Friday, March 30, 2012

Butterflies in the tree-tops







The Rhyll paperbark forest and wetland was literally fluttering in butterflies when we walked the boardwalk yesterday. Many hundreds fluttered about us on their way to sip nectar in the treetops, or to bask in pools of warm autumn sunshine.

While admiring the bark of a paperbark (Melaleuca) I captured an Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi) on my camera, as its spread out its wings horizontally, to maximise absorption of warmth.

A female of the same species sunned herself on a nearby leaf, with a curtain of New Zealand spinach behind -- butterflies have to be the fairies of the natural world.

The presence of butterflies and frogs in an environment suggests a healthy balanced ecosystem free of pesticides and pollution.

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