If you would like to contribute the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Bush Heritage, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.
19/11/2025
It was 5.30am when Melanie and her husband from South Africa arrived at Lake Herdsman, we were soon making our way eastward and it wasn’t long before a Buff-banded Rail was found foraging in the grasses by the reed bed. Throughout the morning we added most of the possible ducks, two families of Tawny Frogmouths, one at the usual spot and the other near the visitor centre. The Rainbow Bee-eaters were also obliging. The bird I couldn’t find for them was the Wandering Whistling Duck that’s been here for a while now. I found it last week when I did my recon, but no sighting today. We hopped into the car and drove up to Victoria Reservoir and walked down to the rest area adding the likes of Splendid Fairywren, Western Spinebill and Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. We walked back up to the car and had a late lunch then back Perth.
21/11
We set off at 5am to pick up Melanie and headed out to Collins Rd Westdale, where everyone else is finding Western Shrike-tit except me, and I couldn’t find them again, despite spending quite a few hours there. We did find Varied Sitella, Sacred Kingfisher and the usual Yellow-plumed Honeteaters and Rufous Treecreepers. Over to Falcon Rd dam Boyagin NR for lunch. It was pretty quiet with a lone Brown Honeyeater at the dam. Along our stroll we found some Western Yellow Robins, Scarlet Robin and Red-capped Robin. It was then back to Perth.
23/11 148km
After lunch I dropped Bev off at Andrew’s and headed down the Brookton Hwy until I found some dirt roads I could map and spent the rest of the afternoon driving them. At one stage I had to move a fallen log off the road and disturbed an Owlet Nightjar that flew to a nearby tree and looked disapprovingly at me. Inevitably my last track ended up at a locked gate, but they hadn’t quite blocked the exit off, so like some others before me I used it to get onto the main road. I don’t see the point in having a locked gate at one end of the track and not the other. There were a few showers during the afternoon and a stiff wind ruffling the trees at the Mt. Dale picnic area where I camped for the night. The picnic area was pretty sheltered though. I have put some stuff that we’ll need later onto the roof in a half size rooftop bag. I hadn’t tested the weight and found I couldn’t just push the roof up like I usually do, but I eventually got it up.
24/11 179km
I awoke at dawn with a thick cloud around me. By the time I’d got up it was already lifting and cleared to a mild mostly sunny day. I drove the short distance to the West looking lookout just below the summit of Mt Dale, then spent the day steadily making my way east getting my quota of tracks mapped for Hema. I stopped for lunch at a waterhole on Beryl Rd and got a Baudin’s Black Cockatoo. I found three feeding groups through the day. I ended the day in Wandoo NP on Beekeeper Trk at 15.30 and relaxed in the shade until I felt something crawling up my leg. It was an enormous tick, I flicked it off. I was cooking my dinner when a second tick started crawling up my leg. I usually have to take refuge in the car from the weather or mosquitoes, this is the first time for ticks.
25/11 189km
I was up at dawn and off after breakfast to map more of the tracks in the park and surrounding forests. I had just started Piggery Rd skirting around some big bog holes that were dry, went through a smaller one that still had a bit of mud and decided that I couldn’t go much further with the track overgrown and a bigger muddy pool, so I reversed back slowly and got stuck in the small muddy patch I’d just driven through, my diff-licks were of no help. My first attempt at winching was off too small a tree, as I started to move the tree rather than me, I’d moved about 6inches, so I packed sticks into my wheel ruts and tried to drive, but no I was still stuck. There was a bigger tree a bit further away within winching distance that proved substantial enough. So with the ruts now packed with sticks I gave it what for in reverse and made it back through. Lost time, about 1/2hr. I had lunch at Catchment Rd Wandoo NP and thought I heard a Western Shrike-tit, but it was a brief call, it didn’t call again and I couldn’t find it so thought I should leave it off the list. I camped at Perimeter Track in the far east of Wandoo NP and noticed that the fridge temperature was too high and was not running. This can’t be good. I then saw that the charge indicator didn’t budge when I started the car. This is even worse. I had a quick look around but my knowledge of electrics is about zero. I had some phone coverage so looked up a local auto electrician in Brookton and booked my car in for the morning. Turned everything off just in case it was the alternator and had an early night.
