Flying flowers

"The butterfly is a flying flower,

The flower a tethered butterfly."

Ponce Denis Ecouchard Lebrun

Rather apt, I think!
My recent laps around the river trail on the bike have paid off not only with several reasonable bird shots, but also with a few half-decent butterfly photos too. Now whilst my knowledge of the local bird population is pretty good, I know very little when it comes to butterflies. That it would seem, needs to change.
Some time ago, I posted on the butterflies I had so far managed to spot. They were the Cabbage White and the Common Brown Butterfly. Recently however, I spotted a few pairs of wings which I hadn't seen before. After some research, I also started looking a little more closely at what I had assumed was a homogeneous population of Common Brown Butterflies and discovered that all was not as it seemed.
During today's ride I snapped the following photos of what I believe was a Meadow Argus Butterfly a little upstream of the Queen's Park Bridge:

Meadow Argus Butterfly

Meadow Argus Butterfly

It had the same basic colours as the Common Brown, but different wing markings and the specimen I saw seemed somewhat smaller. It moved quite quickly, taking off in a straight line before settling again. Hopefully some better photos will soon be forthcoming.
On the opposite side of the river and a little downstream of the aforementioned bridge, I also came across this guy:

Yellow Admiral Butterfly

Underside of a Yellow Admiral Butterfly

A Yellow Admiral. Like the Meadow Argus, it also moved quickly, but seemed to spend more time going in circles before finally settling on the leaf where I took the shots. Unfortunately by the time I crept close enough to take some good close-ups it had closed its wings. It also had the bad grace to position itself the wrong way up on the leaf, so no, the gum trees don't grow upside down along the Barwon, I have just rotated the photos to suit.
These were my "captures" for today, however a couple of days ago, I also took the following shot, but have been unable to identify the subject - whether butterfly or moth:

It was quite spectacular in flight with flashes of red as it fluttered around before finally coming to land on this branch, but try as I might, I can't find it on-line.
Ideas anyone?

All aflutter

Of course, birds are not the only winged creatures which in, on and beside the river. There is a whole host of insects which buzzes, flaps and crawls along the length of the river and were I an etymologist I would know significantly more about them than I currently do. What I do know however, is that some are more visible - and more attractive - than others.
With the arrival of the warmer weather have come butterflies. Not a huge variety - so far I have only seen two different types along the Barwon through Geelong - but certainly quite an abundance of those species which are there. In fact, so common is the Cabbage White Butterfly (aka cabbage moth), that on occasion as I have walked down the river, it has almost appeared to be snowing!

Cabbage White Butterfly

This is the first of the two types of butterfly I've spotted and probably not the most popular, owing to its tendency to lay its eggs on the leaves and stalks of some of our vegetables - not just cabbage, but broccoli and cauliflower too.

Cabbage White Butterfly on a Hop Goodenia
bush at Breakwater

The second species of butterfly is more elaborately patterned and at the moment in my estimation, somewhat more populous than the cabbage white. This is the aptly-named Common Brown Butterfly.

Common Brown Butterfly, Breakwater

As its name suggests, it is indeed quite brown and quite common. We've all seen them here and there, but a close look at their wings shows an intricate pattern of light and dark brown shading with that classic butterfly defense of "eye spots" which may act to fool predators into thinking they are being watched by a much larger, less palatable creature.

A quick scan of the literature reveals several facts about this particular species of butterfly. Firstly, it is believed that warming of the Earth's atmosphere is causing the Common Brown to pupate ten days earlier than it did some sixty years ago. Secondly, these little guys are responsible for pollinating many of our native plant species.

Common Brown Butterfly, Breakwater

This makes sense when you consider the number of native trees, shrubs and grasses which have been used to revegetate the section of the river through Geelong. The butterflies are attracted to our native plants by colour and smell. They use taste buds in their feet - yes, really - preferring flowers which are yellow, orange, purple, white or blue - which pretty much covers the colour range I've seen along the river. No wonder they like it there!

So far, I have been unable to find any other types of butterfly - or moth - including along the upper reaches of the river where I did not see a single butterfly on my recent excursion. I am informed however, that there have been over fourty different species of butterfly sighted in the Otways National Park. They must all have been hiding that day!