Night Walk At Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (04 Dec 2015)

My friend Reynard wanted to go for a night walk at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve as he has not been there in the night before. I agreed to the idea as I have not been to the place for a while, even though it is a long journey for me getting there by public transport.

For this trip, we decided to take a trail that is still accessible on foot. To our disappointment the vegetation look very wet, indicating that it rained heavily earlier before we were there. This also means that the chances of finding beetles is very slim. Nevertheless, we continued with our plan since we were already there.

Here's a photograph of a juvenile Wagler's Pit Viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri) that we encountered at the place. It was very well camouflaged among a patch of tall ferns.

I was at the place slightly early and while waiting for Reynard to arrive, I decided to do some photographing around the waiting area. The first beetle that I found was a small 8 mm Leaf Beetle.

Besides the Leaf Beetle, I didn't find other critters around the waiting area and hence I decided to take a short walk further away. Just while I was walking around, an insect "dive bombed" me on my neck and gave me a rude fright. At that moment I thought a wasp had stunk me. Fortunately, it turned out to be a Chafer Beetle (Aprosterna pallide).

After meeting up with Reynard, we headed to the "entrance" of the trail that we were taking for the night. At the "entrance" was a rotten tree trunk and on it were many interesting bright yellow stringy fungus growing on it. This is the first time that I encounter this type of fungus.

As I looked closer at the stringy fungus, I noticed that there were many small red Springtail and near to them were some really tiny beetle-like insects. Not sure if the black insects were beetles.

We started on the trail and the first beetle encountered there was a small Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta) on a fallen tree.

Near to the Ceropria induta Darkling beetle was a smaller Darkling Beetle (Amarygmus ovoideus).

While I was photographing the Amarygmus ovoideus Darkling Beetle, Reynard called out to me and showed me this lovely Fungus Beetle.

Nothing much interesting along the trail until I found this Long Horned Beetle (Epepeotes luscus) resting on a fern plant.

More walking without finding any beetle, until we were at the mid point of the trail where I found this small beetle, likely to be a Darkling Beetle (Tenebrionidae family).

Near to the small beetle was a small Darkling Beetle (Strongylium tenuipes) on a tree trunk. This particular specimen was almost half the size of the usual Strongylium tenuipes Darkling Beetle that I came across previously.

At the mid-point of the trail while I was looking out for some of the resident beetles at the location, Reynard showed me a tiny 2 mm Leaf Beetle that landed on him.

Although there were a fair bit of changes to the vegetation at the place, I am glad to still find the Lema quadripunctata Leaf Beetle that I know can be found there.

Next to the Lema quadripunctata Leaf Beetle was a favorite of mine, the Hemipyxis semiviridis Leaf Beetle.

Just a stone's throw away were several wooden pole where these beetle larvae were found. I think they belong to the same type of beetle, just that they are at different stage of development.

On the same wooden pole were a congregation of this tiny 2 mm beetle (Darkling Beetle?) These probably are the adults of the larvae mentioned above.

More walking without encountering any beetle, until this interestingly patterned first-time-encountered Sap Beetle turned up on a low bush. This was the highlight of the trip.

More walking before finding this lovely colored Net-winged Beetle.

Still more walking before encountering this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus).

We reached the end of the trail and were out of the forested area of the trail when I found this small Fungus Beetle on a large fungus mushroom.

The last beetle encountered was a Chafer Beetle feeding on a blade of grass, encountered while walking to the main road.

The trip can considered to be fruitful given the fact that it rained earlier on. The place looked promising and I think it will yield more beetles when the weather is better.

A Quick Walk At Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (08 Mar 2013)

I was around Bukit Timah area and happened to have about 1.5 hours of in-between time, so I decided to drop by the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for a quick walk to see if I can catch some photography actions.

As usual the carpark at the Visitor Centre was jam-packed with cars but thankfully I managed to get a nice lot for the quick walk. The weather was nice and dry and I went straight for my usual trail. This is not a very safe trail as it is a mountain bike trail and the trail is very busy with bikers on a Saturday morning. Nevertheless it is a productive trail as it is less disturbed by hikers on foot.

The first beetle that appeared was this hairy little beetle (~2 mm). It was busily moving around a piece of leaf. Not easy to photograph it especially with a light breeze blowing.

I was surprised to see a lone fungus beetle moving around on a dead log. Guess it might have stayed up late as fungus beetles usually come out in the night.

Moving down the trail, I came across this lovely Lizard Beetle (Languria mozardi) which tolerated all the camera flashes for a good 5 minutes or so.

Walking along the main path, I came across what looked like a small path and I decided to take short detour to check it out. Just a moment into the path, I saw this beautiful Net-winged Beetle (Dictyoptera aurora). This particular beetle was so sensitive that it wouldn't let me get within 1.5 meters and it would fly off. After several attempts and following it around, I gave up the idea of wanting to get closer to get a good macro shot and use the tele-zoom instead.

Still on the detour path, I came across this beautiful Leaf Beetle which is yellowish-gold in color. It remained pretty still and only to decide to move off after a few flashes.

Going back to the main path, I came across a dead log with some fresh large fungus growing on it. This could have been the results of the heavy rain a day before. On the fungus was this 2 mm beetle. It looked like a Fungus Beetle.

