Birds against a MtLawleyShire sunset

These are taken of clouds in the eastern sky –

pigeons flocking against the light of storms clouds building at sunset:

the colours are slightly enhanced, the photos ‘noisy’ but I liked the effect:

and teh structure of the clouds was amazing:

and ibis flying against softer clouds to the south-east:

The Ravens of Matilda Bay

The tea rooms at Matilda Bay have been remodelled and for a while, it seemed that there would be no visits from the birds, but then – some ravens came.

They sat a while in the flame tree:

a couple chatting:

eyeing the pickings below:

  

they sat in chairs backing onto the river, becoming silhouettes:

 

calling to others about the food:

walking the fence:

Then it was onto an abandoned table:

 

 

is it any good?

shall we use this for chips or something else?

You looking at me???

 

I love the ravens 🙂

A slow MtLawleyShire sunset

After an oppressively hot day, the late afternoon clouded over.  It looked like rain, but there was none, although it was much cooler:

a group of ibis flew across the clouded sky towards their roost:

and in the west, the sun was shrouded, casting a ring across striations of cloud:

 

As it sank lower, it was reflected in, then seemed to bend the clouds, creating interesting shades amidst the layers:

 

 

A hint of colour, sullen embers marking the meeting with the far horizon:

 

barely making a reflection in art deco windows:

 

I waited a few moments, but the day became duller.  I returned inside, uploaded the photos, checked outside and

OH!

The sky had exploded into late opulence:

 

flaring crimson waves of light:

an upturned desert of red:

and it began to fade into purples and pinks:

 

washing the lower part of the sky:

 

leaving a luminous glow far down on the horizon:

Reflecting the heat, but hopefully not for tomorrow.  This was a selection from what was a remarkable and beautiful sunset, from subtle to outrageous 🙂

A Feast of Flowers in MtLawleyShire

It’s the first day of Spring – as far as the calendar goes, at least.  And the last few days have been too cold and cloudy if not outright rainy for flowers in other people’s gardens.  There are no roses as they are all only putting forth their first shoots, but there have been flowers, and if I was not so thick and weary with ‘flu, I would be out hunting more.

Here is a selection of flowers from the last two weeks, and as it’s officially Spring, I’ll start with blossom – almond blossom, complete with a singing honeyeater.  This tree is always the first to burst into blossom around here:

 

 

 

Native blossoms from around the area:

 

 

 

Geraldton wax & native wisteria:

 

Beautiful iris:

 

camellia and lemon flower:

 

Daisies:

 

poppy & ranunculus:

 

Jonquil & dandelion seed head:

freesias and snowdrops:

 

Dietes and something purple 🙂 :

 

and weeds – lupins and others:

 

lily:

 

and a variety of hibiscus:

 

 

I hope you enjoyed all the colour 🙂

 

MtLawleyShire’s Ravens from Matilda Bay

My last 2 visits to Matilda Bay have been graced with visits from the ravens.  Wonderful birds, clever, personable and their personalities are so visible in face and carriage.

I love taking portraits.

Here we have contemplative, quizzical and slightly surprised

 

The raucous:

 

Quizzical and beautiful:

 

and iconically disconcerting, even slightly creepy:

These, taken as this raven strutted along a stone wall, illustrate a sense of play – and possible threat:

slightly gangsterish: ‘you lookin’ at me?’

 

 

 

MtLawleyShire would love to fly: birds at Matilda Bay

Birds – well, mostly seagulls.  Seagulls sitting, flying.  Oddly enough, they were well-behaved today because normally, the raucous scallywags are everywhere, squabbling and messing with the peace of mind of patrons at the tearooms.

So I photographed them sitting in the dappled shade of the plane tree:

Standing as though in a meditative trance or preening on the river’s edge:

 

A little stranger standing quietly, possibly a fairy tern, and this seagull looking as though he’s going to have a go (he didn’t):

Three short-billed corellas who flew in from an earlier post

and seagulls flying: towards the tables of the tearooms:

 

over the river:

solitary but never alone: flying with your shadow:

 

 

 

or your reflection:

  

and this little guy playing at being Narcissus 😀

Now these – they came with the dolphins and left with them too.  Some I think are fairy terns, like this one:

but I am not sure of the others.  They were too far away.  But I loved their shape against sky or water:

 

 

And that is the last post of MtLawleyShire’s visit to Matilda Bay.

