A devil in the mountains

On my first ever post on this blog I came across the beautiful 'Mountain Devil' Lambertia Formosa in the gardens, so I was really excited to find a 'real-life' wild mountain devil in the Blue Mountains near Sydney when we visited recently!  I really felt I'd learnt so much from my lunchtime wanderings to instantly recognize this fantastic flower.   

We love the Blue Mountains and have visited several times, there is something magical about the landscape and the timeless villages there, with always a warm welcome at one of the splendid B&Bs.  Autumn is really a wonderful time to be there.  We walked the National Pass at Wentworth 'one of Australia's finest bushwalks', which is quite a long walk and a little steep in places, the website here has a lovely video on to give you an impression of its beauty.  We crossed some waterfalls in full flow and passed many lookouts with wonderful views.  All the time it was so peaceful, just the sound of a lyrebird calling from down in the valley and of course, plenty of Rosellas and Cockatoos.  Here are some more pictures of the flora and landscape I took on this trip - I know its a little diversion from the Botanic Gardens but to see the flowers of the gardens in the landscape of the mountains is truly wonderful, the Banksia were flowering as you can see below (see also my post on the nearby Mount Tomah Botanic garden for more mountains flora!).  I'd love to know what the really pretty pink/purple flower is?  Also the pink bell-like flowers too.  Many plants are rare that are found in the Blue Mountains (some more info here), with many unique species found nowhere else in the world.  

First adventure

So, Ive managed to remember the golden rule of photography - bring a camera.  Fortunately, I also remembered rule number 2 - bring spare batteries - as my batteries died after I took my first photo of the garden sign! 

I headed to my favourite bench for lunch - its the furthest one Ive found from a main path, in a sunny Eucalyptus glade...

The garden is full of birds and butterflies today as it is beautifully warm and sunny.  I could hear buzzing and bird calls all around me as I ate my sandwiches.  A Red Wattlebird - Anthochaera carunculata sat in a Eucalyptus nearby.  According to the botanical garden bird guide, The red wattlebird is "one of the most common (and raucous) birds in the Gardens. They are generally seen feeding on the nectar of the many banksias, waratahs and grevilleas. Red Wattlebirds (named because of the red lobes of skin, called 'wattles', at the side of the neck) also feed on insects and fruit. They occur naturally in native forests and woodlands of southern Australia and are common in parks and gardens".

 After lunch I just did a little circuit of the glade.  I took a picture of the very attractive local native plant Lambertia Formosa or the wonderfully named 'Mountain devil', only found on the coast and adjacent mountains of New South Wales.  It usually flowers in winter or spring, but evidently some flowers can be present all year.  The black dots are ants crawling over the lovely flower...

I also spied some nest boxes, or perhaps bat boxes, I'm not sure who they are for, I will try to find out...

On my way back to my office I spied this tiny little fellow, I couldn't get a good picture of him (I should learn how to manual focus...):

I've not seen a little bird like this before so I looked him up, he appears to be a Red Browed Finch Neochmia temporalis.

So, that was my first adventure for my blog, hope you liked it!