Recent Excursions
I’ve been out and about a bit lately, and it turns out there are still plenty of things I haven’t seen before on the island.
On a recent trip down the airport road I ran into some mangrove buckeye caterpillars, feeding on mangroves, of course. I also went up a small stream that runs down from the Hope Estate area. Due to the mining there, the stream bed is covered in mud from the runoff.
I’ve also been scouting out nearby Mont O’Reilly. I don’t know of any trails that lead up there, so I’ve been testing some ravines as possible paths to the top. One of the first places I tried was on the side facing Grand Case, off Rue Millrum. There were a couple ravines, but they weren’t exactly easy going. I did find a lovely spot on the road where loads of butterflies congregate in the evening to feed and sun. One of them was an unfamiliar hairstreak. When trying to look it up, it didn’t seem to match any of the Caribbean species. A mystery!
Next, I made a couple more attempts, including one starting from La Savane. Again, I made a fair amount of progress up some ravines I found, but there definitely doesn’t seem to be an easy way up there.
