9 August 2016: Afternoon Butterfly watching at Upper Seletar

Lunch was obviously roti prata from the last Prata restaurant at Casuarina. The prata was not too fantastic but the curry was relatively decent.

Having settled lunch, we headed over to Upper Seletar where our last visit 9 July 2016: Butterfly Watching at Upper Seletar had many goodies. Given the time of the day when we reached (close to 3pm), we were expecting lesser. In nature, if it is there, it is there.

Well, if it is not there, you can always put it there. Upon arrival, we found a handful of young American Bullfrogs at the stream. Not native to our shores, these must have been released by “merciful” people – seeking mercy for themselves while cursing others. There are definitely better ways to show mercy than to release alien species that will damage the native ecosystem. Here are some examples:

1. Donate to Acres.
2. WWF
3. Wildlife Conservation Society

Behind the adorable looks is a voracious appetite… Say goodbye to the stream inhabitants! 

Thankfully, the forest of Upper Seletar is far richer than what the alien species could bring. For butterflies, we were delighted to be able to re-connect with the Darky Plushblue. A worn individual but its underwing patterns are still amazing.

“Missing a bit of glitter but not missing my identity..” – Darky Plushblue 

At our favorite trail, we found our new butterfly for the visit, the Narrow Spark. Its flight resembled that of the Common Caerulean. However, when perched, it was clearly something different. Our sole spark of the visit! (pun intended)

Narrow Spark

Lastly, we encountered a pair of Anderson’s Grass Yellow busy mating. For privacy, they took to the middle-storey to carry out their business. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough when dealing with intrigued busybodies.

Mating Anderson’s Grass Yellow

Upper Seletar is definitely a must-visit for new butterfly-watchers looking to cross path with the forest denizens. No amount of visits will do sufficient justice to this place. Simply amazing!

9 August 2016: Mid-day Butterfly watching at Upper Pierce

Where’s next?

After a quiet morning at Lower Pierce and with only an hour or two to lunch, we decided to check out Upper Pierce. Not sure how others would relate to Upper Pierce. For me, it was the place where I first saw the black bird with a very long black tail to which I prescribed the name, Japanese Paradise Flycatcher. It was also the place where I found my first Yellow-Browed Warbler which we actually called Inornate Warbler back then. Apart from the birds, it was also the place to find the globally vulnerable Raffle’s Banded Langur, which I have the fortune to see the resident troop on two occasions. Will I leave this place with more great memories as I did years ago? Hmmm…

Starting from the reservoir carpark, we had a slow and quiet walk. Apart from the teasing Five-rings, the ubiquitous Chocolate Pansies and the numerous Malayan Lascars, we did not find anything exceptional. Things improved after walking a few hundred meters. We spotted our first Colonel flitting in the trees. Although spotting similar upperwing patterns as the Chocolate Pansy, its notably slower gliding flight gave its identity away.

Colonel – The butterfly that nearly got away

Continuing, we chanced upon a flash-like butterfly, which we subsequently identified as the Cornelian. Although it appeared out of the blue, its intent was pretty straightforward – the flowers.

Cornelian checking out the flower buds of the Melastoma Capitellata

Among the many species of butterflies, the ones that left a lasting memory on my mother was the “sotong” (a Malay noun for squid). Since we spotted our first “sotong”, the Branded Imperial, my mother was hooked onto its squid-like flight and was always on the look out for the next one. It didn’t take many trips before we added the Common Imperial the Common Posy and the Fluffy Tit to our list of “sotongs”. On last Saturday, we were rewarded with a sighting of the Great Imperial during the NSS butterfly watch walk at Rifle Range. That was our latest addition to our list of “sotongs”. It didn’t take much time before we added our next. This visit to Upper Pierce  yielded another rare “sotong”, the Grand Imperial. Resembling the Great Imperial very closely, its main differences are the much longer tail, the presence of the shorter tail at vein 3 of the hindwing and the three black streaks (instead of four) on the thorax. Sharp spotting by my mother led us to this beauty and thankfully, it cooperated for a few shots. Incredible!

The Grand Imperial

Although Lower Pierce was quiet, Upper Pierce had a few surprises, leaving us with great memories yet again. Really starting to wonder what other surprises can this place have for us in future… A Grey Tinsel? But lunch will have to come first though.

9 August 2016: Morning Butterfly watching at Lower Pierce

Happy birthday Singapore!

Making use of the public holiday and the fine weather, we decided to do some butterfly watching. Unfortunately, we went to the wrong place and ended up at Lower Pierce. During our previous trip, we did not find much but it could have been the timing as it was approaching 3pm when we were there. Giving the site another go, this time, we went there at 10.30am…

Things went pretty slow. Apart from the lone Malayan Lascar, we did not see another butterfly along the Costus Trail. However, that cannot be said about the many grasshoppers that perched on top of the green leaves in full glory.

Proceeding to the Oncospermum Trail to catch my brother at the Pokestops, I was rewarded with an approachable “puddling” male Common Bluebottle, shown to me by my brother.

“Puddling” male Common Bluebottle

The wet reservoir banks really got him hooked. As he kept drinking and peeing, drinking and peeing,… like an alcoholic seeking more beer to wash down the regurgitated beer. Of course, that is not the real purpose of the peeing behavior for this butterfly. He was just getting rid of the excess fluids as his body system absorbs the dissolved minerals.

Watch out for the squirt!

Prior to re-grouping, I spotted a dart, sun-tanning on a fern. Based on the well-defined yellow post-discal band on the upperside of the forewing and the green-tinged thorax, the dart is a Besta Palm Dart. Although not a new butterfly for me, it was always nice to see a skipper – what I would call a hybrid between a moth and a fly months ago.

Besta Palm Dart

That rounds up our short and lifer-less stopover at Lower Pierce. With some time before lunch, where should we head next for our lifers (and new Pokemons for my brother)?