Butterflies at Lung Kwu Tan (龍鼓灘), Hong Kong

Situated at the western coast of Hong Kong's New Territories, Lung Kwu Tan is one of the hotspots for butterfly-watching and photograpy.

Leaving home early on a warm Saturday morning (7 May), I took the West Rail MTR Line from Hung Hom to Tung Man. After having a heavy breakfast, I met my  friends at Exit C. Another 45-minute bus ride on a MTR K52 bus finally brought us to Lung Kwu Tan village. My total travelling time from my home at Ap Lei Chau to this place was almost 2 hours.

The hunting-ground is in fact a patch of wasteland (abandoned farm land?) at the foothill of a mountain.

The site was quite crowded with photographers when we arrived. I decided to follow the Lung Man Trail and walk up the stairs leading to the Emperor's Cave (but I didn't reach). Along the way, I was lucky to bump into a Mahathala ameria (Falcate Oakblue).

There were many Rustics (Cupha erymanthis) along the trail. As usual, all of them were extremely skittish and alert to movement. With a lot of patience and luck, I finally got some record shots. 

  The undersides.

There were two female Cethosia bibles working diligently to look for the correct plant to lay eggs.

The other female decided to take a short break after a long search for the correc host plant.
Some males were fluttering around and feeding  on flowers , occasionally they landed on the ground.

There were many Bidens flowers at the wasteland. Getting tired of walking up and down the stairs, I stood next to the flowers waiting for butterflies. A very fast flyer, this Common Gall (Cepora nerissa) loved to feed on the flowers.    

A mating pair of Pieris canidia caught my attention when I was resting under a tree.

I noticed there were quite a number of butterfly species  at this place. Feeding on the Bidens flowers with wings wide open,    the Chestnut Angle (Odontoptilum angulatum) presented a nice composition for me to take a few shots before it scooted off to a treetop.

The sighting of this samll Purple and Gold Flitter skipper (Zographetus satwa) in the late afternoon got everyone excicted.  Scooting around with high speeds but  perching on the same leaf surface or nearby, it  gave everyone a chance to snap some shots though from far.  

A glimpse of its markings on the forewings.

A forest denizen I believe, the Graphium doson (Common Jay) was takiing a nap.

It looks like the intermediate form of a Mycalesis species

A Neptis speceies perhaps the N. clinia was hanging around a tree in the afternoon.  

Geeting an upperside shot was a challenge for me as it kept flapping its wings -  this was the best I could get.

Due to its five distinctive five black spots on the hindwing underside, it is quite easy to identify this bbutterfly - the Parathyma sulpitia. 

I managed to get just one upperside shot.

It was late in the afternoon when this Tajuria cippus landed again on flowers but it took off a few seconds later.

The insect diversity at Lung Kwu Tan is good. Apart from  butterflies, I saw quite a number of other insects. I have not shot a Tiger beetle for a long time  When this guy landed on a cement step just infront of me, I instinctively squatted down to snap a shot. 

A small but colourful and interesting bug - not sure what this is.

It seems that this particular species of the  Lantern bug is common in HK as I have seen it at a few trails.
Finally, let me conclude this post with a mating pair of moth. Many of us queued up to take some shots of this beautiful moth.

Though this place is very far away from my home,  the number of fauna species we can find here is worth spending the time to come here again.

Trekking From USR Park to Bukit Panjang

On 9 Nov, my initial intention was just taking a leisure walk and hopefully shooting some butterflies at the Upper Seletar Reservoir (USR) Park but it turned out to be a long but enjoyable trekking through the forest.

Morning critters seemed to be either over-sleeping or already deserting this part of the forest. For a long period of time, I didn't have a chance to increase  my shutter count until I saw a planthopper resting on an overhead leaf lethargically.

At the L-trail, I noticed a moth from the Callidulidae family flitting in the undergrowth. I followed its flight path and snapped a record shot. Unlike many other moths, moths from this family usually perch with folded wings.

I explored the reservoir edge. At one particular location deep inside the forest, I spotted quite a number of damselflies - one of them was the male Prodasineura humeralis (?).

This guy kept hovering above the water but a bit far from me. Nevertheless, it enticed me taking some long-distance in-flight shots.

My GPS on my Note 4 indicated I was in a non-man's land inside the forest. I decided to turn around and head towards the main trail. 

