What happens when you lead a group of dedicated butterfly experts on a walk in the bush?

Don’t expect to move very fast!

My family joke about me stopping to take photos at every rock and tree. Last Saturday I found a group of people who are harder to move than myself.

Kate Flink – BCC Habitat Brisbane, captured this clustering behaviour perfectly with her photo.

BOIC (Butterflies & Other Invertebrates Club) honoured Fox Gully with a visit and shared their expertise on a tour of our bushcare site.

Our local butterflies and their caterpillars put on a good show with Common Crows, Orchard Swallowtails, Evening Browns and various Ringlets flitting from bush to bush. I now know I can find different butterfly caterpillars simply by looking at the pattern of chewing on leaves. Aparently each species chews different shapes into the leaves.

A really good morning in the bush particularly when two butterfly species were added to Flora & Fauna of Mt Gravatt Reserve: Australian Rustic, Leafwing Doleschallia bisaltide and Pale Triangle Graphium eurypylus. Forty-five butterfly species have now been identified in the Reserve.

The Leafwing caterpillar is pictured munching on Love Flower Pseuderanthemum variable. This caterpillar must be serously scary for any potential preditors: looks like it is covered in shiny black barbed-wire.

The BOIC Butterfly Host Plants is an excellent reference for information on what plants will attract butterflies to your garden.

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