Butterflies at Gua Tempurung

Thanks Mr Khew for inviting me to go on a 4-day shooting trip to Ipoh in the Perak state of Malaysia.  We departed on a Scoot flight and arrived at the Ipoh International airport on a cloudy noon on 4 September. After checking and signing out of a rented car at the airport, Khew drove straight to downtown Ipoh for a quick lunch before heading straight to Gua Tempurung. However, the weather turned worst and it was not conducive for butterfly-hunting and photographing so we didn't spend much time there.   

After breakfast in our hotel room on 5 September, we headed out to Gua Tempurung again. After about a 40-min journey, we arrived at the carpark. My first shot of the day was this Tufted Jungle King (Thauria aliris pseudaliris) shortly after 9 am - pity that it was not a pristine specimen.

Along the stream, there were only a few Psyches (Leptosia nina malayana) fluttering. These 3 were happily sharing a piece of bird dropping.

I must say the butterfly activity was rather low. After sometime, we noticed this Yellow-banded Flat (Celaenrrhinus aurivittatus cameroni) but it was rather skittish in the morning sun, visiting flowers diligently but didn't stay long enough for me to take more shots.

Jamides philatus (Burmese Caeluean) was quite common, judging from what I saw during the last two visits. 

The butterfly activities were still disappointing as time went by. So when Choi alerted me that there was a beautiful dragonfly along the stream, I went there to look for it. Indeed, what a beautiful Rhyothemis plutonia sun-bathing on a leaf.
Same perch but from an another angle.

The Small Leopard (Phalanta alcippe alcesta) was rather skittish initially. But after sometime, it got used to our presence, allowing us to snap both the upper and underside shots.

At the same location where the Smal Leopard was testing our patience, we could find other lycaenids - but I only managed to get some shots of a rather pristine Malayan (Megisba malaya sikkima) and the Ciliate Blue (Anthene emolus goberus). 

There is a vacant house at the edge of a carpark where I noticed some skippers zipping around - one of them was this Moore's Ace (Halpe porus).

A Straight Peirrot (Caleta roxus) was feeding on a small purple flower behind the house. 

Thanks MY for spotting and alerting us that a Wizard (Rhinopalpa polynice eudoxia) was feeding on a stinkhorn mushroom (Phallus sp) around noon time. I was quite puzzled that why we didn't notice the mushroom in the early morning. I must say shooting the Wizards was the highlight of the day. 

After awhile another Wizard noticed the mushroom too and both of them fed on it for quite sometime.

In the late afternoon when one of them had got enough of the mushroom diet, a Common Palmfly took over. 

We noticed the Wizard started to open and flap its wings when it rested on the foliage occasionally. So we waited patiently for the right moment to snap some shots - this is my best shot amongst many blur and unsatisfactory shots.

In the close vicinity of the Wizard, I spotted a Jamides species resting on a leaf.  The white striae on the forewing being quite broad and it was identified by Dr Seow (from BC) to be the J. alecto.

There were very few puddling butterflies along the stream. However, as usual, the Green Dragontail (Lamprotera megesas) seemed to be abundant only in the late afternoon along the stream.

It is quite common to see them sun-bathing after they had taken sufficient minerals from the sandy moist.

This Bamboo Bush Brown (Lethe europa malaya) was an early puddler at the stream.

The Papilio helenus helenus (Red Helen) was the only large butterfly found puddling on the sandy river bank. 

At the toilet and the reception area, we could also find some butterflies. I spotted this Red Spot Marquis (Bassarona recta monillis) coming down to the ground for a brief time. 

A very cooperative Ancyra Blue (Catopyrops ancyra) got hooked on the damp cement floor. It stayed on the ground for a long time, though changing perches a few times.

I spotted only one Little Mapwing (Cyrestis themire themire) on the river bank 

This underside shot of a very skittish Little Mapwing was taken late in the afternoon.

This female Yellow Glassy Tiger (Parantica aspasia aspasia) was teasing me the whole day - kept seeing her fluttering around, testing the leaf but I just could not snap a good shot. In the late afternoon, I finally saw her ovipositing an egg on a vine on the ground near the vacant house. 

To be continued