I must thank my butterfly-outing group for initiating a trip to a rather remote location in Sai Kung - Tung A (東丫) on 20 May. From Hang Hau MTR station, we took a 101M mini-bus to Sai Kung pier before boarding a taxi for Tung A via the MacLehose Stage 1 trail which winds round the High Island Reservoir and leads us to a famous geopark in Hong Kong.
We walked down a long flight of stairs towards the Tung A village. Along the way, we didn't get to see any activity at all, perhaps due to cool and cloudy morning.
Feeling bored, I snapped a few quick shots of this Grass Blue - likely to be the Zizeeria maha.
As the weather in the morning was cloudy and drizzling intermitantly, not even a glimpse of any skipper was seen.
The Thoressa monastyrskyi (Monastyrsky's Ace) was our target - it was first discovered in Hong Kong in 2002.
We patienly waited and very often walking to-and-fro on a boardwalk to look out for it. Thanks to a short spell of sunny weather at noon, we spotted a T. monastyrskyi zipping past us and landed on its favoruite food source - bird droppings.
The Thoressa monastyrskyi (Monastyrsky's Ace) was our target - it was first discovered in Hong Kong in 2002.
We patienly waited and very often walking to-and-fro on a boardwalk to look out for it. Thanks to a short spell of sunny weather at noon, we spotted a T. monastyrskyi zipping past us and landed on its favoruite food source - bird droppings.
This species was first discovered by Alexey Devyatkin in North Vietnam (see this paper).
It seems that the distribution of this particular Thoressa species is confined between southern China and northen Vietnam.
Though a very long journey and "expensive" to come to this place, it was a fulfilling experience for me - knowing where Tung A is and more about this relatively rare Ace.
