31.1.22
White's Hill
Being tied up in the morning with other stuff it was 15.00 before I was on site at the pond. I walked around in the afternoon humidity and heat and saw not one butterfly – nada, zilch, nothing. I thought it was weird as the conditions were perfect – warm, humid, calm, bright, but nothing was moving. Obviously morning is best for flying adults?
So I drove round to the rainforest section at Pine Mountain Rd and it was better.
In an hour or thereabouts, I had 11 species. Nothing new or overly exciting but I did add 5 new species to my site list.
Wide-brand Grass-dart 1 Thought it might be something else, but….
Blue Triangle 2 (new)
Orchard Swallowtail 1
Lemon Migrant 1
Caper Gull 1 (new – and I think a good species for the location?)
Cabbage White 1 (new!)
Evening Brown 6+
Brown Ringlet ~5
Common Crow ~10
Purple Crow 1 (new)
Small Green-banded Blue ~4 (new)
30.1.22
Minnippi
On site at 10, a bright, humid, cloudy morning, the wind gusting a bit although that didn’t seem to affect the butterflies.
Hung around the bridge for a while waiting for the cloud-challenged sun breaks. I had a Dingy Swift and a couple of blues, but no sign of Mr P’s Orange Swift of last week. A medium sized Dart did land and I got a view of its open wings through the bins, but it departed before I could get the camera on it. Later, following discussion with Mr P and a report from the previous day, I decided it was a Swamp Darter Arrhenes mamas. The picture still clear in my head matched exactly so…..
I walked the usual track, recorded the birds, but there was nothing to write home about, so to speak. I found a few interesting insect types and ended up with 22 species of butterfly.
Butterflies:
Dingy Grass-skipper 6+
White-margined Grass-dart 1. M1 track.
Wide-brand Grass-dart 4+
Swamp Darter 1 as above.
Dingy Swift 6+
Blue Triangle 10+
Chequered Swallowtail 2
Lemon Migrant 2
Large Grass-yellow ~5
Cabbage White 1
Evening Brown ~20. Airfield Track, only 2 seen on M1 track.
Varied Eggfly ~5
Meadow Argus 2
White-banded Plane 1
Common Crow 20+
Blue Tiger 1
Large Purple Line-blue 6+
Speckled Line-blue 2
Purple Cerulean 8+ Mainly before the bridge.
Common Grass-blue 1 identified.
Dainty Grass-blue 6+
28.1.22
Sandy Camp wetlands
On site at 8.30 and we wandered the usual track seeing a few butterflies and catching yet another live Cicada.
The birds were pretty normal, nothing too exciting and we only noted 7 species of butterfly, one of which I believe is a lifer. It was hot and humid, but a gusty south easterly and the earlier time may have reduced the number of visible insects.
Butterflies:
Green Darter 1 Lifer
Lemon Migrant 1
Evening Brown 3
Varied Eggfly 1
Common Crow at least 30, probably more, dominant butterfly + 1 caterpillar found by Himself.
Monarch 1 only
Blue Tiger 1
Linc managed to find a large moth caterpillar that I believe was the same species Mr B found with me at Moggill a few weeks ago - Golden Notodontid – found a ‘new’ Tortoise Beetle, a Giant Grey Huntsman spider the size of his hand and he caught yet another live Cicada – this one a Phantom Knight. He also collected a used snake egg and an empty case moth chrysalis. With his height, eyes and interest he’s a total bonus!
Eight-spotted Leaf Beetle Paropsisterna sexpustulata
Golden Notodontid Neola semiaurata
Phantom Knight Psaltoda brachypennis
27.1.22
Mt Glorious at night again
Linc and I arrived on site just after 19.00 – this time I timed our arrival after dark which meant we could set off on the track straight away. It was very quiet – and very muddy following recent rain.
We searched the track and surrounding bush about two thirds of the way down to the falls, then turned back as Linc was getting a bit tired. Along the way we saw loads of crickets, a few Cave or Camel Crickets, which we had seen last time, and various Pill Millipedes, ‘normal’ millipedes, a good semi-slug about 60mm long, a Funnelweb Spider among other small spiders and various other small beetles and ‘stuff’. The Great Barred Frogs remained hidden, although we thought we saw a couple hopping off the track ahead of us, but several were calling in the creek below with their distinctive hoarse barking call.
