Night Walk At Pasir Ris Park (30 Nov 2018)

The weather today was surprisingly better than expected, with only some short showers through the day. HW and I planned to go to Pasir Ris Park for this week's macro photography session and so we proceeded there as planned. As expected, the condition of the place was not ideal with many part of the ground being "soggy" due to the heavy rain during the week.

Here's a photograph of some interesting looking 3 mm flies on a blade of grass.

As expected, the first beetle for the trip was the commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) feasting on some closed leaves. Due to the rain, even this commonly encountered beetle was only seen 3 times during this trip.

The vegetation grew back after all the construction works at the place that we usually visit. To my pleasant surprise, there were many of this 5 mm shiny bronze-color Leaf Beetle.

The highlight of the trip was the encounter of this first-time-encountered 3 mm beetle on a small blade of grass, while I was waiting for HW to reach the place. From its appearance, it looked like a Water Beetle. You might be wondering how can it be that a Water Beetle can be found on land? It is interesting to note that even the Water Beetle can fly and this is how they move from one body of water to another, especially during the dry season where their watery homes dried up frequently. Nevertheless, I may be wrong as this is only the second time that I encountered a Water Beetle on land since I started photographing Singapore's beetles since December 2012.

Further down the path was a spot where there were many Elephant Climber plants (Aniseia nervosus) and on one of the leaves was this lone 10 mm Tortoiseshell Beetle (Laccoptera nepalensis).

It was after a while of walking before we came to a sandy patch of ground where a colony of Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) was found. There are easily a few tens of them resting close to each other.

On a small tree nearby was a 3 mm Darkling Beetle.

The last beetle for the trip was a 2 mm Darkling Beetle. Sadly, no more beetles encountered after this.

This trip was not very fruitful partially due to the wet weather and partially because we decided to go through a different path. Nevertheless, it is still a good trip as I managed to find a first-time-encountered beetle on this trip.

Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (23 Nov 2018)

Although it rained in the early afternoon, HW and I decided to proceed to Windsor Nature Park as planned. When we reached the place, we were rather disappointed as the vegetation looked like it just rained as all the vegetation were dripping wet with rain.

Here's an interesting terrestrial flat worm found during the trip.

Because of the wet vegetation, we decided to go straight into the Venus Loop trail. Near to the entrance were two Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a leaf.

It was only after a while of walking before we came across a large fallen tree where several beetles were found. On top of the fallen tree was this 1 mm Darkling Beetle.

On the underside of the tree log was this 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

A short distance away from the Darkling Beetle was another Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba).

At the far end of the tree log were several of this commonly encountered 10 mm Darkling Beetle.

On the drier part of the tree log were several of this 10 mm Fungus Beetles.

Dashing around the tree log were a number of this 5 mm Rove Beetle. This type of beetle has always been a challenge to photograph due to its speed and tendency to run away from light.

Together with the Rove Beetle were several of this 3 mm Rove Beetle.

A 20 mm Ground Beetle (Onypterygia longispinis) was found on the side of a small tree further down the trail.

On a small tree nearby was this 3 mm Darkling Beetle.

On a rotten tree stump were these two 5 mm beetles from the Ceratocanthidae family. I am so glad to be able to photograph this specimen moving about, as most of the time I only saw them rolled up into a ball.

On the side of the tree stump was this 5 mm Checkered Beetle. It has been a while I last encountered a Checkered Beetle.

Next to the tree stump was a fallen tree with several of this Fungus Beetle on  it.

Next to the Fungus Beetle was this 0.5 mm shiny critter. Not sure if it is a beetle.

Across the trail was another fallen tree where this interesting 5 mm Darkling Beetle was found.

Walking further down the trail, this 10 mm Fungus Weevil (Acroynus cylindricus) was found on a lichen of a small tree.

There was a newly fallen tree by the side of the trail and this 8 mm Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) was found on it.

Next to the Darkling Beetle was this 1 mm Fungus Beetle.

On the same log was a 5 mm Darkling Beetle.

Time passes quickly and it was time to turn back, just then this Chafer Beetle was found on a low bush.

The last beetle for the trip was a bonus as it was found just immediately below the Chafer Beetle. It was a Long Horned Beetle (Aeolesthes holosericeus).

