We see them flutter by the dozen, but we sometimes hardly take notice: our backyard butterflies. The common species that populate our gardens, our parks and our meadows. But having captured a number of them over the past summer weeks and when reviewing my photos, I was (again) struck by their exceptional beauty.
A razor-sharp photo of the underside of a fresh Painted lady (Vanessa cardui) against a good backdrop had been on my Dutch bucket list, until now!
Painted lady (Vanessa cardui)
The above photo was taken near Arnhem in the east of the country, where I also found this nice Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria), shot with a little fill-in flash:
Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria)
Also at the same location, the Comma (Polygonia c-album) was cooperating nicely and showing its camouflaged underside:
Comma (Polygonia c-album)
The area proved to be exceptionally rich as three more backyard butterflies posed for me. The first was the Large skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus), the second the Meadown brown (Maniola jurtina) and the third a male Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni):
Large skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina)Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)
Only yesterday I spotted this female Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) waiting for the first glimpse of the sun:
Common blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Home sweet home. We have some nice flowers in the neighbourhood that attract considerable numbers of Red admirals (Vanessa atalanta). Again, I used a flash to bring out the stunning blue scales in this fresh specimen:
Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Last but not least, literally on the same bush as the Red Admiral was a fresh Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae). Look at that stunning and usually overlooked blue line near the hindwing costa. Fantastic!
Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
I hope you enjoyed summer as much as I did, and will merit our backyard butterflies with a closer look next time you spot one. Happy holidays for all!
The final morning yields the best results. Peak end rules!
Ok, let’s be done with the whining about the crowds from Part I and focus on the fun part: the butterflies.
In the second half of my stay, I cycled around the park some more, widely expanding my range, but eventually, the best pictures were taken on the now familiar grounds of the local lodge. There, I spotted Lethe vindhya:
Lethe vindhya
The lodge owner predicted that on Saturday, the crowds would have decreased substantially and by Sunday, my last half-day in the field, the crowds would largely be gone. He was absolutely right. For me, that meant peak-end rule: I took some of the best images in the final few hours I had left.
Where the blues had been largely absent from the road due to the heavy traffic, now they started to reappear such as Nacaduba pactolus:
Nacaduba pactolus
I returned to the puddle-party-spot and that was a good decision, as I could now take some eye-level pictures of the swallowtails and whites, such as a male Catopsilia pomona:
Catopsilia pomona
My attention however was drawn immediately to a large black butterfly. Prior to my holiday I had studied and memorized all butterfly species for Cat Tien NP with special focus on potential lifers, and I recognized this one immediately: Papilio mahadeva! It was on my bucket list for this trip, in mint condition and right in front of me:
Papilio mahadeva
From a distance, it looks plain black, but once you zoom in and light up the image a bit, you can see an array of gold-coloured scales. What a beauty!
Papilio mahadeva
With a bit of luck, I captured it in flight just as the angle of the sun emphasized the golden colour.
Papilio mahadeva
A puddle party started to form with Hebomoia glaucippe in the front against a backdrop of Graphium aristeus, Graphium doson, Graphium eurypylus and Graphium megarus:
Puddle party
Later, one of the few remaining cyclists passed by and stirred the puddle party. At first I was annoyed but when I looked back at my screen, this image was actually quite nice and “artful” with Graphium aristeus (center) and Graphium agamemnon (left) taking off while Graphium antiphates in the background cannot be bothered:
Puddle party chaos
Once the butterflies had settled again, I was able to fire away for real and bagged some really nice lowlevel images in quick succession:
Graphium agamemnonGraphium doson (front) and Graphium eurypylus (back)Graphium sarpedon
Number 1 on my bucket list was Graphium antiphates. I had seen it practically every single day, but had not succeeded in taking the image that I wanted. Until virtually the final hour of my stay:
Graphium antiphates
All in all, it was a challenging week but I am very pleased with the results. I recorded 130 species and added over 40 lifers to my grand total. This was also my third visit to Vietnam and probably, but not definitely and decisively the final farewell. Although, I must say, in the north of the country different species lure in the forests waiting to be photographed (by me ?).
My wife and I had visited Cat Tien NP in February 2023 and enjoyed the solitude, the biking and hiking and the friendly staff. We stayed at wonderful Green Hope Lodge where the owner said: “If you love butterflies, come back in April”. That’s something I kept in mind.
I found an online scientific article that stated that the annual peak in butterfly species occurred around early May, just when the dry season transitions to the wet season. I researched the internet and found some travel blogs from around that time, showing massive amounts of butterflies puddling on the river shores. I just had to see that for myself, so I booked a 10-day visit to Cat Tien NP.
After a long flight and a four-hour drive, I finally arrived in Green Hope Lodge. The welcome was just as warm as two years ago, but then the manager announced: “The annual marathon takes place today”. At first I thought he was kidding. Who runs a marathon in 35 degrees heat and 95% humidity in a tropical rainforest? Well, the Vietnamese do. So, when I had crossed the river in a crowded ferry and arrived in the park, there was no solitute at all. There were runners everywhere, support staff, loud music, hawkers stalls and crowds, crowds and more crowds. Just what you hope to see after a 24-hour journey from the other side of the world: the perfect conditions for butterfly watching. Not.