Cave Cricket sp
Common Methana Methana marginalis
Millipede Spirobolida sp
Black-spotted Semi-slug Macularion aquila (awaiting confirmation)
I tried for Sooty Owl on Brown’s Rd but got no response – and by that time it was time to head home and get an * year-old to a late bed.
26.1.22
Anstead
A gloomy, damp Australia Day. When we arrived on site at 8.00 we had to sit out a short rain shower before heading up the track. I didn’t expect much following the rain and general cloudy morning but we did OK.
Bird-wise nothing to report, a small list and nothing out of the norm.
Butterflies surprised me, given the conditions but, again, nothing new for life or site.
We had a very good Cicada day, handling at least 3 individuals and seeing a couple of others. Mostly Razor Grinders either caught in spider webs or perched up, with one Black Friday male in hand. We also heard (I believe) at least 2 Large Bottle Cicadas but didn’t see any.
A couple of Ladybirds, one new, a few spiders (1 new), a big grasshopper, an Iridescent Semi-slug and a couple of unidentified small snails – the usual Fraser’s Banded wasn’t at home under its usual log – and a few other assorted ‘finds’ made it an interesting morning – especially from Linc’s point of view.
Butterflies:
Orchard Swallowtail 3
Lemon Migrant 1
No Brand Grass-yellow 1
Large Grass-yellow 10 as usual the default as most didn't land.
Evening Brown 2
Glasswing 5
Common Crow 2
Monarch 4
Blue Tiger 3
Varied Dusky-blue 2 identified, probably more.
Small Green-banded Blue ~6
Long-tailed Pea-blue ~4, ditto Varied D-b.
Dainty Grass-blue ~5+
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Razor Grinder Henicopsaltria eydouxii Male      25.1.22 |
Toohey - again
Being somewhat at a loose end I decided to give Toohey another chance. I started at 9.15 at the Isabella st entrance and walked the track for about 600 meters before turning back – it was pretty quiet butterfly-wise – nothing new or super exciting. Once again the butterflys seemed to switch off when the cloud covered the sun.
So I went back up to the Uni Café Track (new name!) and tried there for half an hour. Deader than yesterday and once again complete cloud cover shut it down more or less.
Then it was back up to the Outlook. Busy as again, with few car parks available. The butterflys here too were in smaller numbers – no direct sunlight when I was there. But mostly the same just in smaller numbers. I did add a new species for the site for me – Dingy Grass-skipper. I realised I’d seen it yesterday but hadn’t got any photos so had forgotten….
Isabella st:
Orchard swallowtail 1
Evening Brown 1
Glasswing 1
Common Crow 4
Blue Tiger 2
Imperial Hairstreak 1
Yellow-spotted Blue 2
Small Green-banded Blue 2
Common Grass-blue 4
Uni café track:
Orchard Swallowtail 1
Glasswing 2
Common Crow 4
Small Dusky-blue 2
Outlook:
Orange Ochre 2 at least - videoed a few species....well, what else do I have to do?
Dingy Grass-skipper 2 at least
Orchard Swallowtail 1
Dainty Swallowtail 5
Lemon Migrant 2 (new for site for me)
Large Grass-yellow 1
Glasswing ~20
Common Crow ~5
Small Green-banded Blue ~5
Large Purple Line-blue ~10
24.1.22
Toohey forest
Following info from Mr P I ventured down the track opposite the Griffith Uni café on the Mt Gravatt campus at 11.00.
I was hopeful. Mr P had described ‘more than 20 species in an hour’ from his visit the previous day, ‘including Fuscous Swallowtail and Bordered Rustic’. I had seen both, but not managed to photograph the former and hadn’t had the latter in SEQ yet.
I was, however, once again, plagued by cloud cover. The sporadic splashes of direct sunlight had the insects on the move, but they were short and infrequent. I spent more time waiting for the sun to break through than I did chasing butterflys. It was frustrating but I did total 16 species in an hour and a half.
Blue Triangle 1
Orchard Swallowtail ~4 – definitely NOT Fuscous
Large Grass-yellow 2
Orange Ringlet 8 Only 1 landed, the others, I assume, were the same.
Glasswing 1
Leafwing 1 – definitely NOT Bordered Rustic!
