Morning Walk At Windsor Nature Park (01 Sep 2017)

It was almost 10 months since I last walked Windsor Nature Park (aka Venus Drive) in the morning, so taking the opportunity of a Public Holiday I decided to take a walk there. Learning from my last trip to the place on Public Holiday where the car park was packed full, I planned to reach the park by 7.30 am. Fortunately when I reached the place, the car park was only 3/4 full. I was mentally prepared for hordes of people at the place and sure enough the place looked more like a bazaar than a park.

Here's a photograph of an interesting golden color jumping spider.

The first beetle for the trip was a treat, a 3 mm first-time-encountered Jewel Beetle moving restlessly on  a blade of grass.

Near to the Jewel Beetle were several Ant Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) under the leaves of some Elephant Ear Plants.

A short distance away, I was glad to find this lovely Ladybird Beetle (Illeis koebelei).

Surprisingly, there were quite a number of this small 3 mm Weevil Beetle (Demimaea bakeri).

Coming to a small dying tree, I was able to find this small 5 mm Fungus Weevil (Habrissus omadioides).

Moving to a short dead tree stump, I was thrilled to find this "long-time-no-see" 5 mm Shiny Fungus Beetle under a large bracket fungus.

Near to the Shiny Fungus Beetle was a Rove Beetle.

Just millimeters from the Shiny Fungus Beetle was another smaller 3 mm Shiny Fungus Beetle.

Moving further down the trail, there were several of this active Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana) flying around a patch of ferns and Singapore Rhododendron plant (Melastoma malabathricum).

On one of the Singapore Rhododendron plant were several of this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

Coming to a fallen tree, I was glad to be able to find two of this Pleasing Fungus Beetle (Triplatoma gestroi).

On the same tree were two of highly active Tiger Beetle (Cicindela chrysippe) running around the fallen tree.

Moving further into the trail, a 3 mm first-time-encountered Click Beetle was found on a leaf.

Moving along, I was happy to find some beetle larvae at the base of a small tree. Finding beetle larvae shows that the beetle population at the place is doing well.

On a dead tree stump by the side of the trail was a small fungus mushroom where several of this 3 mm Sap Beetle were feeding.

Here's a close up of one of the Sap Beetles.

On a rubber tree leaf near by was this 3 mm Red-headed Tumbling Flower Beetle (Mordellistena cervicalis).

On a white fungus mushroom on the side of a small tree stump was this 1 mm beetle. Not sure what beetle is it.

Coming to another fallen tree and on a small plant next to the fallen tree were several of this 3 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle.

The surprise for the trip was this "long-time-no-see" Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus politus).

On the same tree was this small beetle larvae.

Moving deeper into the trail, I was glad to find this lone Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus mirus) on small tree.

Not sure if it was because of the time of the day or the weather, there seemed to be a number of this beetle encountered. This beetle looked like a Net-winged Beetle but I am not sure if it is as it lacks the typical netting patterns of a Net-winged Beetle (thus the name). Some has identified it as a Firefly Beetle on the internet, but I am doubtful about it being a Firefly Beetle as its abdomen seemed to be lacking the bioluminescence "segment". If you know the identity of this beetle, do comment below. Thanx.

By the side of the trail, I was surprised to find this 2 mm first-time-encountered Pintail Beetle.

The highlight for the trip was the encounter of this beautiful Long Horned Beetle (Chloridolum cinnyris). I may have previous wrongly identify this as Chloridolum thomsoni Long Horned Beetle. This looks very much like the Chloridolum thomsoni Long Horned Beetle, except for the two spots on the pronotum.

Moving on, I was once again thrilled to find this Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus) which I have not encounter for a long while.

Another treat for the trip was the encounter of this Long Horned Beetle (Sclethrus malayanus). While trying to verify the identity of this beetle, I realized that I may have misidentified this beetle in my past posts as Sclethrus amoenus, which apparently does not occur in our region.

It was a rather warm day and I was just about to wipe off my perspiration with my towel that I found this Ladybird Beetle larvae crawling on my towel. I gently moved it onto a leave and it rested in this position after moving around the leaf for a while.

At this point in time I am at the path where there are high human traffic, mostly heading towards the Tree Top Walk. Because of the high human traffic along this trail, I was not expecting to find many beetles. To my surprise, I found this bronze colored Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis) on a small plant.

