A summer morning (that's all we got)

Yesterday, summer came and went - it seems to be all over. Today was grey, windy, wet and cold (as the previous 3 weeks have been).

When the sun shone, and a warm southerly breeze blew (yes, warm and southerly - seems incredible) everything seemed to stir.

The first I knew of this was looking out my bathroom window in the morning, and seeing a female Grey Goshawk circling above the house. Of course, by the time I grabbed the camera, and rushed outside, she had gone. But I noticed the warm breeze (unfamiliar in cold old Robbo). I also noticed the Butterflies on the breeze. They were flitting everywhere. Then I looked towards a large Buddleja bush growing beside my driveway. There were butterflies galore, flitting from flower to flower. These plants lived up to their name of "Butterfly Bush".

The fat-bodied Macleay's Swallow-tailed Butterflies were all over this bush. This species of Butterfly seems to be hyperactive. They rest, just for a moment on a flower, and head off to the next one. Worse, while on the flower, they flutter their wings (while held high, and nearly closed). This makes them almost impossible to photograph (with autofocus engaged on your camera). Apologies for the relatively poor quality of these photos, but when will I get another Butterfly event like this - again? Certainly it did not happen today. So, it is a case of publish what I have - for educational purposes - and hope to improve on these photos later in the season. Maybe.The poor quality image below is shown just to demonstrate the upperwing wing patterns of the Macleay's Swallowtail (centre) (mostly white, with black marks concentrated towards the tip of the wings).
This photo also shows the intensity of Butterfly activity - for just this brief few moments of summer in Robertson. Three butterflies of two species on the one flower head.

This is the the Australian Admiral (or Yellow Admiral) (Vanessa itea) This image shows both the dull under-wing patterns (right) and on the left, the brighter upper wings (visible when the wings are open). That reverses the patterns if colouration visible on the Macleay's Swallowtail, which is brighter on its underside (visible when wings are closed - when held upright).
I am grateful to the work of Don Herbison-Evans and the Macleay Museum for their very authoritative website - on Australian Caterpillars - the larvae of both Moths and Butterflies.
The Butterflies and Moths of Sydney page from the Museum of Australia is also useful - but much less extensive.

This next Butterfly is the so called "Common Jezabel" (Delias negrina). There is a dark bee feeding on the same flowerhead of the Buddleja.This colourful butterfly is apparently linked to various Mistletoe plants for the food of its caterpillars. But obviously the adults are happy to stray to other plants for their sources of nectar. If you look back to the second photo in this post, you will see on the right, another member of this species, and you can see both the colourful lower (outer) wing side, and the nearly pure white upper wing (inside the wings when nearly closed).

And now for this poor specimen of a brown Butterfly.I can only hazard a guess that it might be a Meadow Argus (Nymph) Butterfly. But it might also be a "Common Brown Butterfly" - another of the Nymph group of Butterflies.

With such badly worn wings, it is presumably nearing the end of its short life. If so, it was at least enjoying this brief moment of summery warmth, feasting on the prolific nectar apparently produced by the Buddleja davidii. Go well, little friend.

Flying over the Escarpment.

I went flying with Jim, late in the afternoon, today. It was very pleasant weather, with just a bit of "cotton-wool" cloud at first, but the fluffy clouds did not develop into solid cloud. Jim was keeping an anxious "weather eye" out, but the clouds which gave an indication of possibly developing, actually dispersed.We started by going over the escarpment, near Macquarie Pass. Jim had hoped to show me a small waterfall which he had spotted several days ago. But the late afternoon light did not assist is, as the shadows were very dark, in the deep gullies. So we could not see the falls. But from other landmarks, such as the old ruined farm-house nearby, we were able to identify that it must have been the Clover Hill Falls which Jim had seen.

Towering above Macquarie Pass one can see the clifflines of Mt Macquarie. Today I was able to take several images of this bluff, which I have pasted into a "panorama". The merged image is imperfect, but it does at least show the severe line of the cliffs under which the road line of Macquarie Pass runs. It also shows the prominent bluff (on the eastern end - right hand side) which is so prominent a part of the Escarpment skyline. This hill dominates the coastal plain below. This mountain outlines the deep valley which goes back towards Robertson from Albion Park.

We flew back towards Knights Hill (southern edge of the valley of Macquarie Pass). My friend Rose has a property which includes the two left-hand clearings which are visible in this image (centre and left). The TV towers on top of Knights Hill are visible to the right. Rose's property runs from the bluff at the far left, along the edge of the escarpment, (which runs from bottom left to centre-right, just beyond the first line of ridges), right up to the first TV tower. The forest is a combination of true rainforest, and heavy Eucalypt forest, with some rainforest undergrowth. Several other ridges are visible in the middle and far distance, which run down towards Albion Park. The very far distant horizon would be the ocean, on a clearer day. Today it is sea-mist and cloud.A small St. Andrew's Cross Spider chooses to live inside the heavy metal door of Jim's hangar. I'm not sure why, with all the trees around, just outside. But it seems happy on the door. But it has not built the trade-mark "diagonal cross" heavy reinforcing webs which is the feature which earns the spider its name. But its colouration, and the pale bands on its legs are distinctive. The way it is holding its left legs in "pairs" is also diagnostic.