Common Crow ~12
Blue Tiger ~5
Imperial Hairstreak 4 on the one plant – nice butterfly!
Varied Dusky-blue 5
Varied Dusky-blue Candalides hyacinthina
Small Dusky-blue 1
Small Green-banded Blue 2
Speckled Line-blue 1
Purple Cerulean 1
Common Grass-blue 5
I gave it away and headed up to Mt Gravatt Lookout, which is part of Toohey forest too.
It was busy with people – and with butterflys. I noted the café/restaurant at the top had re-opened. I spent another hour plus working along the edge of the trees and around patches of Lomandra which produced some fine Hesperidae views.
Orange Ochre 8-10 buzzing around like demented hummingbirds, these things are FAST. I include photos of 3 individuals - variety of appearances.
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Orange Ochre Trapezites eliena
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Brown Ochre 2 – after serious contemplation, I believe this is the species, mainly due to the smaller 'eyes' and the overall browner colour?
Orchard Swallowtail 1
Dainty Swallowtail 6 Pretty sure they were this sp hill-topping against the bright sky – difficult.
Large Grass-yellow 1
Evening Brown 1
Glasswing ~20 also hill-topping, along with D Swallowtails.
Common Crow 5
Blue Tiger 5
Small Green-banded Blue conservatively ~15. I include a photo cause I think its one of the prettiest common butterflies around
Small Green-banded Blue Psychonotis caelius
Large Purple Line-blue ~20
There were a lot of blues all fired up in the heat and I have probably under estimated the numbers and may have missed a species or two.
A well-marked skink appeared at my feet and posed well for photos. I’m pretty sure it was an Arcane Ctenotus.
Arcane Ctenotus Ctenotus arcanus
Leyburn
We left Mr B’s place at 8 and were on site at 10.45. We looked hard and long for our target – Bulloak jewel, but failed to find any sign. There were a lot of butterflys along the roadside on the way but in the reserve area only a smallish number moved through. In all we had 14 species in relatively small numbers with one lifer, a rare southern Queensland species only found in this area, otherwise one has to go to Cairns or further north.
Orchard Swallowtail 2
Chequered Swallowtail 1
White Migrant ~4
Lemon Migrant ~5
Large Grass-yellow 1
Cabbage White a few
Brown Ringlet 1
Grey Ringlet 1
Meadow Argus 10
Common Crow ~5
Lesser Wanderer 2
Blue Tiger ~12
Sapphire Azure 1 female - poor view and photos match.
Common Grass-blue 1
We also found a Burying Mantis nymph and a Darkling Beetle sp – very difficult to identify these beetles.
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Sapphire Azure Ogris aenone female    |
22.1.22
Minnippi
On site at 10 – a blowy, bright spells, cloudy type of morning with rain starting just as I reached the bridge on the return trip. I was kinda hoping for some stick insects following the windy conditions yesterday, but found none. I did, though, find a few new insects and some ‘old’ ones and broke my number of species of butterfly seen in a day record with 22 recorded.
I did record the birds but they were few and further between in general. I did note one adult Black Swan sitting on the new nest while the other adult led the well advanced juvenile into bad habits by taking bread from stupid people. There were 3 Magpie Geese at the bridge end of the main pond – otherwise it was empty – and 2 Great Cormorants were in the usual Cormorant tree. The pair of Australian White Ibis were poking around in the nest in the tree on the island again – maybe this time?
The Carpet Python was also still in that tree – although it appears to have moved a meter or so.
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| Pod-sucking Bug Riptortus serripes |
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Paddy Bug Leptocorisa acuta
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19.1.22
North Stradbroke Island
I’d asked Linc where he would like to go and he chose the island. We got the 8.oo water taxi and arrived at the Gorge Walk at about 9.00.
It was very hot, humid and very bright but this time we did have some luck. We saw 4 or 5 Green Turtles and several pods of Bottle-nosed Dolphinsoff the headland. Linc had not seen either in the wild before so he was pretty happy.
As always it was great to watch the waves breaking on the rocks and just enjoy the view. Birds were few and far between and there were no shearwaters or the like in evidence at all, which is only to be expected in calm conditions at this time of year.
We got the 10.50 bus back after an ice block and a coffee and got on the midday ferry looking forward to the air-con in the car for the drive home.
