Beside a creek

Second last day of an extended locum with the Early Psychosis Intervention Team; extended in that it was meant to finish a couple of weeks ago, and they asked me to do two more weeks. As I said at today's shared lunch, I had to move a little out of my comfort zone of making diagnoses, because that;s not the culture in this team. Not a bad thing to have to do.

Got home after work and despite the heat of the late afternoon went out for a run. I hoped to find piwakawaka in Hakanoa Reserve. The ones I'd seen last week, and mucked up the photos. Not a one to be seen. So I carried on and along the boardwalk beside Coxs Creek. Too many other people and noise to see anything much.

So I headed up the path alongside the creek which runs through Bayfield Reserve to join Coxs Creek. Its a very interesting place. Coxs Park was once a sawmill and swamp. The creek is very "mangrovey". Between what I am guessing is Bayfield Creek and the houses and streets is a small inner city farmlet. It used to be part of the local Convent. The convent has closed, and the Church sold off a lot of the land for expensive terrace housing. The City Council has some sort of long lease of this remaining land, which has a few cattle beasts, the occasional horse, a few escaped rabbits, and birds. Here is where I saw the eastern rosellas last week. This evening I saw a number of spotted turtle doves, and got some good photos.

However, in the trees beside the creek I saw and photographed a piwakawaka (the New Zealand Fantail; north island variety). I am almost content that it wouldn't fan its tail; I'd hate to have mucked that up again. I am very pleased with getting this one (and a couple of others), showing its main features.