A proportion of WWers summit Mount Majura!

OK the proportion was about 3 -4% represented by 1 member who could qualify for Acker Bilk's explanation of folk from Somerset:

Somerset born and Somerset bred,
Strong in the arm and weak in the head.

I don't actually come from Somerset and in my case I am not too sure about the "strong in the arm" bit at this stage.

Before I left home I saw an email mentioning a Grey Goshawk at Jerrabomberra Wetlands.  As this is one of my bogey birds I decided to invest a little time in looking for it.  On the way I  went past the Turf farm which was looking a bit soggy.

Here is a close up of the swans.

There were about 30 of the grazing across the farm, seeming totally at ease with the work going on (and the workers totally at ease with the swans).

I spent about an hour at the wetlands and found neither hide nor feather of the Grey Goshawk.  I did find the original observer who gave some clues as it where it might be but I could not relocate the bird.  Damn!  I recorded 22 species of birds in the area.

On to Mount Majura.  I wasn't quite sure where the WW had been intended to go so I went to the end of the houses in Hackett and walked from there.  I assumed the idea had been to go to the summit, which is sort of visible from the start.

There were some good views as I ascended.  Although a bit cloudy there was no rain and the wind was coming from the SE so I was sheltered from that also.

 Some views included Gungahlin and were therefore very below ordinary

My only bird photo on this outing was a rather shiny Eastern Rosella.

Lets get on to some flowers.  There weren't that many around - indeed a fair bit of the area seemed to have been grazed to bedrock.  The first flower is Stypandra glauca.

The most obvious flower was Hovea heterophylla.

I did see a couple of small clumps of Hardenbergia violacea, but kept waiting for a better photo opportunity: which didn't come and I couldn't relocate them on the way back.  As a general comment, it seems to me that Hardenbergia is generally scarcer this year.

I think this is a Dodonea.

Right back at the edge of the woodland I found Cryptandra sp. Floriferous,

 Near the top was a clearer area with quite a good crop of Acacia dealbata.

 The main reason for going was the word 'Casuarina'.  They might have Glossy Black-Cockatoos!  Here is a close-up male flower of Allocasuarina verticillata.

Looking across a valley the massed brown flowers stand out dramatically.

 Many of the cones from female trees have fallen, which I guess makes them ripe.

Unfortunately they have not attracted any Glossies.  I didn't see a single chewed cone.

Very close to the summit was a good crop of Brachychiton populneus (aka Kurrajong) fruit cases.

I was most taken with the lichen on this large Kurrajong.

Here's proof that I got to the summit.