October’s offering will be an outing to Sherbrooke Forest and a veritable feast for all nature and wildlife photographers.
Meet at Grant’s Picnic Ground car park at 10am on Sunday 7th October however, I will be there earlier especially if the morning happens to be misty.
Grant’s offers a native bird feeding area, shop (tourist) and a nice café which gets busy on Sunday’s. There are several walks available, some flat and short, some not so flat and longer. The whole area is awash with nature/wildlife subjects if you know where to look. Kallista is also nearby which may offer some photographic opportunities as well. There will be Cockatoo’s, Corellas, Galah, King Parrot, Lyrebird, Kookaburra, Yellow Robin, Currawong and many others. Personally, I will be going looking for some Lyrebirds and I would suggest that if you want to shoot Lyrebirds this is a great opportunity as I can pretty much guarantee that you will see one. However, it does involve some walking (about 3km return) into the forest and perhaps going a few meters off the path. Otherwise there are plenty of other walks and lots to see.
Suggested things that you might need:
Long and wider lenses
Monopod or Tripod
Walking Boots especially if it has rained
Mozzie spray
Warm Jacket (it can be up to 10 degrees cooler than at the bottom of the hill and you can always leave it in the car if it happens to be warm).
Please Note: If you intend to stay on the track then there is no problems at all however, if you step off the tracks in the forest there is a good chance you will get leeches on anything that you put on the ground and on your legs. It has been suggested to me that if you wash your lower legs with soap and let it dry rather than rinse it off, this will keep the leeches away.
How to get there:
From the Eastern suburbs etc. follow Burwood highway to Belgrave and at the roundabout at the far side of Belgrave shopping street go straight across the towards Kallista on the Monbulk Road. The road climbs slowly up into the rainforest and in around 2 – 3km Grant’s picnic ground is on the right side just before Kallista. If you miss the turn or get to the roundabout at Kallista then go around and come back down the hill and the entrance is on the left side.
From the South Eastern Suburbs, use the Hallam – Belgrave Road to the roundabout in Belgrave and turn right towards Kallista on the Monbulk road, then follow the instructions above.
See you there
Dave Sumner
WCC Secretary
