A-Z Challenge - Butterflies 'L'

L - Leopard Lacewing (Centhosia cyane)

This heleconline (long wing) butterfly is to be found in India, Southern China and Indochina.

Leopard Lacewing - male

The upperside is tawny, with its black forewing crossed by a broad white bar. A row of black dots, part of its defence mechanism, line the rear of the hind wing. The thorax is tawny brown.

Female Leopard Lacewing

The female has similar markings but the tawny colour of the male is replaced by pale greenish white and somewhat brownish on the upper fore wing.

The underside of this butterfly looks even more spectacular to me with its body white underneath,

Leopard Lacewing

Your guess is as good as mine as to whether it is male or female in this shot at the Butterfly Lodge at Oh Chin Huat farm in Singapore.

The Butterfly World at Preston Park in Eaglescliffe near my home has recently reopened after the winter. I shall have to check out whether they have a lacewing there.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Photo attributions:

• Leopard Lacewing male: by Greg Hume - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Leopard Lacewing female: by David Momaya, August 2006 at Jairampur, Arunchal Pradesh, India; upload 26 June 2007 - CC BY 2.5
• Leopard Lacewing (underside): at Oh Chin Huat farm, 1 August 2012; upload by russavia; by Erwin Soo from Singapore - CC BY SA 2.0

Preston Park

A-Z Challenge – ‘P’

Preston Hall and Park overlooks the River Tees at Eaglescliffe. The Preston Hall Museum and its surroundings in 100 acres of beautiful park land are currently undergoing a make-over as the result of winning a Heritage Lottery Grant.

 In addition to the winter gardens at the right, the museum houses displays of art, which normally includes Georges de la Tour’s famous Dice Players, armour and social history. (The Dice Players are on loan to the Shipley Art Gallery until 2012).

Exhibitions show visitors what life was like in the 1800s with craft workers in a typical local street of the1890s. The street includes the shop of John Walker from Stockton; Walker was the inventor of the safety match.

 Permanent attractions include and aviary, a wild fowl pond, riverside and woodland paths. The Butterfly World  contains hundreds of butterflies from around the world. When we visited this week many of the attractions were empty due to the make-over work. Meerkats are said to be recent arrivals.

You may ride on the Teesside Small Gauge Railway or take a trip on the river to Yarm and Stockton aboard the pleasure boat, the Teesside Princess.

The park is an ideal place to walk a dog. Other facilities include safe surface play area for children, crazy golf and a café.

There's also a safe surface play area for children and a cafe.

The walks by the river and the Quarry Wood Nature reserve are havens for wild life. [More about the quarry will follow under ‘Q’.]

 Grassy areas are perfect for picnics and if you have a piscatorial bent the banks of the Tees provide pleasant spots for plumbing its depths.