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

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