It is an all too rare occurrence finding Peter Hendry a new moth to identify. I took the photo this morning, just over six months to the day since the previous time. Peter’s reply arrived within two hours. The species is found in the south west Pacific Region and in Australia in Western Australia, The Northern Territory, Queensland, Norfolk Island and New South Wales. Wingspan is 4.5 cm.

The power lines were in place long before the then owner of the house planted the row of tibouchina in Central Avenue, which I filmed more than twenty five years ago and photographed today. They have been regularly pollarded since, to prevent them encroaching on the power lines. I have never seen them looking so well as now. I suppose tibouchina are the autumnal equivalent of Spring’s jacaranda. Both species are endemic to Central and South America. 

I decided to photograph the huge clearing in the rainforest bordering Eagle Heights Road, wrought by Cyclone Alfred a year previously. I was intrigued by its scale, glimpsed as I repeatedly drove past. The cyclone crossed the coast a little north of Brisbane. I took the photo at the edge of the clearing, noticing the amount of debris covering the ground all the way to the far side. It is hard to do the subject justice. This was my second attempt to photograph the clearing. My first attempt was a few metres in from the road through a gap in the vegetation. I thought that the leach I noticed crawling on the carpet between the bedrooms, had hitched a lift on my shoe, but seeing its engorged state made me look for evidence of a bite. The sock above my right ankle had a patch of blood on it, my first leach bite in more than five years.

Today I added two photos to my albums. The first was of a red flowering gum leaf which had fallen onto the grass verge from one of the slender trees which lined the road. It caught my eye because of its shape and the subtle beauty of its colours against the vibrant setting of the hues of the grass. The species is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia and typically grows to a height of ten metres.

The second was of the huge clearing in the rainforest bordering Eagle Heights Road, which I decided to photograph a year after it was wrought by Cyclone Alfred. The cyclone made landfall a little north of Brisbane. Whenever I drove past, I sensed its scale. I took the photo a few metres in from the road. I thought that the leach I noticed crawling on the carpet between the bedrooms, had hitched a lift on my shoe, but seeing its engorged state made me look for evidence of a bite. The sock above the ankle of my right leg had a patch of blood on it. This was my first leach bite in more than five years.

I wanted to photograph the cycad for several days. It had been relocated to the edge of a block which was cleared of buildings and vegetation. It was beginning to establish itself when a fierce wind split the trunk, causing part of it to fall to the ground. The trunk can grow to a diameter of 80 cm. Its outer layer is covered by the persistent remains of leaf bases.  The cycad is an ancient, long-lived and slow-growing species, which is endemic to coastal south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales. The cylindrical cone is among the largest of all cycad cones.

The fungi, which I photographed today, were among several growing on or near the same tree stump in Central Ave which I photographed in April 2025. I sent the mycologist three images, hopefully of different species, and I await a reply from him.

I photographed a bumper crop of Bunya pine cones in the park opposite my unit, the first since 2018, and a month earlier than then. I believe there are more cones on the ground now, but far fewer Sulphur-crested cockatoos to gorge on the feast. The cones in the photos are a fraction of the number of cones scattered around the park’s four Bunya pine trees. We are unbelievably fortunate in having two distinct kinds of subtropical rainforest in Southeast Queensland; namely the lush rainforest hereabouts and the cool subtropical rainforest of the Bunya Mountains, a three and a half hour drive away.

I took a photo, of a large Funnel ant mound on the corner of a grass verge. It was the first time, since I initially videoed the mounds in 2001, that I have actually seen ants on them. The mound appeared after a weekend of thunder storms but not a lot of rain. There are eight Australian species in the genus out of a worldwide total of 200. I noticed winged individuals, which are male and female reproductive ants, entering the mound. You have to look carefully to see the three ants in the photo. They are only about 5 mm long.

This year, the fresh green leaves of Spring appeared some two weeks later than usual on the deciduous trees lining Southport Avenue, thanks to a cold Winter. The English oak, which I photographed, is native to most of Europe and western Asia. There are no native oaks in Australia. This is a particularly remarkable tree. Despite being half dead, it retains a vigorous growth of new leaves. Deciduous native trees grow in the northern parts of Australia and shed their leaves to conserve water supply to the tree. Deciduous trees in the northern hemisphere lose their leaves as protection against cold weather.

I noticed a small dark patch on the dark grey door of the garage in Central Ave, which could only have been a moth, as a closer inspection revealed. I was on my morning walk, and had to return with my camera and a step ladder. Peter Hendry confirmed it as a new species for my Moths album, which is an increasingly rare and all the more exciting occurrence. It occurs in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Wingspan is about 3.5 cm.