26/11 203km
I was off at dawn which is about 5am. It took me an hour and a half to get out of the forest down Catchment Rd, I then had enough time to wind my way along back roads I could map to just short of Brookton, arriving at 8am. The first thing he found was that although the fuses hadn’t blown they’d been hot enough to melt the plastic, so he replaced all the fuses in the house battery compartment and one fuse holder, but that didn’t fix it. He figured out that the charger wasn’t switching from the solar input to the vehicle input, suspecting the switcher. He had another look in the engine bay and found a wire had come undone. That fixed it. The connector was a bit dodgy so he replaced that. Total time about two and a half hours, cost $257. There goes all the money I’ve made mapping the tracks. So it was 11am by the time I was back on the road with a dozen fresh farm egs that he gave me. I mapped a few of the roads in the area being around the 9 Acre Rock area then into Brookton, did some shopping then mapped out to Dale River York-Williams Rd for lunch then mapped my way back south and into Perimeter Trk Lupton CP to camp for the night.
27/11 225km
There is still a smattering of flowers on the forest floors and bushes, so took a few shots for inaturalist. Finished the survey with 15sp including Baudin’s Black Cockatoo. I’ve been seeing quite a few flocks of the species over the last few days. Mapped some tracks in Youraling SF then some more in Lupton CP , then did mostly rural dirt roads for the rest of the day. Lunch was taken at Codjatotine rest area, where there weren’t many birds. I camped at Thornbill Rd Boygin NR and added Restless Flycatcher to my trip list. At the back of my car I found a freshly dug small hole, so come dusk I sat quietly in my chair and waited to see what if anything came out. What came in was one of the Rainbow Bee-eaters that had been hanging aound the area, it was their breeding hole.
28/11 182km
It was well past dawn and into sun up and I was listening to what birds were around when a Western Shrike-tit moved down the valley calling, By the time I got up and dressed it was long gone, and although I headed in its direction I couldn’t find it, but I heard this one clearly so I can count it on my list which had 24sp by the time I set off at 7.20 to map out Boyagin reserve. It took me most of the day and about 100km of driving, I got most of it done. I then mapped a few back roads to get to Eagle Track Tutaning reserve for the night. My site is in old regrowth on flat land, but I still had 7sp by dusk, but only one or two of each species.
29/11 217km
Ended the survey with 18sp including a fly by of a Collared Sparrowhawk. I spent the next few hours on the overgrown tracks until I’d had enough of scraping the sides and roof of the car. Taking the back roads down to Kerr Rd Wickipin for the expected Yellow-throated Miners, Magpies and Australian Ringnecks. The dam was too low for any ducks. More back roads south to Toolibin NR where the scungy looking lake had some Grey Teal. By the banks were some Yellow-rumped and Inland Thornbills. I picked up fuel and food in Narrogin, did my survey of the RSL Park there and headed north to Yornaning Dam for the night.
30/11 230km
Got 24sp here including Shining Bronze Cuckoo, Brown-headed Honeyeater and a Striated Pardalote had a nest hole not far from where I was parked, but they zip in and out so fast I wasn’t even going to try and get a photo. I found a feral proof fence in the far eastern part of Dryandra NP, so did an impromptu fence check as I mapped the perimeter. It was 10am when I got to the main body of the national park and started driving the roads. I had lunch at my spot on Tomingley Rd where it was too hot for the birds so only got 3sp. It got to 31C late in the afternoon, the hottest it’s been for a while. My usual camping spot at Congelin Campground now has fees, so I drove on to Williams River Boraning to camp in the parking area there and had 14sp by dark.
1/12 295km
There wasn’t that much traffic on the road during the night, but I was woken a few times. There was a Boobook Owl calling last night and a farm dam nearby had Slender Treefrog calling. Added a few more birds to the list and set off at 5.50 after getting up early due to the steadily increasing traffic flow on the road. I tracked a few roads around Dardadine then up Taylor’s Rd. I found a track heading off east at one stage and found myself in someone’s yard deep in the forest, I wanted to know where the boundary was so went and knocked on the door and ended up having a nice chat with the owners. I took my leave and finished the road marking it as private, and headed into Lane Poole forest for the rest of the day mapping forest roads. I had lunch in the shade on the corner of two tracks in 30C heat deep in the forest. It managed to get to 36C a bit later. Summer is here. I headed up Yourdamung road hoping to get to a lake to camp, I’d had a feeling it wouldn’t be there and sure enough the track ended at farmland. I’d seen a sign pointing to water so headed up that and near the end found a dam with water in it. Camp time. I parked in the shade and sat overlooking the dam, getting 12sp by dark, including a pair of Baudin’s Black Cockatoo.
