Fraser's here I come ... Part I

The butterfly season starts around March but we are all itching for more butterflies so we took a chance and made a trip to Fraser’s Hill in end Feb. FH has so much to offer - even if we don't get any butterfly or moth, we can still enjoy the cool fresh air, lush greenery and great food.

As it turned out, FH did not disappoint us ! Not only did we have great food and lots of fun, we managed to see and photograph many rare moths and butterflies.

I get my first lifer even before we made it to the summit ! This is what greeted us on our way up :

OK, so we have Malayan Zebra, Pendlebury's Zebra, Blue Jay, Five Bar Swordtail. No big deal ! Look again, what is that butterfly that looks like a faded Five Bar Swordtail ? It is a Four Bar Swordtail (4BS)- Pathysa agetes !

I have been looking for 4BS ever since Laurence Leong showed me a photo of 4BS photos taken at FS. I didn't expect to see any exotic butterfly this trip but there it was sitting there waiting for me ! That sighting alone made the trip worth while, but that is not all...

The next morning I took stroll around our bungalow and low and behold I saw not one but 3 Purple Sapphire (Heliophorus epicles) busking on a shrub.

This must be one of the most beautiful Lycaenid in Malaysia. On closer examination, I realised that bush which they are busking on is Polygonum chinesis, the host plant of Purple Sapphire !


On the 2nd day we spotted a flowering tree with lots of Pieridae. Using a 400mm lens I managed to take a few shots of three of the more common Jezebels at FH.

Malayan Jezebel - Delias ninus Red-spot Jezebel - Delias descombesiYellow Jezebel - Delias baracasa
That's it for now...