Night Walk At Pasir Ris Park (30 Oct 2015)

I have been looking forward to the night to test out my DIY filter using the TTL mode of my speedlite flash due to the not so good results of the manual mode in the previous trip. I decided to go to the Pasir Ris Park as it is a convenient place for me. When I reached the place, I was surprised to find the place not as dry as expected; the vegetation looks very much alive as compared to my previous trip to the place.

I am glad that the resident Painted Bronzeback Snake (Dendrelaphis pictus) is still around the area.

An interesting encounter was this 15 cm centipede having its dinner on a blade of grass.

The first beetle encountered was a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis). Many of this type of beetle were encountered during the trip.

Close to the Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) was another commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

After walking for another 10 minutes without finding any other beetles (except the Apogonia expeditionis and compressed Adoretus Chafer Beetle), I was glad to encounter this Apogonia aequabilis Chafer Beetle.

More walking without finding any beetle, until I came to a small tree where there was a small colony of this type of beetle.

Some more walking until I reached the place where there is a healthy colony of Tiger Beetles (Cicindela aurulenta).

On a small tree near to the Tiger Beetle was a small 3 mm Darkling Beetle.

On the same tree were several of small 2 mm beetles.

On a nearby tree was a lone Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).

On the same tree were also several 5 mm Darkling Beetles.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter with this small 3 mm first-time-encountered cream colored Leaf Beetle.

Sadly, the place has some new constructions going on and a large portion is where I usually find different kind of beetles (especially Tortoiseshell Beetles). Nevertheless, I still managed to find this small 5 mm Sweet Potato Weevil (Cylas formicarius) on a plant.

The last beetle for the trip was this black and brown Chafer Beetle.

Although I was not expecting this trip to be fruitful, the results was worse than previous trips because of the constructions that were going on at the place. I sincerely hoped that the constructions would not destroy the habitat of the Tortoiseshell Beetle found at the place.

Night Walk At Punggol Forest (23 Oct 2015)

The weather has been dry for the entire week and the haze PSI index was in the unhealthy level of about 239 PSI. Eager to test out my new DIY differ, I decided to go to the nearby Punggol Forest for a short walk.

At the same time, I was also testing out the manual mode of my Sony speedlite flash (HVL-F43M). I am rather frustrated with this particular flash as it would overheat quickly and refused to work until it cooled down. After reading in the manual that the power of the flash can be  reduced, I was also wanting to test out the setting.

Here's a photograph of a Painted Bronzeback (Dendrelaphis pictus) snake encountered during the trip.

The first beetle that I came across was a small 4 mm Toe-winged Beetle. This beetle was very skittish and flew off after one photograph.

The place looked very dry and it was only after walking for about 15 minutes before I found this small 3 mm Sweet Potato Weevil (Cylas formicarius).

There were several of this Leaf Beetle found through out the entire trip.

The last beetle for the trip was a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

The trip was worse than the previous trip to the place, with only four beetles encountered. Guessed that I would not go to the place for a while. Nevertheless, the result of my DIY diffuser seemed to work pretty well, but the flash power reduction did not work out as well as I hoped.

The haze situation in Singapore has worsen this week and hopefully the situation will improve when we moved in the monsoon seasons next month. Here's a photograph of the haze experienced during the trip.

Night Walk At Venus Drive (16 Oct 2015)

I was away for a short holiday last week in Genting Highlands, Malaysia. It was a good respite from the haze in Singapore. Although the haze did reached Genting Highlands, fortunately it dissipated on the third day that I was there and I was able to enjoy a few days of cool and fresh highlands air.

While I was there, I did some beetle hunting under some bright street lights. Here are some bonus photographs of the interesting beetles that I found there. Do pardon the quality of the photographs as they were taken using my mobile phone. These beetles reminded me of why I started this blog years ago. There is no comparison in terms of sizes of the beetles in the highlands to that of Singapore.

This was one the big beetles that I found, albeit that this was a road-kill (noticed the tiny ants that were on it). Sadly there were many of such finding. This is something that a beetle lover would not want to see.

