After the drizzle @ Upper Seletar

Yesterday it drizzled and drizzled. I needed a break from school 

work badly but the weather did not seem to agree with me; neither

did the butterflies. It was only after an hour or so that the sky 

cleared a little, letting some light in. This pristine common faun 

was the first to cross my path.

The common faun is always a familiar sight in our forests, often 

flying very close to ground and disappearing upon landing. While

it may not seem to be a very interesting butterfly due to its drab 

colours and abundance, its eyes are a burst of colour. The upperside,

too, is rather bright, being a rusty orange that flashes as it flies.

The sun finally decided to poke out from behind the clouds. A female

purple duke was fluttering around the ground. At first glance, she 

appeared to be puddling; a behavior not commonly associated with 

females. However it turned out that she was feeding on minerals on the leaves.

I was scouring a hedge line for anything interesting when I noticed 

something resting on a leaf. Longish shape, black, some yellow... 

definitely not a butterfly. It was cicada; a black and golden cicada. 

When it took off, it revealed a yellow abdomen, which it also 

exposes when calling.

The day was certainly getting brighter. I was shocked when a malay

lacewing glided out of the forest and onto the grass. It was unmistakable;

with its stunning combination of metallic black, white and glowing

sunset orange. This one was a male. The female sports a paler orange. 

The malay lacewing was arguably the highlight of the day. It came to

feed on some ixora blooms as well, but it was very active and 

I was unable to get any good shots. The underside is even more 
dazzling, with patterns of golden brown, red, black and white. It 
is one of our most colourful butterflies, and was a joy to watch.

Many other butterflies were seen, but only in glimpses and flashes.

Back to reality, my shots have really deteriated. It's obvious. I bet I'm

just out of practice. While I would love to shoot more, this year was 

destined to be a busy one. While my exams have recently passed, they

are nearly on me again. I think I will cease the self- pity here. Thanks

for reading!

Common Tits by The Bay

I spent yesterday's morning out at Gardens by the Bay. Nestled right in the heart of Marina, it has a surprising number of butterflies.  While the weather swayed from unbearably hot to dark and windy multiple times, the butterflies were all out and about. The butterfly I encountered the most that morning was definitely the Common tit. This is a sunbathing male, revealing his spectacular upperside.

This charming lycaenid was seen mostly at the Meadow Car park. It is a common species and can be found in almost any locality, from urban parks to back- mangrove areas. The car park was planted heavily with many ornamental ixora flowers, the caterpillar host plants of the butterfly. I saw many of them feeding contently on the brilliant magenta blooms of the leea rubra shrubs planted alongside the ixoras.

There are two 'forms' of the common tit here, a grey one and an orange variant. This male veers towards the grey side, but there is a considerable amount of orange shading on the margin of the wings. The orange form has more pronounced shading. I did see many other species, but that would be for another time. It was brilliant to see all these butterflies taking sanctuary in the urban park and I will definitely be back.

Two weekends at Mandai (part two)

Today, following up to the previous post, I'll continue on my two trips to Mandai. My more recent visit saw a much smaller number of species, but it was interesting nonetheless. Early in the morning, with the sun still not penetrating the blanket of clouds overhead, the few butterflies I spotted were docile in the cool air. The highlight of the day was the first butterfly I shot, the rare Malay Staff Sergeant.

The Malay staff sergeant is said to be the island's most uncommon athyma species, but in more recent years it seems to have turned up more frequently. It was still a thrill to observe it as it fed greedily on the melastoma fruits. Countless lascar species were fluttering around the bush as well. This rather worn out specimen might be a Burmese lascar, another rarity.

Purple dukes were also abundant. They liked to dart rapidly out from under a leaf, fly around in circles then swoop back under another leaf. Both males and females were observed. This species, and the courtesan, are our sole representatives of the subfamily Apaturinae. The purple duke is a common sight in the forest, but is never easy to shoot. I believe this is a female. 

Once the sun was up in full force, many of the butterflies began to flee for shelter. However, the colonels seemed to enjoy the sweltering heat, chasing each other around in the treetops. Some even came down to feed on the remaining melastoma fruits. They were skittish were off at the slightest disturbance. Here is one of the more docile models, allowing me a few pictures before retreating to the trees.

Large and conspicuous butterflies aside, there were also many small blues out that day. The most numerous was the ever common acacia blue. I saw at least four of them fluttering around a single bush. Their stunning purple uppersides were a sight to behold. However, they only reveal them when sunbathing in the late afternoon. The underside is a  much more nondescript brown, with a few dark spots.

The real surprise was a tiny lycaenid I noticed flitting high up in a melastoma bush. When it flew down to a lower branch, it's identity was revealed- the semanga superba deliciosa. Yes, it is one of our most superbly delicious butterflies. With it's buff coloured underside adorned with patterns in red, blue, orange and black, it truly is a gem. All that colour- packed into something merely the size of a five-cents coin!

Though I have observed it many times before, it is always a joy to see. This one turned out to be my first sighting of a male, the much rarer sex. They are characterised by having a total of four tails on the hindwings. The females have six, and are usually larger.
Coming to the end, here is a male knight, one of my favourite forest species.

Well, I must say that these two days spent at Mandai have been two wonderful days of my life. The mere diversity of species there is astounding. But the fruiting season has come and gone, and all the butterflies would have gone back deep into the forest. Now I'm looking forward to participating in this survey, at Gardens by The Bay.

That's all for now. ;)

Two weekends at Mandai (part one)

Wow. It has been (quite literally) forever since I last put anything up here. Now that my mid-year exams are done with and out of the way, I thought I'd spend some time to rehydrate this place. For the past two weekends, I visited a lovely location nestled away in the Central Catchment area, and saw many exciting species. The highlight was this pristine male Courtesan. (pardon its name)

The courtesan seems to have established a healthy population there, and the place was sprawling with its caterpillar host plant, trema tomentosa. This fantastic blog article over at The Butterflies of Singapore talks about it in beautiful detail, while this earlier post gives a wonderful insight to its early stages. This male was very docile in the cool morning air. It had just rained. Many butterflies were feeding greedily on the ripe fruits of the melestoma bushes. Amongst them were Common Sailors and Chocolate Sailors:

These skittish neptis species were not the only ones enjoying the fruits. I was thrilled to see this beautiful Plain Plushblue fluttering amongst the bushes as well. This was a female, as her upperside was a shining purple. The male has a much deeper blue. However in both sexes, the plain brown undersides reflect lovely colours at different angles of light.

Better still, another plushblue turned up, the rare Shining Plushblue. This butterfly actually has Singapore in its Latin name "Flos fulgida singhapura". While it was not in the best condition, I was still happy to see it. It was territorial and constantly returned to its favourite bush even after I (accidentally) scared it off.

To finish off today's post, here is a pristine Yamfly. Yes, I seem to have an affinity with this species, and it appears to be very widespread in its distribution over the island. My shot shows the underside. The brilliant sunset orange upper is only revealed in the afternoon when they come out to sunbathe.

Okay, that is all for today; I shall post the rest of my sightings another day. I would also want to say an enormous Thank You! to all of my readers. Don't give up on this blog, don't. I promise to update it more frequently. Oh, and before I forget, I hope that the bigger pictures are an improvement. :)