Northern Territory In April 2024 I made my second trip to Darwin, this time with Ross McLaren who hadn’t been butterflying in the Northern Territory before. On the whole it was quite a successful trip, though with a couple of slow days. The big surprise of the trip was encountering Danaid Eggflies (Hypolimnas misippus) …
New species I had been looking for the Yellow Jewel (Hypochrysops byzos) ever since I began taking butterfly photography seriously in 2004, and I’d begun to doubt its existence as I’d never seen any sign of it whatsoever. Then, at the end of January 2024, Nils of Australian Butterfly Conservation suggested that we go looking …
Taxonomic changes I thought it was about time I changed the website to reflect a number of taxonomic changes that have been published over the last year or so, so here goes… Molecular phylogeny, systematics and generic classification of the butterfly subfamily Trapezitinae (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea: Hesperiidae) Anisynta dominula (Two-brand Grass-skipper) is now Atkinsia dominula Neohesperilla …
The late, great Douglas Adams’ book “So Long And Thanks For All The Fish” features a character named Rob McKenna who is a Rain God; rain clouds follow him wherever he goes as they want to be near him, to love him, to cherish him and to water him. I think he and I must …
The butterfly season is winding down in the Sydney area as we head into the second half of Autumn. It hasn’t been a very productive season for me, though I did have some noticeable success with a couple of Skipper species with which I’d had very little luck in the past. On 19th February a …
Well it’s been another long gap between updates, mainly because butterflies have been few and far between in the Sydney area. I can’t recall a Spring with so few butterflies as this year; on several excursions I haven’t taken any butterfly photos at all. My guess is that the prolonged downpour during the autumn either …
With Sydney’s winter becoming cold enough to attract White Walkers instead of American tourists, I did the only thing any sensible person would do – I booked a trip to Cairns for a spot of butterflying. Before going, however, I had the pleasure of seeing quite a large number of Small Green-banded Blues (Psychonotis caelius) in …
April was a quiet month for butterflies in the Sydney area. I didn’t see many on the wing, which I think is partly because of the continuing wet weather and partly because the season has been winding down. Most of the butterflies I did see looked very faded and worn, which I suspect is the …
It’s been almost 5 months since I last updated this website. This is partly because the lousy weather has restricted my opportunities to get out looking for butterflies, and partly because life gets in the way and I simply haven’t had the time. However, the recent period of absolutely awful weather here, especially on weekends, …
It’s been almost a year since I updated this website. I didn’t die from COVID; I didn’t even catch it (not yet anyway). I did have a very disappointing season around Sydney, followed by a disappointing and very wet trip to Cairns at the end of April. Since then I’ve been very time-poor, so I …
