This is the first time that I been to Upper Seletar Reservoir in the night and I do not know what to expect. One thing about night walks is that you may be familiar with the place in the day, but everything are different when you go there in the night, and Upper Seletar Reservoir. The only road at the place was not too busy with occasional one or two cars passing the place. Here is a shot of the road. Pardon the quality of the photo as it was shot without tripod and flash.
Besides looking out for beetles, I was also having a look out for snakes on the side as my friend was interested in photographing snakes recently. Too bad he was not able to make it for this trip as I came across this interesting looking Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaethulla prasina). Why I find this particular snake interesting is that it has a relatively large scale over its eyes compared to all the Oriental Whip Snakes that I have previously photographed. When I was photographing the snake, I didn't realise that the eyes of the snake is also different. The eyes and the large "eye scale" make the snake looked rather strange.
The first beetle that I encountered was a Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus). As mentioned previously, I suspect that this is the female beetle because of the lack of the mottled coloration .
The next beetle was a Leaf Beetle and it was found on a creeper among a tall lalang grass patch.
While walking along the road leading to the reservoir, I chanced upon a relatively wild spot where I found this Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis) up on a tree.
On a tree nearby was a commonly encountered 5mm Darkling Beetle.
While looking around, I was glad to find a Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) on the trunk of a palm tree.
Walking around I found a large group of Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) munching on a low bush. This is is the same type of Chafer Beetle as the first Chafer Beetle encountered on this trip. This beetle differs in its mottled coloration on its elytra as it should be male of the species.
After walking for a while without encountering any beetle, this sad sight of a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) caught in a spider web became the center of my camera's focus.
Walking on the side of the only road that lead to the reservoir, I was surprised to find this Ground Beetle resting on a wild cinnamon plant.
To increase the chances of finding more beetles, I decided to go deeper into the vegetations. Moving around I found a fallen tree with several of this Fungus Weevil (Stiboderes impressus) on it.
On the same tree was a Checkered Beetle that was pretty skittish and it proved to be a challenge to photograph, especially when I was standing on a slope where this tree trunk was found.
On a nearby tree was this small 2 mm Fungus Beetle.
On the same tree was also a 3mm Darkling Beetle. This was different from the earlier similar looking Darkling Beetle because its legs and antennae are of different color, apart from the obvious size difference.
On the same tree was a 8mm first-time-encountered Weevil Beetle.
Moving back onto the trail, a Ground Beetle was found resting on a leaf.
A stone's throw away, I was thrilled to find a Click Beetle (Xanthopenthes schawalleri) as it has been a while I last encountered this beetle.
Just next to the Click Beetle was a Chafer Beetle.
Coming to a small stream where there is a sandy area. I was pleasantly surprised tofind several of this Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).
There were many fallen trees at the place but most of them were devoid of insect life, so finding a Darkling Beetle really pepped me up.
Near to the Darkling Beetle was the cute 4 mm beetle.
At the mid-way point I was glad to find this beetle, not sure if it is a Fungus Beetle or a Darkling Beetle.
Near by was another beetle which I am not sure what family it belongs to.
In the day time, you can find many of this Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor) at Upper Seletar Reservoir. I was surprised that I didn't find any of them until I accidentally found one under a leaf. I do wonder where they spent their nights in.
At a large tree, I finally found another Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle.
The last beetle for the trip was a small 5 mm Leaf Beetle that looked silmilar but different from metallic colored Leaf Beetle at the start of the trip.
The trip was refreshing as I did not know what to expect and found it interesting except for the multiple mosquitos bites that I sustained despite the use of insect repellant. This is a good place for future night walks.
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