Daggar-Buner

Daggar is an important town and district head quarter of District Buner, having a population of over twenty five thousand. Daggar was under the heavy army operation against militants a few days ago, which forced almost the entire population to flee the town. They migrate to other districts of the province, particularly Swabi and Mardan. Now the town is under army control, but search operation is still continue and probably people will not ready for months to go back to their homes. Here are a few pictures of Daggar town I took last year in May. The first two pictures were taken in the evening while the last two in morning, so I had to re-expose them for a better view.

A view of Daggar Town, Buner from the top of mountain

Pictures taken near District Head Quarter Hospital Daggar Buner

Refugee Camp Shahmansoor Swabi

Yesterday I spent an hour in refugee camp Shahmansoor Township Swabi. This camp is established to accommodate a minor portion of the war against terror effectees from District Swat and Buner. Though every individual of district Swabi is trying to help their refugee brothers, but still they are living a very miserable life. Lack of balance diet, water and unavailability of basic health facilities are some major problems. On the other hand raising temperature is also a great problem, as the people of Swat and Buner are not used to such high temperature. The temperature will raised to about 47-48C° by mid June. However this is like a celebration for our politicians who come to the camps to conduct photo sessions for Newspapers. Generally they give nothing to the refugees, however spent a lot of government resources on these visits.

View of tents at the Shahmansoor camp (Swabi)

A water point

People waiting for their turn to make National ID cards

A view of medical camp

People waiting at a food distribution point

Ant Lion

Ant lions (Antlions) are a family of insects in the order Neuroptera, classified as Myrmeleontidae. Ant lions are named for the predatory nature of the larvae (called doodlebug) which trap ants and other small insects in pits dug into the ground.

Ant Lion Pictures

Plain Tiger Butterfly Pupa

When the caterpillars of Plain Tiger or African Monarch (Danaus chrysippus) mature, they stop eating and leave the host plant in search of a safer place to pupate. However sometime they even pupate on the host plant. The plain tiger butterfly pupa (Chrysalis) hangs freely head-down from the support. It is widest at the 7th abdominal segment where it has a double chain of extremely tiny golden and black beads. There are tiny golden spots on the shoulders and wing-cases. In the start the pupa is of pale green color, then it turns pink and in the last it becomes brown and dries up. The pupa takes about 6-7 days to metamorphose into butterfly depending on temperature.

Plain Tiger Butterfly Pupa

Green Crab Spider

The Green  Crab Spider (Thomisus spectabilis) is a species of crab spiders belong to family Thomisidae. They are called crab spiders because they resemble crabs. Like crabs they can also move sideways or backward. Crab spiders do not weave webs to catch their prey. Generally they hide on flowers or branches to catch insects. Crab spider is also known as flower spider or flower crab spider.

Green Crab Spider Pictures

Hoverflies Mating

Hoverflies (Flower flies) Mating Pictures

Bumble bee

A bumblebee (or bumble bee) is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species of bumblebees. Bumblebees are social insects that live in colonies. Bumblebees are characterized by black and yellow body hairs, often in bands. However, some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be entirely black. Bumblebees feed on nectar.

Bumble bee (Bombus)

Purple Shamrock-Oxalis Triangularis

Purple Shamrock (Oxalis triangularis or Oxalis regnellii), is a species of edible perennial plant in the Oxalidaceae family. It's grown as an ornamental plant for its beautiful purple colored leaves and pink colored flowers. It's also known as False Shamrock, Love Plant or Pink Wood Sorrel.

Purple Shamrock-Oxalis Triangularis

Overload

Overloading is common practice in public transport in Pakistan, which takes thousand of lives every year. Traffic police does not take any interest in correcting the system. Actually they perform their duties to collect a twenty rupees tip from the drivers and not to correct the traffic system. On the other hand our people don't realize that they are doing something wrong. To be honest we have a long way to go to be a civilized nation.

Overload Pictures

Plain Tiger Larvae

Plain Tiger Butterfly Larva (caterpillar) can be easily found on the host plants (milkweed). Its body has black and white bands with yellow dorsolateral spots. It has 3 pairs of long and black tentacle-like appendages. The bases of appendages turn red as the caterpillars become mature. The period required for larva to pupate is about 2 weeks.

Plain Tiger Butterfly Larvae (caterpillar) Pictures

Pre-pupa Caterpillar

Plain Tiger Butterfly Eggs

The plain tiger start its life from an egg (ova). The bullet-shaped eggs are laid on the underside of milkweed leaves. The plain tiger lays individual eggs (not in cluster) . The number of eggs varies from 1 to 3 or 4 eggs per leaf. The period required for the eggs to hatch is about 4-5 days. Here are pictures of plain tiger butterfly egg laid on Calotropis procera leaf.

Plain Tiger Butterfly Egg

Plain Tiger Butterfly-Danaus Chrysippus

The Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus) is a medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of about 70–88 mm. It belongs to the Danae subfamily of the brush footed butterflies, family Nymphalidae. It has black body with white spots. The wings has tawny color with black and white spots. They lay their eggs on milkweeds on which their larvae (caterpillars) feed and that is why they are generally known as Milkweed butterfly. The other common name is African Monarch.

Plain Tiger Butterfly-Danaus Chrysippus

Male

Male

Female

Female

Open Winged

Couple