A Long-tailed Beauty @ AHBT

When you don't feel like walking a long distance to hunt for macro-subjects for a photography session, the butterfly trail at Alexandra Hospital (AHBT) is one of the best locations which can offer you good variety of species to increase the shutter counts. I dropped by there in the late morning on the last weekend of August.

The moment I stepped on the trail, I heard an intense high-pitched sound made by a cicada - I knew it was nearby. Scanning the tree trunk around me, I was lucky to see this well-camouflaged cicada (possibly Purana nebulilinea). Cicada is a sap-sucking insect which leads an ubiquitous life in lowland forest and woodland habitat - it reminded me the huge number of cicadas that I saw in a town park in Shinjuku, Toyko just two weeks ago.

While I was being directed by the sound of music made by the cicada, my line of sight met this fellow, a Ciliate Blue (Anthene emolus goberus) perching peacefully and cooperatively on a leaf.
The highlight of the day must be this long-tailed elegant lycaenid, the Common Imperial (Cheritra freja frigga) - a few of them chasing and frolicking amongst themselves. When one of them broke away from the group and perched, I quickly approached closer and snapped a few shots.There were a few Cycad Blues (Chilades pandava pandava) fluttering around their host plant - a Cycas species. This pristine mating pair became my models for a while - they were oblivious to my unwelcoming intrusion into their private life.This was a rather pristine but skittish Common Rose which refused to let me take more shots. I have not seen Common Rose (Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris) in our forested areas for a very long time - it appears that this species has become localised at AHBT and Singapore Botanic Garden. Perhaps it is time for us to deliberately spread its larval plant Aristolochia acuminata in our wild places.

Chocolate Demon (Ancistroides nigrita maura) is a permanent resident of this trail. Zipping around like any other skippers, it would still settle on a perch finally.

This is a side view of a bug. Can you guess what it is ?

Yes, it looks like a sting bug from this top view.

The size and the body shape of this nice-patterned insect may be a species of squash bug. I wonder why these bugs like to rest at the tip of the leaf.

It was a rather fruitful two-hour roaming and shooting in the trail. However, a concern is that I didn't see any Glassy Tiger butterfly that I used to see in the past. In fact, their larval host plants were slowly giving way to other vines. I hope that someone at AH continues to monitor and cultivate the larval host plants for Glassy Tiger and Common Tiger.

Baby Common Birdwings @ AH Butterfly Trail

I dropped by Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail (AHBT) on a fine Saturday morning a few weeks ago to check out the conditions of the trail as it is now under a different management.

There were a few Common Birdwings (Troides helena cerberus) hovering around at tree tops. At last one of them came down to lay eggs - I quickly took an instinctive shot. There were many Common Birdwing larvae feeding on their host plant - Aristolochia acuminata. This late instar larva was munching a young stem. This is not a surprise as the caterpillars of Common Birding are known to be voracious eaters. This is another larva. When it was disturbed displayed its orange osmeterium to scare away any potential predators. Yet another larva was hanging on the stem peacefully, ignoring my presence. This late instar caterpillar of Mottled Emigrant (Catopsilia pyranthe pyranthe) was found on its host plant, Seven Golden Candlesticks (Senna alata).This butterfly is a male Baron (Euthalia aconthea gurda ) which is quite common along the trail. It has the tendency to puddle on the ground and sun-bathe with wings open. Another common urban butterfly, Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra agina) can be found wherever there are palm trees around. A rather skittish species which is always very shy to show off its uppersides when at rest. A rare shot of this rather large and common Arhopala species, Centaur Oakblue (Arhopala pseudocentaurus nakula), showing us a glimpse of its striking metallic blue uppersides.I am not very sure of what this critter is, a kind of Stink Bug perhaps, resting peacefully on a tree trunk waiting to be "shot". Frankly, I was really puzzled by the appearance of this creature in the field. After I examined the shot carefully, I think this is a species of an ant-mimicking spider biting an unknown black critter. Please correct me if I am wrong. Finally, another rare occasion when a Blue-banded bee (Amegilla species) was found resting on a dry wood. This is my best shot of this bee as it is usually active and acrobatic while feeding on flowers.I am glad to see that AHBT is still very well-maintained and full of butterfly activities despite the change of "ownership". We should maintain this place as it is for city dwellers to appreciate the elegance and beauty of many species of butterflies roaming around in the heart of a busy city area.

