I don’t remember when I first saw them. But I wasn’t interested in them as a little kid. Yellow and White little petals that float and flutter past me were amusing though I had so many other interests in my mind, they were forgotten as soon as they disappeared from my sight.

However, in my first year in University, we had a field visit to Anawilundawa for zoology. On our visit we were given different animal groups to observe. We got butterflies. There, at Anawilundawa I was in a paradise of butterflies! Never had I seen such a variety of them or I probably didn’t pay enough attention before.

Great Orange tips, Crimson Rose were flying over our heads.  They were large butterflies and I first mistook them for birds. How silly of me! But it was the first time I paid so much attention to these amazing insects that flutter around us and that was a turning point for me. Little orange tip, small salmon Arab, common crow, common grass yellow, lemon emigrant, plain tiger and many more were swaying around us at much lower levels. That moment when I first saw all those butterflies flying, basking and perched at different levels, my heart and mind were strongly captivated by them. In a split second I was transformed to a butterfly lover from an average science student. It was indeed a moment of magic for me.

Within the few hours we spent at Anawilundawa, I learnt a great deal about butterflies. I observed them with much interest. When i looked closely, I could see that they had many different colours, different shapes in their wings and they were in various sizes too! I would look carefully for any butterfly that might come my way and remember its features. Then I’d frantically turn the pages of the butterfly guides we were provided with to try and identify what it was. Whenever we asked from our Assistant lecturers and lecturers who would generously teach us everything they knew about these wondrous creatures. Even our friends who knew well about butterflies and other animals and plants helped us with identification.

At the end of the day butterflies weren’t strangers to me anymore. It was as if I knew about them all along. I could look at many at a distance and observe and say what butterfly it was! I could help others identify butterflies as well. It wasn’t just the large or medium sized butterflies that captured my heart. My fondest observation from that field visit was when I found a tiny bush hopper (Ampittia dioscorides) on a glass blade. It was orange and beautiful. My friend said that this dainty little fellow might not be a butterfly. But I was positive it was! So we asked from our Assistant lecturer to be more sure of it and to our delight he could identify it even.

From Anawilundawa, a new butterfly lover returned to Colombo. My interest didn’t stop from that field visit. My friends would find me chasing after these flutter-bys ( as I would fondly call them) to see what they are doing. At University we would commonly come across Common crow and Common Jezebel. At home, I started seeing butterflies I’ve never seen before. Common leopard, Red Pierrot and many others visit our garden everyday. They bask under the Sun by about 10.00 a.m. Garden flowers become their food source. Some of them become food for the birds.

Then when we went on other field practicals to learn more about nature. Along the way, I’d keep my eyes wide open to look for them. We had the chance to see Sri Lankan Birdwing, Blue Mormon and Tailed Jay from among the large sized butterfly species. I still continue to look for these beautiful insects wherever I go. Seeing how passionate I was about them, my father gifted me some butterfly guides that have become prized possessions for me.

There is still so much to learn about these wonderful insects who pass different stages in their life cycle to achieve their fairy wings, who have so many dangers to pass through life, who are different in many ways, have different relationships with plants and animals and distribution. Sri Lanka is home to 254 butterfly species of which 26 are endemic. There are so many of them yet to observe!

Images Courtesy: Nipuni Wasana & Dinithi Hemachandra