Tony Moore

[David M]

Wow! Some of these butterflies seem almost unreal, Tony. I particularly like the exotic one doing its best to resemble a Brown Hairstreak....what a stunner that is.

The Azure Hairstreak is, if anything, even finer.

Is Bhutan really part of planet earth at all? I sometimes wonder whether it's been annexed by heaven.

[Tony Moore]

Is Bhutan really part of planet earth at all?

You are quite right, David. Stunning country, few people, few cars, free healthcare (funded by wealthy visitors), little crime and fabulous butterflies.
Imagine what one might see up in Jigme Dorgi National Park - all those high altitude Apollos, Bhutan Glory...... Go there!
Mind you, the food is pretty terrible except in the few westernised hotels. I'm usually pretty keen on local cuisine, but draw the line at a mixture of rancid Yak's cheese and very hot green chillis.

ps - one that I missed from my post, which had been discounted as 'just another Banded Tree Brown' turned out to be Dark Judy (Abisara fylla).
Another life tick for me:

Tony.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Tony,

I must admit that I don't usually follow many diaries that are not mostly UK focused, I have enough trouble keeping up as it is, but I have found your reports from Nepal and Bhutan fascinating with some superb photos of beautiful butterflies.

Great stuff,

Neil.

[Tony Moore]

Many thanks, Neil - much appreciated,

Tony.

[David M]

You are quite right, David. Stunning country, few people, few cars, free healthcare (funded by wealthy visitors), little crime and fabulous butterflies.
Imagine what one might see up in Jigme Dorgi National Park - all those high altitude Apollos, Bhutan Glory...... Go there!
Mind you, the food is pretty terrible except in the few westernised hotels. I'm usually pretty keen on local cuisine, but draw the line at a mixture of rancid Yak's cheese and very hot green chillis.

You are really starting to tempt me, Tony, irrespective of standards of cuisine!!

Mind you, any kind of chilli usually makes my mouth water, though I, like you, will be leaving the rancid cheese to the locals.

[Tony Moore]

You are really starting to tempt me, Tony,

Do go, David, you can give the local restaurants a miss and most eateries do a respectable chicken curry. Bhutan is like nowhere else on the planet and a holiday there should not be too expensive if you choose your flights carefully (Air India to Delhi and on from there). Mail Sonam and see what he can do. You would be blown away by the butterfly variety.
Carpe diem...

Tony.

[David M]

Do go, David, you can give the local restaurants a miss and most eateries do a respectable chicken curry. Bhutan is like nowhere else on the planet and a holiday there should not be too expensive if you choose your flights carefully (Air India to Delhi and on from there). Mail Sonam and see what he can do. You would be blown away by the butterfly variety.
Carpe diem...

Message received and understood, Tony. Many thanks for your illuminating reports from this part of the world.

[Sonam Dorji]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the kind words that you have put in for me and my country. We just had two days otherwise we could have gone further down and encountered more butterflies. July is a good season but rain does play a havoc!!!

As for food, I do agree. Being a mountainous country, not much food variety is available as found elsewhere. But compared to few years back, many things have improved and there are remarkable changes. I do hope things improves for better in future and hopefully you can make it again to Bhutan!!!


rgds,
Sonam

[David M]

...We just had two days otherwise we could have gone further down and encountered more butterflies. July is a good season but rain does play a havoc!!

When I visited western India a few years ago, Sonam, the monsoon rains were only expected to end in late October. What is the extent of the 'wet' season in Bhutan?

[Sonam Dorji]

Hi David,

The wet season starts from June and ends in Oct. But somehow the weather has become erratic here and is defficult to say so. However, Mid June and August end, the rain seems to be heavy but again these are best months for butterflies as well!!!

rgds,
Sonam

[David M]

The wet season starts from June and ends in Oct. But somehow the weather has become erratic here and is defficult to say so. However, Mid June and August end, the rain seems to be heavy but again these are best months for butterflies as well!!!

Thanks for the information, Sonam. Yours isn't the only country where the weather has become "erratic".

[Tony Moore]

Just back from some winter sun and butterflies in Oman. Despite being so close to Iran, it is a very stable country and feels very safe. While we were there, the much loved and respected Sultan Qeboos died. There was an initial four day mourning period when no music was played – good – and no alcohol was served – not so good! As the price of a snifter was so astronomic no regular drinker would venture there unless he was either a millionaire or a masochist...
The Sultan's death precipitated the arrival of many world dignitaries for the funeral. We first noticed the presence of various suited 'heavies' around the place. Two such gentlemen came padding along the beach one morning in their polished black leathers, followed closely by a dressing-gowned Boris Johnson, who had been for a swim! There were also several very dangerous looking Palestinians toting blatant hardware around the place, presumably protecting some wheel from that country. We certainly had no worries about terrorist infiltration!
Oman is very interesting, butterflywise, in that little research seems to have been done. There is one old book by Torben Larson (1980), which has photographs of set specimens and that's about it. No one seems even sure about the species count; Larsen listed 53, but other sources suggest 80 odd! I saw 20 or so in ten days. The followings pix and I.Ds are mainly from Larsen. If any errors are spotted, please let me know...
Our hotel, on the coast a few miles from Muscat, was built at the confluence of several small wadis, which flood in the rainy season. These had been mostly left wild and were heaving with butterflies as soon as the sun shone:

