New discovery

I love seeing things in my garden that I’ve not seen before. I like to think it’s because we’ve been adding to the garden, the types of things our visitors like. New birds, new animals, new bees, new insects, new butterflies.

Recently my husband and I were working out in our vegetable garden, getting it ready for new plantings for the spring and summer seasons. He was about to remove a blackberry when I urged him to stop as I’d seen a blue colour on one of the leaves. Closer inspection showed a butterfly I’d never seen before.

I learnt that it’s a female Dark Pencil Blue Butterfly (Candalides absimilis). It’s quite small and can be seen here in the Dandenong Ranges but not hugely prevalent. It can be seen in all of the eastern states of Australia.