This section of Dry Creek is interesting as it is tucked away between behind the Yatala Labour Prison to the south and the houses of the small suburb of Walkley Heights to the north. With Bridge Road and Walkleys Road forming a terminus at each end. The park ad a number of historical buildings and structures have survived within the park from the days when the quarries were worked by inmates of Yatala Labour Prison, and date back to the early years of the Adelaide colony. These include the Yatala Powder Magazine, Blacksmith’s Shop, several guard lookout posts and a cottage, which remains on the former R M Williams property.
The park itself is an interesting haven for many birds and insects and I think most of us were surprised as the area is not obvious from the road and I imagine many of us would pass it daily without suspecting the refuge. The area we explored was poorly represented in iNaturalist with only 34 observations made of 18 species and only 4 observers. After spending an hour in the park the number of observations tripled and the number of species increased two and a half times to 49 separate species. Check out the observations here; https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/dry-creek-wetlands
The most common species recorded in the area prior to the weekend was the Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae this species was replaced by that common urban species Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus. Our efforts also increased the number of birds observed within the park, but the largest increase in species was in invertebrates and plant species.
Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus ©Stephen Fricker, some rights reserved
After spending an hour in the park, there was a number of species of insects and plants recorded for the first time, including my first Satin Azure Ogyris amaryllis (below). I spied this specie high in the trees at the car park, after everyone departed for the day.
Following the walk, I decided to head to Anstey Hill Recreation Park as I had not been to this park before and it was not far from Dry Creek. There were many flowering plants including ground orchids and heaths. On closer inspection, there were also many insects including Jewel beetles, stink bugs and others, such a great time to walk in the hills.