British Butterflies

One thing I have noticed over the last few weeks in the UK is how many butterflies are around. A walk around farmland and nature reserves seems to reveal a plentiful supply of butterflies of a variety of species. A few years ago the EU changed agricultural subsidies so that they would only paid if some simple conservation measures were taken. These measures include not trimming hedgerows in the bird breeding season, leaving unsown strips around field boundaries and planting seed and nectar mixes for birds and insects. I have heard that the measures for birds are having some success but it is quite obvious that butterflies are benefitting considerably and I am now seeing more butterflies in the British countryside than I have for very many years.

Today I got this shot of a Comma and the photos that follow have all been taken in the last couple of weeks.

Butterflies at Khao Soi Dao

At the end of April 2009 I spent a few days at Khao Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary in Chantaburi province. I was hoping to see any of the specialities of the site: Eastern Green Magpie, Blue-rumped Pitta, Siamese Partridge and Rufous-throated Fulvetta (I have subsequently found this one at Phu Suan Sai national park).

Unhappily I failed to get even a sniff of any of these birds and after rereading Charles Davies's trip report it seems that one must get higher up the mountain for these birds.

Well, apart from no sign of any of those birds birding was good. Blue-winged Pitta was absurdly common and easy to see - I saw at least 10 different birds well. Other nice species that I saw were a male Banded Kingfisher, a couple of pairs of Banded Broadbills, Dusky Broadbill, Orange-breasted Trogon, 3 Pompadour Green Pigeons (plus lots of Thick-billed), Scaly-breasted Partridge and Black-browed Fulvetta.

Whilst I am always a birder first and foremost, what really made the trip (apart from nice accommodation and food) was the huge number of butterflies present.

I managed to creep up on and get photos of only a fraction of the butterflies present as I have to get very close as I am only using a small compact digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 7600), but at one spot lots of butterflies were feeding on rotting fruit and this seemed to make them drowsy and more approachable - I guess they were getting drunk on the natural alcohol being produced as the fruit decomposed.

For those who are interested I have made a few updates on the Khao Soi Dao page of thaibirding.com, which include details of where I stayed: Khao Soi Dao and the identity of most of these butterflies.

Thailand Birding: Khao Yai in the Wet

Khao Yai national park is one of the busiest national parks in Thailand and at certain times (typically public holidays in the dry season) it can get uncomfortably busy. However, it was lovely to visit the park in mid May this year (16th-18th) and to see the park with very few other people around.

Now, very few birders make the trip to Thailand in the wet season and it is certainly true that a dry season visit will produce many more species, but I actually find the wet season very good for birding in the forest and this trip lived up to that.

In fact it wasn't really wet at all with only about 1 hour's birding being lost to rain.

Birds such as Red-headed and Orange-breasted Trogon were easy to find and broadbills were very vocal so it didn't take much effort to see Banded, Silver-breasted and Long-tailed Broadbills in one morning. Lots of other resident species were abundant and easily seen, species like Thick-billed Pigeon, Moustached Barbet, Green-eared Barbet, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Green Magpie etc were all nice. One of the highlights, as ever, were fantastic views of Great Hornbills. I have seen this species 100s of times but it is still always a highlight of any trip for me.

Another couple of nice birds which I wouldn't really expect to see outside the rainy season were a Stork-billed Kingfisher at Pa Gluai Mai campsite and 3 Hooded Pittas in a territorial dispute.

Other Wildlife

White-banded Hedge Blue by Nick Upton

Apart from an abundance of birds, this trip also turned up a lot of other wildlife, including this  White-banded Hedge Blue butterfly above which was feeding on rotting fruit.

The wet season is the best time to see elephants at Khao Yai and sure enough there was one sub adult at a salt lick by the side of the road one evening. The commonest mammals at Khao Yai are Variable Squirrel, Pig-tailed Macaque, Sambar, Muntjac and Cambodian Striped Squirrel and these were frequently seen. Other mammals that I saw included Yellow-throated Marten, Common Palm Civet, Golden Jackal, Grey-bellied Squirrel and a fantastic White-handed Gibbon laying back on branch taking an afternoon nap.

For the real wildlife enthusiast there were a whole range of lizards all around, including some water monitors and a wonderful python on the road one night.

All in all you shouldn't let the rainy season put you off of visiting Thailand for birdwatching, although the leeches were quite voracious!

Butterflies at Kaeng Krachan

Kaeng Krachan national park is well-known for its birdlife but it is also a fantastic place to find a huge variety of butterflies. At certain times of the year, during the wet season for example, it is worth staying out on the trails all day to find birds; things slow down during the middle of the day but good birds can still be found. However, right now in the dry season it gets really hot in the afternoon and there is almost no activity, making bird finding very difficult and tiring. A good option at this time of year is to spend some time at the second stream a little along the road from Bang Krang campsite to observe the butterflies in the mid day heat.

Common Pierrot

Photo by Nick Upton

The butterflies congregate around the stream to take in minerals and quite often there are large flocks with many species amongst them. Some photographers put down a mixture of fish sauce and water to attract the butterflies to exactly the right spot, but there always seem to be enough butterflies present not to have to bother with this.

People with good quality cameras will be able to take some really excellent photos, and even with my small, compact digital camera some nice pictures can be obtained with patience.