200 - A Milestone

200 - A Milestone
Butterflies of Singapore Blog

200 - Not quite yet the number of Spartans who made history under King Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae. But that's the number of articles on this blog with this post, chugging along with at least an article a week, sometimes more, for the past three years.

It is now 11 Nov 2010, and this blog has soldiered on since it was set up on 16 Aug 2007 and the first articles on our beloved butterflies started on 5 Nov 2007. Since then, we have produced articles of interest about butterflies, ranging from behaviour and ecology, early stages, conservation, photography, travelogues and so on. In a manner of speaking, we can now celebrate our third anniversary of this Butterflies of Singapore Blog.

I would like to thank my fellow members at ButterflyCircle, many of whom had written articles for this blog, or have been willing to share their photographic works of butterflies. In particular, my sincere thanks to Horace Tan, who has written some of the most engaging and informative articles on the early stages of Singapore's butterflies available to date - complete from egg to eclosion and many with amazing video clips of the butterflies' moulting, pupation and eclosion.

We hope that this blog will be able to continue in the years to come as we endeavour to share and learn more about our beloved Flying Jewels in Singapore and beyond our shores. This is our contribution to biodiversity conservation and education in Singapore and for all and sundry to learn and enjoy the articles.

There have been a couple of unkind individuals who have criticised and trivialised the articles and even the recent Field Guide that was a culmination of years of effort and the combined work of many ButterflyCircle members. To these unhappy individuals, we can only express our sympathy, as it merely reflects their childish behaviour and unfortunate upbringing that they seek only to destroy the work that others have done. We would urge them to make peace with whatever unhappiness that they have in their lives, and channel their energies to do their own part in promoting the appreciation of butterflies and spend their time more productively, instead of making unsavoury remarks from the sidelines - which only undermines their own credibility and wins them no respect from the nature community in Singapore.

We are, however, encouraged by the growing membership in ButterflyCircle, and with more mature and sincere individuals who are able to contribute productively in this hobby and past-time pursuit that has yielded happy times and pleasant memories out in the field together.

We also wish to thank all the guests and readers of this blog, most of whom had left complimentary comments and cheery well-wishes on the blog's articles. We are encouraged and happy to know that our efforts are not in vain, as there are many readers from Singapore and all over the world who appreciate, and have benefited from our work.

With that, please join us in the journey ahead, as we continue to do our work in butterfly conservation, learning and sharing on this blog. For our work is never finished and there are more and more things to learn in the years to come. Happy 3rd Birthday to the Butterflies of Singapore Blog!

Text and Photos by Khew SK