Beautiful Damselflies in the Nature Reserve

It was a nice Saturday morning in late February. I strolled along a forest trail along Old Upper Thomson Road. This rather worn-out Potanthus skipper offered me a chance to snap a few shots to begin my long hide into the forest.

This forest trail is especially quiet and devoid of human activity. This tailless Arhopala which looks like an A. major major was actively flitting around in the shade. Where were the Arhopala species? They seemed to have disappeared from this forest trail.

This lycaenid  is a Jamides species for sure. I think with its whitish upperside wings that could be seen when it was in flight, it is closer to a J. celeno aelianus.  

This orange skipper looks like a male Plain Palm Dart (Cephrenes acalle niasicus) - thanks Dr Seow for providing the clue. How can I overlook this species? I think it must be more than a year since my shot of a Cephrenes species. 

This large and magnificent Common Flashwing (Vestalis amethystina) damselfly was rather common along this stretch of the forest trail in the nature reserve.

At the end of the this long trail, a solitary small damselfly was plying hide-and-seek with me. The stream made it very hard for me to position myself parallel to the damselfly without getting myself wet.

I spent a lot of time stalking this guy though it didn't fly far away from the stream. I browsed through the book (written by Tang, Wang & Matti, 2010), I could not find a close match - I guess it may be Prodasineura humeralis.

When it was not on a perch, it  hovered above the water surface. I snapped a few in-flight shots - this is my best shot.

Before I turned right into another trail, there were a few other dragonfly species hovering and darting in the air above the water-logged and muddy ground. I realised that shooting this pair of mating dragonfly which look more like  the Spine-tufted Skimmer (Orthetrum chrysis) wasn't that easy.

I saw more fallen trees and dead tree branches in our nature reserve these days - an indication that the forest is falling sick and it needs a closer attention now before it is too late - trees need time to grow slowly to make a healthy forest.