Hong Kong butterfly population still robust, but crush of visitors to countryside could damage habitats, group warns

In its annual survey, Green Power found 162 different species of butterfly, with 44 classified as ‘rare’ or ‘very rare’

But crowds in country parks littering, destroying plant cover and straying from trails to find ‘photo-worthy spots’ are not helping matters

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A ‘very rare’ Spotted Rustic butterfly found in Lung Kwu Tan. A local group has found Hong Kong’s butterfly population remains robust. Photo: Green Power

Published: 6:54pm, 22 Sep 2021Updated: 11:08pm, 22 Sep 2021

A local green group has found that Hong Kong remains home to a diverse array of butterfly species, but a rise in visitors to the countryside during the coronavirus pandemic has prompted it to warn against “bad behaviour” around spots popular with the winged insects.

In its annual survey of the city’s butterflies, conducted between June of 2020 and May of this year, the group Green Power found 162 different species of the insect in nine hotspots, representing 60 per cent of the species previously recorded in Hong Kong. Among the species found, 44 were listed as “rare” or “very rare” by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

“Our surveys start around springtime and stretch throughout the summer, and last year, this happened to be the worst stretch of the pandemic in the city,” said Lo Wai-fung, the group’s senior education and conservation officer.

That meant the number of days the group and its volunteers could spend conducting surveys was cut roughly in half, Lo said.

“But even so, we still managed to count up to 60 per cent of Hong Kong’s recorded species, a number we still consider quite high,” he added.

The previous annual survey had found 183 species across 11 hotspots, but that year the group had 360 volunteers at its disposal, compared to just 250 this time around.

One notable butterfly found during this year’s survey was the Neptis nata, commonly known as the Burmese Sailer, which was only recently recognised as a local species by the conservation department, Lo said. It was recorded for the first time in Luk Keng, in the city’s North district, but surveyors had since spotted it in a few other locations, which suggested the population was growing.