Baby Tigers spotted !

This morning I noticed the leaves of my Blood Flower (Asclepias  curassavica ) show signs of being eaten by caterpillar. On closer examination, I found Plain Tiger caterpillars on the plant.

I checked the plants and counted at least 10 caterpillars ! 
I decided to collect all the caterpillars and put them in container so that I can ration the leaves and ensure there is sufficient leaves for all of them.

Butterfly in my garden

Last week at around 6pm, I saw a small skipper darting around my garden and eventually landed on a leaf.  Turned out it is a Palm Bob (Suastes gramius) looking for a place to roost.  It stayed on the leaf the over night and left early in the morning.

Today when I returned home at 6pm, I found a hawk moth on the stairs !  It is a Macroglossum sitiene.  What a pleasant surprise to be greeted by a hawk moth.  This is a rather common hawk moth around my area as its larva host plant Paederia foetida, can be found growing on the fence of my condo.

Peacock Royal

Yesterday, a female Peacock Royal (Tajuria cippus maxentius) came to my garden.

 

Hopefully I will see Peacock Royal caterpillars on the mistletoe in my garden soon.

Gan’s Garden Butterfly List – 18 species

Last update : 30 dec 2011

Butterflies sighted at Gan’s garden on 5th and 6th floor :

1. Papilio demoleus malayanus – Lime Butterfly^# : Sep 2008
2. Zizina otis lampa - Lesser Grass Blue^# : Nov 2008
3. Suastus gremius gremius – Palm Bob : Mar 2009
4. Delias hyparete metarete - Painted Jezebel^# : Mar 2009
5. Bibasis harisa consobrina - Orange Awlet : Mar 2009
6. Parantica agleoides agleoides - Dark Glassy Tiger : May 2009
7. Matapa aria - Common Redeye : May 2009
8. Tajuria cippusmaxentius – Peacock Royal^# : Aug 2009
9. Catopsilia pomona pomona – Lemon Emigrant : 31 Oct 2009
10. Ideopsis vulgaris macrina – Blue Glassy Tiger : 2 Nov 2009
11. Danaus chrysippus chrysippus - Plain Tiger : 6 Jan 2010
12. Chilades pandava pandava – Cycad Blue : 9 Jan 2010
13. Pelopidas mathias mathias - Small Branded Swift : 3 Feb 2010
14. Elymnias hypermnestra agina – Common Palmfly : 22 Feb 2010
15. Plastingia naga – Chequered Lancer : 9 Mar 2010
16. Junonia hedonia ida - Chocolate pansy : 8 Apr 2010
17. Papilio polytes romulus - Common Mormon# : Oct 2011 (found CM caterpillars on Curry Leaf plant)
    
18. Euploea phaenareta castelnaui - King Crow : 30 Dec 2011 (attracted by Dill plant)
    

^# = Breeding in the garden

Butterfly stamps

SingPost launched the Butterflies stamp series on Apr 21 2010. This series of stamps consists of four exquisite local butterfly – The Common Birdwing, The Blue Glassy Tiger, The Common Posy and The Tailed Jay.

The stamp collection is the result of collaboration between SingPost and and Nature Society (Singapore) Butterfly Interest Group.  Simon and I started working with SingPost on this series in late 2008 and after more than a year, the butterfly stamp series is finally available to the public.  Apart from the stamps, SingPost also released Pre-cancelled First Day Cover, Presentation Pack and Self-Adhesive Stamp Booklet.  In addition, SingPost also released a special promotional bundle which consists of Butterflies First-Day Cover,  presentation Pack and NSS’s Butterfly Field Guide. 

Priced at S$15.00, it is on sale at four selected Post Offices namely Singapore Post Centre, Tanglin, Toa Payoh Central and Changi Airport.

Yesterday, Clement from SingPost personally delivered complimentary copy of the stamps to us. We had a pleasant surprise when he handed us a framed copy of the First Day Cover with Pre-cancelled stamps.

 

The presentation was beautiful ! .  Thank you SingPost !

Comparing Chestnut and Chocolate Tiger

The Chestnut Tiger and Chocolate Tiger are common at Fraser’s Hill. The upperside of these 2 species are quite distinct and cannot be mistake for one another.

Their underside however, looks very similar in passing and can be mistaken in the field.  The picture below highlights the key differences of the underside of these 2 species.

April Fraser’s Hill trip

A few of us went to Fraser’s Hill in April. The weather at Fraser’s Hill was still cold and misty in the morning.

In the evening, the sunset was mesmerizing ..

We have a fantastic view of the sunset right from the living room.  Below, Amy is taking photo of the sunset just before dinner was served.

We saw lots of butterflies and everyone had a great time taking photo of species which are not commonly seen at lower elevation.

Amy and Laurence shooting the Red Spot Jezebel (Delias descombesi eranthos).  See Laurence’s photo of this beauty here.

We chanced upon another rare species, the Common Jester (Symbrenthia lilaea luciana) near our bungalow.

At one of our favorite haunts, we had a very cooperative Orange Albatross (Appias nero figulina) posing for photograph. 

This trip I saw 4 lifers :
- Charaxes durnfordi dumfordi – This is a 5-STAR !
- Euthalia malaccana malaccana
- Symbrenthia lilaea luciana
- Scobura woolletti

I also saw the very rare  Graphium empedovava !

Other species I saw include :

Yasoda pita dohertyi (Malayan Branded Yamfly)
Loxura cassiopeia cassiopeia (The Larger Yamfly)
Symbrenthia lilaea luciana (The Common Jester) 
Kallima limborgii amplirufa (The Indian Leaf butterfly) 
Idea hypermnestra linteata ( The Tree Nymph )

Scobura woolletti (Brown Forest Bob)- A small skipper that resembles the Chestnut Bob
Pareronia valeria lutescens (The Wanderer)
Papilio helenus helenus (The Red Helen) - a very common Papilio at this part of Malaysia.

Papilio nephelus sunatus (The Black and White Helen) – They are very common as well. I saw at least 8 of them in 2 hours.

You can see more photo of butterflies from Fraser’s Hill here.