Splendid one day at Knuckles Mountain Range, Sri Lanka

 

With the help of Athula, a butterfly enthusiast and a facebook friend, I managed to combine a vacation with a day filled with butterfly excitement at Knuckles Mountain Range—the closest natural forest to our holiday destination together with another of Atula's friend, Lahiru.

 

 

My excitement peaked when I first laid eyes on the Monkey Puzzle (Rathinda amor) at Pitawala Pathana in Riverston—the specific butterfly I had hoped to encounter in Sri Lanka. According to Athula, this particular species had not been observed in this section of the natural forest before. I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude as it unexpectedly appeared right before me. Holding my breath, I couldn't believe my eyes!

 

Subsequently Atula spotted another one further away from Pitawala.

Another target butterfly that I wanted to see was the Glad-eye Bushbrown(Mycalesis patnia), which among the numerous Bushbrowns I've encountered,  stands out as one of my favourites!

 

 

I was so delighted when Athula called out to me after discovering the Red Pierrot flying close to the grass in another part of the area. Several of them were gracefully fluttering about, and their distinct orange patches in flight made them easily distinguishable from other small butterfly species.  Simply love the Red Pierrot that I spent quite sometime chasing them!

 

 

Out of the 31 endemic butterflies in Sri Lanka, I have managed to see only 3 and got only record shots of the Sri Lanka Birdwing and Sri Lanka Tree Nymph  Both were seen high above and extremely difficult to photograph them.  I am uncertain of the ID of the other endemic, namely the Eurema ormistoni.

 Eurema ormistoni