Tampines Eco Green Park Again

With a home visit to a BC member on 31 Jan in mind in the afternoon, I decided to drop by the Tampines Eco Green Park again in the morning.

As usual it was a great enjoyment to watch many Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus chrysippus) butterflies dancing high and low in the wind, visiting and feeding on flowers in a sunny and windy morning. With the abundance of the Plain Tiger's larval host plant, the Calotropis gigantea growing very well at the south entrance, the Plain Tiger butterfly should be there all year round to welcome us.

I was more interested in shooting this Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus) when I spotted it resting on the tip of a leaf  just above my head.

Quite a number of the lycaenids that I encountered were rather tattered. A worn-out Peacock Royal (Tajuria cippus maxentius) was showing off its scintillating blue uppersides in flight but I wasn't keen on snapping more shots.

I haven't got the luck to photograph a pristine Club Silverline (Spindasis syama terana) for a long time. Sorry that I had to ignore you after taking a few shots.

With the presence of the black spot in space 7 of the hindwing, it is easy to identify this as the Pointed Ciliat Blue (Anthene lycaenina miya). A diligent fellow which kept foraging among the String Bush flowers. 

At last I shot a more pristine lycaenid - a Slate Flash (Rapala manea chozeba) which came down to rest after I "disrupted" from its excessive feeding on some some flowers above me.

Another better specimen - this may be a Copper Flash (Rapala pheretima sequeira) which looks rather similar to the the Slate Flash. 

I was curious to find out what this small lycaenid was when it fed on some String Bush flowers high above me. It turned out to be the Tailless Line Blue (Prosotas dubuiosa )

The Dark Glassy Tiger (Parantica agleoides agleoides) was quite abundant too. When it presented a good shooting opportunity for me, I would oblign to shoot it.

A close resemblance to the Black Veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus hegesippus), this white form of the Common Tiger (Danaus genutia genutia) presented me with a good pose for some quick shots.

Here is another shot.

I didn't find many skippers in this outing session. This is the only one - a rather active Telicota species (likely to be the T. besta bina) that I managed to take a few shots. 

This jumper spider was playing hide-and-seek with me - it was about to hide under the leaf.  I was amazed by its ability to sense my movement. 

Today is the second day of a new year on the lunar calender - wishing everyone having a prosperous, fruitful and most importantly good health in the Year of the Goat. 

Especially, I would pray that my wish for Common Rose will come true -  wishing him a speedy and a full recovery from a stroke that he has suffered more than a year ago. 加油 CM，you have made tremendous progress - a slow rehabilitation process but surely you will get better and better.

Some Flora and Fauna Shots In Kyoto Part 1

My wife and I went on a free-and-easy tour to Kyoto with KY and his family from 16 June to 24 June. We arrived at Kansai Airport, Osaka on an SIA flight around 9:30 pm and followed by a JR Haruka express train to Kyoto. It was close to midnight when we arrived smoothly at our hotel Citadines at Gojo - thanks to KY's meticulous planning and who was also our competent tour guide throughout the whole trip.

An early morning walk on the streets and small lanes behind our hotel made me feel that the pace of life in Kyoto was on a leisure mode and that the city dwellers really like flowers very much - we could see colourful blooms along the streets and in front of their houses.

My first fauna shot was this large bee taken at a small children playground - apparently it was still sleeping !

Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) is situated at the foot of the Mt. Inari - our first visit on the morning of 17 June.  KY is our tour guide as he has visited Kyoto last winter.  While we were on our way to a subway station, we noticed this big heron foraging in the Kamo River (鴨川). 

Walking up the winding path lined with hundreds of orange-red wooden torii columns standing tall on our sides, we felt like cutting through a "tunnel" through the Mt. Inari. Ascending the slope gradually, I spotted a few creatures. There were quite a number of spiders like this.

Two small spiders on a same web. 

This is definitely a moth resting at the base of a torii column.

At a plateau, we saw a bird perching at a distance from us.

Of course there were many attractive wild Hydrangea flowers which attracted bees and the tourists to photograph them.

