Butterfly Watching ( L'observation des papillons )
Hot Spots for butterfly watching at Sha Lo Wan :
Sha Lo Wan, which is situated at northwest of Lantau Island, is just next to the Hong Kong International Airport. Sha Lo Wan is a small fishing village, in which there are many abandoned farmlands. Now it becomes a popular site for watching numerous species of butterflies, including Swallowtails, Whites, Yellows and Sulphurs. You can either choose to walk there from Tung Chung, which takes you about 15 minutes to reach Sha Lo Wan, costing about $20 each person in a single trip.
There are two piers ( new and old ) at Sha Lo Wan. I would suggest you landing on the new pier. After so, you can walk toward the small village along a small footpath. Along the path you can already see some butterflies around, and I am quite sure you can spot Rustic ( Cupha erymanthis ), which is almost the most frequently encountered butterfly species in Hong Kong. Rustic are abundant, and not flying very well. But if you are asking for their photos from butterfly enthusiasts, you may be amazed that most people even do not have one picture of this kind of butterfly! This is because Rustic does not like to rest and take in nectar from flowers. Instead they like to spend most of the time flying and dancing around; besides, Rustic can be encountered so easily that most people do not consider them precious and thus spend less time on them.
After walking for 300-400m, you will discover there is a brood on the left, which is full of flowers of Lantana and other plants. This is where various Swallowtails, Whites, Yellows and Sulphurs gather. Commonly seen Whites, Yellows and Sulphurs gather. Commonly seen Whites, Yellows and Sulphurs include the sexually dimorphic Yellow Orange Tip ( Ixias pyrene ), huge Great Orange Tip ( Hebomoia glaucippe ), and Common Gull ( Cepora nerissa ) that flies slowly. There are also ample species of Swallowtails, including Common Mormon ( Papilio polytes ), Red Helen ( Papilio helenus ), Great Mormon ( Papilio memnon ), Lime Butterfly ( Papilio demoleus ), Paris Peacock ( Papilio bianor ), Tailed Green Jay ( Graphium agamemnon ), Common Bluebottle ( Graphium sarpedon ) and Common Mine ( Chilasa clytia ). If you are lucky enough, you may even spot a rare species in Hong Kong – Swellowtail ( Papilio xuthus ). Actually you can really find a large number of Tigers here, and even the very rare Dark Blue Tiger ( Tirumala septentrionis ) has been discovered here for the first time this year. Continue the walk for ten more minutes you will reach Sha Lo Wan Village. Here when you turn right and walk for about 100m, you can see a path pointing to the beach. On both sides of the path are all abandoned farmlands, which are full of attractive plants to butterflies. The two sides of the path are open areas, favours much to taking pictures of the butterflies. There is a small stall near the beach selling some snacks and beverages. When you turn right after leaving the stall, you will find yourself returning to the road leading into the village. The entire route is just a circle.
Sha Lo Wan is a typical village of high ecological value. However, due to the current policy of environmental protection, there are always conflicts and contradictions between the villagers and government in sharing the ecological resources. One time when I was taking photos of the butterflies in the nearby Tai Ho, I was even heavily scolded by a villager who claimed that he hated environmental protection much. Thus, if you like to take photos of wildlife in Sha Lo Wan, when asked what you are doing by a villager, do not tell them you are taking photos of animals and plants. Some of them may fear that you could discover some new species there. It may be better to tell them that you are photographing the great scenery there to evade any troubles.
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