Morning Walk At Admiralty Park (21 Mar 2015)

It has been a while since I last went to the Admiralty Park, so I decided to give it a try again despite the concerns about the nasty ants. The place is still under restoration for the longer trail near to the North entrance. Here's an interesting spider that mimics a large black ant found at the place.

The trail near to the North entrance seemed to be badly infested with this tiny brownish-black ants. There are literally thousands, if not millions, of them moving around the trail and vegetation. Don't be deceived by their tiny size as each one of them gives a nasty bite, and they operate in large groups just like in the photograph. This is what kept me away from the place for so long. I sincerely hoped that NParks will do something about these ants while they are restoring the place, before the infestation spread to the rest of the park.

The first beetle only appeared after a good 15 minutes of walking. It was a Leaf Beetle (Colasposoma auripenne) and it was pretty much a challenge to photograph this particular beetle as besides it being under a leaf, there were ants all over the place. While I focus the camera on the beetle, I would also need to constantly look down to make sure that the ants do not climb onto my boots. Despite me being so cautious about the ants, one of them still managed to go under my T-shirt and gave me a nasty bite, minutes after I have left the spot.

It was another 30 minutes or so of walking before I came across this tiny 2 mm Ladybird Beetle (Cryptogonus orbiculus).

I was about to give up and go home as the place was really very disappointing in terms of finding beetles. Just then I came to a patch of low bushes where I found the first Leaf Beetle (Lema rufotestacea) for the trip.

Energized by the finding of a Leaf Beetle, I persevered on and found a pair of mating Leaf Beetle (Altica cyanea) on a hairy leaf.

Just a stone's throw away was another Leaf Beetle resting on the tip of a blade of lalang grass.

There was so few beetles at the place that even after walking for another long while, I didn't find any beetles. I decided to turn back and go home. Just near to the point where I turned back, I was surprised to find a Click Beetle (Pectocera babai) caught in a spider's web.

It seemed like the place have a number of the Pectocera babai Click Beetle as on the web there were about 5 Pectocera babai Click Beetles.

Near to the Clcik Beetle were several attap trees (Nypa fruticans) that were flowering, and on one of them was this 18 mm Weevil Beetle.

Just then I met a fellow macro photographer who was photographing dragonflies. As I chat up with him, he was also commenting that the number dragonfly was not as many as expected. While we were chatting, my eyes caught hold of a Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) across a small stream. My camera lens is only 60 mm so this is the "best" photograph I can take across the stream. Included here as a record for the trip.

As we continued chatting, at the corner of my eyes I saw this Ladybird Beetle (Henosepilachna implicata) landed on a leaf.

The last beetle for the trip was a Ladybird Beetle (Cryptogonus orbiculus) which was near to the other Ladybird Beetle. While photographing the beetle, it suddenly dawn on me that it could be a case of a sexual dimorphism that this beetle has a black face as compared to the earlier Cryptogonus orbiculus Ladybird Beetle which has a yellow face.

The trip was rather disappointing as the number of beetles encountered was really small even though I spent a much longer time there than usual.

Night Walk At Admiralty Park (28 Mar 2014)

It has been a while since I visited the Admiralty Park so I decided to give that place a try again. One of the reasons why I didn't visit the place for a while was mainly due to the ants infestation at the place. The place is literally crawling with countless dark brown colored ants that do not hesitate climbing onto you and sink their little mandibles into you. This type of ants is commonly found in our parks and gardens, but for some reasons Admiralty Park seemed to have a lot more of them.

I am particularly irritated by them crawling into my socks and bite me from the inside of the socks. At times, they would crawl up your legs and randomly bite you under the pants. Although the bites were not particularly painful, the number of bites when the ants "attack" would often send me running off and stomping the ground hard in an attempt to shake them off. This is something that you would not want when you are doing macro photography.

Here's a photograph of the tiny brown ant.

Just like last week, it rained just before I reached Admiralty Park and with it also went my hope of finding beetles. Only after searching for a good 10 minutes that I managed to find this Darkling Beetle resting on a tree trunk. Noticed the wet tree bark that the beetle was on.

