A very good turnout of 18 attended the KRMB Christmas Picnic Lunch on Sunday 13th December. All enjoyed the get together over lunch under the pergolas at the north western end of Lake Richmond. It was especially good to catch up with Ann and Otto Mueller, Stan and Margaret Telford and Peter Willmott. The Christmas Hamper was won by Rosalie Barritt.

Being good naturalists we took a short walk around the lake and recorded the following bird sightings:

• Purple Swamp Hens with chicks,
• Black-winged Stilts,
• Pied Cormorants,
• Great Crested Grebe,
• Hoary Headed Grebe,
• Crested Tern,
• Caspian Tern,
• Yellow-billed Spoonbill,
• White Ibis,
• Common Greenshank,
• Whistling Kite, Osprey (which dived repeatedly into the water after fish without success),
• Pelicans,
• Silver Gulls and
• Welcome Swallows.

A Grassbird was heard calling. We also spotted a Dugite, several Spider wasps (Cryptocheilus bicolor), and Dragonflies. Alyxia buxifolia (Camel Bush) was in flower and Angled Lobelia (Lobelia alata) was also flowering. Disappointingly, however, many weeds were evident. It had been a great lunch and we all wished each other all the best for the festive season and a happy new year as we packed up and made our way home.

Colin Prickett