Night Walk Along Island Club Road (29 Mar 2019)

For the past 2 months the weather in Singapore has been hot and dry.This makes my usual beetle macro photography sessions exceptionally challenging as can been seen from my blogs for the past 2 months (or lack of). To my pleasant surprise, we had a few days of heavy rain this week and the sky continue to look like there are more rain to come.

Seizing the opportunity, HW & I decided to go to the Island Club Road for this week night macro photography session. We have not try this stretch of the road that leads to the Singapore Island Country Club, which fringes the Windsor Nature Park.

The vegetation at the place looked very much alive as compared to my recent few trips, and we were hopeful that we can find something interesting during this trip. Here's a photograph of a lovely looking moth encountered during the trip.

No surprise to us, the first beetle that we encountered was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

While photographing the Chafer Beetle, HW called out to me that he found a 4 mm Leaf Beetle.

HW reached the place earlier and found this 4mm Shiny Fungus Beetle which he showed me after we met up. It has been a while I last photographed this beetle.

After walking for a short while, I found this 10 mm dark bronze color Chafer Beetle resting on a badly eaten up leave.

While exploring an open spot along the road, I was surprised to find this commonly encountered Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

At the spot were several fallen trees and on one of them was this 5 mm Rove Beetle. I am rather fortunate as this particular specimen did not run away from my lights and allowed me to photograph it with relative ease.

A stone's throw away was another commonly encountered Chafer Beetle.

Near to the Chafer Beetle was a 8 mm first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. This beetle looked similar to another Leaf Beetle but differs in color. The beetle I encountered on previous trips was metallic green in color, whereas this specimen was metallic bronze in color.

Coming to a small Elephant Ear Plant, I am glad to find this 4 mm Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea).

After some walking without finding any other beetles except the commonly encountered Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle, this Weevil Beetle was a welcomed sight.

Near to the Weevil Beetle were several 1 mm Fungus Beetles on a small tree.

The last beetle for the trip was a 3mm first-time-encountered Lead Beetle.

Although the number of beetles encountered during this trip was not remarkable as compared to the trips before the dry weather, the trip was still fruitful as different types of beetle were found, especially the two first-time-encountered beetles.

Night Walk At Rifle Range Road (08 Mar 2019)

It has been a while since I last visited the  area along Rifle Range Road, so I decided to go there for this week night macro-photography session.

When I reached the place, my heart sank as the entire place is under construction!

Not deterred, I decided to take a walk along the Riffle Range Road as it is quite a distance from the next nature "spot" - Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Sadly, almost all the vegetation along side the road were boarded up.

As expected the place was bone dry and many of the vegetation were withering or dead. It was only after a while of walking that I came across this lone 20 mm Praying Mantis having its dinner.

Both sides of the road were mostly boarded up and only a small "band" (approx 1-2 meters) of  vegetation left.  After walking for more than an hour, I am thrilled to find this Ground Beetle (Pericalus tetrasitgma) on a fallen tree. Sadly this was the only beetle found during the trip.

The trip was a total washout as I found only one beetle during this trip. Hopefully the weather will improve next week as the dry weather is negatively affecting the flora and fauna of Singapore.

Night Walk Along Punggol Road (01 Mar 2019)

It has been about 3 months since my last trip to the Punggol Promenade Nature Walk. The previous trip there was not positive due to the massive construction works at the place. Nonetheless a thought came to me to visit the place before all the nature disappeared from the place.

For this trip, instead of going to the Punggol Promenade Nature Walk which I know for certain that I will not find many critters, I decided to go along the Punggol Road leading to the Punggol Promenade Nature Walk. Here's a photograph of a 20 mm Praying Mantis found at the place.

The decision to go to the Punggol Road was not a good one as the massive construction at the place has progressed a lot more than the last time I visited. The place was literally a construction site with only a thin strip of about 20-30 meters of "nature" between the construction site and the road.

Not wanting to go back empty handed, I decided to check through the thin strip of "nature" to see if I can find any beetles.

Apart from the constructions, the recent dry weather also lessen the chances of finding any beetles. The vegetation at the place was dry and consists mainly of Turkey Berry (Solanum torvum) and Spanish Needles (Bidens Pilosa Alba). The first beetle found at the place was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

It was only after a while of walking before I found this lone Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

The highlight of the trip was a 5 mm first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle found near the Chafer Beetle.

Another surprise for the night was the encountering of a colony of first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. This 10 mm beetle looks similar to the earlier Leaf Beetle except for the entire head is black for this beetle, and also the size of this beetle is double in size.

Further down the "strip" was another Chafer Beetle.

The last beetle encountered was a pair of 3 mm Leaf Beetle usually found on Sea Hibiscus (Talipariti tiliaceum) leaf. Sadly, there used to be a blackish water creek near to this patch of Sea Hibiscus plants which is now cemented over. This creek used to be homes to crabs, shrimps, fishes and even the Dog-faced Water Snakes (Cerberus schneiderii).

The trip was unexpectedly short due to the massive construction at the place. Nevertheless, I still managed to find two first-time-encountered Leaf Beetles which I think their number is almost up due to the constructions.