A Morning Walk At Venus Drive (11 May 2013)

I finally got my hands on the Sony SLT-A58 camera and was ready to try out the new camera. Going to Venus Drive is a sure way of catching some beetle actions and Venus Drive I went.

The first beetle that came into view was this Leaf Beetle (Lema cyanella).  I didn't realize that taking photograph of this beetle with my old camera was a breeze until I struggled to take some decent close up with the new camera. I ended up making use of the "Auto" functions of the camera and the results were a bunch of not so sharp photographs or photographs shot with high ISO setting.

A surprised find was this Flower Chafer Beetle found on a vine under a shady part of the trail. In order not to miss the opportunity of photographing it, I hurriedly took out my old camera and took some zoomed photographs of it without noticing that it was on "Auto" mode and the ISO setting was high. This resulted in pretty grainy photographs.

Just when I wanted to take some close-up shots with the new camera, it flew off into the thick bushes.

Coming to some fallen logs, I found a few Fungus Beetles still out on the bracket fungus. This is probably due to the wet morning and overcast sky. From the photographs taken, I would need to spend more time playing with the new camera. Here's one of the better photographs out of a dozen of not so nice photographs.

A Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus politus) was moving quickly along the fallen tree. This is when I notice that I really need to be acquainted with the new camera. Many blurred shots were taken.

Walking into the open part of the trail where there were very little tree canopy overhead, I found a hyperactive Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana). As the new camera does not have a good zoom, I quickly took out my old camera to take a zoomed photograph of the beetle.

To test out the camera's flash, I found this tiny (~2 mm) beetle at the shady base of a big tree. The flash was very harsh especially over the wet tree trunk. More learning to go.

A shot of another tiny beetle on the same tree trunk.

Some beetle larvae on a tree trunk. The depth of field needs a lot of work.

Coming to some low bushes, I saw a whitish beetle in flight and followed it until it landed. To my surprise, it was a Leaf Beetle that I saw on the internet but have not come across before. This time round I was trying out manual focusing. This resulted with many slightly out-of-focus photographs.

Moving on to another fallen tree log, I found this Fungus Beetle crawling on it. Photograph was shot with natural sunlight.

Another Fungus Beetle on the same log but this one was hyper-active and was moving around at a very high pace. I had a hard time trying to manual focus and move the camera quick enough to follow this small beetle.

Moving along, I came across this lovely colored beetle larvae on a tree trunk. Like the color contrast of the larvae.

Coming to another shady part of the trail, a lovely beetle was resting on a leaf. This turned out to be harder to photograph than I thought. Not many acceptable shots. And for this particular photograph, the flash was once again too harsh.

Passing by a pile of chopped up tree branches, I found this Fungus Beetle. Guessed that shooting under natural sunlight makes a lot of difference for the photograph.

A busy Leaf Beetle was found on a rattan tree leaf and it highlighted the difficulties in macro photographing a small moving subject.

Moving along the trail, at the height of ankle was this lovely colored beetle. Looks like a Leaf Beetle. Shot in "Auto" mode. The photograph looked a little grainy, probably due to the high ISO setting in shaded conditions.

Not too sure what is the reason, there were a number of Net-winged Beetles found during the trip. Here's a shot using the "i-Auto" mode.

This was a real challenge as I was trying to photograph this tiny beetle (<2 mm) under natural sunlight. The photograph was shot in "Auto ISO" mode and the camera ended up taking a series of different shots with each snap. Interesting.

An interesting looking beetle shot under natural light. Out of a few of the photographs taken, only this badly photograph is usable as a record of this beetle for the trip.

The highlight of the trip was coming across this lovely furry blue beetle (Trichochrysea hirta). Read about it on the internet and finally got a chance to photograph it myself. Well, the usual problem of depth of field cropped up for photographing this beetle.

The last beetle that appeared before the end of my trip was this Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa).

Although the photographs taken on this trip was not too good, finding some interesting beetles made the trip; albeit I need to work a lot more on the camera settings.

A Short Walk Along Punggol Road (10 May 2013)

The weather was a little wet but the urge of wanting to take some photographs of beetles remained strong, so I decided to head towards the nearest "wild" place - the still yet to be developed part along the Punggol Road.

The first beetle was this ~8 mm Leaf Beetle about 2 meters up on a tree trunk. A big challenge to photograph this beetle with one extended hand holding the camera, and the other holding a torchlight  to shine light on the beetle.

