracked down without too much difficulty hanging out with the Golden Plovers just where it was supposed to be. That saves me a bunch of time in the future trekking about in a desert!

Inland Dotterel 

   

Beating the heat

It's still impressively warm here at the moment and so last weekend we got down to Clovelly and, despite the warnings of stingers in the water, we piled in for a snorkel. The water was warm and clear at last and no sign of the bluebottles either.

 Clovelly's friendly Blue Groper

Common Stingaree 

Tarwhine (with Bream and Trevally)

Clovelly Bay is the territory of a lovely big Blue Groper who is a lot more friendly than his neighbours round the corner in Gordons Bay. As soon as you get down under the water he rushes over to see you and he actually seems to enjoy human contact and is even happy to be stroked. At one stage I was down trying to photograph a bream when I felt a nudge in my side. Mr Groper wasn't happy that I was ignoring him and had swum over to give me a friendly biff!

White Ear Parma 

White Ear Parma (juv.) with it's fluorescent blue markings

Bream (and who's that coming to say hello?!) 

   

Fishing on the Hawkesbury

Hawkesbury River

We've not been fishing for a little while so the other weekend we headed just north of Sydney to Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River. We decided it was time to hire a small boat and head out into deeper water in search of some bigger fish. Saying that, we still just had our little kid's rods, the usual frozen prawns from the supermarket and our simple bream rigs. I think that by now, however, we can agree that 'bream rig' is a bit of a misnomer and in fact it's a super all-purpose set-up that can catch just about anything. Anyway it's a load of fun on light gear and on this occasion we had 9 different species in a couple of hours fishing.

 Port Jackson Shark

After anchoring the boat it didn't take too long at all to hook up to our first fish. You never know what's going to emerge from the deep round here and first up this time was a small Port Jackson Shark. This was followed by a couple more sharks, several Tailor, Flathead, Whiting, Bream, Tarwhine, Scad, Estuary Catfish and finally, and certainly the heaviest fish of the day, was Emily's pufferfish. The pufferfish has tremendously strong teeth which form a beak that you certainly don't want to become acquainted with your fingers. The one that Emily caught actually bit through the metal fishing hook!

Baby Mulloway

Estuary Catfish

Anyone for fugu?

This pufferfish is a Lagocephalus sp. which is very toxic and is eaten over in Japan as the (in)famous fugu. After several years training, the fugu chef can prepare the fish such that only a small trace of the poison is left which is enough to give the diner a bit of a buzz. If the fish is not prepared correctly the diner will die. Apparently part of the chefs' final exam entails preparing the fish and eating it themselves!