Cromer Conservation Park

Four kilometres north of Birdwood, Cromer Conservation Park protects something that has become genuinely rare in the Mount Lofty Ranges: intact grassy woodland. Proclaimed in 1976, its 44 hectares preserve fragments of the blue gum, pink gum, long-leaved box and river red gum country that once rolled across these valleys before farming cleared it.

That habitat makes Cromer a birdwatcher's park above all. Birds SA has recorded around 110 species here, including woodland birds that have vanished from much of the Hills — hooded robins, diamond firetails, white-browed babblers and a parade of honeyeaters working the canopy. Botanists rate it too: the park is one of a tiny handful of sites where the critically endangered blue star sun-orchid has been found.

Be aware this is a park for self-sufficient visitors — there are no formal walking trails, toilets or picnic facilities, just quiet woodland and birdsong. Wander the open understorey at an amble, binoculars in hand, then head back into Birdwood for coffee, or make a forest day of it in nearby Mount Crawford Forest.