Lions Club Nature Education Centre & Tai Po Kao, Hong Kong

I had to be in HK to resolve a banking issue sooner or later. During a weekly shooting at Lornie PCN in May, I bumped into Ash and got to know that he would be in HK until 7 July. So I decided to join him for butterfly-shooting.  To save time and cost, I booked a midnight CX flight, arriving on a Sunday dawn. 

Within 2 hours of touching down in HK, I arrived at our hotel along Nathen road near Tsim Tsa Tsui  MTR station. Leaving my small luggage in his room, we went for breakfast just next to our hotel. After breakfast, we met our HK friend Wendy at the Yau Ma Tei MTR station and walked to a mini-bus stop, hopping on the bus going to the Lions Club Nature Education Centre in Sai Kung. 

This 34-hectare huge outdoor education centre includes quite a number of smaller themed parks or enclosures such as an arboretum, a medicinal plants garden, a tree nursery and a rock-and-mineral garden etc.   

The cloudy sky and the intermmiten passing rains did dampen my excitement of hunting and shooting in HK again.  However, we still managed to see a good number of Blue Tigers and a few skippers.

 The Restricted Demon (Notocrypta curvifascia) was found at the edge of a lily pond. 

A glimpse of its forewings.

This is a Dark Evening Brown (Melanitis phedima) 

The cooling and poor weather did not stop a large colony of Blue Tigers (Tirumala limniace) from fluttering and feeding on some wild Latana flowers.

We had an early lunch inside this education centre while waiting for the rain to subside. After checking the weather forecast for the rest of the day, we knew that there was no chance of a clear sky. We decided to head back to the bus stop.  Along the way, we saw a shy Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas) hiding behind a leaf.

We found a green praying mantis at the lily pond. Its triangular head was turning and looking at us.

Many thanks to Wendy for spending the day with us.

 

I didn't go out with our HK friends to shoot on Monday 3 July as I went to HSBC Aberdeen branch to  change my mobile number in their system (a mistake made by a counter staff in March). This time, I must thank this young lady who had patiently checked and made sure I could setup and use the mobile and internet banking before I left the branch. After that I visited my ex-colleagues and friends in the late morning and afternoon. 

I resumed shooting on Tuesday and  we met up with our friends again, this time 10 am at Tai Po Market MTR. We took a cab (about HK$25) to the Jc Castle (龍成堡).  We were welcomed by a short-lived passing rain the moment we reached a service road next to this private property. We walked up a tarred road followed by some gradual steps before climbing another long flight of steps to reach the peak - this is the same hill top  that I shot the Papilio agestor (Tawny Mime) before.

This hill top was always crowded with photographs in some months. But this time, six of us had the luxury of space to roam around this small hill top.  I found a rather pristine Shan Nawab (Polyura nepenthes)  resting high on a leaf. 

There were quite a few male Colour Seargents (Athyma nefte) circulating around this hill-top - a typical hill-topping behaviour for finding a mate.

They had the tendency to perch on a high leaf.

There was another Sergeant flying around but it was very active. This is the Blackvein Sergeant (Athyma ranga).

Very often, we could find the Constable (Dichorragia nesimachus) on this peak.

After awhile, it became quite friendly with our presence. Thanks to Lc Lc for being very patient, waiting for us to shoot when it landed on his fingers.

Another common species that can be found here is the Indian Fritillary (Argyreus hyperbius). 

A rather tall flowering tree attracted a few butterflies. This is a Classy Bluebottle (Graphium cloanthus) - a record shot of this fast flyer which didn't stay still on the flowers.

Quite a few lycaenids also came to visit the flowering tree but they looked so small on my camera viewfinder even though I was using a 28-300 mm lens this time. 

This is a rather fading Green Flash (Artipe eryx) perched on a leaf for sometime

We got excited when the rare Royals turned up though high on the tree - there were at least two or three Silver Royals (Ancema blanka)feeding at different flowers.

This was my first sighting and a record shot of a rare Spotted Royal (Tajuria maculata)  

 

The view from the peak (荔枝山 ) is nice

We had about 2 hours of shooting on this peak. Around 2 pm, we noticed that a large patch of dark clouds was approaching us so we decided to depart. True enough, a heavy downpour came the moment we reached a shelter. Once the rain subsided , we walked down the tarred road towards the 松仔園 (Chung Tsai Yuen) direction.


Thanks Wendy, Jacky, LC and one more lady whom I cannot remember her name for accompanying us shooting.

