A Chocolate Pansy (Junonia hedonia) spotted at one-north Park: Fusionpolis South, Singapore, on 29 Sept 2023. One of the most common butterflies locally but usually skittish, so getting shots is not so easy.
All credit on the above post goes directly to this butterfly!
I was working in the garden - and didn't really want to stop to go get the camera - but it's brilliantly sunny today. And in strong sunlight these wings have a gorgeous metallic glow.
So I went & got the camera.
And that's when the Common Buckeye zoomed into my garden. I had a few seconds to try for a good angle (meh) and then it was gone.
But the fact I have any pics at all is literally thanks to this beauty!!!
There’s always something interesting perched on my laundry room wall. Today: Pygarctia roseicapitis, butches! Elegant minimalist style in solid white with slick black accessories and a jaunty red beret.
Because I'm mentally still 14, I greatly enjoyed this brief entomological biobliography where they couldn't be bothered to write out the full word "Butterflies".
A Plain Banded Awl (Hasora vitta) spotted at Dairy Farm Nature Park, Singapore, on 22 May 2023. I was early to the park and got to spot it: this family of butterflies usually like to come out at dawn or dusk.
All of these were photographed (by me) in my small suburban garden.
I wanted to post this to show that #biodiversity does still exist. With all the climate doom & gloom in the news it sometimes feels really hopeless. Like a battle we've already lost.
But the butterflies are still here. So are the bees & other vital pollinators. It's not too late to protect them.
Gardens don't have to be expensive or elaborate to provide them a home. What matters is that we create space for #pollinators in our landscaped lives. Just adding a few flowers can make all the difference & help ensure these lovely creatures continue to survive.
A spiny oak slug caterpillar (Euclea delphinii). Oak slug caterpillars have stinging spines that are very painful.
When I was a toddler I tried to pet a similar caterpillar (a packsaddle). The pain hit my arm like a hammer. My brain learned the lesson the spines evolved to teach: I'm still reluctant to touch any kind of caterpillar.
I saw this Julia Heliconian (Dryas iulia) butterfly and knew what happened: it had been caught by a Flower Crab Spider (genus Thomisus). Spotted at Ulu Sembawang Park Connector on 9 July 2023.
Happy to spot this Common Mapwing (Cyrestis maenalis) during a trip to Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, on 10 April 2023. Not a very common butterfly that inhabits the highland areas.
Mapwing butterflies have a series of lines on their wings, which resemble the contour lines of maps.
The Rajah Brooke birdwing, Trogonoptera brookiana, one of the largest butterflies. They are so big that they look bird-like in flight.
Not that rare to find in Malaysian forests, usually they skirt around the edges and puddle in streams. The male is more common, but this is a female, with blue patches on the hind wings and a bit more white on the forewings.
This one was feeding quite high up, I needed to use my telephoto lens to get this shot.