Amazing! For reasons that are hopefully evident, even more difficult to get a photo of this one that it already would have been!
A highlight on a long Port Hills walk from Lyttelton to Christchurch.
exciting new moth! After much staring this might be it although there's a slight problem in that Hudson watercolour and type photo are purple...
Exciting new moth #2. I finally had a go at a Manawatū Gorge overnighter on the south side. It started off looking like a terrible idea but it did 'clear up' in a sense in the evening - stopped raining and was periodically clear, but was also periodically in the clouds/mist.
Managed to get a couple of these which were perhaps the most likely of the unseen Meterana I thought I might reasonably expect (the others being Meterana merope - the forest is full of patē, and Meterana exquisita, noting the known populations are on the north side). There was also loads of Urtica ferox and Strebulus, so perhaps M. inchoata and M. octans could be in there too. Will probably do this again perhaps in December or something.
this one has a nice pad.
Sub-adult female hiding under water. She jumped into the stream after being disturbed by light. Holding on to sticks at bottom of stream to avoid floating back to surface.