November
2 November
Clio noticed a moth on our window and I ran to fetch my camera and went outside to admire it. An Emerald moth, such a beauty, looking like it would be right at home in the Emerald City in the Land of Oz.
There was another visitor on the window too. This one not as
ostentatious, a small, brown leaf of a moth. It fluttered as I looked at it and flew to settle on the window again, tucking its wings neatly into a little wedge. Even though it was a humbler brown, its wings were beautifully marked with two chocolate brown lines and edged with scallops.
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3 November
Even though it's often the butterflies that get all the glory and attention, the caterpillars on Lantau are often so fascinating that they really could take center stage.
Today Jono and I explored some trails below the reservoir. It’s a beautiful part of the island with the path meandering through rolling hills with glimpses of the sea.
Today it is raining, a light, gentle soaking mist, which is uncharacteristically cool, an effect of a passing typhoon out to sea. It changed our plans and we opted to go and warm up in Ngong Ping with a fortifying biryani for me and a cheesy pizza for Jono.
We ended our day with the contour trail that goes around the side of Lantau Peak instead of ascending up into the clouds and wind.
Near the monastery we saw some Lily Borer caterpillars, Brithys crini, happily munching on some plants along the path. They were black with striking white dots in an intricate pattern finishing off with a bright orange head. They were already looking nice and fat and well on their way to earning their wings.
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5 November
The fields of ginger are in full flower now, the chiffon white and gently yellow tinted flowers show their lovely faces all over the fields.
6 November
Today Kennis and I went for a walk in the evening. Our route led us past the beach and the sky was full of whirling Little egrets. They have set up a colony in the mangroves next to the beach where they go to roost at night. Different types of herons and egrets roost together. I love to watch them settling in for the night, they fly in and fuss around in the branches until they feel comfortable.
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7 November
Today while running along Olympic Trail, I came across a peaceful grassy meadow, full of bright sunshine. There were delicate little white Mile-a-minute flowers here and there and on these plants were a kaleidoscope of Blue-spotted Crow butterflies.
They were warming themselves, absolutely still, on the grass and then suddenly a cloud of them would swirl up into the bright air.
A wonderful aerodynamic display, as they looped and sped past each other, never colliding, flashes of deep midnight blue speckled with white. There were also flashes of bright orange of Common tiger butterflies, Danaus genutia, joining in the aerial display. One flew with me for a while as I ran until it veered off to the left and back to the meadow.
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14 November
The nights are cooling down with autumn well established now. The island has a restful, settling feel to it, getting ready for the short, chilly winter. We haven’t had rain for a while and the hills are brown and dry.
The grasses are in full seed now. When I go running, some of the grass is higher than my head and my face and arms get covered with little black seeds.
Another type of grass has larger seeds with an extremely efficient barb. Even a gentle brush against it will see my shorts full of seeds which have speared themselves in with their hooks.
Not much is flowering now but Aster baccharoides, a small white daisy type flower that lines the path. Pure white petals surround a dense cluster of cream and lilac flowers. Each individual bloom is in fact fifteen or more flowers.
I pass two buffalo with a calf in tow. The calf watches me wearily, it’s growing big now though still covered with a light brown furze and his little horns are sticking out like pigtails above his bat-like ears.
My palm tree has four fruit branches now, it looks like a butterfly. I wonder if it is making so many seeds in response to the pounding it got in Typhoon Mangkhut. The lower branch has ripe, bright red berries which the birds love.
Today Tara saw a female Koel sitting like a hunched-over old lady but what a beautiful tail she had. Long feathers perfectly striped in light and dark grey. She sat there for a while before taking flight to land in the tree across the yard causing some smaller birds to immediately catapult out, twittering about her rude arrival.
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16 November
The air is still full of the aerial acrobatics of the butterflies which quite often get underfoot as I run along, sometimes I have to leap and skip around them, afraid that I’ll trample them.
The termites are also marching in their disciplined lines along the forest floor. Today as I ran along South Lantau Contour trail, I stopped to admire the incredible architectural designs of red mud plastered on the trunk of a broad tree.
17 November
I noticed a little inconspicuous shrub on the side of the road, such a celebration of purple. A type of Asteraceae or Compositae, each flower head simply packed with delicate, star shaped flowers, encircling a dense center of forming buds.
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20 November
Tonight as I wheeled my bicycle up the garden steps, I saw another visitor to my garden. A large Hong Kong Whipping frog was clinging to the wall, silent and deathly still, she didn’t move a muscle as I took a photo.
Each toe ended in a rounded pad, perfect for suctioning against the wall.
21 November
Another stunning autumn day. I come across tiny slender columns of carefully constructed mud chimneys which rise up like tiny totem poles, made by earthworms.
On my way through Nam Shan, I pass a big buffalo munching on the grass in the sunshine, it's a good life.
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22 November
As I was weeding between the pebbles, I discovered another dramatic caterpillar, a Tussock Moth caterpillar, Lymantriidae. This one is covered in black bristles, black and white stripes and four cherry red bristles on its back. Only one feeler busily felt along as it scurried around.
Some other small caterpillars were munching busily on my rose bushes but instantly became “twigs” when they sensed me nearby. I moved them off my healthy bush which was full of flowers and set them on my other rose bush which had already been dined on by many a happy caterpillar for a few days already.
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26 November
Finally! Some rain! We’ve had two days of gentle cool rain and my garden is soaked and fresh again. The river water had stopped flowing in my garden hose and I had had to resort to watering my garden with bottles of water for some time.
Tara and I went for our Monday morning run and what a joy to hear the trickle of water flowing again. Lin Fa Shan is swathed in low clouds.
I notice a cluster of brown wing shaped seeds adorning a bush, the seeds of a Dioscorea. They glisten with rain water, each chocolate brown seed edged with black.
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