18.1.22
Spotlighting Toohey Forest
Mr D had contacted me and enquired if we were interested in going to Toohey at night? We were - and Linc and I met him on site at 19.00.
It was an interesting 2 hour walk with 3 species of Gecko, a couple of Brush-tailed Possums, several spiders and beetles and, the highlight – a Burton’s Snake-lizard in the hand. Just 1 Tawny Frogmouth the only notable bird.
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| Dubious Dtella Gehyra dubia |
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| Burton's Snake-lizard Lialis burtonis (A very poor photo) |
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| Linc & Burton's Snake-lizard |
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| Black Bess Beetle Mastachilus sp |
17.1.22
O'Reilly's Lamington NP
We left Yatala at about 7.45 and arrived on site at 9. On the way we had 2 Whiptail or Pretty-face Wallabys beside the road and further up, well below O’Reilly’s while driving through a patch of rainforest, an Albert’s Lyrebird (with a limp) scuttled ahead of the car before jumping into the forest and moving parallel to the road affording good views as it went. I’d never seen one on the road before – it seemed a bit unusual.
We parked up and headed in to towards the Treetop walk, along the way Linc spotted several pairs of Australian Logrunners and Eastern whipbirds, Yellow-throated and White-browed Scrubwrens abounded.
After completing the Treetop walk we went on to the Border Track and walked out along it for a few hundred meters before turning back.
We found - or at least Linc found - several interesting ‘things’. A Bar-sided Skink, a Murray’s Skink, couple of (unidentified) snails, a Blue Planarian or Blue Garden Flatworm which I believed was a leech, a Harvestman sp which I thought was a spider (apparently its an Arachnid, but not a spider), Orange Ping Pong Bats and Turkey Tail fungi and a Pittosporum Beetle to name a few (identified) things.
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Murray's Skink Karma murrayi        |
I also found a hanging nest which was within reach (normally they are too high) which, on investigation, contained a single egg. I later identified it as a Yellow-throated Scrubwren’s egg & nest, although it looked too big for a scrubwren to lay. I also didn’t know Scrubwrens used hanging nests, thought it was only Gerygones that did that, but apparently both Yellow-throated and Large-billed have hanging nests.
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| Yellow-throated Scrubwren nest |
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| Yellow-throated Scrubwren egg - bear in mind, this is MY hand. Big egg! |
We also found a freaky red worm type thing. I have no idea what it was, hopefully someone somewhere will tell me. I loaded the video onto YouTube in the hopes....
On exiting the forest we found a ranger/guest tour guide who, on enquiry, kindly took us back into the forest and showed us a Satin Bowerbird’sbower. He also called in Yellow-throated Scrubwrens to feed from Linc’s hand. Back out to the main building and he took us to a second bower and a male Satin Bowerbird which provided great views for Linc’s first proper sighting of the species.
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| Linc feeding Scrubwren |
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| Satin Bowerbird bower |
We had a coffee and Coke and then decided to head home – a good morning!
14.1.22
Moggill
Determined to make the most of this on-going dry, hot, bright weather I dragged my sorry ass to Moggill for 10.30. Once again birds were of no consequence – usual things heard, virtually nothing ‘seen’.
Butterflys were good – at least in overall numbers, especially for the larger species, i.e. there were very few Lycaenidae (Blues) or Hesperidae (Skippers/Darts ect), plenty of Nymphalidae (Nymphs) and Pieridae (Whites ect)
I found a few more tiny Iridescent semi-slugs on a single plant almost stripped of its leaves, but apart from a few Green and Black Planthoppers not much else in the way of other insects, but I was focussed on butterflys.
Butterfly list:
Wide-brand Grass-dart 2 or 3
Blue Triangle at least 5, these and the following species dominated the airways, chasing everything else.
Pale Triangle 30
Orchard Swallowtail 2
Clearwing Swallowtail 2
Lemon Migrant 5
Large Grass-yellow 10+
Caper Gull 6
Yellow Albatross 40+
Striated Pearl-white 1, probably more
Evening Brown 4
Brown Ringlet 6
Tailed Emperor 2. New for site for me and identified almost by default. Not seen well, they couldn’t have been anything else – most frustrating.