At the Yellow Archduke's location, I saw a couple of them chasing each other but I just could not snap any shot. Instead, a female L. pardalis dirteana was cooperative enough for me to move in closer - but I wasn't very keen shooting this species.

Strolling forward slowly, I came to the highest point in the forest. After taking a short break on some big rocks, I decided for a change this time, going towards Bukit Panjang, at least another 3km to cover!

I bumped into a few Saturns (Zeuxidia amethystus amethystus) along the way. This guy was puddling on the dirt trail but it took off rapidly when I made just one step closer. Luckily, it landed on a dry leaf for a few seconds.

I had a reason to show this lousy specimen of the Purple Bush Brown (Mycalesis orseis nautilus) because it is an uncommon forest species which I have not shot it for many years. 

In terms of number of shots taken, it was a disappointing day. However, I still enjoyed the fresh air, the walking and sometimes the excitement of overcoming unexpected obstacles along the forest trails.

Butterflies @ Mae Kampong, Chiang Mai

Continue from this post.

Let me wrap up what I have shot during my butterfly-watching and photography trip to Chiang Mai. Our group of five butterfly enthusiasts from three different countries went to Mae Kampong waterfall on 15 Oct.

About an hour of driving from our hotel in the city brought us to the waterfall site.

Without much delay, I walked and looked around this shady site - my sight was attracted by a Yellow Flat (Mooreana trichoneura pralaya) sunbathing on a rock under the morning sun.

After shooting the Yellow Flat, I noticed a rather large butterfly flitting past me a few times. At last, it settled on a rock and allowed all of us taking many shots. This was my first sighting of the Veined Labyrinth (Neopa pulaha pulahoides).

The waterfall area was rather quiet so I decided to explore a trail which leads to a farm land. This skipper (Celaenorrhinus dhanada affinis) loved the ferns so much that it kept coming back to the same perch.

The Koruthaialos rubecula hector was abundant along the trail as I encountered a few of them resting on foilage. 

We drove up to a higher altitude and walked along the road. There was a small colony of  the Restricted Purple Sapphire (Heliophorus ila nolus). Once the weather turned cloudy, they disappeared from our sight.

It was a pity that I couldn't get a chance to take shots of pristine uppersides of this species . 

A common species, the Notocrypta curvifascia curvifascia was zipping around rapidly. It had the tendency to revisit the same leaf which gave me an opportunity to snap a quick shot.

Though the Spotted Snow Flat (Tagiades menaka menaka) was feeding on some Bidens flowers furiously, it kept moving on the flowers.

Walking down a slope, I spotted a Dark Judy (Abisara fylla fylla) was sun-bathing with its wings fully open.

In fact, as we walked further in along the trail, we saw more Dark Judy - they were either resting or feeding on some wild flowers.  

We were glad to meet Toi, a Thai butterfly-photography enthusiast on his motorcycle before meeting him again at the spot where a Dull Forester (Lethe gulnibal peguana) was puddling on a leaf together with its two friends - a fly and a Common Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas allica). It was certainly a rare and interesting gathering in the middle of the road.

I saw Sunny chasing something very patiently. I walked towards him and saw this White Dryad (Aemona lena) fluttering slowly. At last it rested in a shade behind some branches. After taking some shots, yes, I should mention here that I got rid of a leech from going under my shirt.

In the afternoon, we went back to the waterfall. Not knowing what it was, I took a few shots of this small brown skipper which was feeding on the rock. Again, thank you Dr Seow for identifying it, might be a Halpe arcuata.

Another Halpe species was zipping around at the waterfall. It finally found a sweet spot on a rock and stayed there for a long period of time, allowing everyone to take many shots. However, It has not been identified with confidence.

In the late afternoon, I went back to the trail again and bumped into this brown Rapala rhoecus rhoecus. This was my last shot of the day - so sorry that I didn't know all my friends were waiting for me in the car while I was shooting this guy.

Let me wrap up my Chiang Mai trip with other interesting critters. This is a kind of weevil I believe.

A beautiful moth that Les had mentioned the name to me but I am sorry that I cannot remember it now.

A colourful bug which stayed rather still for me to shoot.

Thanks Les for highlighting this large leech to me.

Lastly, a brilliantly coloured moth larva.

It was an enjoyable and fruitful trip for me. I sincerely thank Antonio for being our driver and our guide in Chiang Mai and his wife for baking and sharing the delicious cakes with us.  I am looking forward to next March when we will meet again in Chiang Mai.