2/12 249km
Around dusk a Motorbike Frog started calling every now and then, I waited for more to start up, but by 20.00 it had gone quiet and no one else had joined him, so I didn’t get a recording for FrogID. Had a bit of a sleep in this morning, I’m getting a bit tired. It was a peaceful night’s sleep with the only interruption being a Boobook Owl. Ended the survey with 20sp despite a good walk around this morning which is a bit low. Did a few of the tracks in Muja SF then did my survey at Varis Rd Bowelling, which had an insistent Golden/Western Whistler so I took a photo. Down to Benellaking which is usually a good birding spot. I had lunch then found some Regent Parrots, which with a bit of careful stalking I managed a few shots after gaining their trust somewhat. Mapped some roads around Gordering and westward to camp at Jayes Bridge on the Blackwood River. I was soon in the water which was surprisingly warm for the first two feet then it got cold. I had a good soapless scrub down, and feeling reasonably clean I relaxed in the shade whilst watching a pair of White-breasted Robins hawking from a nearby bush.
3/12 190km
There was quite a good dawn chorus this morning, best I’ve heard for a while, so I lay in a bit listening to it. I ended with 35sp including a Barn Owl last night and some Western Rosellas in the morning, the adults were hiding up in the trees, but one of the juveniles was quite bold so I managed a shot of it. I spent the morning mapping some of the roads in Wilga SF, there’s a myriad of tracks through here so I only got a few of the main ones done including the one to my site at Boliogup Brook Grimwade Rd. I walked in to Woop Woop (it’s an old logging camp site, nothing left here now. It’s where the saying comes from. Apparently the workers used to walk the 11km into Wilga on a Saturday night for the dance, and asked where they came from it was of course Woop Woop which was a long walk away) then skirted around the farm to my site at rail at Camelup Rd for lunch. Found a dirt road getting me close to my site at Mervyn Dam, then up the bitumen road to Minningup Pool on the Collie River, finding Scarlet Robin and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, both of which haven’t been seen much. After dark I went out in search of frogs and found some calling by the bridge, where the river has flooded an area. On the way back I heard a Boobook Owl.
4/12 180km
19sp was the tally for the site, all apart from a large flock of Tree Martins in low numbers. Headed through Collie and mapped some tracks in Harris River SF up to a gate put in by Alcoa blocking me off from my Hoffman Mill camp site. I can’t bear to think of what they’re doing to the forest in the area, but it sure ain’t good. At one gate their sign was full of expletives inked by irate campers who can’t get into the site… for a very long time. Down out of the hills I came to get to Trotter Rd Yarloop, then mapped a few more dirt roads to get to Coolup and stopped for the day at 12.30 at Lake McLarty west. Had lunch then headed up the lake’s shore to the north. The lake is still very high, so there are no waders and I got my boots wet trying to get views through the shrubs of what birds were there. Each time I poked my head out the nearby waterfowl took flight and so did everything else within 100m or so. Back for a rest in the mid afternoon and I ventured out again late in the afternoon in my gumboots. The water level though was so high that I still couldn’t get past the shrubs out into what should by now be grassland, but is still gumboot high water. I struggled through the paperbark woodland brushing endless Christmas Spiders off me whilst wading through their communal webs. I was not having a good time. Still I ended up with 47sp including Nankeen Night Heron and Regent Parrot. After dinner I only had to go down to the shore to record a few Motorbike Frogs calling under a full moon shining across the lake.
5/12 182km
I waded out into the lake in my gumboots again but didn’t add anything and headed off at 6.30 to Tamworth Hill reserve Baldivis which is a swamp. The track was still under water at the west end with only a few Slender Treefrogs calling, 21sp with no surprises. Lake Walyangup had a Tiger Snake, my first sighting of a snake for a while. I spotted it when I was only 2ft from it. I stopped and slowly backed up, it didn’t move, probably still not warmed up. The lake was still high with nothing using it, so I only got a few bush birds in the tall trees by the road. On the way back I found the snake again, it hadn’t moved far. Baldivis ponds had 16sp including an Australian Hobby which had a successful attack as I watched, but couldn’t see what it carried off for breakfast. At Attwell Park the lake was still high with 14sp including a flock of 200 Little Corellas feeding on the grass. I then drove in to Perth to where Bev was staying at Andrew’s place and had a welcome shower. At 17.00 we went to the Duke of George Hotel in Fremantle to watch Dave Hole play his unique brand of rock and roll. We sat right at the front and enjoyed the music coming blasting at us. Lucky I’m not doing any bird surveys tomorrow. It was 23.30 when we got to Emma and Jim’s for the night. We now have a few months of house sitting before we head out again.
