Wednesday 15 April 2009

Mothing in the day time

It was good to get out into our bush again - it's three months since we last went down to our farm near Heywood. It was dry of course, and every day over the Easter break was a perfect autumn day, sunny, warm and calm. The debris on the forest floor crackled under foot as I searched for insects on leaves and under bark. The mosses and lichens were pale and dry to the touch, there was no fungi at all and the only plant flowering was the banksia.

I did find a bit of wildlife, mainly spiders under bark, of which more later. But there were also a couple of moths. The first was sitting quietly on a leaf of a eucalypt and has a most unusual snout. Any ideas on what it is? The second is a beautiful Tiger Moth Asura lydia on a dead bracken frond.


No comments: