Sunday, August 24, 2014

Trekking Deep Into Forest Trail @ USR

It was my second outing on 16 Aug since I came back from two overseas trip - this time I went on a solo trip to Upper Seletar Reservoir Park (USR).  I am not sure if this is the Long Brand Bush Brown (Mycalesis visala pharmis) which perched right in front of me.
It was a very quiet morning in terms of butterfly or insect activity. Wandering around the forest fringe, I finally spotted a Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana javana) sun-bathing near the round-about
 There are a few eye-spots on the undersides too but the ground colour is paler.
After taking some shots of this Peacock Pansy, I decided to venture deeper into the forest. Except for the occasional bird and the cicada songs; the rattling sounds of the dry leafs on the ground by my shoes, the forest was absolutely calm and filled with fresh and pure air. I kept walking until I came to a spot where a colony of Archdukes was dog-fighting and zipping around.

Being extremely sensitive to movement, these Archdukes would take off the moment I inched forward. This was a lucky shot when a female Archduke (Lexais pardalis dirteana) landed on the ground in front of me.
She changed her puddling spot and with the accompany of  another species of Lexias, the Yellow Archduke (Lexias canescens pardalina)- being the rarest of the three Lexias species we can find in Singapore.
Without any good chances of shooting these ultra-alert Archdukes, I moved on again until I could not see any clear trail. Being alone and mentally unprepared for a much more difficult and a long trek from where I was to Bukit Panjang side of the forest, I decided to turn back.

Though I stayed at the Archduke spot for a longer period of time, I was disappointed that none of the Yellow Archduke offered me a shooting opportunity. At last,  a Malayan Lascar (Lasippa tiga siaka) came by and posed for me. 
I have seen this large butterfly Saturn (Zeuxidia amethystus amethystus) a few times in the deep forest. At least this time, I managed to get a long distance shot of a female. But what a shy butterfly she was - when I moved one step closer, she scooted off out of my sight.

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