Belair National Park - Orchids and other wildflowers

Today was a lovely spring day, so I decided to go for a cycle ride and orchid hunt in Belair National Park. 

There were lots of orchids and other wildflowers to be seen. The most common was Waxlip Orchid (also known as Blue Cockatoo) 

There were also a lot of Bulldogs, some single flowers and some with multiple blooms

An orchid I don't see very often is Cowslip Orchid

I was really looking out for sun-orchids, and I did find a few.  Most common was Common Pink Sun-orchid. 

I also saw Slender Sun-Orchid in both it's lilac and white colour forms

Another sun-orchid is Rabbit-ears

I was also looking for Spider Orchids, and saw a few King Spider Orchids

Amongst the native wildflowers I saw were Yellow Star, Milkmaids, Fringed Lily and Billy Buttons, 

I also saw Synnotia and Cape Tulip, both introduced from South Africa and considered weeds in South Australia.

Finally, a mystery flower. I have not been able to identify this one.  Update - Identified as Leek Lily - Bulbine semibarbata - Thanks Bec!!

Cleland Wildlife Park early orchids

 On a Tuesday I volunteer at Cleland Wildlife Park. Today was a lovely winter's day, and this was my "office" view.

Whilst out an about in the park, we noticed that a few early orchids were starting to flower.  We saw Helmet Orchid, Shell Orchid, Red-banded Greenhood and Dwarf Greenhood. 

This little chap joined us for lunch. (Superb Fairy-wren)

Windy Spring Morning

I'm on leave this week and was hoping for some good weather to get some birding in. No such luck as Monday starts with a severe weather warning for most of South Australia.  Still, I ventured out for a few hours, hoping to find somewhere sheltered

I headed northeast from Adelaide, and planned to call into a couple of different spots. First call, a small reserve near Roseworthy.  It was very windy, and no birds to be seen until the miners started with their alarm calls as a large raptor flew over.  It was silhouetted against the sky, but some post processing revealed an adult Spotted Harrier

Next call was Altona, still windy, but once I got below the ridge it wasn't too bad. I noticed that a few orchids were starting to show. Purple Cockatoo is very common.

The problem with looking at flowers while birding is that they are at opposite ends on the focusing range!  I missed a couple of shots that way.  Luckily this Grey Currawong was on a fallen branch that was too big to be blown around. Not so the White-naped Honeyeater. He was being blown all over the place. Not the best photo, but you can still make out his awesome red gape.

Then some more flowers. Not sure of the ID of the first two, but the rest are Common Donkey Orchid, Spreading Night-phlox and Pink Fairies

Then it's back to the birds with White-winged Chough, Red-capped Robin, (they seem to be everywhere this year) and astern Spinebill.

Finally, on the way home I saw a marker for a historic grave site, so I went to see who it was.  It was William Jacob, assistant to Colonel Light (who first surveyed Adelaide in the 1830's) and the founder of Jacob's Creek winery. Cheers William!!

Springtime = Orchid Time

In spring, I always take a trip or two out to look at the native orchids, so today we headed up to Belair National Park to do just that. We saw lots of Bulldogs, the most common orchid in the park

There weren't many Green-hooded Orchids this year, and we only saw a couple of Nodding Greenhoods.

There were some Common Pink Sun-orchids, and lots of Purple Cockatoos

It is always a thrill to see Spider Orchids, and along with the usual King Spider Orchid we also saw some Narrow-lipped Spider Orchids.

The creeks were still running, and there were lots of Arum Lilies in the damper areas

At the last spot we visited, we saw Cowslip Orchid, and some Rabbit-ears,

Of course, Belair is the Koala capital!! and today was no different. We saw at least five different individuals including this very co-operative one low down in a gum tree.