I was so used to seeing the small, ex-farm dams at Callum Brae Nature Reserve as half-filled or completely dried vestiges of a wetter time in Canberra that I was shocked when I finally saw them full. It was not only a very positive sight but I was seeing life back in them and around them. Back in February 2020 I phtoographed the dams when they were completely empty, with their cracked dirt floors exposed to the heat of the sun. A little bit of rain soon afterwards provided some liquid covering but I did not expect to ever see them actually full. When I did see them finally full on a recent trip I also saw some Eastern Snake-necked Turtles swimming in the brown water but I have no idea where they came from. Besides the filled ponds I was delighted to see a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets at a hollow. It is past the breeding season but I am always happy to see these truly gorgeously coloured birds that can never be quiet. I hope that you enjoy the photographs below.
I thought a good sign for my visit was when I heard a Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) as soon as I arrived. I was fortunate in seeing it just off the track but when I tried to keep circling around the bird to get a better angle it flew off.
Grey Butcherbird in a tree beside the track to the dam
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
For some reason, just walking into Callum Brae lifted worries from my shoulders, even though this was a comparatively small reserve that was not far from suburban Canberra and less than 10 minutes drive from my home. Walking in along the dirt management trail I felt further away from the city than I was, almost like I was way out in an isolated country area. There was a quietness there that was barely disturbed by other people when I visited. In walking towards the first pond, I came to a track junction that was normally carpeted in short, yellow grass but was now covered in much longer, green strands of vegetation. I liked the triangular shape as well as the contrasting colours.
Track intersection near the dam
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 100, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/640 SEC]
I didn’t take any ground level shots of the first dam, I guess because I envisaged a shot from the air. I tried the photograph from a number of angles and altitudes before settling on the image below. The white pipe at the top of the dam was touching the water, where as previously I had been able to walk past on dry land the end of the pipe facing the water because it was so far away from getting wet. I loved the mix of shades of green in the photo.
The dam
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/640 SEC]
Approaching the dam from ground level I could see a disturbance on the water’s surface but I was not sure what it was. When I arrived beside the dam I noticed thee Eastern Snake-necked Turtles (Chelodina longicollis) floating just below the surface of the water except for their heads that were sticking up through the pond. They seemed to notice me because they slowly sunk into the brown depths of the dam. Then every few minutes a turtle would rise to the surface, to stay there for no more than a minute or two before it almost imperceptibly dropped below the surface again. As I said in the introduction, this pond had been completely dry just over 12 months previously and now it had turtles back in it, and the only possible water source was almost a kilometre away over a hill, with no obvious path or dry water channel to this pond. That said, these turtles do go travelling, even across busy roads unfortunately. More generally, they are carnivores, eating anything that they can catch, so a larger creature like these turtles is also an indication that there is enough smaller animal life in the dams to support them.
Two Eastern Snake-necked Turtles in the dam
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC])
Beyond the full water a number of Meadow Argus (Junonia villida) butterflies were visible around the dam, they seemed to be sunning themselves on the ground rather than looking for food.
Meadow Argus resting on the earthen embankment
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Like the butterfly above there were a number of colourful Pasture Day Moths (Apina callisto) along the earthen bank containing the water. These moths were very skittish and hard to approach. Their caterpillar stage has beautiful colours and digs a hole in the ground where it pupates. Indeed these moths challenge some common perceptions of moths that they lack colour and are only active at night.
Pasture Day Moth sunning itself on the earthen embankment of the dam
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
When I was finishing photographing around that pond two Wedge-tailed Eagles (Aquila audax) flew into view. They were not high in the sky as normal but much lower. They were not flying fast either. They circled over towards the south-west and I was not certain if they had landed or my vision of them still flying was obstructed by trees. If I was sure that they had landed I would have tried to find them but I was running out of time so I thought that I had better keep moving.
Wedge-tailed Eagle soaring near the dam
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC])
A week later saw me heading off to a different pond but taking a long route so as to find more subjects to photograph. In fact, it did not take me long to find something cool to photograph.
I parked my car near the pedestrian access point to the reserve. When I was getting my camera bag out of the car there was a eucalyptus sapling right beside the boot of my vehicle. I decided spontaneously to challenge myself to find a subject to photograph. It did not take long for me to locate what I thought was a speck of dirt that I could then magnify, only then to realise that it was a White Lace Lerp (Cardiaspina albitextura). This tiny but stunningly coloured insect was less than 5mm long and remained still while I was photographing it. The larvae form of this insect produces a small white covering under which it lives on a leaf, which is how the species got its name. I wish that I had a 2x lens at least to capture some more of the colourful detail of this minuscule creature.