Note:  I remember on the first day of 2018 (I was still working in HK in 2018). I took the train to Tai Wai station and boarded a KTM bus 72 going to 松仔園 (Chung Tsai Yuen). Walking up leisurely along the main tarred road on a nice and early Monday morning, I spotted a skipper puddling on the tarred road from far.  I approached it quickly and to my surprise with great excitement, it was a rather pristine Choaspes benjaminii  or could it be C. hemixanthus? 

Another shot

Butterflies of Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve (Hong Kong) in 2017

It was a yearly affair (last year) for many Hong Kong butterfly enthusiasts - to photograph the Papilio agestor (Tawny Mime) during the month of March and April on a hilltop at Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve.

My first visit this year (in late March this year)  with my usual butterfly-photography group was a disappointing one due to bad weather. However, my second visit on 1 April was rewarding.

I left home early as it was a long journey to Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. Strolling up to the hilltop leisurely and  after climbing the final 300 steep steps,  I reached the hilltop at noon.  

When the weather is good, this particular location is teeming with life. There were two individual Tawny Mime (Papilio agestor) on this hill top.

A slow-flying butterfly, Tawny Mime tends to perch high on foilage. So the blue sky and the red leaves of another tall tree make the background of this shot colourful.

It usually perched with wings open.  Occasionally, its closed wings posture enticed many of us to line up to photograph it. 

A pleasant surprise visitor greeted us on a fine and warm morning - the Constable (Dichorragia nesimachus). It was my first sighting in Hong Kong.

A different pose for some of us. Shooting it from I stood, unlike from the previous shot, the iridescent blue structural colour of the butterfly scales does not show at all.

The Constable was rather cooperative - it was oblivious to our presence for a long period of time before it decided to stay away from us on a high perch.

In the late afternoon, a Vanessa indica appeared but it preferred to looking at us from a high altitude.

Perhaps due to the hilltopping behaviour, most butterflies liked to perch on above our heads. This White Commodore (Parasarpa dudu) was no exception.

Shady hill slopes shielded us from the overhead scorching sun. While taking a break under shade, I noticed a skipper zipping around erractically. I watited patiently for it to stop and snapped a few quick shots. It looks like the Choaspes benjaminii.

There were a few lycaenids flitting around, the Nacaduba kurva seemed very common on this hilltop.

A mating pair belonging to the Udara species created some excitement amongst the photographers. After a few shots, they decided to stay away from our sights.

The Lethe confusa was abundant. This guy stayed a bit longer on a blade of grass, giving me time to take some shots.

Finally, let me conclude this post with a shot of Argyreus hyperbius - one of my favourite butterflies.

Butterflies of Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, Hong Kong

Thanks to Ivy, Shan and Samuel for bringing me to the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve on a slightly hazy and cool Monday morning (28 March) - a public holiday in Hong Kong . We met at 10 am at  the Tai Po Market MTR station before heading to our first shooting location by a short taxi ride.

My first butterfly shot was this Plum Judy (Abisara echerius). It was taken while we walked along a well-paved hinking path. This must be a common species here as my HK friends were not very keen shooting it.

After 20 minutes of walking along a hiking trail and a  steep climb of 300 stairs, we reached  a hill top. There was already a sizable group of photographers waiting to shoot the Tawny Mime (Papilio agestor). Yes, there are many more butterfly photographers in HK. 

The colours of undersides are rather unique at certain angle of shooting. There was at least a couple of them hanging around the hilltop. As you can see from the shots here, they had a tendency to make  high perches.

In Hong Kong, this species appears between Feburary and early April only - I think that explains why there were so many butterfly photographers converging to this hilltop.

Butterfly activty was quite good compared with my last few outings. There were a few other species came to visit or rather "tease"  us  - some never stopped but  this White Commodore (Parasarpa dudu) was flitting around, presenting us with some shooting opportunities. 

It looked different to me when I first spotted a Palm Bob-like skipper.  It opened its wings quickly the moment it settled on a perch.

Someone spotted a mating pair which stayed there for a long period of time. We can't be certain if this is Suastus gremius or S.  minutus.

I am not sure when this Lethe chandica was discovered in HK as it wasn't featured in the book Hong Kong Butterfly (2nd Edition), published in 2005. This mating pair was spotted by Samuel in a bush at the hill top.

There were a few of them flitting at the ground level and occasionally we could find them taking a snap on a leaf at a quiet corner - the best chance for us to snap a few shots.

The weather in HK is getting warmer since last week. Let's hope we will get to see more flying jewels durin our outings in spring and summer times.