Night Walk At Upper Seletar Reservoir (08 Jan 2016)

It has been a while that I last been to Upper Seletar Reservoir and so I decided to go there for a walk. The place was very dry and it was probably due to the hot weather for the past few days. Here's a photograph of a Stick Insect which I have not come across for a long while. It is good to still see them in the wild.

For this trip, I am also testing out a new flash diffuser setup that I have DIY. The photographs taken on this trip were using this setup.

The first beetle for the trip was a large Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis). It was a challenge photographing it as it was very windy and the leaf which the beetle was on was swaying vigorously in the strong wind.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this Leaf Beetle (Hemipyxis semiviridis) on a leaf by the road side leading to the trail that I am going on.

Not much action after the Leaf Beetle and hence this small 5 mm Darkling Beetle on a dead tree branch became a welcomed sight.

Finally at the start of the trail was a Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) found on a badly eaten leaf.

There were a few fallen tree branches along the trail and on one of the tree branches, I was glad to find this lovely patterned Fungus Beetle.

Further down the trail there was a fallen tree just slightly overhead, spanning across the path. On it was a first-time-encountered Click Beetle.

Near to the Click Beetle was a small shiny Darkling Beetle.

Next the Darkling Beetle was a first-time-encountered Ambrosia Beetle, identified by the pattern of its rear end.

There were not many critters, let alone beetles, encountered throughout the trip. I was glad to find a small colony of the commonly encountered Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

On a nearby tree was a 8 mm Darkling Beetle.

I was rather puzzled as to why I didn't find any of the commonly encountered Adoretus compressus or Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle, until this Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) was encountered.

I was almost at the end of the trail when I encountered this 10 mm Darkling Beetle, hiding in a crevice of a large tree.

A stone's throw away was another Darkling Beetle which was slightly deformed.

Coming to a tree near to the end of my trip, I was happy to be able to find this small 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

On the same tree was a pair of small 2 mm Darkling Beetles.

The trip was reasonably fruitful, especially given that I found two first-time-encountered beetles. I am also glad to be able to test out my DIY flash diffuser. From the look of the photographs, there will still be a bit of tweaking needed.