Leafwing 1
Common Crow 10+
Purple Crow 1
Monarch 1 only, at roadside on exit.
Blue Tiger at least 15
Small Green-banded Blue 2
Large Purple Line-blue 2 – very dark specimens.
Hairy Line-blue 3. Also very dark specimens - had me going for a while.
Met my species-for-the-day record with 21 species and, with approx 150 insects, not a bad two hours.
13.1.22
Minnippi @ night
Having done nothing much all day I decided to spotlight Minnippi. On site at 19.00 as dusk fell, I was surprised to find myself still on site after 21.00. I hadn’t intended to stay so long, but…
I didn’t see much out of the usual – mainly spiders and a few moths – dozens of small moths of course.
Bird wise – 1 Tawny Frogmouth perched on one of the gas-lines-don’t-dig signs in the Avenue. I tried for Owlet Nightjar and White-throated Nightjar without any reaction.
Mammals – 1 only Common Brush-tailed Possum in the carpark.
I spent some time in the M1 track and walked partway down the Airfield Track (about 100 meters) and around the lake as usual.
Interestingly in the long grass at the entrance to the M1 track I noted about a dozen Evening Brown chrysalis and half a dozen caterpillars. During the day I had seen none – the headlight brought them into view easily.
I also found my first decent Gastropod at this site – a Fraser’s Banded Snail on the M1 track.
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| Evening Brown Melanitis leda caterpillar |
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| Evening Brown Melanitis leda caterpillar going into chrysalis? |
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| Evening Brown Melanitis leda chrysalis |
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| Pie-dish Beetle Pterohelaeus sp |
This was one HUGE spider - one of the biggest I've ever recorded, apparently one of the biggest in Australia.
12.1.22
Minnippi
On site at 10 I had hopes for a good butterfly day – perfect conditions, warm, humid, relatively calm, sunny spells.
I did record the birds I saw/heard but there was little of any significance – usual stuff at this time of year/season and, given the later time, a bit quieter than if I’d come earlier.
Butterflys were good – 20 species with one lifer and 2 Dart sp still under consideration. The M1 track and entry was productive with the Airfield track a bit quieter in general. The bushes along the cement walk back also quite active – especially around a couple of the patches of Singapore Daisies.
Of note – the Carpet Python was still curled in the tree on the island in exactly the same position. So much so I started to doubt it was a snake, but I can’t see it being anything else. It’s been there for two weeks now, which is interesting.
On a side note – when I walked back to the Lookout after the Airfield Track I diverted to a water fountain for a drink and, as I walked from that back to the Lookout, a family cooking food on a nearby BBQ called out to me and offered me some lunch. I declined – being of a non-sociable type and a bit embarrassed – but the man insisted and followed me up to the lookout presenting me with a plate of barbequed chicken wings and a paper cup of Coke. It turned out they were a Kurdish family from Iraq and I sympathised with that community’s suffering and said I was happy they’d made it to Australia before licking the juices off my fingers and heading on. It was 13.15 when I reached the car – a big morning in the humidity and heat.
I would like to take a moment to thank or recognise a few people who have helped me enormously with identification of various ‘things’.
Brisbane Insects is an invaluable website which was, in fact, recommended to me by the Qld museum, although I was already using it. Their photographs are such a help in identifying all insects from leaf beetles to craneflies to flys – I‘d be lost without them.
Lindsay Popple – the creator of another brilliant website Australian Cicadas, responds to email requests very promptly and with detail.
Robert Whyte, author of A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia, again, very helpful and prompt and willing to share information.
And, of course, Mr B, who patiently assists with butterfly identification or verification.
