With the foothills and much of the lower country under a dense pall of smoke thanks to the arsonical activities of the Department of Sparks and Embers, I drove south for three quarters of an hour to some bush where the moths might have a chance of seeing the light through the murk. With the light shining it wasn’t long before the reconnaissance scout flew in and then I soon came under attack from a squadron of Batwing Moths, Chelepteryx collesi. They say you can have too much of a good thing, and it turned out a bit that way with fifteen of them fluttering around, I had to be very careful where I put my feet in case I stood on them. When they quietened down somewhat after about three hours I started to pick them up and park them out of harm’s way on bracken fronds.
The bush is mainly peppermint forest with some Banksia serrata and bracken to nearly two metres high, yes, it does grow that tall in a favourable location. One of the most beautiful moths in that country, logically enough is the Banksia Moth, Psalidostetha banksiae.
An autumn flying moth that was new to me is Smyriodes trigramma, I’ve photographed it on my last two outings. several variations came in on this night, this was a nice one. Its resemblance to a Stibaroma as it was once named is plain to see.
I’ve often featured other creatures that come to the light, but a scorpion was a first, quite a good sized one too.
There are lots more photos from the session here.
Click to enlarge
