kayelk's Journal

I had not thought of making journal entries until I read one by someone else earlier today. My main observations are at Westerfolds and Candlebark Parks in Templestowe where I walk along the Yarra Trail. At the moment I am somewhat restricted in the distance and terrain I can cover so I usually walk about 3 kms along the trail and back - up to 6 kms total. I always carry my camera and I am not afraid to use it! This morning was cool and cloudy with not many insects around. I was pleased to find a small patch of Schellenberg's Soldier Bug cases, didn't realise what they were until I zoomed in on the photo to get the detail. Also a blue ant on a bush beside the track, I had only seen these on one other tree until now. Just a couple of other insects close enough to photograph but a relatively successful morning.

Started walking on Main Yarra Trail Templestowe around 8.30am. Dull and cloudy but little wind. As it was not good light for bird photography, I put my macro lens on my camera, looking for insects, spiders etc. Pleased to find a wasp nest on a bush I look at regularly. 3 groups of Schellenberg's Soldier Bugs, two on wattle leaves, one on a ti-tree leaf. I will be interested to learn more about a soft looking green spider I found on a gum tree leaf with what looked like an egg sac.

Back to my main walking trail after a couple of weeks. Pleased to see a few fungi appearing after recent light rain - colony of Orange Pore Fungus starting to appear where I observed them last year, a few others starting to appear along the sides of the track. The Orange Pores are still small, the largest about 1 cm across but I expect they will grow over the next few weeks.