Went for a walk yesterday in Lane Cove National Park – a few kilometres west of our place. One of the great things about Sydney is that we have national parks right in the middle of the city. If you can get through the traffic that is – official reports show that traffic congestion on the North Shore is now officially worse on weekends than it is during the week!!
Anyway – we sat and had some lunch before heading off along a track which is part of the Great North Walk (which actually goes as far as Newcastle!). The path winds its way along the river, sometimes heading up along the ridgelines too. We walked for just under two hours in total – we would have walked further, but the sun was getting low and the parks closes at 6pm, so I didn’t want to be rushing back in the dark.
I took the GPS data logger – here is where we went:
The best time to see animals in Lane Cove National Park is in the morning. I hired a boat from the boat shed on Saturday morning and saw about 10 lizards plus plenty of ducks and other birds. Have seen water turtles there before. But you need to go as early as they open (10am) to see them, otherwise they are scared away by visitors and it takes a bit of luck to spot them.
If you are planning a visit, check out this visitor guide. It contains lots of information about the park.
I haven’t heard recently but last year there was a Powerful Owl there along with several Nankeen Night Herons, King Parrots, Crested shrike-tits and Gang-Gang Cockatoos – all very desirable birds to see.
Lots of birds – a family of Indian Mynahs joined us for lunch, but there were a large number of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos making noise over the other side of the river, and we also saw Crimson Rosellas and Rainbow Lorikeets flying by.
We saw quite a few Kookaburras along the walk and heard Eastern Whipbirds quite often – we even got to see one on our way back!
I didn’t take the camera – although next time I think I will – if we have more time and better light (it was quite late in the day and I didn’t want to be dawdling to take photos).
Next time we visit you will have to take us on that walk. I believe that it is an excellent birding area with some interesting birds to be seen. Did you see any birds? Did you take any photos?