Butterflies at Yuen Tun Ha (元墩下), Hong Kong

After settling some work at the school on Jan 7 this year, I travelled  to meet up my Hong Kong butterfly enthusiasts at a new (for me) butterfly hunting location situated in the north of Tai Po District, called Yuen Tun Ha (元墩下). It is  quite an accessible - from the Tai Po Market MTR station, I  took mini-bus 23S to its terminal station.

The primary target was this Arhopala birmana birmana. We saw at least two individuals flitting around. But they were alert and elusive and most of the time preferred to perch on high leaves. 

I was lucky to snap a quick shot when one of them came to the ground for a couple of seconds.

On 21 Jan I decided to check out the place again, on my own this time. There were very few people at the location so I could take my own time to shoot and stalk any butterflies.

While walking up the slope towards the location where the Arhopala was, an Orange Punch (Dodona egeon ) was spotted puddling on a patch of sandy ground. 

Perhaps due to the low temperature, it had the tendency to open its wings the moment it landed on the ground.

A lonely small lycaenid  which looks like the Udara dilecta  was nearby.

This yellow skipper - likely to be the Potanthus confucius  was found on the ground along a shady trail. 

After a short moment, it would open its wingss partially.

With rather broad forewing white striae, this is another puddling lycaenid which looks like a female Jamides alecto identified by  Dr Seown (from the Butterflycircle Forum).

The Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa gisca) was puddling on a gravel path.

On my way back to the bus stop, a fast-flying Dercas verhuelli (Tailed Sulphur) suddently stopped and fed on some Bidens flowers along the roadside.

There were two Blue Admirals (Kaniska canace) fluttering around - changing perches at different locations frequently. Very alert to my momvent, they scooted off rapidly whenever I approached them closer. But after sometime, they seemed to get used to me and allowed me to snap a few shots.

Quite often they landed on sandy area to look for fluid on the ground.

They seemed to like to rest on this zinc plate as they landed on it a few times.

I feel that Yuen Tun Ha is a good site for butterfly-hunting so I should visit this place in summer.