Pins and Needles 13: Butterflies of Bukit Cahaya

Hey ya'll~

I RODE MY FIRST BIKE TODAY!!! Yep, that's right, Cyren Wong has never before ridden a bike (want someone to blame, I think I can blame my father who never saw the merits of bike riding himself after getting into an accident on one some gajillion years before I was born) and today, thanks to the patience of Ray! I finally did! But I ain't gonna hog anymore bike-time here... you can read all about that in today's Ray Says segment (ps. there's a really REALLY nice picture of me in there! :P) Anyway, so if I am going to be explicitly honest, bike-riding was just one part of my agenda to take Ray to Bukit Cahaya earlier today (oops, the Cat's out of the bag!) ... or, what I actually mean to say is, I knew that Ray wanted to do something 'adventurous' and 'exciting' that would also give us some 'excercise' - because really, we've been pretty much doing nothing but cooping up in the room all day - and so I figured, that since its his last day of holidays, well why not take him to do something that he likes. Besides,  I could use some exercise anyway? Thing is, I also wanted to go someplace where I too can have my fun, and really, what could be more fun for an amateur lepidopterist as myself than to go somewhere where I can collect specimens for my own personal butterfly collection!!! So rather than just go off to some park somewhere to bike, it was settled, and Bukit Cahaya was the ultimate location.

As you can see, I wasn't so far off wrong... there were tons of butterflies there that day - mostly nympalidae, of which the peacock pansy (junonia almana) was the most abundant - and I did manage to catch my fair share of them (just 1 specimen per species... no need to be greedy!) before the park ranger came up to me to inspect my catch before telling me that there will be no more catching of the butterflies that day. I guess he was afraid I  might have netted some rare or endangered species but I can tell you (as I would have told him, had he asked) that the most 'exotic' of butterflies I saw during the entire trip was yet another butterfly of the nympahlid family, the Malayan Lacewing (cethosia biblis) which, I'm not sure can be considered rare or not in these parts as they seem to be fairly abundant (too much even!) in Malaysian butterfly farms. Either way I was not going to show any disrespect to the ranger, nor to the establishment of the park so I prompty desisted with a cheery smile and an apology. For that, I was even allowed to keep my already-caught specimens.

As you can see I'm still trying out this new spreading board technique of mine... following some comments by fellow lepidopterist how my style of spreading is to be considered 'Victorian' and therefore, highly outdated... but I don't know... it's not working out so well for me. I can see why the 'Victorians' chose their particular spreading style though, the butterflies wings look a lot more relaxed and more 'natural' overall. I sort of like it... but oh well, I don't suppose any of these butterflies are rare enough as to be a complete 'waste' of a specimen should the spreading technique fail... and small butterflies are such a nuisance to spread really... compared to other insects and their larger brethren... so many things to be careful for.... first its the scales rubbing off, next its their wings tearing.... really! I don't know why I take pleasure in taxing myself so. Anyway, its back to work for me too starting next week, but I'll try my best to update as often as I can.

Of all the adventures we have together, being with you is the best.