Diario de jon_sullivan

We spent the weekend in Akaroa, first celebrating Cynthia Roberts' birthday with a cruise on the harbour on the Canterbury Cat followed by lunch at French farm, and then a rainy day spent on Smith Street with ECan ecologist Phil Cochrane banding tui.

On the harbour, we made it all the way around to the otherworldly Scenery Nook, with its massive vertical dyke jutting out into the sea. The captain mentioned that a yellow-eyed penguin had been spotted here in a previous week but we didn't see it.

I've uploaded my species photos from the trip to NatureWatch NZ and will add all of my standard bird, butterfly, and plant counts once the iNaturalist trip functionality is finished.

We spent the day visiting an old childhood haunt of mine, Nape Nape Scenic Reserve. When I was a young boy, my family used to spend our summer camping trips at this secluded coastal reserve. Back then, it had a fully functional campground and even a swimming pool, since the surf is not safe to swim in. The camp ground has since been closed due to landslip dangers and the pool has been removed.

It's still a remarkable place to visit. It's one of the few scraps of coastal native forest left in Canterbury, growing on dramatic white limestone containing fossils. Around the cliffs at the southern end of the beach are fur seals. Banded dotterels are commonly seen on the beach.

One of the highlights of our trip this time were the Corybas macranthus orchids in flower.

I've added assorted photos I took onto NatureWatchiNaturalist NZ and will add my standard bird, butterfly, mammal, and plant counts once we've finished building these features into the website.