Larena Woodmore
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tasforest.com
Larena Woodmore
@tasforest.com
190 followers 82 following 95 posts
Citizen scientist documenting the biodiversity of a 70 acre bush property in the north of #Tasmania, Australia

https://www.tasforest.com
https://www.youtube.com/@tasforest

📍 lutruwita/Tasmania
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I'll never get used to crossing paths with a platypus in my own garden.

#platypus #tasmania #TasmanianAnimals #australianwildlife
November 22, 2025 at 3:28 AM
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It's always exciting when a camera trap captures a platypus. When one's in the water a layer of air and water on its fur makes it too cold to trigger the sensors, but this one climbed right out of the water. #platypus #australiananimals #Tasmania #monotremes #nature #cameratrap #trailcam #wildlife
June 23, 2025 at 12:07 AM
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Potoroos & bandicoots are overjoyed that it's mushroom season and are digging little (and some not-so-little) holes absolutely everywhere. The holes help water penetration, provide a place for seeds to land and germinate, and digging helps spread fungal spores. #Tasmania #AusAnimals #Potoroo #Nature
June 16, 2025 at 2:38 AM
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Is eastern spinebill season! I love the markings on these little guys. #EasternSpinebill #honeater #AustralianBird #Tasmania #Autumn
Photo of a tiny bird with long slender beak perched on a piece of fence wire and looking straight upwards. The top of its head is black and chin is white with a large brown smudge. It looks like it's wearing a chestnut-coloured jacks with black lapels over a white shirt. Photo of the same bird, this time looking to the left with its tongue out. This photo shows black wins and tail, and the rest of it is chestnut-coloured.
May 13, 2025 at 4:32 AM
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And the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish Astacopsis gouldi
Photo of a large brown and turquoise crayfish sitting on grass, facing the camera with its claws held out to the sides
March 21, 2025 at 10:37 AM
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A couple of nights ago we had the first rain in a long time, causing lots of frogs to climb out of the ferns and up the loungeroom window. #Nature #Frogs #Amphibians #Herps #Tasmania #Rain #auswildlife
Photo of a frog's underside, as seen through a window at night. Its body is semi-transparent and internal organs are visible through its white-spotted skin. Photo of another frog's underside, as seen through a window at night. This one is climbing to the right, showing off bright yellow thighs.
March 16, 2025 at 3:59 AM
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The turbo chooks found the paddling pool (or "paddy pool") that we put out for the pademelons, wallabies and possums to drink from, and they're pretty happy with it. #Tasmania #NativeHen #TurboChook #Wildlife
Photo of four Tasmanian native hens, also known as "turbo chooks", standing in a bright blue round plastic paddling pool.
March 11, 2025 at 2:26 AM
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Our creek's water level is quite low at the moment, but this hasn't stopped a giant freshwater crayfish (Astacopsis gouldi) from hanging out in one of the deeper pools. It's the biggest one I've seen for quite a while. #Tasmania #ausinverts #AstacopsisGouldi #Crayfish #Freshwater #Nature #Endangered
Photo of a large crayfish sitting in clear water at the endge of a creek. The top of its head is sticking out of the water, showing a small ridge in the centre of its brow. This (as well as size) is the identifying feature of the Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Crayfish.
March 7, 2025 at 5:00 AM
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Arkys are one of my favourite spiders. Some Arkys walckenaeri from my place.
Two photos of triangular spiders, on leaves & with two pairs of legs each held in front of them. The one on the left is a yellowish orange and the other is pinkish orange. Both have a white-dotted pink line in a triangle around the abdomen.
February 25, 2025 at 2:02 AM
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This morning I saw the most amazing spider webs hanging in the rushes. Up close, they look man-made. I couldn't find the spiders, so I don't know who these belong to. #Nature #Spiders #Spiderweb #Arachnids #Tasmania #Australia
