I thought that I would start a post of the butterflies and other animals that I encounter in the area where I live. My home is in Wollongong, a city of 200,000 that is situated about 85km south of Sydney. Wollongong is the third largest city in New South Wales. It is separated from Sydney by Royal National Park and watershed land. As a result, there is plenty of nearby bushland even though Australia's largest city is not far to the north.
Wollongong is a long and narrow city with the ocean to the east and an escarpment to the west. Wherever one lives here, the beach and hills are only minutes away. The climate is mild although I am freezing at the moment. A typical day in the summer would be in the upper 20s C with high humidity. Now, in the winter, temperatures are in the mid to upper teens with nightly lows of 8C or so.
Here are photos of Wollongong from Mt. Kiera (a nearby hill), and then views to the north towards Sydney and to the south towards Kiama.
This is Mt. Kiera, a small hill of 400m elevation. I try to walk up it each day before or after work for exercise. There is also a nice ring track around the hill and I sometimes walk it as well. Many of the butterfly and other animal photos that I will post are from this area. The habitat here is wet eucalyptus forest with patches of subtropical rainforest in some of the protected gullies.
The hilltop is rocky with a different soil type. As a result, the vegetation is quite different. Some areas have heathland where the plants are low growing. These locations are especially nice in late August and September due to the abundance of flowering shrubs. I will include photos of some of these.
The beaches are great here. When my kids were young, I often took them down for a swim. My son surfed sometimes surfed before heading to school in the morning. There are also more rugged coastlines a little to the south. Here is a shot from the Kiama area.
This bay is a protected and a great place to snorkel. My son and I swam with a Grey Nurse Shark here on one occasion. Scuba divers see them more frequently.
... now, the butterflies.
Macleay's Swallowtails (Graphium macleayanus) are one of the most common butterflies in the hills. They are nervous and usually on the move like most Graphium sp. I found this one early one morning and it was intent on feeding. It also paused at times with its wings opened wide. I am not certain but I had the impression that it had only recently emerged.
Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi) are common in the summer.
Yellow Admiral (Vanessa itea) (aka, Australian Admiral) are also seen but they are not as numerous as the Painted Lady. They also are wary and hard to photograph. I will try for better shots in a couple of months when I see these again.
One of the big group of butterflies here are the "Browns", Satyrinae. My favourite is the Varied Sword-grass Brown (Tisiphone abeona). This species seems to be more common at the top of the escarpment rather than in the wet eucalyptus forest.
Wonder Browns (Heteronympha mirifica) are butterflies of the wet eucalyptus forest. I often see females that flush along the trail, fly a few meters then settle on leaf litter. When their wings are closed, the butterfly is hard to spot.
Thank you for these local photos. It looks like a lovely place to live.
The upperside of the Graphium macleayanus really surprised me. I had only seen photos of the underside before, and was expecting a purely green and brown upperside (a colour combination that I, personally, do not find particularly attractive). The addition of the white colouring makes it much more beautiful.
I agree entirely with you about the Tisiphone abeona. A beautiful butterfly, something I do not say often about members of this family!
Male Wonder Browns (Heteronympha mirifica) look quite different to the females. Their uppersides are mostly orange. They behave differently as well. Males usually remain high overhead in the canopy rather than perching on the ground or on small shrubs as do the females.
I am not certain but think this to be a male Wonder Brown.
Common Browns (Heteronympha merope) are also common in the eucalyptus woodland. The following are photos of females.
I am not certain but think that the following are Spotted Browns (Heteronympha paradelpha). According to my field guide, Spotted Browns are yet another member of the genus that are found near the coast.
The following butterfly has a slightly different pattern on the upper wing from the above Spotted Browns. I am not certain of its identification. Shouldered Browns (H. penelope), Bank's Brown (H. banksii) and Solander's Brown (H. solandri) are all similar and found in this area.
I knew I recognised your Plumbago Blue! When I saw the scientific name, I realised that it is what is known here as the Zebra Blue. I have it here on Samui, though it can only ne found in the Departure or Arrival lounges of the International Airport, where the imported Plumbago plant is found (it is its hostplant).
It is nice to know that other parts of the world have trouble identifying the Browns too.
Thanks, guys. Les, is Leptotes plinius a native to Koh Samui or has it been introduced?
I see skippers often and have photographed a few. Recently, I purchased "Butterflies of Australia" by Michael Braby. When I looked though it, I found that there are 42 species of skippers found in my area. Many are very confusing so I won't attempt names yet. When they reappear in another month or so, I will try to obtain many more photos from various angles. I might then have a better chance of attaching a name to these.
... a large skipper that usually is found near ferns:
... other species:
These day flying moths of subfamily arctiinae are super abundant late in the summer:
Photos from Wollongong
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