Aligorith's Lair: Autumn Colours in Hagley Park

This afternoon, I took a good long walk through Hagley Park to capture the trees in their full autumn splendor. This follows on from another long walk I had yesterday afternoon at Travis Wetland park (I'm planning on having a post up on that up shortly too). It's been really nice weather wise this long weekend (Anzac Day this year fell on Saturday, 100 years since the tragedy at Gallipoli, leading to a "Mondayised" holiday), with temperatures in the mid twenties, and mostly-sunny weather.

I've actually got a few other sets of photos from previous years which I still haven't gotten around to posting (though they are up in the usual places if you're interested). But, so that this year's batch doesn't suffer the same fate, here they are now.

Harper Ave
Passing by yesterday, I noticed that the Cherry Blossoms along Harper Ave had turned a beautiful shade of crimson, so I decided to stop by again today for a closer inspection...

Victoria Lake
Victoria Lake is a man-made lake in Hagley Park which was dug specifically for the model boat club. Some of its members were obviously in action today, with a RC sailboat sailing around.

This round yellow tree in particular caught my eye - it seemed like such a perfect specimen of roundness...

Meanwhile, underfoot was a blanket of fallen golden leaves,

while overhead in the canopies, the cries of a large and excited flock of silvereyes flitted from branch to branch

Bordering the lake is a golf course. This cabbage tree flanked by two golden trees makes for quite a surreal composition. Even more surreal was that moments after taking this shot, I heard something falling from the pine beside me, only to see that it was a golf ball! I'm beginning to wonder why headgear isn't compulsory in this sport... those balls are hard and move at high velocities (after getting hit using some serious chunks of metal)! Oh, and I have no idea how golfers managed to figure out where the hole is, or even where there balls went!

Another view from nearby..

Some more fallen leaves, this time on water...

Golden Tree
Inside the Botanic Gardens, there was a hive of activity centered around a particular large tree, with sweeping overhanging branches bearing large yellow leaves which were spectacularly backlit by the sun.

One of my favourite shots of this tree - There were so many people about!

This tree formed a neat sweeping-umbrella shape...

And was beautifully backlit

And formed a neat little space on the other side

The light around here was amazing!

Young and old were out and about...

Another golden tree, beside the weather observatory

Avon River and Ducks
An obligatory shot of the Avon, looking stunning as always. The water isn't as clear as it was last year - there is now silt building up again clouding things up a bit :(

There was also a curious sight: A grey duck!

A bit more backlit mystery by the riverbank...

I'm still quite happy I managed to snap this shot, even though it is OOF (granted, it was really hard to get AF to lock onto the sparrow, and it's hunting just about meant I didn't get this shot). I should do these kinds of silhouetted shots more!

Fantail
I saw a fantail today! It came in nice and close too, and was kind enough to actually hold still for a few seconds in each pose/branch with its tail open... only just long enough for me to get some shots :D

Hello there!

Bottoms up!

To be, or not to be

Some upside down gymnastics!

Water Gardens

This tranquil corner had some peaceful red/orange foliage, surrounding the lilypond. There were also quite a lot of people around relaxing on the park benches here. Don't tell them though that I've found out the hard way that there are also heaps of hungry mosquitos around this area (though they thankfully didn't show up today)!

Maple Border
Everytime I pass the maple border, I hope to catch it in full autumn "beauty" mode. This time, I think I finally saw it. Coupled with the "Shade" white balance, along with late afternoon sun, we get this...

The combination of golden backlit leaves, red backlit maple leaves, and late afternoon sun were a magical combination!

Herbaceous Border
As usual, there were some interesting specimens here...