Hello Everyone, Thanks for the replies, Benjamin, before this trip I was reading your PD and bought a UV torch before leaving UK, but wonder if you could recommend the model you use? The torch I bought is very good (nitecore p20i uv) but it's not a dedicated UV torch and so the beam in the UV settin...

I discovered I have a further half an hour of power! so a few other photos this time of moths.. Mittonia hampsoni hampson's salad.JPG Mittonia hampsoni - Hampson's salad epiphora mythimnia white ringed atlas (7).JPG Epiphora mythimnia - White ringed atlas epiphora mythimnia white ringed atlas (4).JP...

Good morning, Hi Jason, Thanks so much for your reply and I'm so happy I could inspire you with my diary. I would love to contribute to the magazine and I'll send you an email soon. It would be super to share some more of my butterfly experiences form here in SA. I also just received Steve Woodhal'l...

I wish you luck with your reincarnation David! I feel truly lucky to have the opportunity to be able to spend time in such an amazing place and hope in the future to be able to share it with other like minded individuals. The last week has been very interesting, and although I haven't had much time ...

Hi Pauline, After 'dropping' so much time laying on my bed recovering I've had so much to catch up on, that drawing took a backseat for the moment. All I managed was to unpack my pictures but never made more progress. We also have started renovations on the house bathroom and it's turning into a big...

Good morning, A few shots of the last fig tree blue I saw a few days ago. Myrina silenus ficedula fig tree blue (10).JPG Myrina silenus ficedula - Fig tree blue Myrina silenus ficedula fig tree blue (9).JPG Myrina silenus ficedula - Fig tree blue Myrina silenus ficedula fig tree blue (8).JPG Myrina ...

Hi David, yes hyenas are very useful when it comes to butterflies! There was a time when my grandmother's freezer was full of bags containing hyena and leopard scat! Interestingly hyena and leopard scat is about the only faeces here that is not cleared up by dung beetles and this of course works in ...

Hi Pauline, I'm sorry I'm not being a help to you, but hopefully my last post will motivate you into action :D The last few days have been very exciting here, with a few new discoveries, and so many butterflies around that I had a bit of an overload and had to go home and sit down for while! Charaxe...

Good afternoon, The hairstreaks are very special David and there are a few more to come. One has been evading me all season (Iolaus pallene - saffron sapphire) and now I've given up looking for it, hoping one will come my way sometime soon - I know they are here because we have seen them before, but...

The Purple brown hairstreak is common on the farm and can turn up almost anywhere. It feeds on a variety of tree species so is not restricted much by food plant location. Like a lot of the hairstreaks here, Ximenia spp. is one of the more common food plants and would probably be the best place to lo...

Good afternoon, some more of the Lycaenids which are found here on the farm. The Rayed blue - Actizera lucida is one of the scarcest lycaenids here on the farm. It's usually found in grassy areas, but is usually easiest to see mud puddling at wet earth. Its an easy blue to identify using the undersi...

Hi David, It's not unusual to see large numbers of butterflies mud puddling here, but occasionally conditions are just right for exceptional numbers to be seen. During the spring/summer if there is a hot dry spell for over two weeks the bush dries out fast, and then water sources are limited (wet gr...

Hello, I'd like to continue posting the species of butterflies which occur here on the farm - i'll continue the family of blues, starting with some of the more common species found on the farm. Although the season here is getting on a bit, and we are starting to feel some cooler nights, the butterfl...

Hello everyone, I wanted to start covering some of the Lycaenids and will start with the Fig-tree blue. I have a particular soft spot for this butterfly and so have written a little more than I will for the other 'blues' because not only is it interesting but I also recently found it's breeding tree...

Thanks for your reply David. I think over time one gets used to the different possible dangers, but saying that, it still takes about a week when I arrive from UK to adjust to the changes of fauna (particularly when arriving from the colder months). I think for people who haven't experienced such a ...

I'm glad you are enjoying Pauline! I'm recovering pretty well thanks and have come a long way in the last week. I've been able to start walking a little again and can managed up to about a (slow) kilometre now. Yesterday was interesting because I saw a new species for the farm. A few hundred metres ...

Good morning, Back to the Charaxes – the next of these beautiful butterflies one is likely to see here on the farm is the Pearl spotted Charaxes – Charaxes jahlusa. This smaller sized member of the family is bright orange, double tailed (males have slightly shorter tails than the female) and like th...

Unfortunately I don't have much time today, but thought to post a few landscape and other photos of the farm to give readers a bit of an impression of where the butterflies I post are living. These are taken at various times of the year - when the bush is green then it's spring or summer (october - ...

Good morning, I'd like to start my diary by covering the different species of butterflies one may see here in the farm and I thought I'd start with the family Nymphalidae concentrating on the sub family Charaxinae. English readers may not think they are too familiar with this group of butterflies, b...

Hello to all butterfly enthusiasts! Finally I'm making a start to a diary covering my time in South Africa. I've been meaning to start writing for some months now, but of course every time I try, I get distracted by a butterfly or some other creature! Then two weeks ago, I was unlucky and crashed my...