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Australian Mopsolodes Mopsolodes australensis Type of Jumping Spider     Butterflys: Dingy Grass-skipper 1 River-sand Grass-dart 1 M1 track Wide-brand Grass-dart ~5 Yellow Palm-dart 1 Near entrance to the M1 track.   Dingy Swift 1 Blue Triangle at least 5 Orchard Swallowtail 1 Lemon Migrant 5 - note there were several whites that just kept going, proving difficult to identify definitively. Large Grass-yellow 5 By default, although the couple that did land were this species, so... Yellow Albatross at least 1 - see note above. Cabbage White ~4 Evening Brown ~ 30+ Varied Eggfly 2 Meadow Argus 2 Common Crow ~15 Monarch ~5 Small Green-banded Blue 2 M1 track. Large Purple Line-blue ~30, mainly along cement track & near bridge. Speckled Line-blue ~20 conservatively - cement track & entrance to M1 track. Purple Cerulean 1 only identified, probably a few more along cement track. Dainty Grass-blue ~10+ Airfield Track Late note: As I mentioned there were a couple of Grass-darts under scrutiny. The results are in and agreed - we believe both were Narrow-brand Grass Dart Ocybadistes flavovittatus. Not new, but new for me for site, bringing my butterfly list for this site to 50 species.   |
10.1.22
Manorina walk & Mt Glorious
On site at 10.15 with the usual butterflys in mind. I did record the birds – but they were pretty quiet and there was nothing of any surprise. Butterflys were (as usual?) disappointing! Only 9 species in total with less than 20 insects. I did find some more interesting (?) beetles ect, saw 1 close Lace Monitor and on the return walk down the firetrail found a shed snake skin just under 2 meters long. Given its length and my attempts at a scale count (which is challenging) I think it might be a Coastal Taipan, but I might have to get Museum help to definitively ID it.
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Black Darkling Beetle Ecnolagria aurofasciata     |
Butterflys:
Blue Triangle 1
Large Grass-yellow ~2
Yellow-spotted Jezebel 1
Yellow Albatross at least 1, possibly more
Caper White ~4 ditto
Brown Ringlet 5
Varied Eggfly 1
Leafwing 1 (on the track up, all others were along the firetrail)
Purple Crow 2
I went up Mt Glorious itself afterwards but the butterfly scene there was almost non-existent – a few Brown Ringlets, 1 Blue Triangle and one single Speckled Line-blue which was new for me for the site.
On my return drive down the hill towards Samford I found a dead Northern Brown Bandicoot and retrieved its skull for posterity.
9.1.22 - Later same day
Yatala
In the afternoon I headed down to my daughter's place in Yatala, as I do most Sundays. The boys, my grandsons, Patrick and Lincoln persuaded me to go for a walk in the 'Pony Trail' which runs along the side of their property. Its a sloping track with scattered eucalypts and hardwoods with not a lot to offer, however, we checked every tree and leaf and found a few bits and pieces. Most notable was a Two Spined Spider. It is a member of the Orb-weavers, but doesn't build much of a web, in a sub-order I prefer to call Jewel Spiders. I first ran across these years ago and, to date, had only ever found the Australian Christmas Jewel Spider Austracantha minax. Since that encounter I've always love these fiesty, colourful, completely harmless little spiders. They look poisonous and 'dangerous' but are completely safe to handle. Linc and I had found one of the Australian ones a couple of weeks ago and now we found another one in the same family. I think they're really cool!
(It's really hard to do justice to these fingernail-or-smaller spiders without a full macro set-up.)
Two Spined Spider Poecilopachys australasia
9.1.22
Geoff Skinner Reserve, Victoria Pt
I decided to check the place out, thinking of the environment I had noted on my last visit. A mix of she-oaks and a few paperbarks and other mysterious plants I have no idea the name of, I thought it might be worthwhile as a ‘different habitat’ for butterflys.
As it happened the butterflys were disappointing, only 6 species, nothing new, but I did find some interesting insect-type stuff which some of you may find totally boring, but what is a guy to do?
On site at 10.30. No birds of consequence, a couple of Oriental Dollarbirds overhead and the usual common species calling or flying through. I didn’t venture out onto the mudflats as 1. It was too freaking hot and 2. Due to the recent high tides c/o ex-cyclone Seth, the mud looked messy and even the tracks were heavily flooded and required negotiation.
There may well have been Samphire Blues out on the exposed islets of vegetation, but I didn’t bother, given I have seen and photographed them already early last year.
An hour and a half and I was sweating bricks in the humidity and still conditions. The highlight of the morning was finding 10 Clangers Psaltoda claripennis on one tree. It’s not often one actually finds cicadas sitting within view and 10 together was, for me, an exception. Unfortunately, they seem to be the commonest species in SEQ at the moment – it would have been great if they’d been something new.
