www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi and a Happy new Year to you all.

You may be interested in this photograph of the Black Grass-dart (Ocybadistes knightorum), which I recently saw in Australia. It only occurs in a very specific habitat in the region of Coffs Harbour NSW. Its foodplant Alexfloydia repens (itself threatened), is only found alongside certain creeks in this area, usually within a few metres of the mean high water mark. The locals are understandably cagey with info about its whereabouts as several colonies have already been destroyed by illegal collector/dealers. I was lucky enough to find a healthy colony less than 500 metres from where I was staying! The book lists the flight time as Oct/Nov/Dec with possible second and third broods in Feb and April. I saw many fresh examples, including mating pairs, at the beginning of January, and think that it is possibly continuously brooded during the summer months.

Tony Moore.

That's a lovely picture of a beautiful butterfly. I hope some conservation work can be done to increase the areas of its food plant.

Cracking shot! Looks like an aberrant Large Skipper.

Sad to hear there are still collectors out there in Australia. Have people nothing better to do?

I forgot to mention that it was only discovered in 1992! It is seriously tiny - only about 18 mm wingspan - and VERY difficult to follow in flight.

Tony M.

Hi Tony,

Interesting find and nice shot. Good to see another Sony shooter here (judging from EXIF info) - how are you finding the A65?

May I be so bold as to suggest the manual white balance setting was off? It all looks a bit too orange.

Further to my last post, here is an underside photo of O. knightorum, showing the diagnostic yellow band on the underwing.

Tony M.