Golden Ant-blues (Acrodipsas aurata) mating pair

Awesome Acro Action! : November 2020

This month has been a bit more successful than October, though I have still made some visits to sites in the Sydney area that were so disappointing as to not be worth mentioning. The trips described below were the better ones…

04/11/2020 : Bell 

My second visit to Bell this season came 3 weeks after the first, and as expected the warmer weather meant that there were a few more insects around, though it was still quieter than usual except for the cicadas – this year’s mass emergence of Masked Devils ensured that there was a constant racket up in the trees. They seemed to be rather confused about the COVID situation, as they were all wearing masks but they were not practicing social distancing at all.

Butterflies were still few and far between, except for the large numbers of Common Grass Blues (Zizina otis) and the swarms of migrating Caper Whites (Belenois java). The hilltop had several flowering bushes, which proved to be very attractive to the large Jewel Beetle Stigmodera macularia. I saw at least 20 of these in just a small area, buzzing clumsily around the place and generally bumping into everything – sort of a flying version of myself. Various other insects were on the wing, particularly beetles, so I passed the time by photographing them whilst waiting for any interesting butterflies to appear.

After a couple of hours my first Blue Mountains Ant-blue of the season perched on a low shrub next to where I was trying to get shots of a very small weevil. He was a rather fine Golden Ant-blue (Acrodipsas aurata), and I gratefully took a few photos of him even though I already have way too many images of this species already. I can’t help it; I love Ant-blues. He was one of 3 aurata I saw that day – not a bad count considering it was still early in their season.

As often happens at this site, the arrival of aurata was followed by that of its close relative the Bronze Ant-blue (Acrodipsas brisbanensis), a less showy butterfly but one I don’t usually find in such numbers as aurata. He was also a very fresh specimen – it’s unusual to see Ant-blues without damaged wings but these guys must have emerged that day or maybe the day before.

Unfortunately nothing much else showed up. On the way back to the train station I checked out a couple more spots where I’ve had some luck in the past, but without seeing anything of interest this time.

 

Golden Ant-blue
(Acrodipsas aurata)
Bronze Ant-blue
(Acrodipsas brisbanensis)

10/11/2020 : Ourimbah and Wyong 

My target for this day was the Wonder Brown (Heteronympha mirifica), as I’d seen several males at Ourimbah at this time of the year in 2018. The sky was mostly blue as I walked from the train station, then headed along Dog Trap Road before turning right and going up a long, steep and decaying driveway that leads to an abandoned house at the top of the hill. Two years ago I’d seen mirifica along this drive, but this time a cloud moved across in front of the sun and refused to move away. It was very frustrating because the sky was still about 90% blue but the bit that mattered was overcast and nothing was flying.

Near the top of the hill is a grassy clearing in which lies the abandoned house and a load of lantana bushes. The sun came out, and I could see quite a lot of Common Browns (Heteronympha merope) here, but they refused to let me get close enough for decent photos. I have had plenty of experience of trying – and failing – to get shots of this species, so I headed back down the driveway to look for mirifica.  A pattern began to emerge – every time I went to the mirifica spot the sun went behind a cloud, and whenever I went back up to the top it became bright and sunny again. I should not have been surprised; it is 2020 after all.

After 3 hours I’d had enough of this game, so I decided to switch to Plan B and return to the station so I could catch a train to Wyong and see what might be flying at Chapman’s Hill. On the way back down the hill I did catch 3 glimpses of mirifica. Two of them were sitting amongst leaf litter along the side of my path, making them completely invisible until they flew off into the trees, giving me no chance. The third did settle briefly on a low fern, but I only got the chance to take one quick photo. He started to move just as I pressed the shutter, so the photo wasn’t much good. By now I was beginning to think I might as well have stayed in bed that morning.

It didn’t take long to get to Wyong, where I walked UP from the station to Chapman’s Hill. I deliberately capitalised the word “up” because it’s uphill all the way and gets steeper as you go. Naturally the clouds had all disappeared by now so I was getting quite hot by the time I reached the hill.

Almost immediately I spotted a Blue Tiger (Tirumala hamata), the second I’d seen this spring, but unlike the previous one he didn’t settle so I was unable to photograph him. At the very top of the hill I could see a few butterflies jockeying for position, but they were all the Usual Suspects such as Dingy Skippers (Timoconia peron) and Dusky Blues (Erina hyacinthina). There was one notable exception, a rather nice Bronze Flat (Netrocoryne repanda) who seemed totally oblivious as I snapped away, but that was just about it until I finally headed for home.

 

Wonder Brown at Ourimbah
(Heteronympha mirifica)
Bronze Flat at Wyong
(Netrocoryne repanda)

15/11/2020 : Bell 

With the Blue Mountains weather forecast being perfect (sunny with very light winds) I just had to go back to Bell to look for Ant Blues again. As soon as I got off the train I got that feeling that it was going to be a good day, mainly because I was pestered by flies before I even left the platform. They may be annoying, but I’ve found that the days with lots of flies tend to be the better days on the hilltops, so there was a spring in my step as I walked the few kilometres to the hill.