After almost a week of haze free air in the highlands, it took a while to get use to the haze in Singapore, even though the haze situation in Singapore has improved a lot more. My friend contacted me for a night macro photography session and we decided to go to Venus Drive, given the dry weather caused by the haze. It didn't rained for a week and so we were expecting a much lower chance of finding beetles (even for Venus Drive).

On this trip, I was testing out a new DIY diffuser but I was not satisfied with the results of the test. Nevertheless the photographs were included in this post as a record of the trip. Here's a photograph of the few tarantulas that we encountered during the trip.

The first beetle for the trip was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

Near to the Apogonia expidtionis Chafer Beetle was another Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

Further down was a large Elephant Ear Plant and on it was a Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea).

There were many woodpiles at the place and on one one of the piles was this small 2 mm Darkling Beetle.

On the side of another log nearby was a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).

Resting on a leaf was a small 8 mm Long Horned Beetle (Eopors elegans).

On a Singapore Rhododendron plant (Melastoma malabathricum) was a lone Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

Resting on the underside of a rotten log was a 12 mm Darkling Beetle. This type of beetle can often be seen on rotting logs.

Hiding in a small crevice of a fallen tree was a lovely Darkling Beetle (Androsus fasciolatus).

The weather was rather dry and hence the number of beetles encountered was not very high. Here's a tiny 2 mm beetle encountered after a while of walking.

On a woodpile at the side of the trail was a pair of Darkling Beetles (Ceropria induta) on a dried up white bracket fungus.

Further down the path was a black Ground Beetle resting on a Fishtail Palm.

Scurrying among the leaf litters was a Darkling Beetle which proved to be a challenge in getting a decent photograph.

On a small tree nearby was a small 5 mm Fungus Weevil.

On the same tree was a roundish 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

After walking for another while without finding any beetle, I was glad when my friend called out to me to photograph this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) resting on a leaf.

Further down the trail was a woodpile where this small 4 mm Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa) was running about.

Near to the woodpile was a fallen log with the only "fresh" fungus mushroom found for the trip. On the fungus mushroom were several Sap Beetles.

A stone's throw away was another Ground Beetle (Onypterygia longispinis) resting on a leaf. The beetle was so alert that it promptly flew off after one photograph shot.

Near to the Ground Beetle was a patch of Clidemia hirta plant and on it were several of this metallic bronze colored Chafer Beetle.

On a tree near to the Chafer Beetle was a fallen tree where several of these beetle larvae where on it.

It was about time that we turn back and call it a day, just then we encountered a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a leaf by the side of the trail.

Near to the Tiger Beetle was a Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) resting motionlessly on a tree.

The last beetle for the night was a Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus).

Although my DIY diffuser did not performed as well as I expected, the trip was still a fruitful one since the number of beetles encountered was still reasonably good.

Short Morning Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (26 Sep 2015)

After sending my car for servicing to a servicing center near to Lower Peirce Reservoir, I took the opportunity to take a short walk at Lower Peirce Reservoir to see if I could catch some beetle actions.

The weather was dry and slightly hazy, so I know that the chances of finding beetles would be much lower.

The first beetle that I encountered was a Leaf Beetle (Colasposoma auripenne) commonly encountered at Lower Peirce Reservoir.

After walking for a while without finding any beetles, I was thrilled to find this first-time-encountered Jewel Beetle. It was a little challenging photographing this beetle because it was about 1.5 meters from the edge of the boardwalk (over water) and I have to hold up my camera straight in front of me in order to get close to this small 5 mm beetle. 

The next beetle was only encountered after having walked for another 15 min or so. It was a small 5 mm Pintail Beetle.

The highlight of the trip was a first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. When I first found it, I thought that it was the metallic blue Leaf Beetle that I frequently encountered. As I zoomed in on the beetle, I realized that the shape of the beetle looked very much like the earlier Colasposoma auripenne Leaf Beetle, except that the color is metallic blue instead of metallic bronze color.

A stone's throw from the Leaf Beetle was another Pintail Beetle.

The last beetle of the trip was a metallic blue Leaf Beetle. This was the metallic blue Leaf Beetle that I mentioned earlier on.

Although the trip was not very fruitful, I am glad that I am able to find two first-time-encountered beetles, especially the metallic blue colored Leaf Beetle.