Saturday, September 24, 2016

A Rare Butterfly @ Yuan Long 元朗,朗屏丫髻山, Hong Kong

In late August, some pictures of a rather rare butterfly in Hong Kong, the Hypolimnas misippus (Danaid Eggfly) were posted on social media. On the following few weekends, many butterfly enthusiasts flocked around the peak of the 丫髻 mountain at Yuan Long where the butterfly was photographed  

I was no exception. On 4 Sept, together with my usual butterfly outing friends, we went up to the peak of the mountain - one of the toughest butterfly outings I have had.

Interestingly, there are quite a few beautiful rock paintings along the way to the peak.
When we reached the peak, there was already a big group of butterfly photographers waiting patiently for two male Danaid Eggflies to settle down. With some luck, I managed to take a few quick shots of  this species which I have not photographed before.
When the two males met, they had the tendency to chase and "fight with" each other. But once they were separated, they usually looked for a perch.
There was a couple of Common Seargent (Athyma perius) wandering around the peak too. However, most of the photographers didn't seem to be interested in them.
Occasionally, they may stay very still.
Look at this Common Sergeant carefully - it was balancing itself on a thin twig on the ground.
I spotted this Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus) feeding on the wild flowers. Before I could reposition myself, it scooted off.
As there wasn't any other species to shoot, we took a slow walk down the mountain and headed towards Yuan Long town centre for lunch.  

Sunday, September 18, 2016

A Quiet Day @ Fung Yuen and Sha Lung Tong

On a cloudy Saturday morning on 27 Aug, I decided to check out Fung Yuen at Tai Po with a low expectation due to the weather condition.

Indeed, it was a very quiet morning in terms of  the number of butterfly photographers and butterfly activities. Outside Fung Yuan where some Bidens flowers were blooming, two Male Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber) were busy feeding on the flowers.
The Tirumala septentrionis (Dark Blue Tiger) came to join the Crow.
A look-alike Tirumala limniace (The Blue Tiger) seems to be more common in Hong Kong?

Getting a good shot of this Hummingbird moth (Macroglossum passalus) in flight while feeding was a huge challenge for me - the flapping of its wings was just too fast for the camera to freeze it without comprising the background brightness.
I decided walking towards Sha Lung Tong Village. After climbing a few hundred of steep steps and about another 30 minutes of walking on a road, I saw some houses from far - I guess this must be the village and it seemed that there were not many people living  in the village.  
When there was nothingelse to shoot, a common and dull butterfly like the Zieeria maha cuaght my attention.

Along the roadside, I spotted a Long-banded Silverline (Spindasis lohita) feeding on the flowers. 
It moved on the flower quite frequently - for a change, I snapped its "backside".
 I bumped into another one near the village - it looks like a female S. lohita.
Along the way back to Fung Yuen, a solidtary Sithusa chandrana greeted me from a high perch.

I could see some banners objecting the development of the Sha Lung Tong village.
Well, this may be my first and possibly my last time (hope not !) shooting butterflies around this village.