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Thalamalai
There is a small temple and a pond before the main temple where we saw a Zebra blue mud-puddling and an Evening brown
sitting quietly in the shade. After simple and delicious lunch which was served by the priests, we started towards the peak,
which is around half a Km and we could see many butterflies. I could see many Red Pierrots again which I have never seen
before in so many numbers. After climbing up the steps, we reached the temple and my attention was grabbed by another
beautiful butterfly with different patterns and as I observed carefully it was a Moth. Tired, we have taken a quick nap at the
top outside the temple, and we soon started getting down. Red Pierrots were wandering in good numbers still. Further down
I have seen a butterfly perfectly camouflaged on the rock and it was Malabar spotted flat which I am seeing for the first time.
My friend Anand drew my attention to a sparkling blue colour open wing which happened to be an Indigo Flash. Since it was
getting late and being only two people on the whole hill we started climbing down by 3.15 pm on a different route which is
exactly opposite to our route we used for climbing up. On the way we have seen again a few Monkey Puzzles, Red Pierrots, a
mating pair of common Jay and an Albatross. After two hour of climbing down, we finally reached the base point which was
exactly at the opposite side of our starting point. It was really a good experience. I think the place is les frequented by natu-
ralists and more visits by them can unearth many new species.
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
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