Each line is a season, thickest at its peak · tap to enlarge
A2 poster · printed in Australia
Sydney Nature Seasons
Know what’s happening outside, every week of the year.
$69 shipping included · framed $195
Glance at the wall and you’ll know what’s out there right now: the cicadas starting up, the waratahs in flower, the whales passing the headlands.
The year stops sliding past. Christmas beetles become something to look forward to, and a free Saturday has a reason to go somewhere. Year after year, because the seasons come back. There are no dates on it, so it works every year.
Drawn from 825,000 sightings by the people of Sydney who stop and look, and $5 from every poster goes to iNaturalist, where they share them. A gift for the nature lover in your life, too.
Shipping included, anywhere in Australia. Printed in Australia: in Sydney, rolled posters usually arrive in about a week and framed ones in one to two. Allow up to three weeks for remote areas. Orders and returns
- Size: 42 cm wide × 59.4 cm high (A2)
- Frame: optional: timber with shatterproof plexiglass and no mat, ready to hang, in four colours. Unframed fits a standard A2 frame.
- Paper: museum-quality matte, 250 gsm, acid-free
- Shipping: included, within Australia. Unframed comes rolled in a tube; framed comes boxed.
What's on it+
A year wheel with January at the top. Each line is a season, thickest at its peak, in six rings from the outside in: sky and sea (whales, king tides, meteor showers), birds, insects and spiders, flowers, the forest floor (fungi, frogs, echidnas), and under the water.
Solstices and equinoxes are marked. Below the wheel: ten species photographed by Sydney naturalists (credited, CC BY 4.0) and a short guide to reading it.
Where the seasons come from+
Research-grade iNaturalist sightings in Greater Sydney, all years: about 825,000 records from the people who stop and look. Each species’ weekly count is adjusted for how many people were looking that week, so a busy spring weekend doesn’t fake a peak.
Whales, king tides and meteor showers come from NSW National Parks, NSW government tide data and the International Meteor Organization. Seasons shift a week or two with the weather.
$5 from every poster goes to iNaturalist, the nonprofit where those sightings are shared. The poster is independent and not endorsed by iNaturalist.
Photo credits+
The ten photos are from iNaturalist, each used under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and cropped to a circle. Thank you to:
- Fiddler beetle: Austen Armstrong (@austenarmstrong)
- Blue triangle: ian_mcallan
- Red beard orchid: Eamonn Culhane (@eamonn_c)
- Christmas bells: Andrew Thornhill (@andrew_thornhill)
- Anemone stinkhorn: Geoff Shuetrim (@shuetrim)
- Ruby bonnet: Carl Ramirez (@carl_ramirez)
- Clown doris: Niki Hubbard (@nikihubbard)
- Blue dragon: Tim (@twan3253)
- Dollarbird: ian_mcallan
- Rose robin: Nathan Ruser (@nrg800)
Printing and delivery+
Each poster is printed to order in Australia and posted to you, shipping included. In Sydney, rolled posters usually arrive in about a week and framed ones in one to two weeks; allow up to three weeks for remote areas. You’ll get a tracking link when it ships.
If anything arrives damaged, reply to your order email with a photo and I’ll send a replacement or refund. Orders and returns
Who made it+
I’m Ben McCarthy. I write Sydney Nature This Week, a free Thursday email on what’s out in Sydney’s nature and the best day to go. This poster is the whole year of it on one sheet. More about me.