New Walk At Venus Drive (27 Nov 2015)

My friend wanted to take some photographs of luminous mushroom and hence we headed for Venus Drive as they are known to be found there. On the way to Venus Drive, we were dismay to see massive dark rain clouds in the distance where Venus Drive is. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, we decided to continue and take the chance that it may not rain when we were there. Fortunately, it didn't rain while we were there.

Here's a photograph of a House Centipede (Thereuopoda longicornis) found at the place. Interestingly, we managed to find two of them on this trip.

The first beetle encountered was a small 2 mm beetle found on a tree next to the Venus Drive car park.

Nearby on another tree was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

Nearer the entrance of the Venus Drive trail, I found an active beetle larvae moving continuously on a tree.

Near to the entrance was a lone Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) munching on a leaf.

Coming to a big Elephant Ear plant, I am glad to still be able to find the Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) under one of its big leaves.

Just a stone's throw from the trail entrance, a Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis) was found on a wood pile.

The highlight of the trip was a first-time-encountered Weevil Beetle found a rotting wood, on top of a white fungus.

Moving further down the trail, a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) was found resting on a low plant.

Resting on a leaf near to a wood pile was a Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta).

On the wood pile next to the Ceropria induta Darkling Beetle, were several of this 10 mm Darkling Beetles.

Further down the trail was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) on a dead branch.

On a tree near by was a small 2 mm beetle on a tree.

On another tree was a small 5 mm Fungus Beetle.

On a small rotten tree log was a small cryptic looking beetle (Hyberis araneiformis).

On a tree near to the Hyberis araneiformis beetle was a small 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

It is interesting that there were a number of this Ground Beetle around the place during this trip.

Another Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi) found on a wood pile nearby.

We came to a fallen tree and found many of this 5 mm Darkling Beetles on it.

On the same tree log with the Darkling Beetles was this lone Sap Beetle, hiding in a small depression in the tree bark.

On the other end of the fallen log were several of this small 5 mm beetle.

Moving on, there was a tree with several of this small 2 mm beetles.

While I was photographing the small beetle, my friend called out to me to check this odd looking beetle that he found. It is a first-time-encountered beetle that I initially thought that it is a Long-Horned Beetle given the long antennae. Upon closer look, it turned out that it is not a Long-Horned Beetle. It looked very much like a Darkling Beetle, but will have to check to see what beetle it is.

On another tree was this lovely patterned 8 mm Fungus Weevil.

Moving on to a small dying tree with quite a number of small fungus mushroom growing on it, I found a small 4 mm Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa).

On the same tree was a lone Rove Beetle. This is one of the toughest beetle to photograph due to its hyperactive nature and speed of movement.

On a tree nearby was a beetle larvae. It is good to be able to see beetle larvae as it is a good sign that the beetles are doing well at the place.

Near the base of a tree at the same spot was a small 5 mm Click Beetle.

Just a few steps from the Click Beetle was another tree with this lovely Darkling Beetle.

I was surprised to find this beetle larvae. Interestingly I don't encounter such later stage beetle larvae often.

I was looking out for this particular Leaf Beetle (Hemipyxis semiviridis) for a while and finally I managed to find it on this trip. This is one of the Leaf Beetles that I know that is active in the night.

There were many of this big 20 mm Ground Beetle (Onyptergia longispinis) found on this trip. From a short distance, it looked very much like forest cockroaches which are in abundance at the place.

We are almost at the end of our trip that we encountered this Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) at the base of a tree.

Another interesting find was this large 25 mm Weevil Beetle that was feasting on some young fungus mushrooms on a tree.

On the same tree with the Weevil Beetle was a first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil. This beetle was very hyperactive and I only managed to take a few shots of it before it moved up the tree.

The last beetle for the trip was a Fungus Beetle resting on some white fungus on a rotting tree stump.

The trip was very fruitful with the encounter with more than 30 different types of beetle, with 3 first-time-encountered beetles. I am also thankful that it didn't rain and the place was just nice - not too dry and not too wet. Overall this was a wonderful trip.

Morning Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (21 Nov 2015)

My best friend Cameron messaged me in the morning to ask me if I would join him and his daughter Samantha for a spider hunting trip at Lower Peirce Reservoir. Samantha is currently researching the Cosmophasis umbratica Jumping Spiders for her university studies, and so I gladly agreed especially since the disappointing trip the night before.

Although the focus of the trip was to find Jumping Spiders, I took the opportunity to also look for beetles, albeit that we are only looking among the Ixora plants (Ixora congesta). The first beetle encountered besides the Jumping Spiders was this lone metallic colored Leaf Beetle, resting under a leaf.