This time the first aurata started flying not long after I arrived, so I took a few photos of him and various other insects to get my eye in. The next butterfly I saw really got my attention as I thought it might be a Small Ant-blue (Acrodipsas myrmecophila), a small and rather drab – but elusive – butterfly that was one of my main targets for the day. One became two, but I began to have my doubts as their hyperactive behaviour and refusal to remain settled as I approached was not typical of myrmecophila. After several attempts I got close enough to one to see what he was – a Two-spotted Line-blue (Nacaduba biocellata), an equally small butterfly.

Next to arrive was a brisbanensis, so I took a couple of photos for the record before the hilltop erupted as every male aurata in the vicinity started chasing about madly. A female had made her way to the hilltop and the males were all competing for her attention. After a few minutes of turmoil she swiped right and then settled down to mate with her lucky suitor. They seemed to be having some difficulty, so initially it looked as if they were attempting some strange position from the “Acro Sutra”, but at the second try they managed a more conventional coupling.

Some time later a second female appeared and the males all went bananas again, just for a short time until one of them was able to jump her exoskeleton. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get worthwhile shots of this pair; the male was clearly visible but the female was hidden behind a load of leaves.

Next I saw the biocellata again, sitting near the top of the tallest tree of the hilltop – not very high up as the tree is no more than 3 metres high. I was so engrossed with the aurata couples that I didn’t give this other butterfly much thought, until I noticed that it had remained stationary for quite some time. A closer look showed this to be a myrmecophila, making this the second occasion that I’d seen the three species of Ant-blue at the same time on this hilltop. I wanted him to come lower down, so a hundred times I shook his tree to get him to move and a hundred times he flew around for a few seconds before returning to the same perch. Fortunately the light was good and there was little wind, so I took a series of photos of him clinging to his little branch. After a few minutes of this he deigned to fly down a couple of feet and settle among some leaves, fortunately in a place where I could still get a clear view of him.

I saw one more interesting species that day – two male Large Brown Skippers (Hesperilla trimaculata) were scooting around at ground level in an open area; these were the first hilltopping skippers I’d seen in the Blue Mountains this season. Despite the good conditions none of the photos I took of them were much good, but it didn’t matter. After seeing all those Ant-blues, especially the females and the myrmecophila, it had been a very successful day’s Butterhiking.

 

Golden Ant-blues attempting a position from the “Acro Sutra”
Mating pair of Golden Ant-blues
showing the female’s blue colour
Small Ant Blue
Acrodipsas myrmecophila
Two-spotted Line-blue
Nacaduba biocellata

19/11/2020 : Bell 

Despite my case of Ant-blue Fever I had decided that on this visit I wouldn’t go to the hilltop, instead I’d check out the Bell Perimeter Trail. I’d never been there before so I thought there might be a chance of finding something unusual, and since it did not appear to have been much affected by last summer’s bushfires I might see some of the skippers that had been absent elsewhere.

I walked about 5kms along the trail, following the path up and down hillsides, but to my surprise I saw virtually no butterflies at all. I didn’t see much point in continuing, so I decided to leg it back the way I’d come and then head out to the hilltop instead, as at least I knew there were some butterflies there. This meant I’d already walked 10kms before passing the station again on my way to the hill, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Naturally I was hoping to see some more females and/or myrmecophila, but it didn’t happen this time. Having taken a number of aurata photos last time I decided to concentrate on getting shots of a very good brisbanensis specimen who was also hoping a female would show up.

I was also pleased to see one or two Flame Sedge-skippers (Hesperilla idothea), hanging out in the same spot where I’d seen the trimaculata last time.

 

Flame Sedge-skipper
(Hesperilla idothea)
Bronze Ant-blue
(Acrodipsas brisbanensis)

26/11/2020 : Bell 

Yes, I went to Bell again. Sorry, but it’s been the place where I’ve had the most luck so far this year.

I ended up taking 380 photos this day. This was partly because it was more windy than the forecast had predicted, so I took multiple shots to increase my chances of getting some decent images, but also because there were so many insects around. I’ll start with the butterflies…

Unfortunately myrmecophila was absent again, but the day’s highlight was another mating pair of aurata. I had only ever seen two female aurata previously, and now I’d seen 3 more in a period of 11 days. There were a LOT of males around today, way more than any other day so far this season, so her appearance triggered a great deal of frantic activity. She somehow managed to evade all the males and settled on the shrub right in front of my face, to my delight as I hoped she’d sit with her wings open to bask in the sunshine. I took a couple of photos with her wings shut, but then a male found her and started photobombing before quickly coupling with her.

There were a few more butterfly species around today. Hesperilla idothea was still around, as were some Dusky Blues (Erina hyacinthina), a Saltbush Blue (Theclinesthes serpentatus), a Wattle Blue (Theclinesthes miskini) and two Dark Pencil Blues (Eirmocides consimilis). Naturally I took photos of these, but I spent more of my time photographing some of the other stunning insects that were around. I’m considering expanding my website to include photos of other critters as I’ve really been enjoying seeing them around. In the meantime I’ve started putting some of them on my Facebook and Instagram pages.


Golden Ant-blue Photobomb
(Acrodipsas aurata)
Wattle Blue
(Theclinesthes miskini)

3 thoughts on “Awesome Acro Action! : November 2020”

  1. Alan Hopkinson

    Great photos Martin, that hilltop rarely disappoints if your there on a good day without the wind.

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