ANPS does its Penance (Grove that is).

After gathering at Bungendore and leaving only slightly later than prophesied we took ourselves to Monga National Park and Dasyurus picnic area for morning tea.  (On the way in it was nice to see the "No Hunting in National Parks" sign nailed to a tree well out of reach of the average member of the Game Council.)

I expect the images to appear more or less in the order in which I took them, rather than any thematic constructs being employed.

Let us begin with some reflections in the Mongarlowe River!

The road into Dasyurus, giving an idea of the magnificent environment.

When the area is generally moist (people we have visited in the area refer to the "Monga Mist' rolling out each evening) you tend to get lotsa moss and lichen.

A bit more Mongarlowe River.  I tried to do an evocative image here, but I am afraid I don't have Peter Dombrovskis' skills.  So this isn't quite Franklin River standard but still pretty pleasant.

 I suspect this fungus is a member of the genus Amanita.  I will try to add 'better' names as I research the fungi.  In this case Amanita xanthocephala has been suggested.

 No idea yet about these growing on a dead log.

 Russula sp?

These are the berries on Smilax australis.  This has the vernacular name Lawyer Vine as it has thorns on the stems and once they get hooked in to you it is impossible to escape.

 One of the thorns is just visible here, but the main business is the 'design' of the tendril.

 More berries.  This time Tasmannia lanceolata.  I am here to tell you they are very peppery if nibbled.

A fern frond.

Some flowers on a Eucryphia moorei in full sun.  The sight of these trees in flower never fails to give me a pleasure burst!

Here some petals have fallen on to a small fern bank.

 An epiphyte!

A tree fern from underneath (outside the Penance Grove so I didn't transgress any rules).

A female Golden Whistler caused some initial ID problems.

None so with this Rufous Fantail.  Always good to see this very active, very attractive species when we visit damp gullies.

 One knows one is near the Coast (and in forest) when Lewin's Honeyeaters are seen and/or heard.

(Most of ) an Eastern Yellow Robin.  This was one of the most common species today and I thought this, my personal best effort, was sufficiently amusing to inflict it on you!

Roger (and subsequently a few other folk) found a lot of Austropaxillus infundibuliformis growing near the Waratah picnic area where we took lunch.

I currently have no idea of the ID of this gently attractive Amanita species.

Growing off to one side of the path from the picnic area to the River was this Boletellus obscurecoccineus.  This image was taken using flash, which got a result much closer to the field colour of this magnificent species.

There were few reptiles seen today.  The only one I saw had a good number of legs (good equals >0).

We then moved to the area of Correa lawrenciana var. cordifolia.  Most of the plants just had fat buds

.. but a few flowers were available.

Persoonia linearis was around.

As was one plant of Platysace lanceolata.

I was offered various opportunities to photograph leeches on various parts of plants and/or people's limbs.  However as Ros foreshadowed this reject from Andy's neck wins the prize.  It was more like a moderate sized slug than a normal leech.

I will finish with a comment about the birds seen today. We/I got a list of 26 species which is quite reasonable but I'd note:

• a number of other birds were not identified as they zipped across the road in front of me; and
• quite a few of the species (Crested Shrike Tit, Rufous Fantail, Crescent Honeyeater, Brush Cuckoo, Lewins Honeyeater) are uncommon - rare in Canberra.

So I end up rating the area as damn good.