Butterflying in Malaysia Part 3 - Bukit Tinggi

Bukit Tinggi is located in the Bentong district of the Pahang State. On 5 June after more than 2-hour drive, we arrived at the Berjaya Hill where the French-theme resort Colmar Tropicale is.  

Surprisingly, the butterfly diversity around this beautify resort is rather  rich. This Dark Posy (Drupadia theda)  always displayed its magnificent uppersides whenever it settled on a new perch under the morning sun.   

It took me quite awhile to snap its undersides shot.

More butterflies came out around noon. There were quite a number of Blue Dandy (Laringa castelnau). 

An inflight upperside shot wasn't intentional.

A solitary Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea) appeared, fluttering around and sunbathing

This Batwing (Parides varuna) was feeding on flowers initially but it never stayed still.  When it rested with a few seconds of sunbathing, we quickly snapped a few shots. 

Not a good shot as the details of the wings were missing.  I have no time to remedy this as it scooted off in the next moment.

I was lucky to capture its taking-off moment.

Different species of butterflies came out different times. I found this Malayan Castor (Ariadne isaeus) shortly after noon.

This Red Lacewing (Cethosia biblis) was resting in a shade. 

The uppersides

There were two specimen of Seargent and one of them is  the Dot-Dash Seargeant (Athyma kanwa) 

It looks rather "haggard"  

Not sure why this lovely little beauty is given the common name, The Witch (Araotes lapithis uruwela).     

Another small fellow that stayed a bit high up is the Spotted Spark (Sinthusa malika). It never came close to me for a better shot.  

Perhaps due to the hill-topping behaviour of the butterflies, it is quite amazing to see the variety of species appearing here.  This is Sumatran Gem (Poritia sumatrae).

At around 1 pm, we drove down to the Japanese Garden and explored a forest trail. Here we spotted some shade-loving butterflies. This is a Purple Bush Brown (Mycalesis orseis).

Another Bush Brown, the Mycalesis maianeas was hopping from perch to perch in a shade.

 We were very lucky to see two Blue Begums (Prothoe franck) feeding on the trail - this is the more pristine specimen.

Though Bukit Tinggi is a bit far from KL. However, from various FB posts, I noticed that this particular location has rich butterfly diversity. I will be visiting this place again in the future.

Butterflying in Malaysia Part 2 - Chongkak Part & Resort

A fine morning on 4 June, after about a 2-hour drive, we reached the Chongkak Park and Resort in Hulu Langat District, Selangor.  This park is surrounded by a secondary forest and it is popular with locals who come here for family outings and retreats in this tranquil and peaceful forest park.

The Sugei Chongkak river flows through the park,  providing many good spots for groups of people swimming and camping along the riverbanks. The sounds of the cascading waters dominate the ambience. 

We walked leisurely and looked out for butterflies along the main path but we didn't encounter many butterflies until we met LC's friend Wong who had spotted a Common Red Forester (Lethe mekara gopaka) near a shelter. 

Some butterflies were found congregating at a dustbin - one of them is the Malayan Owl (Neorina lowii neophyta).

We continued walking towards the end of the path where there is an open space and a shelter. This place reminds me of Chiang Dao butterfly puddling ground in Chiangmai.

I was told that the open space at the end of the gravel road has been a popular puddling ground for butterflies. Indeed, the moment I put my bag in the shelter, Wong shouted Glorious Begum (Agatasa calydonia). I approached it slowly and took some shots. We were really lucky. 

There were a few butterflies puddling on the ground from time to time. This is the Blue Helen (Papilio prexaspes prexaspes)

It is rather challenging to capture a good shot of its uppersides. 

I have not seen a Magpie Crow (Euploea radamanthus) in SG for a very long time. However, it is very common in Malaysia.

A Banded Swallowtail (Papilio demolion) was enjoying the hot sun on the ground.

Getting a good shot with details under the sun is not easy as the green tends to be overexposed.

I like to photograph two or more butterflies puddling together though the Chocolate Albetross (Appias lyncid) and the Great Orange Tip (Hebomoia glaucippe)  are rather common here.

 Two different species of Nawab came down at different time (about 6-minute apart). This is P. athamas

This is P. hebe.

I was hoping to see other Rajahs but somehow the Tawny Rajah (Charaxes bernardus crepax) always appeared on puddling ground. 

From time to time, we could also see smaller butterflies puddling on the ground. This is a skittish Sunbeam, likey to be the Curetis bulis stigmata. 

This small lycaenid is the Prosota aluta (Thanks to Dr Seow from ButterflyCircle : Submarginal spots pointed and the FW postdiscal band with lowest spot shifted inwards). It was quite tame and stayed on the ground even though its surrounding butterflies scooted off when someone passed by.