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| Clanger Psaltoda claripennis Its strange the way they choose one thin trunk out of all the trees and congregate there. |
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Clanger Psaltoda claripennis     I even filmed fungi - something I have almost completely given up on, but...  Butterflys: Orchard Swallowtail 2 Lemon Migrant 30 Cabbage White 1 Evening Brown 3 Common Crow 3 Swamp Tiger 30 - especially near the back of the mangroves. 8.1.22 |
Historical Memories
While scanning some old negatives I had re-found recently I came across a film that I believe was taken on my first camera - a box brownie, if I remember correctly. The negatives included some dodgy photos of a Great Tit's nest in my local area and other photos not worth displaying. However, among these treasures - and to me they are treasures - I found this. A photo of myself and my Hooded Crow whom I named 'Jock'. He had, I believe, been a reject as he never flew properly, despite my launching him off the shed roof on several occasions (he landed quite safely on the lawn) and seemed completely dependent on being handed food. We were, in fact, actually featured on a kid's program on RTE - for about 5 minutes until Jock 'escaped' and managed to flutter his way up into the lights, bringing to an end my 5 minutes of fame and a protracted recovery effort by all and sundry. What is it they say? Don't work with children or animals! That theory was proved right that day. However, here I am in all my glory c 1970, 50 odd years later. Get the hairstyle!
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| Colin, Dun Laoghaire c1975 |
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| Mr H, Dun Laoghaire c1975 |
5.1.22
Oxley
Butterflying saw me on site at 9.15. A cloudy-with-bright-spells-but-threatening-rain kind of day. A bit blustery too at times, but extremely humid out of the wind.
I was there for the butterflys but spent a lot of time looking at ‘eaten’ leaves and finding a wide range of insects. I did see 14 species of butterfly, including a new ‘lifer’ and a new ‘for site for me’ – both surprising. The dominant species along the track was Varied Eggfly – all but 1 were males and, in general, Monarchs.
Birds were generally pretty quiet, the highlight being a kid on a bike calling out in the car park “The Barn Owls are up in this tree, Dad” – they were of course a pair of Tawny Frogmouths doing the usual ‘you can’t see me if I sit dead still’ act. But only my fourth record for this site.
Butterflys:
Wide-brand Grass-dart 1 – the only Hesperidae I saw.
Orchard Swallowtail 1 – new for site for me, to my surprise.
Chequered Swallowtail ~4+
Lemon Migrant 1
Large Grass-yellow ~4
Caper White 2
Varied Eggfly ~30 at least
Common Crow 2
Purple Crow 2
Lesser Wanderer 2
Monarch ~30 at least
Blue Tiger 2
Small Green-banded Blue 1
Saltbush Blue 1 The real surprise of the day.
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| Saltbush Blue Theclinesthes serpentatus |
Insects: After 4 more hours on the computer I finally managed to ID most of this stuff - all new for me. Such is the life of a bored retiree.....
If you ever find yourself up to your balls in Alligator Weed - you know who to call on.... introduced from South America in the 90s apparently to eat the weed
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| Alligator Flea Beetle Agasicles hygrophila |
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| 28-spotted Potato Ladybird Epilachna vigintioctopunctata |
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| Dotted-head Acacia Beetle Calomela maculicollis |
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| Eucalyptus Tip-wilter or Clown Bug Amorbus robustus 4th Instar. |
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Eucalyptus Leaf Beetle Paropsisterna cloelia (I think!)    |
3.1.22 - later that day
Mt Glorious
I had planned on taking Linc to Mt G for a spotlighting walk. After spending the rest of the day at home we headed out at 18.00 and were on site at Brown’s Rd at 18.45. It was still a bit light, so we waited 10 minutes for the sun to set completely before heading in on the walk to Green’s Falls.
We’d obviously done a bit much with the extended walk at Minnippi earlier in the day, because Linc wanted to turn back after 15 minutes or so. We went a bit further, but then turned back and were back at the car by 19.45.
Despite the relatively short walk we found lots of interesting stuff. The best was a Great Barred Frog on the track which Linc caught and we filmed before releasing it back into the wild. There were Cave or Spider Crickets of some sort in the hollow logs and lots of Pill Millipedes which curled up into a ball when touched. We also found other millipedes, spiders and a Pale Banded Snail.
