Short Walk At Bukit Brown Cemetery (25 Oct 2014)

After running a morning errand I was around the vicinity of the Bukit Brown Cemetery and so I decided to drop by there for a short walk. The construction of a new road that cut across the cemetery was in full swing, and a segment of the cemetery was boarded up but there are still a large part of the cemetery that are untouched.

It has been a while I was last there (http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/2013/08/morning-walk-at-bukit-brown-cemetery-03.html)  and the last time when I attempted to visit the place again, I was stopped from entering the place due to the exhumation of graves affected by the construction. For those who are interested in knowing more about the cemetery, please visit a website on the cemetery (http://bukitbrown.com/main/)

The first beetle that I came across was a familiar Leaf Beetle (Aulacophora frontalis).

Moving to some young Elephant Ear Plant (about 50 cm tall), I was surprised to find a Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) hiding under it.

Near to the Ant-like Beetle was a very alert Leaf Beetle that promptly flew away after one flash from my camera.

The mosquitoes at the place is as bad as I last remembered it and I am thankful that my insect repellent work pretty well and I only got bitten at two spots prior to applying it.  In order not to be bitten by the mosquitoes, I decided to keep to the main paths and not venture into the bushes. While walking along the path, I found this beetle larvae on a leaf.

Hiding under a blade of grass was a small 5 mm first-time-encountered Net-winged Beetle.

Along the sides of the paths at the cemetery were sporadic patches of tall plants and bushes. These are the places that I focused on. On one of such patches I was pleasantly surprised to find this hairy Leaf Beetle (Trichochrysea hirta).

I made a mistake earlier on by leaving my drinking bottle in the car, so in order that I don't get any heatstroke from the hot temperature, I decided to end the walk. While walking back to the car, I came across a fallen tree and decided to check it out.  In the shaded area of the fallen tree were several of this Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa).

On the same fallen tree was a Weevil Beetle which promptly fall off the tree trunk after a few camera shots.

The place still seemed promising despite the small number of beetles found. I guessed that given more time, I would be able to find more beetles at the place as proven by the last trip I made to the place.

Morning Walk At Bukit Brown Cemetery (03 Aug 2013)

The weather was warm and it seemed to be a perfect day for a walk at the Bukit Brown Cemetery. I was looking forward to this trip as the last recce trip to this place seemed promising. Here's a shot of the place. Peaceful indeed.

During the week, the grass cutter came and trimmed the patch of low vegetation that I found the different Leaf Beetle. Fortunately, the first beetle that I found was a Leaf Beetle (Lema rufotestacea). Interestingly it only has one antenna.

The next beetle was also a Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa). I am so glad to find a number of them resting on the trimmed vegetation.

The next beetle that I came across looked like a Leaf Beetle but it was very small in size (<2 mm). Didn't get a good shot of it before it flew off.

Moving into a "wilder" part of the cemetery, I was pleasantly surprised to find this Spiny Leaf Beetle. For those who are interested in visiting the place, please be prepared with insect repellent as the small paths were full of mosquitoes and they attack in swarms. Thanks to the insect repellent I was not badly bitten except for the one or two mosquitoes that managed to break through my defenses.

The mosquitoes were rather annoying and I was almost wanting to give up on the walk. Fortunately I persevered and was rewarded with this my first time encountered Chafer Beetle. I have not come across this beetle on the internet so far. Fabulous find indeed.

At a shaded area was this super alert Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus). I was only able to get this lousy shot of it before it disappeared into the hedges.

Near to the Tiger Beetle was this small Fungus Beetle (Triplax rufipes) (<3 mm) that was busily pacing up and down a leaf.

It was only after walking for a while that I found this small (~4 mm) Click Beetle.

Near to the Click Beetle was this tiny beetle (<2 mm).

Near the part where the "wilder" path joined back to the tar road was this Soldier Beetle hiding from the hot sun.

Moving further down was this Ladybird Beetle (Crytogonus orbiculus).

Moving back onto another "wilder" path, I found this Flower Chafer partially hiding between two leaves. I am so excited to find it as I was not able to get a good photograph of this beetle during my last encounter with it.  This particular beetle remained motionless while my camera was flashing at it. Amazing.

At a shaded area was this metallic blue Leaf Beetle. It was hyper sensitive and flew away several times but I managed to get a few shots of it while it rested from its flights.

Another Tiger Beetle (Neocollyris celebensis) was spotted on some low hedges.

The finale for the trip was the chanced encounter of this Weevil Beetle (Curculio imitator). It was busily moving up and down a dead tree branch, stopping occasionally at spots where the branch was bruised. I supposed that it was feeding on the tree sap.

The trip was rather fruitful as I was able to find a few first time-encountered beetles, but it was not very enjoyable due to the mosquitoes swarms. It was pretty irritating especially when they fly around your ears while you are trying to photograph the beetles.

Short Recce Trip To Bukit Brown Cemetery (27 Jul 2013)

My plan for this Saturday morning was to make a short detour after running some errands in the morning to recce the much talked about Bukit Brown Cemetery. Despite the gloomy sky that was threatening to rain cats and dogs at any moment, I made the detour to the location.

The first thing that greeted me was this sign by the roadside.

Sadly, development work is also coming to this part of Singapore, just like what happened to Jalan Kayu - http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/2013/07/night-walk-on-wilder-side-of-jalan-kayu.html

Guessed that we will not only be missing the bigger birds and mammals that make their homes here in Bukit Brown Cemetery, we will also be missing all the little insects that were often ignored. Who knows if there may be some rare critters that have make their homes here also. This is my first visit to the place and it seemed to be perfect for future beetle photography trips. In fact, I would want to visit the place as soon as possible before it is too late.

Here's how the place looked.

I was pleasantly surprised to find several of this Leaf Beetle (Lema rufotestacea) in a small patch of low vegetation.

In the same low vegetation patch was this Lead Beetle (Lema diversa).

In the same area was this final stage of a beetle larvae. Wondered how the adult beetle would look like.

Following a series of rumbling of thunder, the sky started to drizzle. Picking up my pace to get back to my car, I accidentally came across three of this lovely yellow Leaf Beetle (Aulacophora indica).

Just as I was about to reached my car, the sky started to pour cats and dogs. Although this was a very short trip, it has given me a good feeling about the place. I am surely looking forward to walking the place on a finer weather day.