As expected, not a single beetle encountered after a while of walking until I came to a dead tree stump. It was not an easy task photographing along this part of the trail as I will have to frequently answer to curious passerby on what am I photographing. On the tree stump were several of this Fungus Beetle.

On the same tree stump were several of this Shiny Fungus Beetle.

Interestingly although there were not too many beetles on the tree stump, there were many of this beetle larvae on it.

More walking without finding any other beetles until I encountered this 5 mm Net-winged Beetle. It was half dead when I found it and I was wondering why, until I saw the fine spider web when I was preparing the photographs for this post. It was probably stuck to the leaf and was baking under the hot sun.

I am glad to have made the trip as it was a fruitful trip with several first-time-encountered beetles, and also encountering several "long-time-no-see" beetles. I am also happy with the new camera setup as the photographs turned out to be of my liking. Wonderful trip indeed!

Night Walk At Punggol (25 Aug 2017)

My original plan was to go to Windsor Nature Park but I was held up and left my house much later. As such I changed my plan to explore the West side of the Punggol Promenade Nature Walk. This is the other side of the walk which is not so frequented by people. I started off hopeful that I will be able to find some interesting beetles, but after several minute of walking I was horrified to find the West side was undergoing massive constructions. As a result, I decided to head towards the Punggol Waterway Park to see if I can catch some beetle actions there.

Here's a photograph of an interesting Stink Bug that looks like the Golden ant (Polyrhachis illaudata) at a glance.

The first beetle encountered after almost 30 minutes of walking was a Chafer Beetle (Maladera castanea).

More walking before finding a lone commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

Near to the Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle was another Chafer Beetle.

It was rather disappointing to come across woodpiles and fallen logs, and yet didn't find any beetles on them. I was almost wanting to give up when I came across several of this lovely Darkling Beetles on a fallen tree.

After some walking I finally reached the Punggol Waterway Park. I was once again met with disappointment as the usual area where I would find beetles has also became a construction site. Fortunately, near by to the construction site were several of this Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

Time flew past quickly and it was time to call it a day, just then I found a small 1 mm Fungus Beetle on a small tree. I am particularly wanting to photograph this beetle as it will help me validate my macro camera setup. This beetle turned out to be last beetle for the trip.

This trip was a disappointment as the number of beetles encountered was very bad, nevertheless it was still beneficial as I was able to test out my macro photography setup.

Night Walk At Pasir Ris Park (18 Aug 2017)

The weather was not very good as it rained heavily in the afternoon. Nevertheless, I decided to carry on with my weekly macro-photography session at the Pasir Ris Park as I was eager to try out my new flash diffuser.

The new diffuser is 25% smaller than my previous diffuser. The reason for the change is because of my new smaller and lighter Sony A6000 camera was put out of balance by the bigger diffuser, which was suited for the larger and heavier Sony SLT-A58 camera.

My friend Reynard decided to join me for this trip to Pasir Ris Park because his place of study is near to where I was going. Here's a picture of a small 20 mm Praying Mantis found at the place.

Not surprisingly, the first beetle for the trip was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) on a thin vine.

Near to the Chafer Beetle was a small 4 mm Leaf Beetle found at a patch of low bushes,

After a bit of walking before this Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) was found munching on a leaf.

Coming to the spot where several colonies of Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) I found previously, I was disappointed to find only this single specimen. Not sure what happened to the colonies.

The highlight of the trip was a 30 mm Click Beetle, found by Reynard.

On a leaf of a Clidemia hirta plant was this Sweet Potato Weevil (Cylas formicarlus) with only 4.5 legs.

Near to the Sweet Potato Weevil was another Click Beetle (Pectocera babai) with  its fan-like antennae closed up.

More walking before finding several of this 2 mm Darkling Beetles on a small tree.

On the same tree was this well-camouflaged Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassiornis).

On another tree was a tragedy in action where a Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) was attacked by a group of Weaver Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina).  This was a little odd as Chafer Beetles usually do not rest on tree trunks, which these Weaver Ants were found.

A stone's throw away was this large 25 mm Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis) munching on a leaf.

Sadly on another tree was this Darkling Beetle being taken alive by another group of Weaver Ants.

