This was our first time in Asia -the furthest east from the Greenwich Meridian that we had travelled before this was Cyprus - and we had little idea of what to expect when we flew out of Gatwick on the 9th of November on a bit of an adventure, but my fingers were crossed for some reasonable butterfly action. I knew that pretty much anything we did see would be new to us. After a long journey, we arrived at Manohar Airport around midday on Sunday 10th, got on our transfer bus, and reached our hotel late that afternoon. Little did we know, as we settled in for our first evening meal and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine before heading off to bed, that the following fortnight would bring us butterflies beyond our wildest dreams. It all started the following morning…
I had factored in two days of rest and relaxation on our arrival, so Monday and Tuesday were spent acclimatizing, recovering from jetlag, and staying local to our hotel. We had booked this holiday way back in January 2024 and my choice of hotel was based, as is often the case, on google earth searches of the surrounding area. It was a little way out from the nearest village and the local roads looked to be surrounded by some reasonable countryside, wilderness, and potential insect habitat. I had high hopes.
TAMBORIM (local)
We couldn’t have picked a better base! Early morning and late afternoon walks from our hotel produced a fabulous array of butterflies, many dragonflies and other insects, plus an excellent range of birds. The habitat was a mix of damp, waterlogged paddy fields, flower-rich roadside verges, scrub and treelines. We were also fortunate that the area between our hotel and the coast was military land belonging to the Indian Navy, and here were small patches of more mature trees and semi-natural areas from which butterflies spilled over onto the roadsides. Dragonflies were numerous and diverse, and there were many interesting birds to be seen.
Early morning out here appears to be the best time for Lepidoptery, and within minutes of stepping out of the hotel we encountered good numbers of butterflies including Common Crow, Glassy Tiger, Common Sailer, Crimson Rose and Grey Pansy.
We soon got into a routine of daily walks: some mornings we would head north from the hotel and then turn west towards the coast, other times we headed south towards Cavelossim. Every day turned up something new and our species list grew steadily over the fortnight. I was thrilled to find the Peacock Pansy on our second day, a real stunner! Blue Pansy, another beauty, showed up alongside the beach on day three, and Chocolate Pansy appeared on day four.
There were plenty of smaller butterflies on the wing too, including the rather lovely Common Pierrot, which was extremely numerous.
India has a rather large range of Blues, many very similar, presenting potential ID challenges for the Lepidopterist just dipping his toes into Asian butterflies, so I hope that I have correctly allocated these. I have relied heavily on the excellent tome “A Guide to the Butterflies of Western Ghats (India) by Milind Bhakare and Hemant Ogale.
Halfway through our stay, I had a heart-stopping moment of pure joy whilst walking back from the ATM in Cavelossim, as I spotted something very different by the roadside, a species that I never dreamt I would see in the flesh - the stunningly beautiful Common Silverline!
Amongst the Pierids were species such as Common Emigrant, Mottled Emigrant, Common Gull, and the Duracell-powered relentlessly flying Psyche, very reminiscent of our own Wood White in flight and behaviour.
The Skippers are still causing me headaches, so many similar darts to differentiate, but here are two easy ones:
Two Browns made themselves known to us most days, namely the Common Bush Brown and Common Evening Brown.
And here are a few more locals:
Part Two to follow, in which we leave behind the tranquil sanctuary of our hotel and take a crazy two-hour road trip inland, where paradise awaits…
