For those who have some interest in insects...
Having just returned from some work in central NSW where butterflies were very plentiful, Prue and I went to check out the Mt Ainslie summit area this afternoon to see if anything similar was happening there. It was! Clearly some northern species have bred well and pushed south into areas they don’t normally occur in. Star of the show was a Scarlet Jezebel (also called Northern Jezebel), not a species I have seen in the ACT before. Another visitor from the north was Glasswing, in good numbers, with up to 15 different individuals spread around the area. 3 other species we saw - Lesser Wanderer, Small Grass Yellow and Chequered Swallowtail occur in the ACT more regularly but don’t breed locally. Interesting resident spp recorded included Moonlight Jewel, Golden Ant-blue, Dainty Swallowtail, Chequered Copper, Broad-margined Azure, Spotted and Imperial Jezebels, and Heath and Montane Ochres. All up 24 species in a bit over an hour, easily the most I have seen in a single visit here. Well worth a look, best time to go probably from lunchtime onwards. Most interesting bird was a Wedge-tail soaring way overhead.
cheers
Steve
