A quick one nighter

[Aussie123]

40 C in Melbourne ... Down jackets and extra blankets in the mountains ...



Given the expected heat, I went for a "no-cook" dinner:
Pork pie with Branston Pickle, boiled egg, hummus, biscuits, blue cheese, olives


Pre-dawn light. Magnificent !


Some critters we encountered:

- starting with an ex-critter. This jaw bone is about 8mm in length


I think this moth is
Chlorocoma dichloraria aka "Double-fringed or Guenée's Emerald"
(previously known as Chlorochroma dichloraria) - the yellow dorsal line is the giveaway !

Chlorocoma dichloraria

lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au

And quite a lot of March Flies too. They bite !


Mountain views:

 

[Mozzie]

Temps a bit warmish, but its welcome if it cools off at night.

The trees with no foliage, is that dieback ? looks eerie like bones all sticking up.

March flies, nasty little blighters, they are so slow at least easy to whack and or take a photo lol

Thanks for sharing your overnighter with us Aussie

Cheers Mozz

 

[Aussie123]

The trees with no foliage, is that dieback ? looks eerie like bones all sticking up.

The trees are Snow Gums. Most of the trees are actually alive, but their branches were killed in the 2009 fires in Victoria.
In the last photo you can see miles and miles of dead trees crowning the hills and ridges !

Snow Gums have a large lignotuber at their base (almost an underground trunk), which protects the tree from snow, and from fires.
The branches were killed in 2009, but many of the trees are re-sprouting from the lignotuber at their base.

While we were setting up, we heard a huge crash and saw a large tree falling ... a reminder to stay away from branches when camping !

 

[koalaboi]

What is infuriating with march flies, apart from their bite, is that they are so lightfooted you can’t feel them land on you!

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

kb

 

[Chigger]

Always march flies in the Snowy, remember them well. Thanks for the writeup and photos.