A new skipper

I noticed one of the skipper family of butterflies land on a flower in the garden and it did look a little different to other skippers that I have seen on the property. It stayed quite still on the flower and allowed me to get a few photos with the phone camera.

 

 When I had a chance to identify it I was pleased to see that it was one I hadn't photographed previously however as many species in this family are very similar I may have seen one before. They are found in NSW and Victoria and the lavae feed on Lomandra mat rush species of which we have quite a lot on the property.

Colourful but prickly critter

A colourful but prickly critter,found in the garden when I was doing a bit of tidying.I hadn't see one at our place before, although I didn't have to spend much time identifying as I had done that when my friend Melisa found one at her place a year ago, almost to the day.

 

 It is the caterpillar of the Patterned Notodontid Moth (Aglaosoma varigata) and it is about 75mm in length. I haven't seen a moth here as yet but hoping one might visit once this caterpillar pupates.

The moth is found in Eastern Australia through to South Australia and the caterpillar feeds on a range of plant species.

Unwelcome Visitor

We have been having some visits from as couple of our native critters, Bush rats and Antechinus that like to get into the house and find things to nibble or a nice spot to make a nest. However last night we had a visit from an introduced critter that has become quite widespread in Australia since arriving as a stowaway on ships probably as far back as the First Fleet, a Black Rat Ratus ratus.

 

Eyes on this moth

 A couple of days ago I found a moth that was new to me and did some searching to get the identity and I was quite sure that it was in the Anthelidae family which was correct but I punted on the Montane Anthelid. However after posting on the iNaturalist site I was soon corrected that it was in fact the Eye Spot Anthelid Anthela ocellata.

This moth's larvae feed on grasses and it is widespread through Australia.

 

Noisy Miner from my desk

As I work at my desk my outlook through the window is of part of our garden and one shrub that is a magnet for birds is the Grevillea "Honey Gem", which is one of the popular grevillea cultivars often accused of causing an influx of large honeyeaters that displace smaller birds. This maybe true when it is mass planted but as part of our diverse plant selection we have large and small birds visiting every day.

One native bird that gets a lot of bad publicity is the Noisy Miner Manorina melanophyrs as they gather in large flocks and are very aggressive to other birds in their habitat. However they generally like tall woodland areas with sparse understorey.and as most of our property does not meet that requirement the Noisy Miners they are not  regular visitors and do not cause problems.

 

There are four Australian Miner species included in the honeyeater family and the Noisy Miner ranges along the east coast and  great dividing range.