A Rare Encounter

Due to a last-minute work commitment, I had to miss the butterfly survey at the Eco-link bridge site on 9 April. After lunch, I headed out to a forest fringe along Old Upper Thomson Road. This is a very quiet trail. I hardly encountered any trekkers or bikers on this trail.

My first shot of the day was this tailless Arhopala major major. Seow TL enlightened me at the BC's forum. He said "If the middle spot (2nd if including all 4 ) in space 7 (topmost space of the hindwing ) is much smaller than the outer two postdiscal spots in space 7 & 6, as seen here, then it is almost certain that it is A. major" . Thanks a lot Seow - I hope I understand what you meant.

My maiden shot of a very nice blue tiger beetle - the camera flash light really brought up its iridescent colors - but pity that certain parts of its body were not well exposed.

This guy was found foraging on a fallen tree trunk - very active and never stayed still for me to compose my shots.

A hairy moth caterpillar was resting on a Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) leaf.

This is another moth caterpillar found on another shrub. I believe quite a number of moth caterpillars love Singapore Rhododendron very much.

The catch of the day must be this rare encounter of a male Courtesan (Euripus nyctelius euploeoides). The last time I saw and shot this species was at a hill park, at least 2 years ago. It was found on a treetop midway along the trail . With lots of patience, I finally got a few shots when he decided to settle on a perch closer to me but still above my eye level.

It appeared that Robberfly seemed to be in season along this trail. I shot these two different species. My first sighting of this orange robber fly was shot under a thick forest canopy.

I think this is a common species in the forest.

A medium-size dragonfly, Cratilla metallica (female) has darken wing tips as shown here. Rather common along this forest trail, I often encountered the female but not the male.

While I was still enjoying the calm and solitude in this "no-man's land", sound of thunders from afar brought me back to reality - its' time to make a hasty retreat though my ultimate destination was still far away.