If 25/12/2025
If we looked beneath the crust of human pie
I wonder what we'd find
A cup or two of inequality
More than a pinch of racism
A bag or two of selfishness
If the truth was revealed
Would it make any difference
Normality is a fallacy
If you strive for normality
You'll never be great
Truth is an asterisk
Be inquisitive
If the march of climate change isn't stopped
We'll surely suffer the cost
As the world slowly spins down to die
Are we not in a world of pain already
If all we live for is tar and cement
What will our lives have ever meant
If we'd choose kindness over conflict
If our bodies weren't beholden to hormones
Ruled by our wayward emotions
Geared down our insatiable greed
Would peace finally break out through this crime scene
If you have a voice
Why do you sit in silence
If I look left there are noisome destructive jerks
If I look right there are noisome destructive jerks
If I look up or down there they all are
If we're all human
What does it matter what we look like
What does it matter where we come from
What matters is what we do
If the scumbag in the alley wants your money you're dead
If the scumbag in the suit wants your money you're skint
Either way the mongrels have got the weak and poor
If perchance we met at the crossroads
Could we agree on the way forward
If Christ is left out of Christmas
It's just a pagan ritual
If we ignore the true nature of God
Then religion becomes divisive
If Satan is the creation of man's fear
How does he rule the world with an iron fist
If God is love
We have all but forgotten him
Or worse he has forgotten us
Abandoning us to our aggressive nature
If we were'nt so blind to humanity's depravities
If we weren't so insistently belligerent
This world could be a kinder place
If only
6/1 271km
Today is the last day of our house sit at Brigadoon in the hills north of Perth. The day starts with feeding and watering the chickens, then feeding the two dogs, breakfast then relaxed until I got notification that the owners had landed, so I jumped in their car and went down to the airport and after a short wait went and picked them up and brought them back home. It was 13.30 when we departed, winding our way north to Clenton Rd then east to my site at Dumbarton bridge Toodyay for lunch. The Avon river doesn’t run this time of year, but the pool east of the bridge usually has some waterbirds. It was too hot for many bush birds but I got the Sacred Kingfisher that I usually get here, might even be the same one returning each year. We found as many dirt roads to map as we could, zig-zagging our way north to Dalwallinu to camp for the night.
7/1 441km
There was a Barn Owl that gave a short screech not long after dark last night and later a Boobook Owl briefly called. The highlight though was a Little Eagle briefly seen above the woodland. Over to the other side of town to Dalwallinu sewerage pond for the usual Black Duck, Grey Teal and Wood Duck. There were a few eucalypts in flower with some White-fronted Honeyeaters. On the Gunyidi-Wubin Rd we found an unmarked picnic spot at Miamoon Reserve so marked it and had a look around. The gnamma watehole was dry but I found an Australian Hobby which I was well happy finding. We mapped the track that runs along the west side of Yarra Yarra lake. We were mapping Bell Rd north of Morowa when I flushed some Banded Lapwings off the road. They went just into the paddock nearby. We did a survey around them, but even though they were less than 100m away the ground was so hot that the heat haze made photographing them impossible. When we showed ourselves around a bush, they flew around but still landed too far away still. We did a survey at Canna dam finding some Grey Currawongs. A few more dirt roads got us to The Waterfalls Six Mile Ck, just north of Mullewa for the night.
8/1 439km
The waterfalls are dry with a few pools in the creek that had Black-fronted Doterrel and Pied Stilt. On my walk around I had some Budgerigars fly overhead with bush birds such as Southern Whiteface and Black-faced Woodswallows in the grassy woodland. I found another Hobby here too. We found a dirt road that ran nearly parallel to the Geraldton-Mount Magnet Rd eventually getting in to Geraldton to pick up food at Coles and fuel at the Atlas Fuels servo on the main Hwy that was cheaper than in Perth. There were no dirt roads getting us in the right direction so we headed straight up the highway. Lunch was taken at Galena camp on the Murchison River. Again the river doesn’t run this time of year but there was still plenty of water here, finding Black-tailed Native Hen and Australian White Ibis, which is irruptive here. It was too hot in the afternoon so my site at Rest stop NE Kalbarri NP was birdless and the Nerren Nerren rest stop had a lone Zebra Finch. With the airconditioning keeping us cool and my Spotify music list keeping us entertained we headed in to Hamelin Station getting there just a bit later than planned. We met Gilly the manager and settled in to the apartment here which will be our home for the rest of the month as we volunteer at the Bush Heritage property.
