This place, for me, is a must every year – and I go more than once, if possible. 2020 made that a bit difficult but this year I’ll make up for it and have gotten a season pass so I can go a few more times. The Blue Lotus Water Garden is on Warburton Highway,…
Author: Kathie Thomas
Trying a new zoom with P950
You’d think that with lockdown here in Melbourne, Australia, I’d find more time to write blog posts! But I always seemed to find other things to do. And having always been home to work too, not a lot had changed in that regard. But my photography has certainly been more prolific and it’s time I…
Purple Swamp Hen and Chicks
Visiting my favourite local park and lakes recently, I finally got to see, first-hand, some Purple Swamp Hen chicks with their mums. One single and then two chicks with another mum. They are quite ugly but in a cute way. My favourite pic is this one below – a young chick ‘talking’ to its mum….
Blue hour moon
I love living here in the Dandenong Ranges. It’s a little quieter than normal, in relation to traffic on our road, but even so, during normal times, it’s not that noisy. There’s lots of bird life here, wonderful indigenous plant life springing up in our paddock. We do have a lot of weeding to do…
Wattlebird feeding time
Recently I’ve discovered that the Wattlebird that hangs around our property has a young one. I heard the cheep cheep a couple of days ago and went in search and was stunned when I got a great shot (for me anyway) of her feeding her young. And then I scored another shot, a day later…
Your camera takes really nice pictures
If you’re a keen photographer, and a reasonable one, you have probably had this said to you many times – I know I have. People see me walking around with my camera and huge lens and go ‘whoa, that’s a big camera!’. Mind you, it’s the lens that’s big, not the camera, lol. And it…
George Tindale Gardens at Spring
For those not in Victoria, or even Australia, you may not be aware of the tough restrictions we’ve had in the “Melbourne Metro” area regarding COVID19. There have been arguments as to whether the Dandenong Ranges and Shire of Yarra Ranges are metro or regional. But, many feel, it’s because there are a lot who…
Christmas Cards Available
As we don’t currently have the local markets running here in the hills, due to the pandemic lock down, I’m unable to share my products with you, other than via my website and my social media accounts. You may be interested to know that I have a limited supply of Dandenong Ranges Christmas Cards –…
Been waiting years for this shot!
Many know that I frequent Birdsland Reserve, often. There’s always so much to see and enjoy there and I very much love to just wander along (getting some exercise) and always scanning for something new to shoot (with my camera that is). One day in July, my husband and I were walking together and just…
2021 Calendar off to the printers!
The new 2021 Calendar is now off to the printer and will be available real soon for orders. It will retail for $19.95 plus postage, or can be picked up in Selby. Unfortunately the Kallista Market won’t be open till December but I will have copies there when we are open. I do plan to…
Chestnut Teals visit Birdsland Reserve
I love to visit Birdsland Reserve regularly and never tire of visiting it. Almost every day I visit, there’s something else to see. Today it was 3 Chestnut Teal Ducks, 1 male and 2 female. I don’t see them there often, just now and then, but it’s always exciting to see them there. Today I…
The Amazing Birdsland
I took this photo recently, while visiting this beautiful parkland, with my photography club, Hills Photographic Society. I nearly always carry my long lens, 200-500mm, for those close up birding shots, and in hope of seeing the eagles above, but it also means that I don’t usually get many wide shots – unless taken on…