Beetle@SG Website


Please check out my website Beetles@SG for identification of beetles found in Singapore http://davidmoh1313.wix.com/beetlesg

Saturday 16 August 2014

Night Walk At Lower Pierce Reservoir (15 Aug 2014)

It has been raining the entire day until late afternoon when the sun finally peeked through the clouds. With the wet weather in mind, my friend and I decided to go to either Venus Drive or Lower Pierce Reservoir for our night macro shoot. We took the risk of going to Lower Pierce Reservoir even though the chances of finding beetles after a whole day of rain at the place would be low compared to Venus Drive.

The purpose of the trip was multiple fold, first it was to test out my camera as I just collected it back from the Sony Service Centre. Secondly, it was to test out the Sony F43M external flash and TAMRON 60mm Macro Lens that I bought just a week ago. And lastly, it was to test out my DIY illuminating light made from a cup noodle container.


The trip started from Casuarina Road after a not so fantastic wanton-noodle dinner at an eatery there. We started to walk along the Old Upper Thomas Road and it was pretty slow moving as there were very few insects found, let alone finding beetles. While we were walking down the road, I was wondering if we had made a mistake in choosing Lower Pierce Reservoir.

I am glad that after walking for about 10 minutes, we finally found a beetle even though it may be a commonly encountered male Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).


Moving further down was another Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) which has a different coloration and pattern. I believed this to be a female Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle. This is a common beetle and I have not noticed the large round eyes until now.


Near to the Chafer Beetle was a Fungus Beetle, hiding at the base of a tree.


We walked for another while without encountering any beetles until we came to a plant with some lovely looking red and pink flowers. Upon looking closer, I was glad to find this first-time-encountered hairy Chafer Beetle.


A stone's throw from the first-time-encountered Chafer Beetle was another Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).


It seemed interesting that the beetles that we encountered so far were Chafer Beetles, until this Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) was found resting among some thick foliage.


Walking along the Old Upper Thomson Road seemed not too fruitful and so we decided to pick up our paces to Lower Pierce Reservoir. The first beetle that greeted us there was a Chafer Beetle (Anomala albopilosa) that I seldom come across in my past trips. More Chafer Beetles to come?


The location that we went were full of this Darkling Beetles and they can be seen on literally every fallen log that we came across at the place.


As we walked along the low bushes, another Chafer Beetle was found.


Moving further into the bushes, I found this jittery Fungus Beetle that moved nervously up and down a large leaf.


Moving along, we were surprised to find a number of Tiger Beetles (Cicindela aurulenta) resting in the low bushes. This reminded us of the crashed Tiger Beetle colony at Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West.


Hiding in a plant with some large leaves, this first-time-encountered Click Beetle remained motionless for us to photograph to our hearts' contend.


We finally reached the area where there are many fallen logs. On these logs there were a number of this type of Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi).


On the same log with the Catascopus dalbertisi Ground Beetle was this Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula). Interestingly there were only a few of this beetle, as compared to previous visits where there were easily a few tens of them.


Together with the Fungus Beetles and Ground Beetles were many of this small 10 mm Darkling Beetles.


Equally numerous were this type of Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).


Moving around the place, I noticed a tiny 3 mm Darkling Beetle among all the bigger 10 mm Darkling Beetles.


On one of the logs were several of this lovely colored beetle larvae.


On the same log was this well camouflage Weevil Beetle. From the wetness of the body of this beetle, you can see that it rained pretty heavy a short while ago.


On another log was this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis). This one was particularly skittish and quickly moved into some crevices to hide. Noticed that this beetle was also wet from the rain.


Time passes quickly and it was time for us to leave. At the toilet where we cleaned up, I found this first-time-encountered Click Beetle. Fancy finding beetles in the toilet, they must have been attracted by the florescent light in the toilet.


Near to the Click Beetle was another first-time-encountered beetle that looked very much like a cross between a Click Beetle and a Firefly Beetle.


This trip was a fruitful one despite the slow start. It was interesting to find so many different Chafer Beetles on one trip, and to be able to find first-time-encountered beetles, especially in the toilet. At the same time, the testing of the camera and lighting also turned out well. This is a good trip indeed.

No comments:

Post a Comment