The most obvious was the Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus ):

There were dozens in an area of wadi the size of a football pitch, and all in sparkling condition. Apparently the larvae often feed on Calotropis prosera :

There were several large examples in the area, but diligent searching failed to find any early stages.
The pretty little Blue-spotted Arab (Colotis phisadia ) was also common:

Most days I saw one or two Salmon Arabs (Colotis fausta ), but during the first six days they sped around the exposed rock faces and I never saw one land. I was surprised and delighted when two examples were much more accommodating on my last day and allowed a couple of shots:

Another common species was the Caper White ( Anaphaeis aurota ):

The normal specimen is female Meadow Brown size, but there were many very small individuals. Larsen suggests that this is because the larvae often totally strip the available vegetation and many starve to death. Ill-fed ones, which survive to pupation, produce small imagines. The second of these butterflies looks very dark to me for Caper White. Does anyone have any ideas?

t.b.c.

[Wurzel]

Not sure if I can help with the IDs Tony - cracking looking butterflies though The two 'Arabs' look a bit like our Cloudy but seem to be keener to open up, or were you just lucky enough to capture the open wing shots?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Tony Moore]

Thanks, Wurzel,

The Salmon Arabs were two different insects (they are an amazing salmon colour in flight). The first one landed a couple of times, both with wings open. The second behaved so differently that I thought it was another species. I saw it on the ground at first and when it flew, it was only a couple of yards and it sat again tightly closed. I got very close without spooking it. I think it may have been freshly emerged.

Tony.

[bugboy]

Some interesting butterflies, those Colotis look more like Colias. I did a quick google search for 'butterflies of Oman. Top hit was, no surprise, the Wikipedia page which oddly states a total of 53 species but goes on to list non of the Pierids which you saw!

[Tony Moore]

Yes, Bugboy,
I had already sussed that. Wiki also suggests that Papilio demodocus does not occur in Oman, whereas Larsen shows a map of the distribution of both species. Wiki is not for serious readers imho! .

Tony M.

[Padfield]

Looking forward to the rest of your piccies, Tony! It sounds a good part of the Middle East to visit, though I'm not sure how I'd cope without cheap beer...

I saw small salmon Arabs in India but never once with their wings open. I imagined they were like Colias species in this respect. You did well to get that picture!

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Thanks, Guy,
Believe me, the beer price is unbelievable. The best you can find is about £5 for a 330ml bottle - hotels charge twice that!

Oman cont.

There were many 'Blues' around the various flowering shrubs, the commonest being Desert Babul Blue ( Azanus ubaldus ), a new one for me:

One of the Grass Blues was also present, but declined to be photographed. I did find a pair of Long-tailed Blues ( Lampedes boeticus ), the only ones I saw:

A very large 'Blue', which appeared one day is, I think, a female Pomegrenate Butterfly ( Deudorix livia ):

I saw three altogether, but the were all females - the males have bright orange uppers. They were easily approachable, but flew off at great speed when seriously disturbed. The larvae are destructive to pomegranates and loquats, feeding inside the fruit.
One day, we had a trip out to the Wadi al Shab, a locat beauty spot:

It looked very hopeful, but there was little around and the only butterfly of consequence was a Blue Pansy ( Junonia orithya ):

Back at the hotel, the Lemon Emigrant ( Catopsilia florella ) was much in evidence, both white and yellow forms – I watched one ovipositing on a wild legume of some sort:

The hotel had planted a few Lime and Lemon trees in the gardens and these had attracted the stunning Lime Butterfly ( Papilio demoleus ):

Larsen gives two different species and suggests that P demoleus is found in North Oman and P. demodocus in the south. That would make my one demoleus, but any comments would be welcome. They flash about at great speed, but land frequently and are easily approached.

Oman is a safe and really fascinating country – I would love to visit the south someday and perhaps find some of the 'Orange tips'.

[Padfield]

Hi Tony. Your Papilio is definitely demoleus to me. I only know these two species in the flesh from the Papiliorama butterfly house, but I have seen them there on several occasions. Demoleus has a spot missing in the forewing pd series (counting up from the base, it goes, 'big irregular spot, spot, spot, spot, missing spot, spot). Strangely, both the individuals in Larsen have the missing spot (i.e., it's not missing), so it is not at all obvious what the diagnostic difference is. Yours is missing the spot and looks in all ways like demoleus to me.

£5 for a 330ml bottle.

Guy

[Tony Moore]

£5 for a 330ml bottle.

Guy, my sentiments entirely - I had three bottles in 10 days - my total alcohol consumption - very boring...

Thank you for your demoleus/demodocus explanation. Larsen also mentions the usually larger red hindwing spot on demoleus, which is another indicator in my example.

Tony.