Saturday, July 18, 2009

June Fraser’s Hill adventure

Gopeng – Fraser’s Hill Trip , Jun 2009 Part 3/3

MYFH_20090630_2730-480
Sunset at Fraser’s Hill along the new road

After Gopeng, we drove to Fraser’s Hill and spent a few days at our ‘home-away-from-home’.  On arrival at the bungalow, the smell of durians greeted us !  Mrs Lim knew we are crazy about durians and have secured 5 local durians for us ! 
Durian-MYFH_20090629_2770-480

We had the durians after our dinner and breakfast.
The next day, more durians were delivered to the Bungalow !Durian-MYFH_20090630_2742-480
We ate as much as we could and kept the remainder for supper for our mid-night outings.
Durian-MYFH_20090630_2744-480

A sample of the food we had during our stayFood-800

I have a few moth lifers, the highlight being Elibia dolichus (m).

Elibia dolichus (m)-MYFH_20090702_2909-480
The rest of the lifers are smaller moths which are too many to mention.  Below are some of the more colourful and interesting moths we saw during the trip :Moth-collage

For butterflies I didn’t have any lifer but there were still a few good ones.  I managed a record shot of the Yellow Orange Tip (Ixias pyrene) which I only managed to catch a glimpse in my May trip.  This will go on my ‘to shoot list’ for future trips.

Ixias pyrene alticola-MYFH_20090701_3089-480

Below are some ‘unusual’ butterfly shots from the trip …

The Red Calihp (Enispe intermedia), flapping its wings and showing the upperside.
Enispe intermedia corbeti-MYFH_20090630_3236-480

The Tailed Judy (Abisara neophron) in flight
Abisara neophron chelina-MYFH_20090701_3083-480 

Tawny Palmfly (Elymnias panthera) taking offElymnias panthera panthera-MYFH_20090630_3221-480

Malayan Branded Yamfly (Yasoda pita) taking offYasoda pita dohertyi-MYFH_20090630_3220-480

The Malayan Owl (Neorina lowii) taking offNeorina lowii neophyta-MYFHAdv_20090702_2968-480

I also managed to take some bird shots :

A pair of Greater Yellownape WoodpeckerGreater Yellow-naped Woodpecker-MYFH_High Pine_20090701_3032-600

and a Great Hornbill in flight !
Great Hornbill-MYFH_NewRoad_20090630_3275-600

This is yet another fantastic and fruitful trip to Malaysia !
 
=> Go to Part 2/3 – “Butterflies of Gopeng
=> Go to Part 1/3 – “Gopeng - Rafflesia, Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing and Durians

 

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Butterflies of Gopeng

Gopeng – Fraser’s Hill Trip , Jun 2009 Part 2/3 

Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing
Troides brookiana albescens (m)-MYGopeng_20090628_3387-640

Burara etelka – Great Orange Awlet, my lifer at Gopeng!
It is huge, almost twice the size of Orange Awlet.
Burara etelka-MYGopeng_20090628_3341-480

Kallima limborgii – The Leaf Butterfly
Kallima limborgii amplirufa-MYGopeng_20090628_3450-480

Faunis kirata – The Broad Striped Faun, one of the more uncommon Faun.
Faunis kirata-MYGopeng_20090627_3516-480 

Xanthotaenia busiris – Yellow BarredXanthotaenia busiris busiris-MYGopeng_20090628_3443-480

Yellow Barred caterpillar
Xanthotaenia busiris busiris-MYGopeng_20090628_3357-480


Mooreana trichoneura
– The Yellow Flat
Mooreana trichoneura trichoneura-MYGopeng_20090627_3503-480

Pseudocoladenia dan
– The Fulvous Pied Flat
Pseudocoladenia dan dhyana-MYGopeng_20090627_3510-480

=> Go to Part 1/3 - “Gopeng - Rafflesia, Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing and Durians
=> Go to Part 3/3 - “June Fraser’s Hill adventure

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Gopeng - Rafflesia, Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing and Durians

Gopeng – Fraser’s Hill Trip , Jun 2009 Part 1/3

Last month I few of us went to Gopeng and Fraser’s Hill.

I wanted to go back to Gopeng to see the Rafflesia since I missed it the last time.  The other excuse for making yet another trip to Gopeng/FH is the promise of free durians by the Gopeng resort owner and bungalow care taker at Fraser’s Hill.

I am very pleased with this trip as I finally saw my first Rafflesia, saw more RBB than I have ever seen and had the tastiest, freshest and best durians !

Here goes the photos ..

Kwok Wai Marcus and I at the ‘resort’KW Marcus Gan-MYGopeng_20090627_2841-800

To see the Rafflesia we had to hike 600ft upMYGopeng_20090628_2800-480
Along the way we saw a wild BegoniaBegonia sp-MYGopeng_20090628_3428-480 
a plant with bright purple undersideMYGopeng_20090628_2788-480
and a few RBB caterpillarsRBB cat-MYGopeng_20090628_3394-480

and finally Rafflesia cantleyi !!
Unfortunately one has past its life span and the other one will only open in a day or two :-(
Rafflesia cantleyi-MyGopeng_20090628_2805-480

as we moved on we saw many Rafflesia flower buds on a vine !Rafflesia cantleyi-MyGopeng_20090628_2812-640

and finally one that just bloomed ! Yahoo !!Rafflesia cantleyi-MyGopeng_20090628_2814-480

A close-up shot of the flower bud.Rafflesia cantleyi-MYGopeng_20090628_3436-480

On the way back we stop by the the Rajah Brooke’s area.  There were even more RBBs than our previous trip !!!

Troides brookiana albescens-MYGopeng_20090628_3460-800

Troides brookiana albescens-MYGopeng_20090628_3467-640

The durians at Gopeng were great. We had kampong durians.  We also picked up a few on our night outing and had them for breakfast.
Durian-MYGopeng_20090628_2778-480

Durian-MYGopeng_20090629_2747-480

We also saw a few stick insects:

Stheneboea repudiosa eating the leaf of Asystasia gangetica.
MYGopeng_20090627_3536-480

A pair of Abrosoma festinatum doing their business – Sex and Food !
MYGopeng_20090627_3538-640

one with a bright blue lateral stripe.MYGopeng_20090628_3412-480

and many frogs and toadsFrogs

=> Go to Part 2/3 – “Butterflies of Gopeng

Rare hawk moth found at HDB void deck

Last Sunday over breakfast at a coffee shop, Simon mentioned he saw a hawk moth at the void deck at Toh Yi drive.  He showed me the photo on his phone and it is a species which I have not seen before. 

Meganoton nyctiphanes-Jun2009-SimonChan-480

The moth was eventually identified as as Meganoton nyctiphanes (Walker, 1856), the only species of Meganoton in Singapore and an uncommon hawk moth !

Well done Simon !

The other Meganotons (photos below) that are commonly seen in Malaysia are M. analis and M. rubescens


Meganoton analis, Fraser’s Hill, 2008Meganoton analis 

 

Meganoton rubescens, Fraser’s Hill, 2008 Meganoton rubescens