July

6 July

This morning when I walked out to my garden, everything was moist and the recent rain made the leaves shine. My neighbor, Lene, gave us a Mimosa Sensitive plant some time ago. I had never seen such an interesting plant before. It has delicate fern like leaves and when you touch them gently, they suddenly move to lie flat against the central stem. It is absolutely fascinating to watch, it moves so quickly, it seems more animal than plant. We called our plant Dave and he was happy on Tara’s windowsill for a while, growing taller and possibly not getting enough sunlight as he grew rather spindly.

Eventually he died but not before he had flowered, gorgeous little
fluff balls of pale purple, and seeded, and Dave Jr started life in the
same pot. I moved Dave Jr to the garden and he’s flourishing there,
growing beautifully and frequently flowering. This morning I saw
Dave Jr had a new resident sharing his pot. A fat Common Asian
Toad, looking rather large in the small pot. He peered out at me and hunkered down as I approached. His black markings looking just like little spectacles around his eyes.

The mournful, mooing sound of the Asiatic Painted frog fills the valley at night. They are so loud, I can hear them when I'm up on the hills overlooking the valley.

7 July

This morning the garden was visited by a shining copper winged
butterfly, a Common Palmfly, Elymnias hypermnestra, so new it was
still drying its wings out. One almost square white spot dotted the
center of its wings. It opened its wings briefly to reveal a deep shade of lilac ringed with small white spots.

Later, on my way to the South Lantau contour trail, I ran past what
looked like baked potatoes. My first thought was that someone had
dropped their potatoes on the trail but it was an absurd thought so I retraced my steps to take a closer look to discover that they were in fact mushrooms. One had split open butterfly like to reveal a copper brown dusted center. All the frequent rain is perfect for mushrooms.

Further along the trail, I see the flat ledges of another fungus, this
one striated with shades of grey, just like agate stone.

The insects are out in full force, a wasp was feasting on the head of a grasshopper, a striped spider crouched in a tree and an aggressive prey mantis guarded the center of the trail. Running up to the Buddhist monastery, I pass over a stone bridge with a rushing stream. I stop to look more closely at yet another floral
surprise of Lantau, an Adina pilulifera, Chinese buttonbush. This small plant has flowers of the palest yellow, densely packed with florets with overlong stamens, they look like tiny exploding stars.

11 July

Today Clio and I walked up to the waterfall with our cameras.
We passed by an immaculately tended vegetable garden,
divided up into neat beds of different vegetables which were
flourishing. Water filled the carefully dug trenches. The garden was
lined on one side by a row of fire flame bright Cannas. Their tall
upright spires ending in speckled yellow and orange flowers.

There’s an insect on one flower, in shades of black, white and grey, with wonderful tribal patterns on its back. A Chlorophorus macaumensis, it looks ready for battle, a clear warning to any predator.

Further on, bunches of green bananas are ripening on the tree. We
walk past the temple, through the village gateway and along the path leading through lush jungle to the waterfall. The water rushes down and between large granite boulders and we go to sit on one, next to a calm pool of water. It doesn’t take long to notice the dragonflies and damselflies that are zipping through the air to land on selected favourite resting spots. One is sapphire blue, Trithemis festiva, another is the Trithemis aurora, Crimson Marsh Glider. It is purple, pink and cherry red with iridescent, fuchsia eyes. The damselfly, Rhinocypha perforata, is striped with the brightest turquoise.

Listening to the falling water, sitting in the sunshine next to the
tranquil pool, watching the rainbow aerobatics of the dragonflies, an intense rush of happiness fills me.

Clio notices a small caterpillar on a leaf of a tree, overhanging the
stream. Another of nature's wonders, this tiny caterpillar has a huge
helmet, it looks like a small green football player. It's probably a type of Careini.

Another visitor to the waterfall is a stunning Potter wasp, apparently
harmless, it certainly looks dangerous with its Ferrari yellow and
black markings. It landed on a rock which had a trickle of water on it
and took a long drink.

12 July

Back on the South Lantau Contour trail a week later, I saw the baked potato mushrooms again but they had changed. Now they were ringed with frills of the brightest lemon yellow. Further on there was another toadstool mushroom covered in rough spikes. Probably 15cm tall, it had a startling white ring around its trunk.

15 July

The potato mushrooms have turned into brilliant splashes of yellow
on the forest floor. Some of them still have the brown potato top but they’re cracking open, revealing sunflower yellow underneath. It’s an utterly surprising transformation.

The waterfalls are still flowing strongly from the rains.

18 July

Today as I hiked up to Nam Shan I noticed an extremely plump beetle larvae among the leaf litter on the path. It was crawling along dragging its huge body. It’s the larvae of the rhino beetle, an
incredible creature with a dark brown head engulfed by crinkled skin which ends in large beige armor-like plates on its bulbous end. I gently picked it up with a leaf and left it safely out of harms way. In
Nam Shan, I noticed a tiny seedling growing in the thick grass. The
pale lime green contrasted with the darker green of the blades
of grass. The two large seedling leaves were cross sectioned by
two branches, covered in pinnate, compound leaves, so perfectly delicate.

Large woody toadstools hang like shelves at the base of a tree. Everything is shining from the recent rain.

A tiger-striped orange and black Colour Sargeant butterfly,
Athyma nefte, rested perfectly on a leaf, illuminated by a gleam
of sunlight that streamed through the foliage. Another glowing yellow butterfly flutters by so fast that I catch only a blur of yellow with my camera.

Further on, a dinner plate sized flower-like fruit pod has
opened its huge thick, lipstick-red petals to reveal pitch black shiny
seeds which hang onto the edges of the petals. It’s the fruit of a
Sterculia laneolata.

The Jackfruit tree is full of fruit growing directly on the trunk and
branches. They look like they’ve been stuck on like ornaments.

On my way home, I run up the village path, a small stream runs
parallel to the path. It’s a favourite home to dragonflies and frogs. On a stalk of a water plant is a dense clump of baby pink spherical
dragonfly eggs, attached just above the water line.