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| Great Barred Frog Mixophues fasciolatus |
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| Spider or Cave Cricket Endotaria sp |
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| Pill Millipede Procyliosoma sp |
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| Giant Panda Snail Hedleyella falconeri (110222 Late Note - snail accurately identified by museum as Giant Panda Snail) |
3.1.22
Minnippi (again)
Linc was staying with me for a couple of days so we went to Minnippi again. Drier than my last visit, but a bit windy with sunny spells, but mostly light cloud cover.
The birds were a bit disappointing, although we didn’t concentrate so much on them as on insects. Only had 33 species of birds and nothing to write home about, but the insects were very interesting and I did get a new butterfly.
In general we searched any ‘eaten-looking’ trees and found two species of Planthoppers, several spiders, 2 moth caterpillars and Linc collected about 100 Cicada shells. The Carpet Python was still curled in the tree on the island – must have had a big feed a week ago as it didn’t appear to have moved.
We also found a cicada (Clanger Psaltoda claripennis) just emerged from its shell and Linc held it before letting it fly.
It was a very interesting three and a half hours.
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Cleora lacteata (no common name) (Moth caterpillar)
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| Mottled Cup Moth Doratifera vulnerans - on site |
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| Mottled Cup Moth Doratifera vulnerans - at home showing defensive 'spikes' which, apparently can cause severe stinging |
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| Purple Leafhopper Austrotartessus monteithi |
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| Yellow-headed Leafhopper Brunotartessus fulvus |
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| Australian Golden Orb-weaver Nephila edulis |
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| Triangular Spider Arkys lancearius |
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| White-margined Grass-dart Ocybadistes hypomeloma |
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| River-sand Grass-dart Taractrocera dolon |
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| Linc looking for Cicada shells |
Butterfly List: (18 sp) Dingy Grass-skipper 2 (definitely identified today) River-sand Grass-dart 1 White-margined Grass-dart 2 Wide-brand Grass-dart 5 (Hesperidae appear to be finally emerging) Blue Triangle 3 Pale Triangle 1 Finally added to my Minnippi list. Lemon Migrant ~5 at least Large Grass-yellow ~5 at least Cabbage White ~3 at least Evening Brown ~20, less than the last visit, but still dominant Varied Eggfly 3 Meadow Argus 1 Common Crow 10 Monarch 3 Blue Tiger 1 Small Green-banded Blue 1 First of the season for me at site, on M1 track Large Purple Line-blue ~4 Dainty Grass-blue ~10 at least. |
1.1.22
Minnippi
Having had a relatively early, relatively sober New Year’s bloody Eve I decided a walk was in order to kick of the new year. It was a wet, dreary morning in reality, but I headed out anyway and arrived on site in spitting rain at 7.45.
For the next three hours I wandered the usual track, slowly examining any foliage that looked like it had been eaten, finding several Tortoise Leaf Beetles and a few other things along the way. I had 45 bird species in total, which wasn’t bad given the lousy conditions. Highlights: a Brown Quailflushed along the joining track from The Avenue to the lake, two calling Brush Cuckoos and the Pale-vented Bush Hen was calling from the side channel. The river was very high and the immediate surrounds quite flooded.
Butterflys too were surprising. I hadn’t expected to see much but the Evening Browns were going off! There were a number of Hesperidae too which, after spending hours examining the photos in detail, all appeared to be Wide-brand (bloody) Grass-darts. I also had 3 or 4 possible Dingy Swifts which are under review for confirmation (see below) and I missed two larger Ochre-types which flew before I could get them on film. 10 (confirmed) species in all, which, again, wasn’t bad considering the almost continuous drizzle.
This might be the year of the insect, given there isn’t much else to do.
Butterfly list:
Wide-brand Grass-dart 5
Dingy Grass-skipper 4 Late entry. Difficult to distinguish between this species & Dingy Swift from these photos but as I'd had this one here before and it seemed more likely - called it as is.
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| Dingy Grass-skipper Toxidia peron |
Blue Triangle 1
Lemon Migrant 1
Large Grass-yellow 2
Evening Brown ~50 conservatively.
Common Crow 5
Monarch 2
Purple Cerulean 1
Dainty Grass-blue 10
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| Acacia Leaf Beetle Dicranosterna picea |
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Juvenile Acacia Leaf Beetle Dicranosterna picea
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