Spring Crop

Mount Torlesse  and oilseed rape

Stormy Sunrise

Rubicon Peak of Mount Torlesse 6.32 am

Back Peak and Otarama 6.34 am

Wintry Conditions

Back Peak and Otarama at 1.36 pm

More Fresh Snow

Torlesse Range from Springfield

 Yesterday's storm brought fresh snow to the mountains.

The Great Alpine Highway at the approach to Springfield.  On the left is Castle Hill Peak, the highest in the range at 1997 metres.  In the centre is The Gap, which is the distinguishing feature of the Torlesse Range when viewed from the Canterbury Plains.

Southern end of the Torlesse Range at 1.15pm

Moeraki Boulders

Moeraki Boulders

On a brief trip away from home I had the opportunity to visit the Moeraki Boulders.  They are a popular tourist stop situated on the Otago coast between Dunedin and Oamaru. (Wiki article) The boulders are huge rounded stones that have come from the sandstone cliff.  I have long been familiar with photos of the boulders, but I had not guessed the variety of their surfaces or the interesting formations revealed in the broken ones.  Apparently in the days before they were protected curious people blasted them.

Tourists exploring the boulders

Some are strangely textured

A shattered boulder

A boulder still emerging from the sandstone cliff

Fragments scattered on the beach.  The grey and rust area top right is the reef

Fresh Snow

Mount Torlesse at 8.46am

There was a new fall of snow overnight.  The clouds made shifting patterns of light on the mountains.  The bird is a southern black backed gull, one of a group of five that circled overhead.  The brownish patch on the wing suggests that it is a juvenile.

Starling

Mount Torlesse at 8.16am

Starling in breeding colours

Starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, are common here.  There are 5 or 6 pairs nesting around my house.  They are not a nuisance at all.  They don't make use of the bird feeders, even in very bad weather, and they don't flock.  Only after the chicks have fledged do I see a group of 20 or so.  They spend most of their time grazing in the fields, but they come home at night and roost near their nest sites.  The males have favourite perches where they say their piece.  Their song consists of clicks and squeaks, chortles and gurgles, and fair imitations of lambs bleating, blackbird, bellbird, fantail and a stick being dragged along a picket fence.

Dwindling Snow

The southern end of the Torlesse Range at 7.26am

Warm conditions are melting the snow quickly.  Compare with yesterday.

Spiders and Mountain

The southern end of the Torlesse Range at 8.41am

Small Spiders Oxyopes gracilipes

Oxyopes gracilipes  males

There were several of these small (5-6mm) spiders sunning themselves on the alpine strawberry leaves this afternoon.  They were all the same size and shape, but had different markings.  These two interacted briefly, and not in a friendly manner.

Flies

Torlesse at 3.33pm

A small bristle fly eating an even smaller fly

 The mountains were elusive today, mostly covered with fluffy clouds.  This was my best shot, through a haze.


Warm sunshine this afternoon brought out a variety of flies.  Here are just a few.  I don't know all their names and would be happy to have them identified.

A fly, but what sort with an orange scutellum? Perhaps a metallic blue hover fly.

All photos taken today.

Green blow fly Lucillia sericata

Small hover fly Melanostoma fasciatum

Tiny black and white striped fly

A very small fly

Fresh Snow

Mount Torlesse at 7.39 this morning

Yesterday's storm left snow right down to the foothills.

Waxeyes

Waxeyes through a rain-wet window

Another cold, wet day.  The waxeyes are back for the apple.

Nor'wester Effects

Clouds at 7.21am, with the Torlesse Range partly obscured by trees in the centre at the foot of the photo.

Mount Torlesse 9.29am

The nor'wester produces many different effects in the sky and on the mountains.

Mount Torlesse

Mount Torlesse at 9.36am

Mountain Mood Change

Mount Torlesse at 7am

Back Peak and Otarama at 4.14pm

Snow on the Foothills

Fresh snow down to the foothills, but the mountains are still hidden.  11.40am

Zosterops lateralis, Waxeyes

Waxeyes, Zosterops lateralis, aka silvereye

A cold, wet day.  The waxeyes rely on food I put out on days like this.  There is competition from birds that come to challenge the residents.

Mountain and Miner's Lettuce

The peak of Otarama, Torlesse Range, 7.30 am

Miner's Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata

I found a patch of miner's lettuce near the Waimakariri Gorge Bridge, on the bluff of the northern side, under pine trees.  How did it come to be there?  Was it introduced when somebody dumped their garden rubbish there, or does its history go back to the early days before the bridge was built?

Photo taken today.

Also there, the broom was in flower, and here and there a ragwort in bud.

Moon and Jupiter

The mountains were obscured this morning, but the moon and Jupiter were in the clear.

By early afternoon the mountains were almost clear for a while

Nor'wester and Starling

Mount Torlesse with a build-up of nor'wester cloud behind. 7.44am

Starling in late afternoon rain

The nor'west wind brought mild, dry conditions, but spill-over rain from the mountains late in the day.

The starling is the male of one of six or seven pairs that nest within my garden. Although I put food out for the birds they never touch it, preferring to graze in nearby fields or on my lawn.

Mount Torlesse at 7.51am

A brief glimpse of the mountain through rain before that dark cloud descended.

Spring landscape late this afternoon

No mountains today due to low cloud.

Moon setting behind Porters Ski Field 7.16am

                                                              

  I was delighted to find a few flowers on my kowhai tree (Saphora).  The tree lost all its leaves during record low temperatures early June, and lower branches I can reach are obviously dead.  Other New Zealand native evergreens in my garden that have died as a result of that storm are purple akeake (Olearia), Pittosporum tenuifolium, and Coprosma repens.

Kowhai (today)

Full Moon at 6.31 this morning

Mount Torlesse at 7.12am