Wurruma Swamp, Mt Garnet, January 2022
I have been to Wurruma many times now but not much of late. It was time for a visit so I rose at 3am to head out to Mt Garnet for sunrise. I got there just in time for sunrise but not early enough to set up properly for a landscape photo..
You can read more about this Swamp and how to get there in this post.
Being too late to photograph sunset properly and still too dark to photograph birds I did what has now become a bit of a habit when nothing is happening, I sat in the grass to see what was happening in there.
I turned around in my spot looking for insect action and noticed how the water drops on the grass were creating very pretty specular highlights. Now I just needed some insects.
it was not long before this dragonfly landed nearby and presented itself in the morning sun for a photo, with the water on the grass.
The sun was still not high enough for the waterlilies to open but it would not be long as the sunlight started to beam down on them.
Like humans at a Boxing Day sale the bees were right at the flowers as soon as they showed signs of opening.
The dragonflies also came out in even greater numbers and I started trying to catch photos of them in flight as they hovered above the grass. This is a very frustrating past time but it feels so good when you catch one in a photo.
With the sunrise well and truly over I decided to leave the grass and go for a walk around the other side of the Swamp searching for shade. Along the way I passed signs of humans total disrespect for the environment, burnt out cars and decaying 24 gallon drums lay in the bush.
I have mentioned it before that the Black Swans at Wurruma are best photographed very early in the morning. Once the sun is too high they seems to become very shy and are hard to get close to.
You can view better early morning photos of Swans from the Tablelands Swamps here. That said I did take a couple of photos of the Swans on this day.
The next two photos of a Little Pied Cormorant and a Crested Pigeon highlight how the day was going, the sun was now booming down with no cloud cover and it was getting really hot and the light too harsh for photos. Time to head back to near Ravenshoe and find a place for a swim. Below is a photo I took of the Swamp as I left.