Malvern Hills

This morning was so bright and sunny I decided to drive among the nearby hills. It is late autumn and not all the trees have lost their leaves. The countryside is very green after recent rain, but the rivers and creeks are still dry or very low after the drought.

The willows are still colourful

The Craigieburn Range has more snow than the closer mountains

Mount Torlesse, with the Red Peak on the left, Back Peak and Otarama on the right

Willows in the valley

The road through the poplars

The Mountains This Morning

Mount Torlesse

Back Peak and Otarama

Peaks Above the Fog

For a little while today the mountain tops broke through the clouds.

Mount Torlesse

Back Peak and Otarama

The Waimakariri River was still running high and dirty after the rain

Fresh Snow

For a few minutes this morning the heavy clouds lifted above the mountains.

Mount Torlesse, with a little sunlight on Back Peak and Otarama

Early Snow

It's unusual to get snow so early in the autumn, especially after a particularly hot, dry summer. But get it we did last night, and by morning it had turned to hard ice.

Abners Head in the early morning sunshine

Mount Torlesse late afternoon

My back path was too treacherous to walk on

Snow In Summer

Mount Torlesse with a recently harvested grain crop

Back Peak and Otarama

The moon over Porter's Skifield

The moon at 6.35 am

Summer Snow

The first two days of summer have been cold, with two falls of snow on the mountains.

Mount Torlesse, the Rubicon Peak

Back Peak and Otarama

Castle Hill Peak and The Gap

Second Snow of Autumn

Castle Hill Peak

Mount Torlesse

Back Peak and Otarama

Early This Morning

Mount Torlesse on an early summer morning

Dalethorp Road as the sun rises

Fledgling thrush that is still being fed by its parents, growing fat on my fruit

Moods of Mount Torlesse

Three photos I took of Mount Torlesse this morning. A rosy sunrise, A bright frosty morning, and then a nor'wester storm.

6.50 am

7.32 am

9.55 am

Fresh Snow in Late Winter

Mount Torlesse

The long period of spring-like weather came to an abrupt stop last night. Snow fell down to the foothills. The mountains are whiter now than they have been for most of the winter.

Ben More with the Kowai River

 The willows in the distance already have a wisp of colour, which is unusual in winter.

Poplars with Ben More Beyond

July Moonset

 Days are noticeably longer now.  More sunshine is falling on the Torlesse Range.

Mount Torlesse at Midday

Winter Sunrise

The snowy mountains catch the early light in dramatic ways. Here is how they looked this morning.

The Rubicon Peak of Mount Torlesse

Back Peak and Otarama

This is the sky that was reflecting colour onto the mountains.

Fresh Snow At Dawn

After a four day polar blast there is a heavy fall of snow on the mountains and hills.

Mount Torlesse

Mount Hutt

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

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.

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