A Visit to ANBG

Having some time to spare in Canberra I took myself to the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) hoping to pick up something such as a Rufous Fantail.  Possibly as a result of it being 35oC birds were very thin on the ground but there were some other goodies whichh I will get to in due course.

Pretty soon after getting there I came across this desolate site.  I guess they have to maintain things but this looks a bit like a war for peace".
 The rainforest gully was also looking a little the worse for wear as a result of a storm at Christmas.  One of the trees appears to have come down across this fence: lucky it wasn't a person!
 Of course, they don't have a brain monitor at the gate so Antonio and Elisa were able to enter on 13 January.
Hopefully they realised that the bark will shed in a few months time - which is probably how long their relationship will last (unless their probation officer catches up with them before then).

The Summer Concert series used to be a very relaxed affair run by the Friends.  Obviously someone has realised there is a buck to be made from concessions.  I presume the next step will be to ban hampers and eskies to force attendees to buy this rubbish at the inflated prices -$10 for a snag and "drink" is extortionate!
 This is a very nice Banksia aemula.
 This is a higher Banksia serrata.  I'm very surprised these trees weren't full of honeyeaters.
 These were in the Red Centre garden which was mostly looking how the Red Centre does about 6 years in 10: red, dry and mainly dead.
What was around in profusion were  dragons.  This one was explaining why they are called water dragons ...
 .. while it seemed every clump of bushes had one or more underneath it.

 Strangely, the waterfall area in the rock garden was devoid of reptiles.

There were lots of insects around.  A grasshopper with yellow wings landed conveniently for  photograph.
I had finally purchased a copy of a Field Guide to the Butterflies of the ACT and had a few chances to use it!  A Dainty Swallowtail (Papilio anactus) posed very helpfully for several minutes.
Not the most helpful snap, but I am pretty confident this was a Spotted Brown (Heteronympha paradelpha).

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