Outing in Hong Kong & Fung Yuen

[The Plane]

I was in Hong Kong last week for work and extended my stay there to do some shooting. I must really thank John (our BC Bees and Wasp expert) for showing me around Sai Kung, the area where he lives. He brought me to some short trials as well as Fung Yuen Butterflies Reserve in Tai Po on Saturday.
I also wish to thank Fung Yuen staff K.C. Tam (Project Officer), and S. F. Pun (Advisor), for taking time to introduce and showing me around the park.

It was a hot Sat morning until at about 2 pm when a storm was looming in, so I have to pack up early :-( . No Purple Sapphire luck for me, and no White Dragon tales to tell…only saw 2 White Dragontail flying around but they wouldn’t stop for me. Tam and Pun also tried hard to find some rare species for me, but unfortunately it was not quite a good day for butterflies. I really appreciate their kindness. I hope to go back there again on my next business trip. Heard from Pun that Apr or Oct is the best time to shoot WDT ;P

Below are some records shots to share.
Cheers !

1. Grass Demon (Udaspes folus)
2. Southern Chinese Peacock (Papilio dialis)
3. Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis)
4. Dark-brand Bush Brown (Mycalesis mineus)
5. Common Tiger (Danaus genutia)

more to come...

[The Plane]

6. Common Straight Swift (Parnara guttatus) ??
7. Plum Judy (Abisara echerius) - Very common in Fung Yuen
8. Clear Sailer (Neptis clinia)
9. Common Sailer (Neptis hylas) - The HK butterflies pocket handbook used the word “sailer” instead of “sailor” :hmmm:
10. Skipper

[Bluebottle]

It is always good to see butterflies from other region let alone shoot by our members.
WDT, Oct? It is just a month away ;P .
And yes, more please :cheers:

[The Plane]

11. Golden Birdwing (Troides aeacus), look out for the egg on one of the leaves.
12. Not sure this is the caterpillar of the Golden Birdwing or Common Birdwing
13. Dark Evening Brown (Melanitis phedima)
14. Blue Admiral (Kaniska canace) - this guy is really skittish.

[The Plane]

15. Dark Swift (Caltoris cahira) ??
16. Paris Peacock (Papilio paris)
17. Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas)
18. Skipper 2
19. Moth
20. Common Mapwing (Cyrestis thyodamas)

That's all I've got... hope to get more for my next trip there. Thanks for viewing :cheers: .

[Great Mormon]

B-e-a-utiful series Chng. So many different species in a single outing, real fruitful trip indeed despite of the storm rolling in. You've also managed to nail plenty of good shots there. The Blue Admiral is my favourite of the lot, for sharpness and the isolation of the butterfly. Im sure u'll be back to capture the dragontail and the purple sapphire in the near future :)

[The Plane]

It is always good to see butterflies from other region let alone shoot by our members.
WDT, Oct? It is just a month away ;P .
And yes, more please :cheers:

Thanks Loke, glad that I have some +1s and able to share here, otherwise, the trip would have been wasted.


B-e-a-utiful series Chng. So many different species in a single outing, real fruitful trip indeed despite of the storm rolling in. You've also managed to nail plenty of good shots there. The Blue Admiral is my favourite of the lot, for sharpness and the isolation of the butterfly. Im sure u'll be back to capture the dragontail and the purple sapphire in the near future :)

Thanks Anthony for your nice comments. Practice my leopard crawl on the cement road for Blue Admiral but couldn't get a good shot until it finally landed on the railings...:sweat:

[Peacock Royal]

Wah, so many species and some very beautiful shots.

[Cruiser]

Good harvest chng,

Never shoot any Paris Peacock, Purple shapphire and dragon tail? as these are quite common there at FY when I was there the last time.

[The Plane]

Wah, so many species and some very beautiful shots.

Thanks Federick.


Good harvest chng,

Never shoot any Paris Peacock, Purple shapphire and dragon tail? as these are quite common there at FY when I was there the last time.

Ben, No luck for purple sapphire and dragontail for me :-( . The Paris Peacock was not shot at FY. It was shot alone a trail on Fri evening.

[Blue Nawab]

Wow, wow, wow...:what:
Nice butterfly series from Hong Kong, make me want to pack up and go......The golden birdwing and caterpillar was fantastic, first time having such close look...Thanks for sharing...:cheers: anymore...;P

[Painted Jezebel]

9. Common Sailer (Neptis hylas) - The HK butterflies pocket handbook used the word “sailer” instead of “sailor” :hmmm:


A beautiful series, thank you.

'Sailer' was the original English name given to the Neptis species, named after their sailing style of flight. Over time, it got corrupted to 'Sailor', which, unfortunately seems to have stuck in Indo-China and the Malay Peninsular. In Europe, members of this Genus are called 'Gliders', again owing to their flight. I believe we had this discussion some time back.

[Leopard Lacewing]

Wow! Beautiful series and nice shots, Chng! :thumbsup:

Cheers! :cheers:

[Commander]

'Sailer' was the original English name given to the Neptis species, named after their sailing style of flight. Over time, it got corrupted to 'Sailor', which, unfortunately seems to have stuck in Indo-China and the Malay Peninsular. In Europe, members of this Genus are called 'Gliders', again owing to their flight. I believe we had this discussion some time back.

Indeed it did, and even back to the 50's with C&P1, the species in the genus Neptis were already referred to as 'Sailors'. As many of us here "grew up" making references to Corbet & Pendlebury, Morrell and the books that were available at that time, I for one, continue to use the "corrupted" version, as these books remain my source of reference. :)

As some discussions on English Common names have covered, different places have coined different common names. I can only speculate that when all the military titles for butterflies came on board in this region - Sergeants, Lascars, Sailors, Yeoman, etc., the description of how the butterflies "sailed" became transformed into a military designation and stuck since then. I also note that many of the collectors of that era were military men themselves, and the guru of South East Asian butterflies, John N Eliot, who revised the 4th edition of C&P4, was a Colonel in the British army before he retired.

[bluefin]

Tks for sharing Chng, nice series of shots. :thumbsup:

[vespa_bicolor]

Hi Chng,

nice shots. I'm glad the weather was mostly in our favour except for the last few hours. Hopefully you will nail the white dragontail on your next visit!

[The Plane]

Thanks to all of you for your nice comments.

And thanks to Les and Khew, I can understand now why some of the names were military related, in fact more to the navy side.

And John, hope to go back again to try the "little cart" mee again...simply delicious ;P

[Silverstreak]

Oh ! You are ahead of me!!

I will be disturbing John this coming Sunday!!!;P


Beautiful shots!!!:cheers:

[The Plane]

Oh ! You are ahead of me!!

I will be disturbing John this coming Sunday!!!;P


Beautiful shots!!!:cheers:

Thanks uncle Sunny. My shots are just the preview :bsmile: , the real beautiful shots will come from you ;P

Hope you will get the WDT and many more :)

[Leopard Lacewing]

Hahaha... Sunny going round the world shooting butts :bsmile:
Looking forward to see your shots, Sunny!
Buy more camera equipments ;P

Cheers! :cheers:

[vespa_bicolor]

Well according to the guys at Fung Yuen September is generally a better month to shoot than August. And maybe Uncle Sunny will have some special way to shoot that elusive white dragon tail or to lure it down :bsmile: