Gone Butterfly-catching

Hey guys!

Okay I'll admit, it's been like a really long while since I've had anything butterfly-related to blog about (the stuff about the other bugs are considered mostly filler) cause like I mean, this blog IS called Confessions of a Lepidopterist, NOT Confessions of an Entomologist, which means naturally that I should be focussing on insects of the butterfly species. Unfortunately though, I don't control Mother Nature and if She seeks to deprive me of my winged darlings for such a long period of time then I guess there's nothing a lowly human being like me can do about it... or is there! Today I went butterfly-catching! Okay now before some of you jump to heinous conclusions here about me catching butterflies to crush, kill and pin up on my little wall of fame, allow me to explain myself. Today I went butterfly-catching, that is to say I went out with a small-ish net and a plastic cup to DOCUMENT and PHOTOGRAPH the butterflies I find in an area.

Okay~ who do i remind you off....

Pokemon HG's bug catcher sprite. YEAH???? A bug catcher in every reality.

Anyway I wasn't very lucky today either. It seems even when I go out looking for them, butterflies still allude me. Oh sure, there were plenty of those common white ones and the tiny lycaenid butterflies, but I knew specifically what I was looking for and there seemed to be none of those today. Granted I was searching in university but then I thought, I was already meeting Jasmine and the rest for lunch there plus, I've seen one or two of said butterfly before so why not try my luck right? Anyway it wasn't until I was leaving that the tide finally changed. I saw one fluttering haphazardly near the carpark. Hohoho~ look whose luck finally sweetened up!

Tawny Coster (Acraea Terpsicore)

I've been looking for these butterflies for such a long time already, mainly with hopes of finding a female and collecting her eggs for breeding purposes (they feed on wild passiflora which are easy to raise) and although I did manage to find a specimen earlier today, it was, unfortunately, a male. Poor thing was missing an antenna too! 

Poor baby was distraught from the car -ride...But it's nothing a bit of sugar syrup won't cure I bet.

Anyway since he's a male and not the female I was hoping for, I guess I just took a few pictures and sketches of him and I will release him tomorrow! Quite a fighter he is too, to have survived this long without an antenna (I reckon it must be like having an inner ear problem in one ear!) On the other hand, most predators leave helicone butterflies alone anyway due to their poisonous blood! A beauty and a deadly one too! That's my boy!

some artistic shots for good measure.

Cause baby your're a firework!