The last beetle for the trip was a 3 mm Darkling Beetle hiding in a crevice of a small tree.

The trip was not expected to be fruitful, but I am still happy as I am able to test out my new diffuser which seemed to work well with my new camera.

Morning Walk At Pulau Ubin (11 Aug 2017)

It has been years since I last set foot on Pulau Ubin (a small island about 10-15 minutes of bump boat ride from Singapore) and so I decided to take leave from work and go there for this week's macro photography session. When I set off from my home the sky was clear, but as I was nearing the Changi Point Ferry Terminal the sky became dark and started to drizzle. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I decided to proceed as planned.

When I reached the island, the sky was not drizzling but remained overcast. The last time I was on the island I rode around the island on a rental bicycle, but it turned out to be not so effective as the number of beetles encountered was really disappointing. For this trip I decided to walk instead of cycling, knowing that I may not be able to cover much ground on foot.

Here's a photograph of an Oriental pied-hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) supposedly to be commonly sighted on the island.

There is a new Sensory Trail and so I decided to take a look at the trail. The trail is lined with cultivated patches of herbal and food plants, and on a patch of ginger plants were several of this Leaf Beetle (Gonophora pulchella).

On another patch of ginger plants was this 3 mm first-time-encountered metallic-blue color Leaf Beetle. This beetle was very sensitive to movements and it promptly flew off after two photographs.

On a different patch of ginger plants was another first-time-encountered 3 mm metallic-bronze color Leaf Beetle. Not sure if it is a sexual dimorphism of the same species of beetle as above, or is it a different species of beetle.

Further down the trail was this familiar Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis).

The Sensory Trail passes through a patch of Sea Hibiscus and on one of its stems was this lone Leaf Beetle. Sadly, this was the last beetle that I encountered on the trip as the sky started to rumble and dark clouds were gathering overhead, and looked like it will rain any time. So I decided to call it a day and took a bump boat back to Singapore.

This trip was no better than the last but it was probably because of the rain. Nevertheless, it was still consider a good trip as I was able to encounter two first-time-encountered beetles.

Night Walk At Pasir Ris Park (04 Aug 2017)

HW and I decided to go to Pasir Ris Park for our regular night macro photography session. The week has been hot and dry, but it did not prepare me for what I saw at the place. The vegetation at the place were all withering and if the sky still doesn't rain, I am very sure all those plants that I saw would all dry up and die.

With the dry weather and the withering vegetation, it was not surprising that the number of critters encountered dropped tremendously. Nevertheless there are still critters around, albeit that they were very much harder to find. Here's a small Stoliczka's Crab Spider (Thomisus stoliczka) resting on a Siglap Grass (Zoysia matrella).

The first beetle for the trip was a small 1 mm Fungus Beetle, hiding in a depression on a small tree. Please pardon the not so good picture taken as I am still trying to get use to photographing using my new Sony A6000 camera.

The next beetle was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) encountered after a while of walking.

More walking before finding this small 8 mm Leaf Beetle. The beetle looked pretty dirty with the tar-like stuff on it.

More walking without finding any critters, until coming to a small tree with this lone Darkling Beetle on it.

Walking in the hot weather was not so pleasurable and I was sweating buckets before finding this Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) on a low bush.

Some more walking before I found this tiny 1 mm beetle on a small tree. I am not sure what beetle it is but it resembled a small Ladybird Beetle (Scymnus sp.)

The trip was getting boring as not only we did not find any beetles we also barely find other critters. After more walking I finally found this Chafer Beetle munching on a leaf.

Near to the small Chafer Beetle was a much larger Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis).

Sadly our usual spots where we would find beetles were turning out empty, until we came to a small tree with several of this 4 mm Darkling Beetle.

More walking without finding any beetles, I was hoping to find the colony of Tiger Beetles (Cicindela aurulenta) at a particular location but sadly the colony was no where to be found. It was only after walking for a while that I found several of this Tiger Beetle on a small plant.

The last beetle for the trip was a small 5 mm Leaf Beetle.

The trip was a disappointment due to the super dry weather. I hoped that rain will come soon, if not many of the critters will be lost like during the year when we had super dry weather. At the same time, more work needs to be put in by me to get use to the new camera.