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

Return to Porters Pass

Couldn't resist going back to take more photos of the miniature plants while there is no snow on the ground.

 

Porters Pass

This morning I drove up to Porters Pass in the mountains. After a long mild spell there is not much snow up there for this time of winter. My interest was the alpine plants that grow at the roadside. However, it pays to look up occasionally, which is how I captured this halo.

The sun makes a halo as it peeps over a mountainside at Porters Pass

There is an amazing variety of tiny plants, mosses and lichens covering the ground. The plants are very colourful and they are beautiful among the mosses and lichens. I don't know the names of any of them.