You should know that the layout of Cat Tien NP is very simple. You cross the river by ferry and either you take a road to the left, or a road to the right. No more options exist except for a very few sidetracks in the botanical garden and the grounds of the only lodge inside the park. That’s where I headed to escape the crowds and make the most of the day.
It was a good choice as I saw Lethe minerva nibble on some fallen figs before it flew into the undergrowth where I could take its picture:
Lethe minerva
A few hundred meters down the road was a very, very crowded hawker stall. It also happened to have the only substantial puddle party just next to the tarmac where I put the yellow arrow:
Busy hawker stall
Of course, the locals were just as attracted to the beauty of the butterflies as I was. Can you blame a child chasing butterflies and trampling the unlucky slow butterfly? I took this shot sitting on one of the plastic chairs in the shade, waiting for my chance and a moment of quiet:
The locals have a go at it
Despite the crowds, the passing cyclists and the constant disturbance, I managed to grab a few good lowlevel shots. Very common at puddle parties were Appias paulina, Cepora nerissa and Ixias pyrene:
Appias paulinaCepora nerissaIxias pyrene
The best catch was the sword-tailed swallowtail Graphium aristeus. It was also very common at puddle parties, sometimes by the dozen.
Graphium aristeus
Back at the lodge, the manager had some more challenging news. North and South Vietnam had reunited exactly fifty years ago and the Vietnamese had gotten four days off. Apparently, some influencers had published some Tiktok videos or so from the park, so after the marathon, the park got invaded by Ho Chi Minh City hipsters in droves. I could hardly blame them for being tourists in their own country, but boy, they did make it difficult to do some proper butterfly watching. The moment I spotted a butterfly on the ground usually coincided with my ears picking up the sound of approaching youngsters. I found it quite stressful. Also, where the main road is normally a place to spot Lycaenidae on animal dung, there was hardly a butterfly to be seen as they were constantly disturbed.
So I withdrew to the sidetracks as much as possible, woke even earlier than planned to escape the crowds, but there was a limit to that. This was the ferry across the river at 7:24 am….
Busy early morning ferry
Anyway, perseverance paid off and I photographed a male Euploea mulciber quite nicely:
Euploea mulciber
I cycled 9 kilometers to the start of the trail to the Crocodile Lake where some nice puddling was taking place. The big fellow in the middle is Prioneris philomene surrounded by Cepora nerissa, Cepora iudith, Appias paulina, Graphium antiphates (lower right), Graphium doson (upper left) and Hemomoia glaucippe (upper right)
Puddle party
On the park benches, many Euploea species gathered with Euploea tulliolus being the most common:
Euploea tulliolus
The catch of the day was beautiful Vagrans egista:
Vagrans egista
I cycled back and decided to take a sidetrack again on the grounds of the lodge, which was good decision as I found Miletus chinensis and a male Lexias albopunctata:
Miletus chinensisLexias albopunctata
Let me finish with one of the species that were on my bucket list for this trip and that I managed to photograph at the start of Crocodile Lake Trail: Charaxes solon in mint condition:
Charaxes solon
Stay tuned for the second part of this series. Will the crowds overwhelm me or will I be able to finally get the shots I hoped for?
Lake Mburo NP has some nice butterflies in store before we head home
All good things come to an end and this was also the case for our brilliant holiday in Uganda, but not before we enjoyed one last national park: Lake Mburo in the south. It consists mostly of savannah and scrub-bush and was pretty dry after the rains had stopped.
When we entered the park, the ditch next to the dusty road was still humid though and was full of puddle parties. Most common was Azanus natalensis:
Aazanus natalensis
One of the many new species for me was large Belenois thysa in the middle of a crowd of whitish Catopsilia florella, blackish Belenois creona severina and veined Belenois crawshayi:
Belenois thysa
At the end of the day, close to our lodge, we discovered a group of six Papilio demodocus settling for the night:
Papilio demodocus
I felt already pretty excited and hopeful about Lake Mburo NP considering the massive amounts of butterflies that we had encountered just by driving from the park entrance to our lodge.
The next day, when my wife and I were climbing the stairs to our room, something large was circling over our head. It turned out to be Papilio rex mimeticus. As it continued to circle, I had time to switch my camera to a high shutter speed and start blasting away:
Papilio rex mimeticus
On the road in front of our lodge was a little muddy patch where Charaxes baumanni was enjoying itself:
Charaxes baumanni
The rest of our day was spent watching giraffes, buffaloes, hippos, antilopes and birds. One of the highlights of our stay was an early-morning walking safari where we sneaked in between a crowd of twenty giraffes, an amazing experience.
On our last morning before departure to the airport, this magnificent country had a farewell present in store on a rock right outside our door. Deudorix antalus was catching the morning sun:
Deudorix antalus
All butterfly things considered, this trip was a huge success. I recorded 275 species in three weeks, a record number for what was “an ordinary holiday” instead of a specialized butterfly tour. We also enjoyed Ugandan hospitality, the stunning scenery and our lovely driver-guide David. We hope to return!
Red admiral 