I hope you enjoyed it.  I will go again…..

 

MtLawleyShire’s raven portraits at Matilda Bay

There are many birds at Matilda Bay, and I love them all, even the seagulls with their pristine feathers and terrible table manners 🙂  But perhaps my favourites are the ravens.  Some I almost know by sight now.  This one with his repaired wing is one I have photographed many times:

this one was near the carpark against the light:

 

My friend with the repaired wing at the tearooms:

 

Another one perched on the sprawling roots of a Moreton Bay fig tree at the end of the carpark:

 

This fellow was sitting on fence posts by my car:

You lookin’ at me?  Well, yes I am, actually ’cause you’re beautiful!

 

Then he answered a group of his friends from trees across the road and he was gone:

Now – how did this young fellow get in here? This juvenile magpie should be with his mum in the previous post 😀

I hope you don’t think I’m overdoing the ravens.  Next post – the delightful surprise.

🙂

MtLawleyShire at Matilda Bay

It was hot and humid at Matilda Bay, and the city was shrouded in a mixture of humid haze and smoke from ever-present bushfires when viewed across the river:

Light on the plane trees made them appear almost autumnal:

 

but I can assure you, it was anything but!

Walking to the tearooms for lunch with a dear friend, I passed a convivial duck:

a magpie with a juvenile whining and begging for food:

A gracious view of the river framed by two old peppermint trees  – and a smaller one that looks almost delicate in the light:

 

A shade-giving Moreton Bay fig leaning towards the water

and then these – cypress and others as I approached the tearooms:

 

As I walked into the tearooms, I was greeted by a magpie lark:

Then I was joined by my friend.  As we chatted, a flock of short-billed corellas swooped by, calling and screeching, in threes and twos:

 

 

and in a larger flock, swooped over the river to join a larger flock to roost in one of the larger trees on the other side of the tearooms:

 

From under the plane tree, the view across the river was serene, despite the haze.  We saw dolphins, ravens, watched the antics of the seagulls – all of which are included in the following posts.

It was time to go, so I said goodbye to the trees, including this graceful moreton bay fig:

 

Smiled at a seagull appropriating a seat, although he wasn’t gazing over the river as people usually do, and here’s a wee bottlebush flower.  There were bees, but I wasn’t fortunate enough to catch any.

 

I hope you enjoyed this little stroll.  Next post: raven portraits, then the dolphins…and more birds 😀

MtLawleyShire and a Sunday afternoon walk

I have a sunset to post, from last night, but it is going to take a while because it was spectacular.  Today, the sunset was merely glare in a featureless summer sky, but before that, there were flowers, bees, trees and birds

Flowers:

In sumptuous shadow and flowing light – hibiscus

 

 

the outrageous and glowing colour of bougeanvillea:

 

catching the light in the wind:

I walked past a beautiful rose garden:

 

 

 

a tiny, richly glowing geranium outside a picket fence:

Grevillea:

 

the flowers of a tallow tree:

Coral gum blossom – one with bee 🙂

 

 

a raven in a carpark, calling out to his mob:

Favourite trees:

the piebald one on the corner two blocks up

The lemon-scented gum:

      

and a tall tree down near Beaufort Street:

a tree of a different kind – & can you see the moon in the wide empty sky?

then it was time to go home –

Next – bees and blossoms.

Then, young moon and sunset.

I hope you enjoyed this post 🙂

 

A little walk in MtLawleyShire

It was a short walk around streets.  There weren’t many flowers, but these looked lovely with the lowering sun making them glow:

 

a Grevillea peering over a garden wall:

It was too windy for the delicacy of bottlebrush flowers and I didn’t have much luck trying to capture the bee clearly:

 

but the light coming through the confused shadows was rich:

I saw a pair of magpie larks – this is the one bird, its companion was up on the telephone wires

 

The oblique light cast sundust over the streetscape:

a beautiful frangipani in a friend’s garden and her striking chilli plant:

 

There was only a smear of sunset tonight:

 

and the sky glowed in the east:

I hope you enjoyed these little souvenirs of a walk around a couple of blocks.

Next – the moon.  The new moon 🙂