Monday, 18 August 2014

Lake Lyndon



Lake Lyndon looking to the head of the lake

 All these shots were taken from The Great Alpine Highway, Canterbury, New Zealand.


Lake Lyndon, the west arm

Porters Skifield from Porters Pass

The old roadman's hut on the way up to Porters Pass

Monday, 3 March 2014

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

The Ellerslie International Flower Show

A few things that caught my eye at the show.

Shadows
Stop the Clock, a sculpture by Jane Downes
A brilliant water feature
A bumblebee nest in a Perspex box

Green flowers on red stems



Monday, 3 February 2014

Porters Pass Fauna


The moon and mountain flax
Dark coloured cicada, the most common that I saw. It had a sharp intermittent call.
A brilliant green cicada that really stood out.

A green grasshopper
A well camouflaged grasshopper


A fine striped grasshopper
A hairy grasshopper



Orbweb spider

Another orbweb spider. Abdomen only. The thorax is tucked under.


Wednesday, 22 January 2014

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

Friday, 17 January 2014

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

Monday, 6 January 2014