Mud Puddling

Identification:

Left - Lethe europa malaya, bamboo tree brown.

Right - Polyura agraria, Anomalous Nawab.

It has been quite a while since I had a safari that I enjoyed, as pickings have been very slim during this wet season. I really don't remember it being this bad a year ago, but it was about this time a year ago that my Olympus died, so maybe the worst was still to come. But today, what a session, I had a great time.

I spotted a butterfly on the path ahead, mud puddling. This is when a butterfly takes on nutrients from the muddy ground. The beauty of mud puddling is that the butterflies are much more tolerant of blippers, being more concerned with drinking than safety. Still, I took no chances and got down and dirty - very dirty in fact.

No sooner had I got in position and started shooting, when more butterflies arrived to mud puddle. At one stage I had four different species all feeding together - oh joy. I chose this image, as I managed to get two glorious butterflies in the focal plane and they were both butterflies that I had not seen before.

What was interesting (to me) was as I approached closer, the one on the right started shuffling its rear wings. I have seen hairstreak butterflies do this, so my first hour of searching was wasted, as it was no relation at all.

The rest of my day will be spent Googling to find an ID, but I didn't want to hold up my blip just for that. Hope you enjoy this image as much as I did capturing it. Now to switch on the washing machine.

Dave