Porters Pass

I went to Porters Pass to look at the wildlife. There has been snow in the last couple of days, but it has melted quickly. The summer sun is hot when it shines.

The hillside above the pass

A Southern Tussock Grasshopper (I think)

Roadside plants

Coral Broom, Carmichaelia crassicaulis

Small Hover fly, Melanostoma fasciatum

Snowberry, Gaultheria sp.

White moss and lichen

Dracophyllum longifolium is the main plant in this area

Porters Pass

Porters Pass is on Highway 73, The Great Alpine Highway. The elevation is 1000 metres. These are some of the natives I found at the roadside.

Celmisia spectabilis, the cotton daisy

Acaena, bidibid. The blue scraps are fallen borage flowers.

Copper Butterfly. The blue on the upper wing suggests that it is a male boulder copper,  Boldenaria boldenarum

This is the rare coral broom, ‪Carmichaelia crassicaulis‬. Unfortunately I was too late to see the colour of the flowers. Here they are dying. The plant is enclosed for protection.

An unknown green beetle. It was about 10mm long

Harebells, Wahlenbergia albomarginata. Such tiny delicate plants growing on the bare ground exposed to all the elements.

White Gentian, Gentiana