White Lace Lerp with dew on it that I found beside my car
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/11 and 1/180 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Walking along a track, heading in a very roundabout way to the dam I heard the calls of some Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus). At first I could not see them, which was strange because they are so wonderfully and brightly coloured. Eventually I noticed one on a small branch, the shot immediately below. Then I noticed a second one in a hollow. The first bird returned to its mate and briefly preened the other lorikeet before it moved along the top edge of the hollow. After a minute or so, both birds flew to a new branch where they perched side by side before preening themselves. It is always so nice to see these spirited birds. These birds pair for a long time if not life and while both birds will prepare the nest only the female sits on the eggs.
Beautiful Rainbow Lorikeet in a tree on my circuitous route to the second dam
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
While I was photographing the Rainbow Lorikeets I was distracted by this tiny but very well camouflaged Two-tailed Spider on the tree that I was learning against to steady my lens. I suddenly noticed some bark move then I realised it was this little spider. The arachnid was just above eye level facing downwards on the main trunk of the tree. It had a well-wrapped morsel of food in its grip that it was not letting go. Eventually, it tired of my attention, moving away when I put the lens near it. I cannot identify this to the species level just the genus. These spiders are genuine hunters, using their quick speed to catch prey.
Two-tailed Spider on a tree trunk that distracted me while photographing the Lorikeets
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/11 and 1/180 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Walking further along the path I became aware that an immature Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) was keeping me under close observation. Usually it is not hard to get closer to these kangaroos but this one was looking at me from a distance. A different kangaroo, which I had not seen, must have been spooked by my appearance walking along the track because it suddenly bolted from the long grass beside me towards the trees. This made the kangaroo that was looking at me take off as well.
Eastern Grey Kangaroo further along the track
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC])
Not far from the kangaroos I was drawn to this character-filled Scribbly gum. It looked like it had two trunks at some stage but one had died away leaving the other to grow. The tree’s colours and shape just made it an interesting subject although I could not isolate it well from the background. Sribbly gums are so called because they are the host for the Scribbly Gum Moth larvae, seems reasonable enough. In their life cycle the caterpillar is laid under the smooth bark of the gum, where once the insect hatches, it zig-zags up the tree under the bark, leaving the iconic mark. Before returning back down the zig-zag, eating the healing material used by the tree, to some point where it will emerge, move to the base of the tree to pupate and transform into a moth. If you look at the bark in the photograph where branches emerge, you will see the ‘wrinkles’ that also mark this tree species.
Interesting looking Scribbly Gum near where I cut across the bushland to the dam
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF16-35mm f/4L IS USM [ISO 320, 33mm, f/11 and 1/125 SEC])
Just after the scribbly gum I turned off the trail to walk across the countryside to the dam. It was not hard to find the dam because the vegetation is sparse and the earthen bund was easy to pick between the plants. I just really liked being at the dam where I found some interesting photo subjects. I just had to put my drone up to look for some shots as well. The first shot really captured my attention with dead trees in the water that was reflecting the cloud from the dull, dark surface. The cloud reflection was interrupted by some white specks on the water that almost looked like stars in the reflection, giving the shot some weird resemblance to astrophotography. I am really happy with how it turned out.
Dead trees in the pond with cloud reflections that looked almost like space
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/500 SEC]
This pond had a number of Water Striders moving about it, although they were mainly in the shadows on the edge, which was not good for photography. I really liked when I was able to isolate one of them on the still water, the bottom photograph. These insects are predatory animals that will use their speed to get across the pond surface to grab any creature that may fall on the water.
Water Strider waiting in the shadows on the pond
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 312mm, f/8.0 and 1/250 SEC])
I liked this poised Water Strider on the pond surface
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 312mm, f/8.0 and 1/250 SEC])
I also noticed a tadpole in the water, along with several others but I have no idea of the species.
Unidentified tadpole in the pond
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/320 SEC])
In the area around the dam I could see a dead tree that I thought made an interesting photo subject.
Dead tree
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/1250 SEC]
I really enjoyed walking around Callum Brae Nature Reserve, even as the autumn mornings were accompanied by a chill. I was also thrilled with the water in the dams because of the life that it attracted, great for the ecosystem and great subjects for photographs.
Thanks for reading this post and thanks also for looking at my photos. I hope you come back again to read more about some of the wonderful natural things that the Australian Capital Territory has on offer. All the best until the next post.