After a few minutes of stretching exercise, the next subjects were much easier to photograph. Two tiny (~2 mm) Lady Bird Beetles were found a knee level plant just a few meters from the tree with the Leaf Beetle.

The surprise for the night was this interesting Click Beetle (Pectocera babai).

A stone's throw away was this commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus), enjoying its dinner.

On one of the trees that lined the Punggol Road was this tiny (<2 mm) and common beetle. I love the color and pattern of this tiny beetle and have yet to get tired of photographing it even though it can be found on most trees, even in a housing estate.

On the same tree with the above beetle was this cute looking beetle larvae. This could be the larvae of the above beetle, given its color pattern and proximity to the beetle.

Another interesting find were these small (~3 mm) Leaf Beetles. The color of the beetles reminded me of agar agar.

On a tree was a group of this Darkling Beetle. This beetle comes in different sizes and this one is about 5 mm.

On another tree was this Darkling Beetle (<3 mm). Like the contrast of the beetle on the green moss backdrop.

Although this was a very short trip, it was still fruitful despite the fact that it was after a heavy rain.

Morning Walk At Venus Drive (04 May 2013)

It was a bright and sunny morning and so I decided to take a walk at Venus Drive.

The first surprise that greeted me was this interesting looking Fungus Weevil. This is the first time I come across this Fungus Weevil with a distinct black dot on its elytra. It was hyper sensitive and would not let me within 2 meters from it.

Near to the Fungus Beetle was this metallic blue Leaf Beetle (Lema cyanella) which is pretty common along the trail.

A short distance from the Leaf Beetle was this interesting looking insect which looked very much like a beetle. I am not too sure if it is a beetle or is it a bug.

Just when I was wondering if the above is a beetle, a brownish-black beetle flew pass. It turn out to be a Spiny Leaf Beetle (Dicladispa armigera). I always wonder if there are any natural predators that feed on this beetle.

Another Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) turn up near to the Spiny Leaf Beetle.

A stone's throw away was another Leaf Beetle (Lema rufotestacea).

Another surprise find was this beetle (Mordella fasciata) from the same family as the Tumbling Flower Beetle  (Glipa malaccana).

Moving further into the trail, a metallic green Tiger Beetle decided to come out to say "Hello". Another hyper sensitive beetle that takes to flight at the slightest detection of movement.

On a dead tree log, I am surprised to find a Fungus Beetle as by this time, most of them would have been hiding.

Across the pathway, was this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana). I am so fortunate to find   both the Mordella fasciata and this beetle, within a short distance from each other.

A Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis) was seen hurrying across a bracket fungus.

A Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus politus) was found clinging on the side of a tree.

A small (~2 mm) Fungus Beetle (Mycetina cyanipennis) on the same bracket fungus.

Just then, a Fungus Weevil landed on a tree.

Walking deeper into the trail, I found this interesting looking Net-Winged Beetle. The thorax looked a little strange though.

Coming to a patch of fish-tail palms, I found another beetle from the Tumbling Flower Beetle family. Interesting don't you think?

A few black colored Fungus Beetle were found among the low bushes.

A tiny (~2 mm) but beautiful beetle was found near-by.

While I was enjoying the photo opportunities of the beetle, another beetle appeared. This looked a little like Soldier Beetle.

Another Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus quadriguttatus) appeared.

A small (~5 mm) beetle flew near the Fungus Beetle, and it turn out to be an interesting Fungus Beetle. Just when i was taking photographs of this lovely beetle, the sky started to pout heavily.

The rain was rather heavy and I decided to cut short my walk and started walking towards the exit. Along the way was this small (~3 mm) Fungus Beetle.

The rain came suddenly and stopped 10 minutes later. Several of this round Fungus Beetle were found near the base of a very tall and big tree.

Moving on, a tiny (~4 mm) Fungus Weevil was found resting on a leaf.

Although knowing in my heart that the rain would have washed-out the rest of the trip, I nevertheless proceeded further. The perseverance paid off with the finding of a lovely colored Jewel Beetle (~4 mm). I particularly like the metallic coloration on the beetle.

The last beetle that appeared was this ~3 mm small Fungus Beetle. Very sensitive to movements and flew off before I can even snap a few more photographs of it.

The trip was fruitful and it would be even more interesting if the rain did not come at such a less opportune time. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant trip with a few "new" beetles added to my beetles photograph collection.