My Lucky Encounter at AHBT on 23 May

I can't remember when was the last time I visited Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail (AHBT). I decided to drop by AHBT before going to the new Hortpark Butterfly Enclosure on 23 May. I reached AHBT around 8 : 30 am. The whole place was rather quiet. I guessed most of the butterflies were still not awake, waiting for the sun to warm them up.

At last , when the first morning rays pierce through the canopy, this Euthalia aconthea gurda (Baron) appeared and gave me some shooting opportunities. It was busy feeding all over the place, on the grass, on the wood and puddling on the ground.
This female Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus) was spotted resting under the shade. Common Mormon is quite a big and common butterfly which can be found in both the urban and forested areas. The female has two different forms. This female is of the form polytes which mimics the unpalatable Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris (Common Rose).

Before I left for Hortpark, I saw this Doleschallia bisaltide australis (Autumn Leaf) caterpillar kept moving its front part of its body on its host plant, Common Asystasia. When I approached closer, I realised that it was in the process of moulting. Wow, I was really lucky to see this in the wild. This was my first shot at 9:28:43. Next shot was taken at 9:29:24. The caterpillar appeared to be quite disturbed, moving its body both in the transverse and longitudinal directions.
The movement of the caterpillar was quite profound. In this shot, the front part of its body was bended inwards. The shot was taken at 9:30:20..

However, shortly after this, the body of the caterpillar was observed to move mildly and mainly in the longitudinal direction, pushing the old skin backwards. The following shot was taken at 9:30:49. The new head capsule was white in colour instead of bluish black initially.
This was shot at 9:31:36 . The old skin was almost reaching the rare. I realised that a small wasp was lurking near the caterpillar. Not sure if this tiny wasp would invade and harm the caterpillar. Next shot was taken at 9:32:53. A caterpillar molts a few times before it turns into a pupa. After each molt it becomes bigger. Finally, the caterpillar put on a new skin at 9:37:41 and it remained motionless for a while.
A close-up shot of the the newly moulted head.
Moulting is a part-and-parcel biological process in which the immature insects shedding off their outer body covering (in butterfly and moth, the exoskeleton) so that they can grow further in size.

I left Hortpark around 1 pm. After lunch, a few of us went to AHBT again to hunt for butterfly species. I looked for the same caterpillar and I noticed that the caterpillar's head had turned into the usual dark blue colour.

This was a female Lebadea martha parkeri (The Knight), a butterfly that can be found in some urban parks and forest trails in the nature reserves. On the upperside of the forewing, the female does not have prominent white apical patches and the V-shaped discal white band.
Alexandra Hospital Butterfly Trail (AHBT) is where I started my learning journey of butterfly photography and butterfly appreciation.

I remember it was 19 June 2004, a lovely Saturday morning. After attended a talk given by Mr Khew at the AH Conference Room and the practice session, I was infected with the “Butterfly Flu” and it lasts till today.

I remember there were many “Tigers” then. This was one of the Danaus melanippus hegesippus (Black Veined Tiger) shots taken with the Minolta Z3, my very first digital point-and-shoot camera. I went back to AHBT quite often during my early days of photographing butterflies. I still have fond memories of some of us chasing the Leopard, Common Birdwing and Common Imperial as well as a newly eclosed Common Rose there.

Time flies and many new developments have taken place. Very soon, Alexandra Hospital will be re-located to Yishun. Let's hope that AHBT will remain as it is - a very accessible and popular shooting ground for butterfly and macro photographers.