Closeup photo of a spiderweb arranged in sqares that look almost exactly like a net made from fine fishing line. There are dewdrops on many of the intersections. Photo of a tightly spun spider web hanging from the stems of rushes. It is shaped like a round cloth that has been pulled up in the middle to create a central cone. The top of the cone contains sticks, twigs and insects that have been caught.
February 22, 2025 at 3:30 AM
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We put a trap out to catch a mouse that's been running around on the verandah. No luck, but if the possum had been able to get in it would have. With no moving parts, pokes from a possum don't disable this type of trap. #BrushtailPossum #MouseTrap #Wildlife #Australia #Tasmania #australiananimals
Photo of a possum peering into a metal box mouse trap from behind. Photo of a pobubm sniffing the top of a metal box mouse trap.
February 18, 2025 at 11:35 PM
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The robins are back! There weren't many last year but now there are are lots of scarlet and flame robins about. This photo of a male scarlet is the reason there's an old piece of plumbing pipe propped outside the dining room window. #robins #australianbirds #Tasmania #redbirds #nature
Photo of a small bird perching on an old piece of plumbing pipe. The bird's chest is bright red, there is white around the red, over the beak and bits on the wings and tail and its head, back, beak and eyes are black.
February 18, 2025 at 12:24 AM
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Sometimes the Bennett's wallabies make a head start on the pademelons, coming out to eat before dusk. This one was snacking outside the lounge room window until he was distracted by a female. #Macropods #australiananimals #Wallaby #Marsupials #Tasmania #Wildlife #Nature
Photo of a Bennett's wallaby with its front paws on the ground and looking directly at the camera. It looks like a mini kangaroo and has dark markings like makeup on its face, dark edges to his ears and tan marks above his dark eyes with black eyelashes. A blade of grass is sticking out of his mouth as he chews, and his pink tongue is sticking out.
January 16, 2025 at 1:15 AM
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It's so wrong. 😂 Looks more like an oversized hedgehog than one of these sweeties.
Photo of an echidna walking at the edge of a pond, nose to the ground. The belly is held well away from the ground and long claws can be seen on its backwards-facing back right foot.
January 10, 2025 at 8:50 PM
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When you look closely at insects, they really are like something from scifi/horror. This gusteruption wasp has unsheathed her ovipositor and is laying eggs in the nest of a solitary bee. Guess what happens to the bee babies next? #Insects #auswildlife #Horror #Wasps #Bees #Aliens
Photo of a dark grey insect perched on the side of a timber house post. She looks like an alien with huge eyes in a tear-drop shaped head and long backwards-bending back legs. Her abdomen that's narrow at the waist is held high with what looks like a long bent white-tipped needle sticking out the end. This is the sheath that usually covers her ovipositor. Instead the ovipositor, which looks like a long red even thinner needle is sticking into a hole in the wood, through a patch of resin that was placed there by a bee to protect the place where she'd laid her eggs.
January 8, 2025 at 12:20 AM
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Although not native, our massive salvia bush is appreciated by the birds. Fairy wrens live and breed in it and the Eastern spinebills love the flowers. Shame they won't turn and face the camera though! #australianbirds #Tasmania #Spinebill #Birds #Nature
Photo of a small, slender, bird with a long pointed beak the flowering stem of a bright green salvia plant. The stem is purple with white flowers. The bird looks as if it's about to fall up-side down, with everything below the shoulders being lower than its feet. Its back is chestnut-coloured and head and tail are black. You can just see the edge of its white and chestnut chest markings.
January 3, 2025 at 12:24 AM
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When lots of birds shout at once there's usually a raptor about. Today it was one of our two resident grey goshawks, high in the trees. Tasmanian ones are the white form of the species. #Goshawk #Raptor #AustralianBirds #Tasmania #White #WhiteBird #Nature
Photo of a pure white goshawk sitting high in a Eucalypt tree. Its beak is yellow with a black tip, and eyes are orange. Long talons can be seen gripping the branch it's sitting on.
December 31, 2024 at 3:45 AM
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Processing photos today, I realised I've found the 500th species at my home - this nice little cuckoo wasp. Not bad for just three years.

