No sting in the tail

Di found this little critter climbing along her sleeve and was uncertain of the identity and glad it was not large, just in case it was a poisonous critter.

Although it looks like its poisonous arachnid cousin this character is a False Scorpion Synsphyronus sp. ?
One of the some 150 species so far identified in Australia where can be found under bark, leaf litter or in the house where they often arrive on firewood or getting a ride attached to a larger insect. Some species are known as Book Scorpions, as a result of being found in books, particularly old and dusty copies where they find their prey , the book louse.
It was a difficult photo to get as the macro still only had it as a speck as it was only about 2mm in length, so took the shot through my 8x Lupe and that was about a sharp as I could get.

Out of line

Found this moth on one of the verandah posts and noticed the contrast between its wavy lines and the straight lines on the post. It is a very dark moth which I have added some brightness to the photo otherwise it was very difficult to see. My best guess at identification is that it is one of the GEOMETRIDAE family, species Melanodes anthracitaria, which seems an appropriate name based on the almost charcoal colour.

Greenhood exposed

Torrential rain over the past five days kept me indoors for most of the time and the wildlife under shelter, but today we had the sun out and a chance to get out and about. I have been watching a patch of greenhood orchids, waiting for the flower to develop and today the first of the flowers opened so it is the subject of today's blog. This small patch of greenhoods developed in the wood chip mulch in one of the garden beds three years ago much to my delight and has continued to flower each year. However I discovered I need to keep a wire cover over when they are in flower, as I found last year that the wallabies like the flowers as a tasty treat.

One of the many greenhood species this one is the Blunt Greenhood Pterostylis curta and is found in all Australian states except WA and NT. It is the only greenhood species that we have found on our property to date.

Rainbird weather

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos are referred to by many people as "rainbirds", (one of many birds that have been tagged with this nickname) as they are often heard calling and seen flying overhead before rains arrive, or during overcast damp wintry days. This was a very apt description of today's weather when we had a visit from a flock of about a dozen Yellow-tailed  Black Cockatoos, who spent about an hour working over a patch of forest looking for grubs. At one stage they were in some wattles close to the ground and this gave me an opportunity to get a shot of a female (white beak and bright yellow face patch).

Wing tufts

Found a small moth this morning caught up in a piece of cobweb which I cleared away so it would be free and then took a couple of photos. Only a small moth but it had an interesting feature of small tufts on the costa of each wing.

 

My search for the identification on the website www.lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au gave me the best fit based on those tufts that are found on the male of the species Phrissogonus laticostata Apple Looper.