Thanks to Ivy, Shan and Samuel for bringing me to the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve on a slightly hazy and cool Monday morning (28 March) - a public holiday in Hong Kong . We met at 10 am at the Tai Po Market MTR station before heading to our first shooting location by a short taxi ride.
My first butterfly shot was this Plum Judy (Abisara echerius). It was taken while we walked along a well-paved hinking path. This must be a common species here as my HK friends were not very keen shooting it.
After 20 minutes of walking along a hiking trail and a steep climb of 300 stairs, we reached a hill top. There was already a sizable group of photographers waiting to shoot the Tawny Mime (Papilio agestor). Yes, there are many more butterfly photographers in HK.
The colours of undersides are rather unique at certain angle of shooting. There was at least a couple of them hanging around the hilltop. As you can see from the shots here, they had a tendency to make high perches.
In Hong Kong, this species appears between Feburary and early April only - I think that explains why there were so many butterfly photographers converging to this hilltop.
Butterfly activty was quite good compared with my last few outings. There were a few other species came to visit or rather "tease" us - some never stopped but this White Commodore (Parasarpa dudu) was flitting around, presenting us with some shooting opportunities.
It looked different to me when I first spotted a Palm Bob-like skipper. It opened its wings quickly the moment it settled on a perch.
Someone spotted a mating pair which stayed there for a long period of time. We can't be certain if this is Suastus gremius or S. minutus.
I am not sure when this Lethe chandica was discovered in HK as it wasn't featured in the book Hong Kong Butterfly (2nd Edition), published in 2005. This mating pair was spotted by Samuel in a bush at the hill top.
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