We took a trip to Muriwai, last weekend - a lovely area on the windy west coast of Auckland, New Zealand. The black-sand surf beach is most popular with surfers, while swimmers enjoy the lovely beach that seems to stretch and stretch (60 kilometers, to be exact). It's also well know for its large gannet colony, which can be viewed from cliff-tops surrounding the beach. The hundreds of gannets arrive each August to breed and leave again, for South Australia, in February-March. Then of course there's the golf course, known as a great round by local golfers.
Not so widely known about Muriwai is the very large colony of Coastal Copper Butterflies (Lycaena salustius) that frequent the hills. Adjacent to the gannet colony is a wide area covered by an abundance of their host plant, Muehlenbeckia astonii, and that's where these lovely little copper butterflies can be found. At this time of year there are dozens of them flicking and flitting all over the place. What a great time I had with my camera and then, even better, several of them came and settled on me.
Not so widely known about Muriwai is the very large colony of Coastal Copper Butterflies (Lycaena salustius) that frequent the hills. Adjacent to the gannet colony is a wide area covered by an abundance of their host plant, Muehlenbeckia astonii, and that's where these lovely little copper butterflies can be found. At this time of year there are dozens of them flicking and flitting all over the place. What a great time I had with my camera and then, even better, several of them came and settled on me.
Click on each picture to see a larger view................