Although the place was very wet, the number of beetles encountered was still comparatively more than other locations. Indeed Windsor Nature Park is the place to look for beetles.

Night Walk At Windsor Nature Park (16 Nov 2018)

The sky was overcast for the entire day so I decided to go to the Windsor Nature Park for my night macro photography to have a higher chance of finding beetles. We are in the Inter-monsoon season in Singapore which sees us experiencing morning and afternoon thunder storms (and at time severely) in many days in the week. Having an overcast weather for the entire day is considered good during this period. The weather will get worse when the North-East Monsoon starts in December.

Here's an exceptionally long terrestrial flatworm (about 10 cm long) found on a rotten log at the place.

The first beetle for the trip was this 3 mm Darkling Beetle found on a small tree that lined the car park at the park.

There were a number of low bushes just next to the car park and so I decided to check them out. Here's a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) found feeding on one of the leaves.

Near to the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle was another commonly encountered Chafer Beetle.

I was surprised to find a patch of Bamboo Orchid near to the car park. Happily, I found several of this lovely Orchid Leaf Beetle (Lema pectoralis). This is one of my favorite beetles.

Near to the Orchid Leaf Beetle was one of its larvae.

Moving on, there were several of this 5 mm Darkling Beetle on the trees near to the car park.

On the trees were also many of this 1 mm beetle larvae. I believed these are the larvae of the 3 mm Darkling Beetle encountered earlier.

While walking towards the Venus Loop entrance, I was pleasantly surprised to find this lone Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) on a blade of grass.

Passing by the "resident" patch of Elephant Ear Plants, I will never miss looking out for the 4 mm Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) usually found under the gigantic leaves.

Not to far after entering the Venus Loop trail, I am pleased to find this Fungus Beetle (Amblyopus vittatus) resting on a broad leaf.

On a tree nearby was a beetle larva. I am glad to be able to find several of them as this is a sure indication that the beetle population at the place is still healthy.

On another nearby tree, was this 5 mm roundish Darkling Beetle.

On the same tree were several of this 1 mm Darkling Beetle.

Coming to a large tree stump, I was surprised to find a few of this Martinezostes sp. beetles. Sadly, all of them were curled up like a ball.

Further down the trail was a large rotten log (about 5 meters in length) were many of this 5 mm fast moving Rove Beetle running about the log. This type of beetle is pretty sensitive to light and would quickly scatter away into crevices on the log.

On another part of the rotten log were a few tens of this Darkling Beetle (Ceropria superba).

While photographing the Ceropria superba Darkling Beetle, I noticed at the corner of my eye this 1 mm hairy beetle moving quickly from my torch's light.

On another part of the log were several of this Fungus Beetle (Episcapha xanthopustulata).

Moving to another rotten tree, I was surprise to find this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis) on a leaf, as it is more frequently found on rotten wood than on leaves.

On the underside of the rotten wood was a pair of this Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi),

While photographing the Ground Beetle, I noticed a dark patch on the wood and decided to check it out. To my surprise, it was a long-time didn't encounter Darkling Beetle (Cryphaeus gazelle). This is a female as it lacks the pair of horns on its pronotum.

Just centimeters away was this 1 mm Fungus Beetle.

On the underside of the log were a dozen of this beetle larvae.

Along side the beetle larvae was this smaller larva which looked pretty different from its older brother.

Next to the log was a small bush where this Chafer Beetle was found. At a cursory glance it looked like the Apogonia expeditionis but differs in its broader body.

On another part of the tree was this commonly encountered 10 mm Darkling Beetle.

Near to the Darkling Beetle were many of this 4 mm Fungus Beetles.

Munching on some black fungus on the same log was this interesting looking beetle larva.

Near to the beetle larva was a small leaf where these two 0.5 mm critters were found. I am not sure what it is but its shiny elytra make them look like beetles. They could possibly be mites or spiders.

On the further end of the log was this 20 mm Pleasing Fungus Beetle. Notice the tiny spherical critters near to the beetle, which looked like a tiny beetle when zoomed in (see above photograph).

Several centimeters away was another 20 mm Fungus Pleasing Beetle. This was also the last beetle for the trip before I decided to call it a day.

Comparing with last week's washed out session, this week's session was exceptionally fruitful. As the raining season approaches, it is likely that I will come back to Windsor Nature Park more frequently.