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Australia Australia forest

Darkes Forest

Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 3.0

96% trees around it and 927 species recorded.

88Forestyas Score

ForestDense canopyWildBirdsWildlife

  • trees within 3 km96%
  • wild within 10 km99%
  • species recorded927
  • Altitude363 m

The forest around

96% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 87%Grassland 9%Water 1%Built-up 3%Trees 98%Grassland 2%Built-up 0%Trees 96%Grassland 3%Built-up 1%Trees 82%Grassland 2%Water 14%Bare ground 0%Built-up 2%96%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km87%
  • 1–3 km98%
  • 3–6 km96%
  • 6–10 km82%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees98%
  • Grassland2%
  • Water0%
  • Built-up0%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

927 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Pultenaea aristata
Pultenaea aristataPultenaea aristata3,772 recordsEveline Chan · CC BY 3.0
Empodisma minus
Empodisma minusEmpodisma minus2,214 recordsEncyclopedia of Life · CC BY-SA 3.0
Schoenus brevifolius
Schoenus brevifoliusSchoenus brevifolius1,958 recordsJohn Tann from Sydney, Australia · CC BY 2.0
Leptocarpus tenax
Leptocarpus tenaxLeptocarpus tenax1,926 recordsKevin Thiele from Perth, Australia · CC BY 2.0
Lepyrodia scariosa
Lepyrodia scariosaLepyrodia scariosa1,887 recordsJohn Tann from Sydney, Australia · CC BY 2.0
Ptilothrix deusta
Ptilothrix deustaPtilothrix deusta1,667 recordsJohn Tann from Sydney, Australia · CC BY 2.0
Epacris obtusifolia
Epacris obtusifoliaEpacris obtusifolia1,411 recordsPoyt448 Peter Woodard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Heath-leaf banksia
Heath-leaf banksiaBanksia ericifolia1,371 recordsNo machine-readable author provided. Casliber assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain
Entolasia stricta
Entolasia strictaEntolasia stricta1,271 recordsPoyt448 Peter Woodard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hakea teretifolia
Hakea teretifoliaHakea teretifolia1,246 recordsCas Liber · CC BY 2.5
Cassytha glabella
Cassytha glabellaCassytha glabella1,173 recordsPoyt448 Peter Woodard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Dampiera stricta
Dampiera strictaDampiera stricta787 recordsMelburnian · CC BY 3.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

88out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 96%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 99%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 927Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 363 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in May and in September.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan31°16°87 mm
  2. Feb28°16°138 mm
  3. Mar25°14°115 mm
  4. Apr22°11°91 mm
  5. May18°7°74 mm
  6. Jun15°5°107 mm
  7. Jul14°3°60 mm
  8. Aug16°4°55 mm
  9. Sep20°7°49 mm
  10. Oct23°10°72 mm
  11. Nov26°12°88 mm
  12. Dec28°14°76 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Darkes Forest.

Locality in New South Wales, Australia

Darkes Forest is a forest in Australia, 363 m above the sea.

Seen from space, 96% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 99% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

927 species have been recorded around it: 622 plants, 1 fungi, 261 birds and 43 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Pultenaea aristata, Empodisma minus and Schoenus brevifolius.

The best time to walk is in May and in September.

Darkes Forest NSW 2508, Australia - panoramio (36)
Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 3.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Guided forest walks and tours near Darkes ForestGetYourGuideSee prices Cabins and stays near Darkes ForestBooking.comSee prices Car hire at SYD airport (Sydney)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Darkes Forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 6shelters and huts within 6 km
  • 2viewpoints within 5 km
  • 2car parks within 3 km
  • 31campsites within 10 kmGround #10, Ground #9, Ground #6 and 28 more
  • 4places to stay within 10 kmTumbling Waters Retreat, Coledale Oceanview Gem, Headlands Hotel and 1 more
  • marked trails within 5 km
  • named and notable trees within 6 km
  • picnic sites within 4 km
  • visitor centres within 6 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Darkes Forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas34 mountains within 25 km
Bald Hill300 m · 7.9 kmMount Morella11 kmBrokers Nose440 m · 17 kmMount Keira464 m · 21 kmMount Annan22 kmMount Nebo251 m · 23 kmMount Nibo24 kmMount Drummond24 km
Coastya6 beaches within 10 km
Stanwell Park Beach7.3 kmScarborough Beach7.8 kmWombarra Beach8.1 kmColedale Beach8.6 kmSharkies Beach9.1 kmBulgo Beach9.5 km
Lakeyas2 lakes within 15 km
Lake Cataract7.2 km² · 11 kmLake Woronora3.2 km² · 12 km
Darkskyas2 dark-sky places within 30 km
UWS Rotary ObservatoryBortle 8 · 19 kmGreen Point ObservatoryBortle 7 · 29 km
Viewyas1 viewpoints within 15 km
Bald Hill Lookout8.3 km
Cascadyas2 waterfalls within 15 km
Loddon Falls7.1 kmAppin Falls11 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Darkes Forest NSW 2508, Australia - panoramio (37)
Maksym Kozlenko · CC BY-SA 3.0

Other forests nearby.

Darkes Forest

Australia

  • 88Forestyas Score
  • 96%Trees
  • 99%Wild
  • 927Species

Belanglo State Forest

Australia · 71 km

  • 86Forestyas Score
  • 92%Trees
  • 98%Wild
  • 559Species

See the guide

Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Australia · 49 km

  • 43Forestyas Score
  • 14%Trees
  • 60%Wild
  • 1,213Species

See the guide

Australian National Botanic Gardens

Australia · 202 km

  • 69Forestyas Score
  • 53%Trees
  • 77%Wild
  • 1,437Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q5223611) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species97,175 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Coastya, Lakeyas, Darkskyas, Viewyas, Cascadyas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Coming soonVisit
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Visit birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here