A Rainforest In The Making (T3) !

Changi Airport T3 Departure Level

Our third outing was a dampener of sorts. Firstly we had to contend with the cloudy weather. Then there was the humidity. And finally the one that broke the camel’s back, the downpour!  

After the usual round of group photo-taking and a short introduction, we gingerly made our way into the butterfly enclosure. The already cloudy weather was turning for the worse.

 
Participants were able to walk around for about ten minutes before the rain came pouring down. Many people thought that this was some water sprinkling devices at work.

Almost all of us adjourned into the air-conditioned comfort of the T3 departure lounge. Of those, a few were seen admiring the Japanese Kois swimming in the rectangular pool while others chose to relax by sitting on well positioned chairs around the pool. One could really tell the die-hard butterfly enthusiasts from the rest of the crowd as witnessed by only a handful seen holding on to their umbrellas trying to spot butterflies in the heavy rain.

That was when one member remarked that the butterfly garden was now looking more like a rainforest. Someone interjected with a question ‘How many times have you walked into a forest in the rain?’. Not many were the replies that shot back. So this was really a good experience for them! Participants could literally see where butterflies went when it rained…echoing the lyrics from the song ‘A simple man’ by Lobo.

The rain did not last long. A ray of sunshine penetrated the netting and was now warming up the garden again. Participants continued their walk with gusto. The proverbial saying ‘Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining’ may be cliché but seemed to me at the time very appropriate indeed.

More photos from the walk :

1. Butterflies everywhere !

2. Butterflies (clockwise from top right) :Great Eggfly (male), Batik Lacewing, A pair of female Common Mormons, Great Mormon form butlerianus, Angle Castor and Lime Butterfly.

 

Butterflies seen at T3 Butterfly Garden

Angled Castor (Ariadne ariadne ariadne)* Autumn Leaf (Doleschallia bisaltide pratipa)*& Batik Lacewing (Cethosia biblis perakana)* Clipper (Parthenos sylvia lilacinus)* Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis) Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus) Common Palmfly (Elymnias hypermnestra agina) Common Rose (Pachliopta aristolochiae asteris) Common Sailor (Neptis hylas papaja) Dark Blue Tiger (Tirumala septentrionis septentrionis)* Great Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina jacintha) & bolina Great Mormon (Papilio memnon agenor) Leopard Lacewing (Cethosia cyane euanthes) Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus) Orange Emigrant (Catopsilia scylla cornelia) Tree Nymph (Idea leuconoe clara)*#

Keys
* species not found in Singapore
# Taiwan subspecies, Singapore subpecies is chersonesia
& Malaysian subspecies, Singapore subspecies is australis

Read the report from our previous butterfly walk at T3 here.