#Biodiversity #Tasmania #Insect #Wasp #Metallic #australianinvertebrates
Photo of a small wasp, from behind, with wings folded on its back. The body is textured with small dots like tiny balls and is metallic, mainly blue but with aqua, purplish and black areas. The photo was taken after it landed in cobwebs at sunset, so the blurred background is in golden brown tones.
December 23, 2024 at 6:00 AM
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There's a very pretty orange & blue giant freshwater crayfish - Astacopsis gouldi - in our creek today. A bit hard to photograph, though, since it was in an undercut beneath my feet.
#Tasmania #Crayfish #AstacopsisGouldi #Nature #ausinverts #Endangered
Photo of a large crayfish in the clear water of a shallow running creek. It is mainly in shades of brownish orange, with bright turquise on its sides. Not shown are red patches towards the end of its tail. This one is probably about twenty years old, and it's been illegal to catch them since about the time it was born.
December 22, 2024 at 1:45 AM
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I made Platypus & Tasmanian devil gingerbread for a Christmas party. 😁 #AustralianAnimals #Platypus #Tasmania #TasmanianDevil #ChristmasBaking #Gingerbread
Photo of two gingerbread biscuits. One is the shape of a platypus, with its beak & tail dipped in chocolate. The other is a Tasmanian devil with white lines of frosting on the chest and rump.
December 17, 2024 at 5:17 AM
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That's wombats. These are quolls.
Photo of two young spotted-tailed quolls playing outside their burrow. These are sleek brown animals covered in white spots, including on their very long thin rails.
December 15, 2024 at 9:54 PM
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First Christmas Beetle - Lamprima aurata - of the season. This one is reddish gold in the sunlight but when moved to the shade it looks green. Last year I mainly saw pink ones.

#Nature #Beetles #Tasmania #Insects #Metallic #australianinvertebrates #ChristmasBeetle
Photo of a large beetle perched on the flowering stem of a grass. Its entire body is metallic in a deep golden tone that appears reddish at some angles. It has large straight mandibles and slightly feathery antennae.
December 14, 2024 at 2:52 AM
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You could make it less niche if you include more snoots. Echidnas!
Four closeup photos of echidnas noses. Top left: Nose held up to in the air, showing damp nostrils on top and a tiny little mouth underneath Top right: Echidna looking straight at the camera, through a gap between horizontal branches. The nose is centre front and is mostly dry but damp at the end, showing the nostrils and mouth. Bottom left: Looking to the left, this echidna's nose is clean and slightly wet and is very shiny at the end. Bottom right: Looking to the right, the wet end of the snout is covered in crumbs of dirt.
December 6, 2024 at 8:59 PM
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The pardalotes are back to feed their babies. Today's meal options are insect larva or spider.

#Pardalotes #StriatedPardalotes #TasmanianBirds #Tasmania #AustralianBirds #Wildlife #Nature #Birds #ausbirds
Photo of a small yellow, black and grey bird perching on a small branch. In its tiny black beak is an immature insect that's light orange with dark red spots down the sides and green eyes. Photo of another small yellow, black and grey bird perching on a small branch. In this one's beak is a reddish-brown spider with its legs sticking out in all directions.
December 3, 2024 at 5:13 AM
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On this drizzly day, the pardalote babies are warm and comfy (and a bit noisy) in the walls of my study but the parents still need to go out to collect food.
#Pardalotes #StriatedPardalotes #TasmanianBirds #Tasmania #AustralianBirds #Wildlife #Nature #Birds #ausbirds
Photo of two small birds perched on a lichen-covered branch with bright green leaves. They are pale grey with black on the top of the head and wing feathers, and bright yellow under the chin, above the beak and on a dot halfway down the side of the wings. One is facing to the right and the other to the left. Drizzling raindrops are falling and both have wet face feathers.
December 3, 2024 at 3:35 AM