Zululand weekend

Hi all

We had a blinder of a weekend up in Zululand over Easter. I'm going to post some of my favourite pix here, but in fairness to members of Lepsoc Africa I'm going to post the full story in the e-Newsletter.

We started off at Lake Sibaya, a place that hasn't been visited by butterflyers for a long time. It's a landlocked freshwater estuarine lake south of Kosi Bay. At the gate there is a marsh where we found this Osiris Smoky Blue Euchrysops osiris female:



When we got into the forest we found lots of the usually uncommon Forest Leopard Phalanta eurytis:



and this lovely Pearl Emperor Charaxes varanes, which came down low to have a look at us:



The forest path was haunted by the spectacular Gold-banded Forester Euphaedra neophron:



And to my joy I at last managed to photograph a female Black-and-orange Playboy Deudorix dariaves; last year we managed to get a male on silicon but this is the first time I have got a female, on film or on silicon!



We hung butterfly traps baited with banana bait boosted with marula fruit and a dodgy liqueur we were conned into buying at a Polish restaurant in Hilton. It tastes foul but is viciously alcoholic and makes butterflies extremely poegaai, and easy to photograph. The first victim was this female False Chief Pseudacraea lucretia tarquinia:



Please believe me this butterfly does NOT usually sit like this as easy to photograph as a plate of bacon and eggs. it doesn't harm them but it DOES make them easier to photograph.

But the highlight of the day was a real eye-waterer - a butterfly that induces what one lepidopterist called 'seared eyeball syndrome' - a female Flame-bordered Emperor Charaxes protoclea azota. This was the most southerly record for this butterfly, ever - a real coup:



Yes, since you ask, she was a victim of Woodhall's Jungle Juice elixir.

Some of my companions got equally rare butterflies in shot, and these will be in the next Lepsoc News.

The next day we hied ourselves to Maphelane, another coastal wetland/forest reserve at the mouth of the Mfolozi River. Here the weather was not so good and we concentrated on the butterflies flying around the reedbeds near the reserve gate. First we found these bright orange Dancing Acraeas Telchinia serena:



And then we nailed another mega rarity - the Marsh Swift Borbo micans (a female):

Underside (don't you just love the little fly escorting her?):


Wings partly open:


This was an even bigger southerly range extension than that for Charaxes protoclea azota; and a relief to find it in a nature reserve as its haunts further north around Manguzi have been destroyed by 'slash and burn' agriculture.

There were some other nice 'skippers' about. This male White-barred Swift Pelopidas thrax inconspicua allowed me to get really close whilst my companions were photographing a micans. I was then ticked off for being so quiet - I had not realised my friend Jenny had never seen one and she missed a lifer! And of course the butterfly made itself scarce as soon as I pointed it out.



Another triumph was Jordan's Sailer Neptis jordani. Very rare in SA, and never seen in numbers until this day - and only once photographed before, on film. We saw at least 6 of them. Here is a male:



We hung butterfly traps here; but the weather being dull the didn't attract as many visitors. One thing we did get was this male Golden Piper Eurytela dryope - another butterfly impossible to approach when sober:



On Monday 27th we went to Ongoye Forest, the Zulu King's sacred hunting ground. First I got this shot of a yellow hindwing female form of the rare Albatros White Appias sabina phoebe; another first for me, digitally or film:



Then we found a clearing full of yellow Senecio flowers, that were pullulating with butterflies. I have never seen so many Albatros Whites as this since I was in Cote D'Ivoire, and they were easy to photograph:

Males:




Females (white hindwing form):




Butterflies that are normally too wary to get close to were easy to approach - such as this female Blonde Glider Cymothoe coranus:



And Yellow Pansy Junonia hierta cebrene:



And spectular but wary day-flying moths like this Pleasant Hornet Euchromia formosa:



But perhaps the most exciting find of the day was the Clouded Mother-of-Pearl Protogoniomorpha anacardii nebulosa. Another butterfly I had never managed to photograph before, on film or silicon. These pix don't really do them justice as they have a pearly iridescence that doesn't show up well on images. Here is a male:



And here are two shots of the golden form of the female - a butterfly I had never seen alive before. It took five hours of shooting before I got shots I was happy with, but what a triumphant end to a great weekend:




Enjoy!

All the best

Steve