Morning Walk At Lower Peirce Reservoir (14 May 2016)

I sent my car for servicing near to the Lower Peirce Reservoir and so I decided to go there for a walk. The last time I was there in the morning was almost 6 months ago. The place was slightly wet with the morning dew when I was there.

Here's a photograph of a Jumping Spider (Thiania bhamoensis) that many of us fondly remembered as Fighting Spider. This is because as young boys, we would catch them and put them together to fight. We would keep them in metal candy or match boxes with a leaf, and occasionally feed it with ants or houseflies. Such was the simple pleasure of our childhood.

The first beetle for the trip was a treat as it was a first-time-encountered 8 mm Darkling Beetle (Strongylium sp.) on the side of a small tree. It looked similar to the Strongylium tenuipes Darkling Beetle but differs from the size of the white coloration on its legs.

The next beetle was a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) on a fallen log.

On the same log was this beetle larvae moving about actively on the log.

About a meter away from the beetle larvae was another similar larvae but it met its untimely death of predation by another beetle larvae.

Moving further down the trail, I  was happy to still be able to find this Fungus Beetle (Epsicapha quadrimacula) moving about in the day. You would usually find this type of beetle in large number at Lower Peirce Reservoir at night.

The surprise for the trip was the encounter with this Net-winged Beetle (Lycostomus porphyrophorus) on a blade of grass. It was still covered with dew, probably due to the overcast sky.

Coming to a small track, I decided to make a detour and explore the mud track. Nothing much along the track except for several of this hyper-active Tiger Beetles (Cicindela aurulenta). It is always a challenge photographing this beetle in the day as they would constantly be running and flying around.

A stone's throw from the small mud track, along the main track was this metallic colored Leaf Beetle.

Along the track was a large fallen log and on it was a lone Fungus Beetle.

Directly on the opposite of the track where the Fungus Beetle was this Ladybird Beetle larvae on a rubber tree leaf.

Moving into the trail with a thick tree canopy, I found this 2 mm Leaf Beetle hiding under a leaf.

Near to the Leaf Beetle was a lovely Ladybird Beetle (Illeis koebelei) on a leaf.

After some walking, I was glad to find this 2 mm first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle on a leaf.

The sky became dark and it started to rumble with thunder, so I decided to turn back. Just then I found this Leaf Beetle (Hoplosaenidea singaporensis) resting on a leaf, probably preparing for the impending rain.

The highlight of the trip was this 8 mm first-time-encountered Dung Beetle resting motionlessly on a yellow leaf.

The last beetle for the trip was a Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis) hiding under a leaf.

The trip was unexpectedly fruitful with 3 first-time-encountered beetles, A good trip indeed!