Morning Walk At Dairy Farm Nature Reserve (18 Dec 2013)

I am now on holiday in Cairns-Australia, enjoying the sun and nature at almost the same temperature as in Singapore, minus the humidity.

I am taking the opportunity of a free WIFI access on a cruise to do the update as Singtel has for some reasons messed up my data roaming access in Australia. Gave up calling from Australia to Singapore Singtel support as it only solved my data roaming for one day and the service stopped.

Anyway here is a trip that I have saved for rainy days, now taking it out to share with all who have been following my blog on a weekly basis. This is a morning trip to the Dairy Farm Nature Park.

The first beetle that came into view was this pair of Spiny Leaf Beetle (Dicladispa armigera) found at a wild bush area near to the carpark area.

The next critter that appear was this beetle larvae that is commonly seen on tree trunks.

The next beetle was a small 3 mm beetle commonly seen after rain.

Near to the small beetle was a Checkered Beetle that looked very much like an insect poo at a glance.

Moving along I came across this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus politus) resting on a broken palm leaf.

Coming to some newly felled trees, I found a number of beetles roaming about the tree trunks. On one of the tree trunks was this hyper active Checker Beetle which took a bit of my patience waiting for it to stop for some macro shots.

On another tree trunk was a metallic green Tiger Beetle. It is one of my favorite Tiger Beetles, but sadly I am still not ableto identify this Beetle.

Some more beetles on the fallen trees anf this time was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadrigutatus).

Moving further into a shaded part of the trail, a small 3 mm Click Beetle was found restIng on a leaf.

Coming to a rotting tree trunk, a Handsome Fungus Beetle was found clinging onto a bracket fungus.

Near by to the Handsome Fungus Beetle was another Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus tetraspilotus).

An interesting find for the day was this mating pair of Leaf Beetle (Callispa dimidiatipennis) underneath a blade of palm leaf.

Moving on to a big tree, I found several small 2-3 mm Fungus Beetles.

More Fungus Beetle (Beccariola coccinella) on the same tree.

Moving further into the trail, I found another of my favorite Leaf Beetle feeding on a leaf.

An interesting find further down was this Soldier Beetle (Crudosilis ruficollis).

Near to the Soldier Beetle was this lovely tiny 2 mm beetle.

Coming to a sandy area, a few Tiger Beetles (Cicindela aurulenta) were basking in found warm morning sun.

Moving back to a shaded area, a Net-winged Beetle (Dictyoptera aurora) was resting on a leaf. It is always exciting to see this brightly colored beetle.

A surprised find was this Chafer Beetle which are seldom seen in the day time.

The highlight of the trip was finding this first-time-encountered Tiger Beetle. Please pardon the poorly taken photograph as it was shot using my older camera which has much lower resolution.

The next beetle that appeared was a Fungus Beetle (Triplax rufipes).

Flying around the bushes was this Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus) which proofed to be a challenge to photograph due to its constant movements and hyper sensitivity to movements.

The last beetle that I encountered on this trip was a Darkling Beetle. It was a surprise as this type of beetle is usually encountered in the night, and more interestingly it was found on the wall of the Visitor Centre.

The  trip was interesting with the number of beetles found, especially the first-time-encountered Tiger Beetle.