Summer's End?

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Thought I'd write a post on the very long hot summer we've enjoyed(?) this year. Usually, the summer here is hot and humid but I've never experienced one as long as this one. Over the last couple of days we've actually had temperatures of 27~28C. I should point out here I'm not complaining about the heat, but showing relief that the temperature has dropped from the 30+ degrees it's been since mid July! We're still having tropical nights (temp doesn't drop below 25C) and we're due a very powerful typhoon tonight that's going to drag higher temperatures back from the tropics tomorrow :(

You'll probably hear me complaining about the cold come January, but for the moment, I'd give anything for a bit of cool! However, the weather has been spectacular in other ways. The skies have been remarkably clear at times with wonderful cloud formations, and because of the heat the local greenery and wildlife has demonstrated a fecundity that's given us some great photo ops :)

Moon Moth

It rained a lot yesterday and when I came back from work, unusually both my wife and son came up, grabbed an arm each and dragged me onto the balcony. Wondering what I'd done this time and whether I had any useful excuses available, I didn't notice at first that they were pointing up. Then I saw it. A Japanese Moon Moth as big as my open hand fastened to the ceiling! It must have dived in to escape the previous nights rain.

I've seen these a few times, usually after heavy summer rains which tend to damage their wings if they're caught without shelter. They only appear around July ~ August and rarely last more than a week in their moth form. This is because they don't have functioning mouth parts so cannot eat. The short time they exist is just long enough to find a partner and mate. Beautiful creatures and we were honored to see one on our balcony :)