It was not until I was looking through the photographs at home that I noticed that the beetle was actually laying a large clutch of white color eggs. How interesting.

Moving at a much faster pace due to the limited time, I chanced upon this lovely metallic blue Leaf Beetle. At one glance it looked like the Altica cyanea but as I looked closer, it is slightly different in terms of the shape of the elytra and color of the antenna.

Just before I reached the U-turn point, I came across this 5 mm Darkling Beetle, resting on a broken blade of grass.

While I was photographing the Darkling Beetle, this Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) decided that it want its photograph taken as it flew right in front of me. I have not been able to get a very good photograph of this beetle as it is also very sensitive to movement and would fly away when it detects movements. True enough it flew off after only a handful of shots.

A stone throw away, I found this Leaf Beetle resting in the shade.

The highlight of this short trip was this strange looking Spiny Leaf Beetle. Looking through the view finder, I discovered that this beetle is different from the Spiny Leaf Beetle (Dicladispa armigera) I came across previously, even though the coloration is the same. Like most of the other beetles, after a few shots it decided that it had enough of my camera flashes and flew off in a rather clumsy manner. Interesting beetle!

My pace of walking to go back to the Visitor Centre was quick due to the extra time taken to photograph the interesting Spiny Leaf Beetle. Walking quickly did not make me miss the opportunity to photograph this little colorful and lovely beetle.

Although this trip I was a little rushed for time, I am happy that I still managed to come across some beautiful beetles and get some nice photographs of them. 

Morning Walk At Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (02 Mar 2013)

The weather for the entire week was mostly wet, so the sunny morning was not something to be missed. Without much hesitation, I made a bee-line for the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. The trail was pretty dry despite showers the night before.

The very first beetle that greeted me was a pleasant surprise. It was a small (~6mm) Spiny Leaf Beetle (Dicladispa armigera) which sat quietly on a leaf. If I am not looking out for them, I would have easily missed it along the path.

Then came another pleasant find, a cute looking beetle (~6 mm) resting on a big leaf. It was so still that I managed to get a few good closeup of it. Such a beauty!

Further into the trail, I came across this tiny beetle (~3 mm). Another 'still-life' for some good macros shots, even though the occasional wind did create some challenges when photographing such a small beetle.

Just when I was feeling glad that I had came to the place despite the bad traffic condition on the Upper Bukit  Timah Road, another tiny beetle appeared. It was a beautiful little (~2 mm) beetle with a colorful elytra that looked like a piece of candy. Photographing this beetle was not a piece of cake. Besides trying to get a good shot in the wind, I had to be super alert to watch out for cyclists cycling past at a pretty fast speed.

Moving along, I came across another tiny leaf beetle (~3 mm).

Just a few leaves away, sat this small (~7 mm) beauty underside a curled up leave. I love the color contrast of the yellow and green.

Then came a long while of walking without encountering any beetles until this tiny (~2 mm) fellow showed up. It was hiding at the join of two branches. It was a really hairy beetle I must add.

Staying very still on a leaf was this beetle (~4 mm). It looked a bit like a Click-Beetle but I cannot be sure though.

Another cute and tiny (~2 mm) beetle appeared.

The next beetle came as a big surprise. I initially thought it was some orange fungus growing on a leaf but upon looking closer, I saw a pair of tiny eyes and antennae which confirmed that it is a beetle. This is the first time I come across a beetle that looked like a 'roti prata' or indian pancake. It is likely to be part of the Tortoise Beetle family.

Just when I thought that the above beetle was the weirdest I had seen, I noticed a tiny (~2 mm) ant-like beetle. Not sure what beetle this is. The legs looked very much like those of weevil beetles but it seemed to be missing the typical snout of a weevil, or was it that it has a very short snout?

Walking further came this reddish-brown beetle. It looked like a Leaf Beetle.

A stone's throw away from the reddish-brown beetle was this ~6 mm Ladybird Beetle. It was highly

active and it was a bit of a challenge before I managed to take a few decent closeup shots of this beetle.

I reached the place where I planned to U-turn back and saw this Net-Winged Beetle. It was nice and calm for me to take some close up photographs without it being spooked.

When I was almost near the path leading to the BTNR Visitors' Centre, this comparatively bigger (~10 mm) Leaf Beetle (Lema quadripunctata) was seen sitting motionlessly near the tip of a plant. So glad that it remained still for me to take some nice closeup shots.

Just when I was done with the Leaf Beetle above, another small (~5 mm) Leaf Beetle landed on a plant nearby. I simply love the coloration  of this beetle.

Moving along, I came across more of this tiny beetle. The beetle seemed to be feeding on the water droplet on the leaf.

When I was almost at the end of the trail towards the Visitor Centre, another of this lovely beetle appeared. Don't you think it looked like Agar-Agar?

About 40 meters from the trail exit to the Visitors' Centre, was this ~10 mm hyper-active Leaf Beetle (Liloceris cheni), I almost miss the shot due to its non-stop movement. I like the strong color contrast of reddish-orange and black.

Just moments before I step out of the trail, came this ~4mm beetle. Interesting marking on the elytra.

This was indeed a wonderful trip as I come across a number of beetles that I have not encountered

before. Glad to have made the trip.