Let the butterflies roam freely.

 As an eco -defender, the park continues to become home of an endless list of butterflies.  Butterflying waching is indeed a pleasant pastime here.  One thing I noticed is the importance of planting various flowering shrubs,  trees and treelets.  There again these lovely creatures need fly path or flight way..  In the design and planning of the park there must be plenty of landscape spaces allotted to flyways to enable these butterflies flight spaces and visitors to move around safely and fast in order to chase these beauties. Below are more pictures I took of them during the last two - three days.  It's a pleasure to share these flying beauties of nature for the world to see.

Black-tipped Archduke

Black-tipped Archduke (Lexias dirtea merguia)
Zone C

Underside wings

 While many butterflies are attracted presently to the nectaring plants that flower profusely at the park especially the Eugenia oleina, the very attractive Black-tipped Archduke is seen favouring the rotting fruits like banana skins,on the forest ground.  I find great pleasure observing the bright and luminous blue colours of the Archduke.  This is in contrast to the dull brown underside wings.  This butterfly can be seen scavenging on the forest floor and move about slowly without being unnecessarily alarmed by human presence, thus my ability to get closer pictures of it.

Butterfly watch album - Common Jay (Graphium doson)

 Often times I tried to photoshoot the Common Jay but to no avail.  This butterfly seems restless and would not like to spread out its upper wings even at rest.  At rest it would instead flutter its wings and vibrate it without opening a second.  Today I get a rare preview of the upper side wings by just continuously clicking on the camera while it was about to rest on the spot of burnt earth.  It kept on coming back to the spot even when disturbed.  The spot of burnt earth was slightly damp after a light shower last night.  What attracts me to this species is its clear blue sky band, dots and stripes at its upper wings.  A milder version of the colours do appear at the under side with its typical triangular formation and lots more  spots at the margins of the wings.

Butterfly watch album - Lime Butterfly

Lime Butterfly

Clerodendrum x speciosum

 There are a beauty to watch.  It is also relatively easy to photoshoot them because they do not fly very fast and chasing them a breeze.  Today I was busy chasing one that dropped by at the Cat's Whiskers flowers ( Orthosiphon aristatus) . It does visit the 'Bleeding Heart' (Clerodendrum thomsoniae) plant or another close variety with more pinkish bracts called Clerodendrum x speciosum.  Here's some photoshoots of the beautiful Lime Butterfly.

Cat's Whiskers flowers...

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Butterfly watch album - Malay Lacewings

 Both the upperside and the underside of the Malay lacewings are very colourful but more so the underside.  The outer wings are serrated and looking jagged.  The 'lace' patterns on the wings give rise to its name 'lacewings'.  At the park these beautiful butterflies are attracted to the nectar from the flowers of the Ixora coccinea, Wrightia religiosa, Eugenia oleina and the Clerodendron thomsonae or the 'Bleeding heart'.  They do not seem to be seen often and when they do I would feel very cheerful and would chase them around to photoshoot them.  Here's a collection of shots of them at the park....

Malay Lacewings (Cethosia hysea hypsina)