 The Orange Albatross (Appias nero figulna) came down to puddle at a shady spot near the shelter. 

The Orange Gull (Cepora iudith malaya) was hovering arou nd the shelter before it perched on a leaf for a very short time.

I didn't encounter many skippers but when they were cooperative, I usually would take some shots as there were many look-alikes. This one looks like The Dark Banded Ace (Halpe ormenes). 

When we were on our way out, this female Straight Baron (Euthalia alpheda) landed in front of us.
A long-distance shot was taken before it disappeared when we approached it. 

From FB posts. I noticed that Chongkak Park is very rich in butterfly species. I will definitely visit this place again in the near future. 
  

To be continue

Butterflying in Malaysia Part 1 - Berembun Rainforest Lodge Villa & Ulu Bendul Forest Eco Park

I took a public bus at the Karanji MRT Station on a Monday morning to cross the borders at Woodlands. The traffic on the Causeway was generally smooth and the jam caused by many returning blue buses from SG was tolerable. With the implementation of the e-gates at the Woodlands checkpoint,  immigration clearance at the JB customs was a breeze - thanks to the Malaysian government.

I followed the signage and waited for SBS Bus 170 which goes to the JB Larkin bus terminal. I bought a bus ticket going to Seremban, scheduled to depart at 09:50 am but I had no idea why the departure was delayed until 10:20 am. The traffic on the highway was generally smooth except at some stretches near Malacca and Seramban. The whole journey to the bus terminal in Seremban. was close to 4 hours (longer than the usual time).  

I must thank the owner of the  Berembun Rainforest Lodge Villa (Pantai) , SC who waited for me at the Bus Terminal 1. I stayed at the villa which is situated at the mid-level of the Berembun mountain in Pantai, Seremban -  about 30-min drive from the Seremban town centre.

The colour theme of the villa is predominantly white which exudes a sense of peacefulness, purity with elegance which blends very well with the surrounding greenery. The architectural design of the whole villar is very practical - the large multi-purpose grass patch in front of the houses not only provides enough parking space for visitors but also allows parents conducting activities for kids while immersing themselves in nature.  The open balconies outside two of the four rooms provide a cozy and private space for us to enjoy fresh air and listening to birdsongs over a cup of coffee.  The small but well-sheltered swimming pool below the balconies is a bonus for us to chill and relax on a hot day. 

We can find a good variety of butterflies within and in the vicinity of the villa - an ideal place for butterfly-photographers. Here are some shots that I managed to take.  

This is a Coon (Psolos fuligo) is quite a large skipper. It was found resting on a foliage in a cool early morning just besides the house.

A Potanthus species opened its wings whenever it perched on a new leaf.

This small Straight Pierrot (Caleta roxus pothus) was found late in the afternoon outside the gates of the villa.

In a late afternoon,  we spotted the Blue Brilliant (Simiskina phalia potina) on a very high perch not far away from the villa. However, it was not cooperative,  refusing to come down for us to take a better shot.

Apart from butterflies, there were some moths perching on the wall of the villa. This is one of them - a silvery interesting moth.

What bug is this ? 

 The owner grows quite a number of host plants and flowering plants such as Snakeweeds to attract butterflies. Indeed, from time to time, the owner did record some rarer butterflies at this location. For example this rare skipper Salanoemia similis.

It has been more than 10 years since my last outing with LC in Chiang Mai.  I was very glad that he was able to travel from KL to the villa to meet us for two days of butterfly-outing. 

The weather was not ideal on 3 June but we still headed out to the Ulu Bendul Forest Eco Park which is not very far by car from the villa. There is no entrance fees to this park and it appeared that the park is quite popular with the locals.

There were quite a few groups of campers along the riverbanks. Dipping into the river seemed to be the favourite activities here for kids and teenagers.

Though the butterfly activities were below my expectation due to the weather condition, I  still managed to shoot a few species.  I saw this Common Pierrot (Castlius rosimon rosimon) fluttering amongst the wild flowers, I chased after it and took a few quick shots.

The Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus) was looking for sweet spot for puddling on the rocky ground.

I think this is the Small Red Bob (Idmon obliquans) resting in a shade.

A small whitish Lycaenid was found fluttering around. I need to wait patiently before it settled down for me to take a quick shot - this looks like a Lesser Darkwing (Allotinus unicolor).

On our way back to the entrance, we spotted this puddling Red Helen (Papilio helenus helenus).

We noticed that there were a few Awls feeding on a flowering tree but they were rather high up. I managed to take some record shots of a Plain Banded Awl (Hasora vitta) and the Royal Assyrian (Terinos terpander).

                                                                                                                 

 

Near the carpark, we met a Magpie Crow (Euploea radamanthus) and it seems to be common here as we encountered a few of them in the park.

To be continued