Morning Walk At Upper Seletar Reservoir (28 Apr 2018)

It rained the night before and so I decided to go for my macro-photography session in the morning instead. For this trip I decided to go to Upper Seletar Reservoir, partly because I have not been to the place for a while, and partly I wanted to avoid the usual morning crowd at popular nature parks like Windsor Nature Park.

Given that it has been raining for the past few days, I am mentally prepared that the trip would not be fruitful. Nevertheless, I proceeded with the trip as my main purpose is to test out my flash diffuser setup. Ever since I switched to the current Sony A6000 camera, I have not been noticing the flash hotspot in my photographs until the last trip.

Here's a surprise find at the place, a Whip Scorpion or Vinegroon.

The first beetle was a Click Beetle (Synaptus filiformis) sheltering from the wet weather under a leaf.

Some distance from the Click Beetle was a 3 mm Leaf Beetle. The vegetation at the place was dripping wet, as can be seen from the water droplets on the leaf.

Near to the Leaf Beetle were several of this bright orange Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor) feasting on their food plants.

There were not many critters encountered due to the wet weather, and it was after a long while of walking before finding this 15 mm Pleasing Fungus Beetle (Triplatoma gestroi) resting on a rotten log.

Near to the Pleasing Fungus Beetle was a low Singapore  Rhododendron plant (Melastoma malabathricum) where several of this 2 mm Jewel Beetle (Habroloma lepidopterum) were found on its leaves.

Next to the Jewel Beetle on the same plant was this lone Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) munching on a leaf.

After walking for a while without finding any beetle, I decided to call it a day and turned back. Just when I am about to reach the place where I started off, a Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus) flew right in front of me. It was very skittish and did not allow me to approach. Here's a "blown up" shot of the beetle for record purpose.

Near to the Tiger Beetle was a fallen log where this 10 mm Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus tetraspilotus) was on a Birdnest Fern growing on the log.

The last beetle for the trip was this Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus pardalis) found on the underside of a rotten tree branch next to the fallen log.

As expected this trip is not particularly fruitful but nevertheless I was able to test out my flash diffuser setup.