The highlight of the trip for me was the encounter with this first-time-encountered 3 mm Weevil Beetle on a stalk of Ixora flower.

There were a number of this small 1 mm Leaf Beetles found among the leaves of the Ixora plants.

Although the intention of the trip was to look for Jumping Spiders, I am glad to be able to find some beetles, especially the first-time-encountered Weevil Beetle.

Night Walk At Coney Island (20 Nov 2015)

I was rather curious whether the newly opened Coney Island would have interesting beetles, so I decided to make a trip down to the place.

The surprise find for the trip was this 10 cm Brahminy Blind Snake (Ramphotyphlops braminus).

The trip started off well with the encounter of this Chafer Beetle at the beginning of the 1 KM walk from the Punggol Jetty to the entrance of Coney Island.

Sadly, the walk from Punggol Jetty to the Coney Island only yielded one beetle and it was only after about 10 minutes of walking from the Western Entrance of Coney Island before finding this hairy Chafer Beetle on a blade of lalang grass.

 The place was pretty dry and there were not many critters encountered besides some small moths, spiders and grasshoppers. I walked for almost about an hour on the island without finding any beetle and decided to call it a day. Just as I embarked on the 1 KM walk back to Punggol Jetty, I came across a small open area where this Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) was found.

As I walked along the return path, I chanced upon a small path that leads into some wooded areas and decided to check it out. To my disappointment, I only found this small 5 mm Darkling Beetle on one of the trees along the small path.

The last beetle for the trip was a Chafer Beetle found next to the open car park at Punggol Jetty.

The trip was a total disappointment and it seemed like it would probably take a few years before the place would have interesting critters or beetles to photograph. Meanwhile, I would probably not go there for a long while.

Night Walk At Venus Drive (13 Nov 2015)

It rained a few times through the day and hence the chances of finding beetles will be very much lower. Despite the heavy rain, my friend and I decided to proceed with our plan of going to Venus Drive as the chances of finding beetles there is much higher compared to other places. Here's an interesting spider encountered at the place.

The first beetle encountered was a small 2 mm beetle resting on a tree trunk.

As expected the vegetations at the place were very wet and it took a while before finding this first-time-encountered Long Horned Beetle.

Further down from the Long Horned Beetle was an Ant-like Leaf Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) hiding under a large Elephant Ear Plant leaf.

On a wood pile next to the trail was a small 5 mm Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa).

More walking before I encountered this Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis) on a leaf.

Resting on a low bush nearby was a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

On a tree near to the Tiger Beetle was a small 5 mm Fungus Weevil.

On another wood pile along the trail were a number of the familiar Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta).

On the same wood pile was a lovely Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi).

A lone Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula) was found wandering around a patch of small fungus mushroom.

Moving on to another wood pile, a lone Darkling Beetle was found on the underside of a fallen tree.

On a branch next to the fallen tree was a lovely colored Ground Beetle (Pericalus tetrastigma).

More walking without finding any beetles until we reached another wood pile. This commonly encountered Darkling Beetle was resting at the tip of dead branch.

Further down the trail, a small 2 mm Darkling Beetle was found on the side of a large tree which was not drenched from the heavy downpour earlier on.

More walking without finding any beetle until this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) was found on a leaf.

Near to the Fungus Beetle was a patch of Clidemia hirta plant and on it was a metallic bronze Chafer Beetle.

More walking without seeing any beetles, until this Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba) resting on the tip of a branch,

A stone's throw away was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) on a creeper vine.

Coming to a relatively dry tree, I was glad to find a lone beetle larvae.

On a tree nearby was this Martinezostes sp. on a wet tree trunk.

Just as when we were about to turn back and call it a day, I chanced upon this Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) at the base of a tree.

On tree next to the Darkling Beetle was a Ground Beetle (Onypterygia longispinis), busy chewing up the tree bark that it was on.

On the same tree was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

While I was photographing the Darkling Beetle,  my friend called out to me that he found a beetle. It was a Fungus Beetle (Amblyopus vittatus) on a leaf.

On a tree nearby was this skittish Darkling Beetle which promptly moved away after a few photo shots.

The last beetle for the trip was a Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

The trip was expected to be not so fruitful because of the heavy rain earlier in the day. Apart from photographing beetles, I was also testing out my DIY flash diffuser. Although the results of the test seemed acceptable, I think there are much room for improvement, more testings to come.