Spring Arrives Early in the Alps: Bogong moths, record low snow and early flowering
By Ken Green
Bogong Moths on the move
Once again Bogong moths have been recorded being ‘blown by strong winds into Canberra and Sydney’. These moths are actually on their migration route (and Bogong moths also migrate into strong westerly winds when migrating to the west to fly back to their core breeding sites later in the season - see Green K. (2006) “The return migration of Bogong Moths”. In fact Bogong moths have been recorded further north than Sydney – on trees which occur along the coastal side of the Great Dividing Range from Eucalyptus acmenoides as far north as Quensland down along the coast to E. globoidea, E. baueriana and E. muelleriana towards the Victorian border. Bogong moths were commonly seen in Wollongong, Ulladulla and all the way down to the far south coast in large numbers at Tathra and as far south as Eden (with slightly lower numbers than last year). This must be the point at which Bogong moths give up going south and start taking an interest in the mountains. Coming back to the mountains, we have lived in Berridale for 30 years and this was the largest collection of Bogong moths we have seen here!
In the Wisteria outside our window in Berridale, lots of Bogong moths were
feeding throughout the day over the last week.
Image: Mary Green
Snow Records
The heaviest snow at Spencers Creek over the past 72 years was in 1960 when the number of metre-days of snow was 439.1. [This is made up by measuring how long the snow lasted multiplied by the depth of snow to give a single figure.] The previous worst year was in 1982 with 63.8 metre-days, just lower than 1973 and 2006. The year 1982 stayed as the worst year until this year, which was dramatically worse!
What’s in Flower - Earlier flowering
A result of the early thaw was the earlier flowering of plants. However my earliest record of Caltha (now Psychrophila) introloba was on the 9th September 2013, which was three days earlier than was recorded this year. Other earliest flowerings on record in alpine species are marked below. These were recorded by others, so my thanks to Mel, Doug, Phil, Duane, Mike and Seb for sending in picture of plants in my absence.
Species marked with an ‘E’ denote the earliest record of flowering since I started “What’s in Flower” along with the date they were recorded this year.
