Before the Rain @Chestnut Avenue

It was a blue-sky Saturday (8 Oct) morning before 9 am. How could I resist the temptation of going out for butterfly hunting especially I was deprived of an outing on 1 Oct due to the bad weather. So, without much hesitation, I packed my shooting gears and headed for Chestnut Avenue.

While I was trying to take an in-flight shot of this hover fly, it chose to perch on a grass blade instead. I was quite happy to snap a quick shot.

There are six known Mycalesis butterfly species in Singapore. A series of conspicuous submarginal eye spots (ocelli) on the underside wings and the brownish ground colour of the wings (except the Malayan Bush Brown (Mycalesis fusca fusca) which is more ocherous in colour) help us to identify the genus Mycalesis rather easily. This is Mycalesis perseus cepheus (Dingy Bush Brown).

It is not easy to differentiate between two different Mycalesis species in the field. For example, apart from the lighter ground colour of the wings and more whitish marginal striae on the hindwing beneath, this Mycalesis visala phamis (Long Brand Bush Brown) looks similar to the Dingy Bush Brown. In fact it is a lot more similar to Mycalesis mineus macromalayana (Dark Brand Bush Brown).

Apart from the two Browns and one Psyche (Leptosia nina malayana) fluttering perpetually, I could not find any others. When I was about a few hundreds metres deep into the forest trail, I could feel rain drops falling on me. The weather changed so fast that the morning sun lost its early dominance and surrendered to the large dark clouds all over the sky.

While making a hasty retreat back to where the overhead flyover is, a bunch of orange fungi on a fallen tree trunk caught my attention. I have no idea what this is after looking through all the resources I have.

The heavy downpours forced many bikers, hikers and me taking shelter underneath the flyover waiting for the rain to subside. Thanks and no thanks, we could rest for about 20 minutes.

Soon there will be another residential project opposite the Tree House condominium which is under construction at the moment. I hope the developer will seek help to carry out a thorough biodiversity survey first before they destroy the greenery to give way to the residential development - how about getting Nparks to help or oversee the survey ??