Next to the Darkling Beetle was a commonly encountered 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

On the other side of the tree trunk was this metallic bluish-purple beetle.

On a plant near by was a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis). Little did I know at this point that this type of beetle was out in force for the night. In fact, I came across easily a hundred if not two of them for the entire trip. you literally see them everywhere.

Moving further into the trail, I was so glad to find another type of Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus), especially so when all you see were the Apognia expeditionis Chafer Beetle.

After walking for a while before I came across this Chafer Beetle (Apogonia aequabilis). This was the only specimen that I came across for this trip.

The rain that came earlier has driven most of the beetle into hiding and finding this lone Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a wet leaf brought some excitement to the trip.

Not sure what is happening at Admiralty Park as most of the trees' trunk were wrapped up with gunnysack. Because of the gunnysacks that were around the tree trunks, I was not able to find any beetles on it except for this Darkling Beetle. It must be the Columbus of its kind to be found on this whole new alien world as I didn't find a single beetle, except this one, on any of the trees that have gunnysack wrapping on them.

The last beetle that I found was also the highlight of the trip. It was a Fungus Beetle (Encymon scintillans). This is only the second time that I came across it at Admiralty Park.

The trip was almost a washout due to the rain. I am still glad that I have made the trip as I am able to find the Fungus Beetle (Encymon scintillans). This is only the second time that I came across this type of beetle.

Night Walk At Admiralty Park (06 Sep 2013)

It was a while since I last visited the Admiralty Park so I decided to visit the place. By the time I reached the place, the sun was about to set.

The first beetle that came into my view finder was a beetle emerging from its pupa. I didn't want to disturb the process so I only managed to snap this photo. From the coloration of the beetle, it should be the Chilocorus circumdatus Ladybird Beetle.

The next beetle was a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis). This particular beetle was having a great time munching on a Simpoh Air plant.

On a nearby plant was this brown Chafer Beetle that looked like the Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle except for the mottled coloration of the latter.

On a tree trunk further down the track was a Darkling Beetle. It is about 6 mm in size.

Coming to an area full of Straits Rhododendron plants, the Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle were out in force. I literally found several tens of this beetle on one Straits Rhododendron plant.

On another  Straits Rhododendron plant were two Aprosterna pallide Chafer Beetle, having a feast on a Straits Rhododendron fruit. This beetle can frequently be seen flying into homes attracted by the florescent light.

Another Darkling Beetle found on a nearby tree. This was slightly smaller than the earlier Darkling Beetle, measuring about 4 mm.

On the same tree was a even smaller (2 mm) Darkling Beetle. Interesting to find similar looking beetle at different sizes.

At the beginning of the trip, I was expecting to find at least one Long Horn Beetle as Admiralty Park was reported to have a number of them. Sure enough after walking for a while, I finally found this Long Horn Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) resting on a leaf.

It was also at this point in time that I remembered why I didn't visit Admiralty Park for a long time - it was because of a type of small brownish-black ant that can be found in the hundreds if not thousands throughout the park. I became a target these small ants whose bites were painful and irritating. I just then remembered that I was also badly bitten by this type of ants during my last trip to this park. Well it was too late to do anything now.

Hiding under a leaf was a Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta). It remained pretty still for me to get some nice macro shots of itself.

I was extremely irritated by the biting ants as the ants have the habit to crawl under the pants or socks and at some random time, bite hard into your flesh. This was very irritating especially when you were so engrossed in photographing a first time encountered beetle, such as this Fungus Beetle. This was the highlight of the trip as this is the first time I come across a smooth red-legged Fungus Beetle. Never know that Singapore has such kind of beetle. Wonderful find.

The ants had gotten the best of me and I decided to cut short the trip. Just before I left the place, I found this small Long Horn Beetle (~10 mm). It was hyper-sensitive and flew off after one shot from my camera flash.

This trip to Admiralty Park was not particularly pleasant due to the irritating bites of the small ants that can be found everywhere along the tracks. As soon as you stopped for a short while on the track, you will surely pick up a few of them on your shoes and pants. Even though I didn't enjoyed this trip, it was not wasted as I found the first time encountered red-legged Fungus Beetle.