Hong Kong Lepidopterists' Society Events & Activities
 

　

10月21日 

 

21st October -  Ma On Shan / San Tau Village

賴 錦 玉 Gilbert Lai

　

                  10月21日，星期日，天晴氣朗，大清早，James 和乘他的四驅車前往路途險要和崎嶇的「馬鞍山」。他說要經過四個中途站方可到達山頂，目的是能一睹祇有在此方出現的非常罕見蝶種 – 雙色帶蛺蝶 。

                 It was 21st October, an early sunny morning.  James and I were heading for the hilly Ma On Shan in his 4WD. James said that we had to climb 4 hill tops before we could reach our final destination. We were looking for the very rare Athyma cama (Moore) Orange Staff Sergeant.

 

 政府屋村及私人屋宇 - Government Housing Estates and private residential blocks 

 

下望的烏溪沙 - Overlooking Wu Kwai Sha 

                  當然最好還可以一次過 看到香港三種蜆蝶，包括最為罕見的大斑尾蜆蝶。朝著這兩個目標，游繩和攀石也難不倒我倆，幾 艱辛的路我倆也咬緊牙關熬過去。

                 At the same time,  I hoped to see all 3 recorded Riodinids,  especially the very rare Dodona egeon (Westwood) Orange Punch at Ma On Shan. With these in mind, we overcame the difficulties in going uphill and hectic climbing.    

                個多小時後，我們在牛押山之前的一個山峯停下來，原因是為免担誤下午和Dr Lee一起觀蝶的約會。雖然此處的蝶種不及牛押山之多。但望向高不可攀的牛押山，我的能力到此亦已心 足。此處比較空曠，但一些登峯常客如螯蛺蝶、窄 斑鳯尾蛺蝶和金斑蛺蝶等仍可見到。忽然一隻像相思帶蛺蝶 的物體出現在我眼前，我連忙拍了幾張照片，及後，James說那就是非常罕見的雙色帶蛺蝶呢！ 我真的有眼不識泰山啊！由於時間關係，我們得回程了，為安全起見，我們要蹲在地上，小心翼翼的、提心吊膽的續步爬落非常斜的石坡，稍一不慎，惟有來生再 見！  

                  After a while, we arrived at the hill top just before Ngau Ngak Shan (The Hunch Backs) . Looking at the tall Ngau Ngak Shan , we  did not go further as we planned to pick Dr. Lee up in the afternoon for another butterfly watching trip. I was happy with I had accomplished so far.   Though the top was quite barren, we found many frequent hill topping butterflies, for instance Charaxes marmax (Westwood)Yellow Rajah, Polyura athamas (Drury) Common Nawab and  Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus) Danaid Egg-fly. Suddenly, a butterfly looked like Athyma nefte (Cramer) Colour Sergeant (Cramer) Colour Sergeant (Cramer) Colour Sergeant (Cramer) Colour Sergeant appeared in front of me and without hesitation, I  took a few shots in seconds. James moved closer and immediately pointed out that this was the butterfly we were looking for. It was the very rare Athyma cama (Moore) Orange Staff Sergeant. I was overjoyed with surprise and happiness.  Due to tight schedule, we headed back. For safety of going downhill, we had to stay close to the ground and had to be very careful with especially the loosen gravels and of course the step ravines, otherwise, we might lose our lives.

牛押山 - Ngau Ngak Shan (The Hunch Backs)

 

雙色帶蛺蝶 Athyma cama (Orange Staff Sergeant)  / 螯蛺蝶Charaxes marmax (Yellow Rajah)

　

 

斐豹蛺蝶 Argyreus hyperbius (Fritillary) / 金斑蛺蝶 Hypolimnas misippus (Danaid Egg-fly) 

                 將到山腳之際，James 在懸繩而下途中不慎把閃光 燈撞爛了。哎！在這麽酷熱的天氣下，要捱過這麽辛苦的行程，最終祇為了一隻蛺蝶及踫一踫運氣，價值所在，真是見仁見智。

                 When we reached the bottom of the hill, James broke his camera flash while he was holding on the rope on his way down . With this hot weather and the hectic journey, I wonder whether it was worthwhile the hassle for only 1 butterfly!

              吃過午飯後，經我的遊說及James的善心下，Dr Lee答允再去一次，看一看燕蝶吸水的情景。於是我們經青嶼幹線及乘小船到達䃟頭村。甫一上岸，多種鳯蝶一應俱全的在茂盛 的臭花叢中採蜜。突然一隻深橙色的蝴蝶出現，他們說既不像斐豹蛺蝶也不像琺蛺蝶。據我所知，跟他們色彩相似的就只有同是非常罕見的幸運轆蛺蝶和彩蛺蝶，可 惜牠一會兒便消失影踪了。  

             At lunch, my persuasion and James' kindness, Dr. Lee agreed to go to San Tau Village once again to see the drinking Lamproptera curius  (Fabricius) White Dragontail.  After the Tsing Yi and Lantau Highway and the boat ride, , we arrived at the San Tau Pier. Once on shore, there were many Papilios feeding on the blossoming Lantana camara. Suddenly, an orange butterfly appeared and flew pass by.  Dr. Lee and James said that it was neither Argyreus hyperbius (Linnaeus) Fritillary nor Phalanta phalantha (Drury) Leopard. To me, the only butterflies having the similar colours would only be Cirrochroa tyche (C.& R. Felder) Yeoman  and Vagrans egista  (Kollar) Vagrant. However, it disappeared and never returned.

        來到溪旁， 果然有數隻燕蝶在吸水，細心觀察，牠們會因吸水過量而噴出水柱，雖時短，但很頻密，要拍到這一刻，非要落些工夫不可。更有趣的是牠們竟像蜻蜓般在水上輕輕 點水，真教人百思不得其解。此外，菜灰蝶和寬邊黃粉蝶亦來吸水呢！我更高興的是可以看到紅鋸蛺蝶飛過，還是第一次呢䃟頭村果然是處好地方，蝶種多，路平坦，跟馬鞍山之行相比，真的是天淵之別啊！

                Upon arrival at the stream, there were indeed several Lamproptera curius  (Fabricius) White Dragontail  drinking by the sand.  When I moved closer, I noticed that jet of water was ejaculating out from their abdomen. The pumping of water was short but very frequent. In order to take such a photograph, we had to be patience, persevere and of course a lot of practice. Oddly, they were liked dragonflies dipping on the surface of water as well. I wonder why? To my surprise, I saw 1 Cethosia biblis (Drury) Lacewing flew pass by. This was the first time I ever saw the beautiful Cethosia. San Tau was indeed a good place for butterfly watching. It had a good variety of butterflies, easy walking unlike Ma On Shan.  It was just heaven and hell to me!

燕蝶 Lamproptera curius  (White Dragontail)