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moloch05

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My wife, younger daughter and I went on a walk today in Royal National Park. This was a beautiful autumn's day with temperatures in the mid-20s, clear skies and a light breeze. The summer humidity was gone so the walking conditions were ideal. We followed the Coast Track from Garie Beach to the Wattamolla area and then back again. I took a number of photos along the way and have included some of these in this report. I did not find anything unusual but did see numerous lizards including many young of the year. The coastal cliffs along this track are always a spectacular sight.

... Garie Beach
CoastWalk7.jpg


CoastWalk8.jpg


GarieBeach1.jpg


GarieBeach2.jpg



... views along the Coastal Track
CoastWalk9.jpg


CoastWalk5EagleHawk.jpg


CoastWalk1.jpg


CoastWalk4.jpg



... the quiet cove where we had our picnic lunch
CoastWalk2.jpg


CoastWalk3.jpg




As usual, Copper-tailed Skinks (Ctenotus taeniolatus) were abundant. I saw a few adults with plain-coloured tails:
CopperTailedSkink1.jpg


CopperTailedSkink2.jpg



... others had copper-tails
CopperTailedSkink3.jpg


CopperTailedSkink4a.jpg




White's Skinks (Egernia whitii) were common wherever there were outcrops of sandstone in the heath. Here is an adult:
WhitesSkink1.jpg


... It was quite warm around noon and many of the lizards had moved into areas with filtered light like this little juvenile
WhitesSkink2.jpg



I saw several Cunningham's Skinks (Egernia cunninghami). These in Royal are quite dark in colouration when compared with those from the Blue Mountains. This lizard had a home with a great view:
CunninghamsSkink2.jpg


... another
CunninghamsSkink1.jpg


... and a better pic from a trip to this area about a year ago:
cunninghams4.jpg



I only saw a single Eastern Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii) today.
EasternWaterSkink1.jpg



Jacky Lizards (Amphibolurus muricatus) were often seen along the track. I only saw a single adult but many young like this one:
JackyLizard3.jpg


JackyLizard2.jpg



Regards,
David
 
re pics

Great pics moloch,i used to go to garrie beach and there was herds of deer eating the grass and bikini girls with lovely figures :)
 
great shots- i love the one of eagle rock!- What sort of camera do you use?
 
Thanks, everyone, for the replies.

Zulu -- sounds like it has not changed much since your last visit.

I use a Panasonic FZ30 camera but will at long last upgrade to dSLR today. I am looking forward to the superior macro capabilities of the dSLR and lens.

Regards,
David
 
these are from the Royal last week, such a diverse range of habitat at my doorstep.
 

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Three toed skinks abound in the damper areas of the Royal, but so do leeches
 

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Hello Jason,

Thanks for the pics. Royal is a great place and it is amazing to have a park like that so close to Sydney.

That leech looks nice and plump. Was it feasting on you?

I only saw adult Cunningham's on this trip although I have seen young ones before. Do you have any photos of these?

Regards,
David
 
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