Finally, I spotted a Potanthus skipper far and above me. After checking this site, I guess this may be the Potanthus flavum.

On our way down from the hill, we saw a lycaenid fluttering around us. When it perched on a leaf, we managed to take some shots. I think this is Everes argiades.

Here is another shot from a different perch under the noon sun.

I also found a butterfly pupa near the exit gate - it looks like a Mycalesis species.

On 18 June, we went to the Kiyomizu-dera temple (清水寺) and Yasaka Shrine (八坂神社) which are just a few bus-stops away from our hotel at the foot of  Mt. Higashiyama.

As we walked around the hill, we saw a Sailor-type butterfly perching in front of us. I think this may be the  Neptis pryeri

  Its uppersides.

I remember there are many sloping roads in the vicinity the temple. We encountered one fast-flying Papilio feeding in front of us at the roadside. Yes, it is The Papilio xuthus which seems to be very common in Kyoto. 

This small and shy lycaenid in fact was feeding on these roadside daisy flowers also. It looks like the Zizeeria maha (?).

We had our lunch beside a stream and I was seated near a window. Interestingly this tame bird was hunting for its food patiently just outside the window on the stream.

After lunch we took a quick look at another temple Kennin-ji and wandered around its surrounding streets such as the Hanami Lane; the Gion and finally we ended up at a public garden Maruyama Park beside the Yasaka Shrine. Here we saw a large heron posing graciously on a stone.

There were a few blue dragonflies darting and perching beside a pond.

At around 3 pm, we were on our way out of the park. We bumped into a very attractive lycaenid - the Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas). More information on this little beauty can be found here.

The last shot of the day was another small lycaenid at the same place as the Small Copper. This could be another Zizeeria maha - I am not sure really.

A Re-visit to Wild Wild West

Thanks CH for giving me a lift to this very wild place in the western part of Singapore on 9 March. My last visit to this place was more than two years ago (see http://peacockroyal.blogspot.sg/2010/09/quiet-morning-wild-wild-west.html).  There were many wild Lantana flowers in this wasteland but critters didn't seem to be interested in them.

There were many Bidens flowers too. While I was scanning a sea of flowers, suddenly a Yellow Flat (Mooreana  trichoneura trichoneura) caught my sight - this was my second sighting in the field. 

While chasing and stalking to shoot this guy, CH spot another more pristine Yellow Flat but slightly smaller. I managed to squeeze off a few shots while it was feeding on the Bidens flowers.

I believe this is a Common Caerulean (Jamides celeno aelianus). It was "sliding" its wings when I took a this shot - the whitish uppersides may be useful for us to identify the species correctly.

I was lucky to bump into a male Striped Blue Crow (Euploea mulciber mulciber) flitting around a drain. It was rather alert and sensitive to my presence. This is one of the two shots I took when it perched momentarily. 

A white jumping spider was roaming on a leaf surface near the entrance. I have not seen this before so I decided to snap a few shots. 

Except for the two Yellow Flats found in this wasteland, there wasn't any other interesting creatures holding us back. So, we decided to head to Mandai before noon.  

A Rare Awl at USR

Thanks Khew for giving me a lift to Upper Seletar Reservoir Park on a nice Sunday morning (20 Aug). My first sighting of a butterfly was this Yellow Banded Awl (Hasora schoenherr chuza), resting on a leaf surface initially.

It was zipping around behind the toilet - perching on the brick wall and on the ground occasionally. It really created a lot of excitement while we were chasing it relentlessly in search of a perfect shot of this rarity. 

Most of my previous few sightings of this rarity was when it was hiding underneath a leaf. We were very lucky to encounter this rather pristine individual being attracted to the cement pointing on the brick walld for quite a while. 

Further away from the toilet, a small spider was building its webs. 

It hurried to a leaf surface when it experienced a slight disturbance. 

I saw this Green Crested Lizard ( Bronchocela cristatella) coming down from a tree, stopping at the road side for a few seconds. But I wonder why its head portion is not green.

A rather uncooperative Aberrant Oakblue (Arhopala abseus abseus) was playing hide-and-seek with me along a shady trail.