Some shots from Hamelin Station
17/1
It’s the weekend, we don’t work on the weekends so we headed off not long after dawn towards Denham. First stop was Rest stop Denham Rd. It was cery windy making hearing the birds difficult as the wind whistled in my ears, but the call of Chiming Wedgbills is quite strident, I followed the call and found a pair with the male singing from the top of a bush. There were also Variegated/Purple-backed, Splendid and White-winged Fairywrens, but not much else. At Claypan Denham Rd all I got was the wind whistling in my ears. The rainfall this year has been okay but there were a lot of dead shrubs here, so the habitat looks stressed. Fowlers Bay camp didn’t have much around. The tide was out but there were no shorebirds just a lone Caspian Tern. Little Lagoon north of Denham was looking in poor condition and I failed to find the Western Grasswren again. We then found a few unmapped dirt tracks around the area before going in to town to pick up some supplies. It was now lunchtime and we settled on the Shark Day Cafe for fish and chips and an almond croissant each. $96! It was alarge meal with three pieces of locally caught Snapper, great chips with the chef’s home made seasoning and fresh salad. There was enough that we took the croissants back for dinner (which we still didn’t eat much) It’s much cooler here by the coast but also much windier with a howling wind coming in off shore. Despite it still being school holidays the town was quite quiet, the most common vehicle being rental Hilux campervans heading up in to Peron NP. We turned back south mapping a few tracks on the way. To the west of the highway is a track that seems to run most of the way right on the coast, it’s a little used 4wd track. We mapped in a few access tracks to it, mapped it a bit then back to the highway each time, until we found another track running back to the coast. There is no free camping allowed which is a pity with some marvelous secluded bays along the way. It was then back to Hamelin Station getting back late in the afternoon.
30/1 505km
We rose at about 6.00, showered breakied and cleaned our little flat, this all took until 9.00 when we drove up to say goodbye to Gilly. It’s been a hot month, with many days over 40C including a 48C, so we did our work mostly in the mornings, a different job each day, fixing, cleaning, sorting etc. It was now time for us to be on our way, so we headed down the highway to Butchers Tk north of Billabong where it was already warm and found only 2sp. Nerren rest camp had 4sp. They had some rain here recently which we missed out on at the station, so I found some Zebra Finches hanging around some water pools. Rest stop NE Kalbarri NP only had a Willy Wagtail. We had lunch at Galena camp where there was plenty of water in the non-flowing river, finding White-necked Heron and the Black-tailed Native Hens. There were a lot more Grey Teal but less Black Swans than on the survey on our way up. We took the back road to get to Geraldton stopping at Protheroe Rd Nabawa for 3sp. Shopping and filled up the tanks at Maisey’s Fuels, a card only servo, then down to Cape Burney Greenough River were there wasn’t much on a windy late afternoon, the highlight being a Spotted Harrier flying on by. We got in to Indoon Lake camp at 19.00 and found Pink-eared Ducks and lots of Pied Stilts foraging along the shoreline of the lake.
31/1 264km
Only 18sp which is a bit disappointing, not many bush birds to be found. We headed east along as many un-mapped dirt roads as we could find, stopping at Tathra NP 1 where I couldn’t find a bird at all. More dirt roads found us at Alexander Morrison NP where we stopped to photograph some colourful bushes which had some Brown Honeyeaters enjoying the flowers. Coalara Rd Natheroo NP had more Brown Honeyeaters and a lone Silvereye and Dambadoye Rd Dambadgoe was birdless. We camped at Koojan Salmon Gum reserve on a blustery late afternoon and had a lone Western Corella calling.
1/2 444km
The wind continued to howl over the tops of the trees making them wave their boughs manically. The forest was dense enough though that little wind made it to us so the night started out hot and sticky. The wind made listening for night birds fruitless, so the tally for the site was 12sp. More dirt roads mapped to get us to Regan Ford Moore River where there were a few more Western Corellas. In to Yanchep to get supplies for our first week at Yanchep NP where we will be camp hosts for February