Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

Yesterday my wife and I visited the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens. These gardens in the Mt Lofty Ranges are part of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens and are about 15-20 minutes drive from the CBD.

It was a glorious day and just right for a walk through this delightful spot in South Australia. It was about 25 degrees Celcius, clear azure blue sky with a gentle cooling breeze just right for the exertion of walking uphill. These gardens are a feature of the eastern slopes of Mt Lofty, the highest point dominating the Adelaide skyline.

Rhondodendrons

The section we walked through is dominated by extensive planting of Rhondodendrons. These magnificent plants were mostly out in flower and made a dazzling display in the Australian bushland surrounding them.

The forest we walked through was dominated by an introduced bird unfortunately. I love the call of the Common Blackbird, but when it drowns out the calls of our lovely native species it is disappointing. I must have seen and heard over 50 of this species in the hour and a half walk.

Other species included a small flock of Yellow-Tailed Black-Cockatoos, several Grey Fantails, a single Eastern Spinebill and many Crimson Rosella parrots. In the upper section of the park the only bird I managed to photograph was a Grey Currawong, too busy searching for his afternoon snack under the bark of the nearby trees to worry about my camera clicking away.

Grey Currawong

After our walk we drove down to the lower section to have afternoon tea in the lakeside picnic grounds. Here I was able to get many good shots of a Black Swan,

Black Swan

a single Magpie Lark,

Australian Magpie Lark

several Eurasian Coot, Pacific Black Duck and many Wood Ducks.

Australian Wood Duck

The Hoary Headed Grebes out in the middle of the lake were too far away to get good photos.

Mt. Lofty Botanic Gardens