Upper Seletar Reservoir (USR) Park was teeming with butterfly activities in July. Once again, I spent a few hours exploring the park. With some luck and lots of patience and determination, I was rewarded with some pictures of a few forest butterfly rarities.
Compared with my last encounter with this rarity at USR, this time I could approach closer and took a quick snap of this Malayan Oakblut (Arhopala myrzala lammas) which is known to be alert and skittish.
Hoary Palmer (Unkana ambasa batara) is a rather large and uncommon skipper. This male was zipping around the shelter in the late morning. I snapped an instinctive shot when it was feeding on the Ixora flowers.
This female was spotted along a shady trail. She was rather tame in the early part of the morning, allowing me to compose and take the shot at ISO1000, f8 and 1/40.
No one could miss the presence of this Sumatran Gem (Poritia sumatrae sumatrae) when he took off or fluttered from perch to perch - as we would be mesmerised by the brilliantly coloured metallic green uppersides of this butterfly. It was a pity that this male Gem preferred a high perch all the time.
Though less attractive and smaller then the Sumatran Gem, the Narrow Spark (Sinthusa nasaka amba) is another uncommmon shade-loving forest lycaenid.
This is a pristine Aberrant Oakblue (Arhopala abseus abseus) which has very distinctive features - 3 pairs of tails, the black markings and a small white patch on the hindwing's costal edge make this Arhopala very different from many other species in the same genus.
This "chubby-looking" Suffused Flash (Rapala suffusa barthema) was taken near the reservoir edge. There are a few look-alike species but the lighter and less brownish colour of the underside wings and the presence of the faint orange markings may be the indications of this species.
This Erionota hiraca apicalis was snapped in a very shady part of the forest. It zipped past me and landed on a palm tree. What a skittish fellow which allowed me taking just one shot.
Perhaps this is a Arhopala major major which took a short flight and perched again when I accidentally stumbled over it.
Along the forest fringe, I spotted this female dragonfly, Orchithemis pulcherrima resting on a twig.
Finally, sharing a shot of this green frog resting on a big leaf near a stream. Is this a native species ?
I am yet to snap a shot on a few very rare skippers which they have made their appearance in USR lately. I hope I have better luck next time.
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