Back after the heat

Little did I know the fun we were in for over summer back in late October at the time of my last post.

With over 2 months of searing heat consistently reaching the mid 40's in the Celsius scale and some nights still 30 Celsius at midnight the skies were free of birds and creatures great and small retreated to whatever haven they could find from the relentless temperatures.

It was within this oven like environment I found myself and awaited for more than the industrious ants and my dying garden to shoot. 

Autumn has brought some relief and some needed rain ( I think we had about 10 mm total over summer)

so I am back at it.

Considering how rare the following scene has been I shall start with this. Storm clouds bringing much needed rain and helping bring back life to all.

Still awaiting the big thunder storms to produce some good lightning shots.

Just may get a chance before winter sets in.

Cloud Formation in an Inversion

I was able to capture, in time lapse, this interesting atmospheric condition.
It seems that a layer of cooler air had trapped moist, warm, air beneath it.
This is called an "inversion".
This was all happening at the base of a small mountain range with the cooler breeze racing overhead.
As the warm air gained enough momentum upwards, shown by the clouds boiling beneath, it eventually broke through the layer above to disperse clouds in the breeze.
A most interesting phenomenon, and one I hope you enjoy viewing.

High charge Lows

Last night a low pressure system, accompanied by a trough, passed over NSW.

I observed what looked like summer lightning, an occurrence that sees the sky lit by sheets of lightning without clouds...discharges atmospheric as charges balance out.

Then the clouds rolled in.

They were slow moving and, initially, undetectable in a starry sky.

The following shot with stars visible...

Then the show got started.

The next shot of cloud that rolled in.

It was multi layered, with many cloud forms present at many levels.

The real dark ones on the RHS foreground were very low and very dense.

Quite ominous in their slow roll across the land.

The next day was sunny to start with, though a smaller second trough passed over around 8am giving some rain and this nice double rainbow.

Hiatus soon rectified

There has been a hiatus in the postings of late and this is soon to be rectified.

I have the opportunity to cover the natural world in Europe for 2 months and plan many a forest walk in order to capture the onset of spring here.

Postings may be sporadic due to the nature (no pun intended) of my travels, though I will do my best to provide interesting insights and begin with a shot from the beginning of my 22 hour journey to get here.

The Southern Highlands shown in the distance under scattered cloud.

Recent weather sparks insect activity

Hot days with periods of high humidity has seen insect activity on the increase.

The mossies being no exception.

Larval casings of larger insects such as Robberflys, can easily be found in their environments with a large number of prey insects to support this and other predators such as the Dragonfly.


Accompanied by producer and photographer Andrew Jones, I made the trek to a number of small waterfalls such as the one pictured.

To get the shot you need low light with long exposures, so we are sitting at dusk in a mossie infested rain forest getting shots when I'm buzzed by a Dragonfly like insect. It being too dark to photograph or identify more clearly.

I thought them heat of the day hunters, though was proven incorrect by the near dark antics of this creature.

Not the one, pictured below, though this particular insect is in good numbers in many areas at the moment.