Night Walk on the Wilder Side of Yio Chu Kang Road (17 Jan 2014)

I have been testing out a DIY flash diffuser for my external flash for the past few days at home and was looking forward to going into the field to test it out. The weather was wonderful and I decided to go to Venus Drive to do the field test since the chances of finding beetles at Venus Drive is relatively higher than the other locations.

As I was travelling towards Venus Drive on a public bus, my eyes caught sight of the relatively wild looking vegetation that was along the Yio Chu Kang road. This is the edge of the army training area and there are many signs reminding people that it is a restricted area. The Yio Chu Kang road is the usual road that I would travel on to go to Venus Drive and each time I pass by this stretch of the road, I would wonder if there are any beetles to be found.

As the bus traveled along the road, I decided to change my destination and alighted from the bus just after the end of the wild vegetation area. The distance from where I alighted to the start of the wild side of Yio Chu Kang road is about 200 meters. As I was walking towards my destination, I came across a large patch of morning glory plants. I was very hopeful when I saw the morning glory plants as I have been wanting to get some good photographs of Tortoise Beetle which can usually be found among morning glory plants. Sadly after searching high and low for beetles among the morning glory plants, not a single Tortoise Beetle was found.

When I reached the place where the wild vegetation ends, the first beetle that came into my view finder was this commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

Not too far from the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle was this Leaf Beetle (Phydanis bicolor). It was having its dinner under a leaf.

Further down the road, I found this Chafer Beetle which looked like the Apogonia expeditionis, except for the dark-brown elytra. With a quick glance one would misidentify the beetle since the color is very close to black.

A surprise find was this Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) as I have not come across this beetle in the night despite many night sessions that I made.

The trip started off promising with several beetles found within a small stretch of the Yio Chu Kang road, but it was short lived as after walking for 15 minutes and I still didn't find any other beetles. Interestingly, I found 2 newly hatched Painted Bronzeback snakes resting on some vegetation instead.

Just when I was about to give up, I accidentally found a trail left behind by durian pickers. Without any hesitation I walk into the path. This path is pretty long and there were a number of fallen trees. This is where the highlight of the night came in. On a rotten tree stump were several of this Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus nobilis [nobilis]).

This was the second time that I encountered this type of beetle.  The first time I encountered it was in February 2013 where I was walking the Mandai Track 15 ( http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/2013/02/morning-walk-at-mandai-track-15-09-feb.html ). I was not able to get a good photograph of this beetle then. I am so glad to be able to find this beetle tonight as I have been search for this beetle since February 2013.

Moving deeper into the path, another surprise encounter - a Fungus Beetle (Amblyopus vittatus) was resting on a leaf, motionless even though I was photographing it with a series of light flashes.

Time flies and it was about time to go home, just then I found a small 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

Just before I exited from the path, a small (5 mm) Darkling Beetle was seen motionless on a small tree.

The trip was not very fruitful with only a handful of beetles found, despite walking for such a long distance.Nevertheless, the encounter with the Stenotarsus nobilis has made the trip worth the while.

Off The Beaten Path At Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (11 Jan 2014)

I happened to be around the vicinity of the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve so I decided go there for a short walk. After having experienced the jammed packed crowd the last time I was there, I was mentally prepared to go to another place if the crowd persisted. Fortunately when I reached the place, the crowd was not as bad and I managed to get a car park lot. Armed with the Tamron AF 70-300 mm lens, I was confident that I will be able to get some decent macro shots with it, especially after a successful trip the night before.

For this particular trip, I have also decided to go off the usual beaten path and venture into the small paths that crisscross the place. The small paths were mostly formed by durian pickers during the durian season which was just over not too long ago.

The first beetle that I came across just after the entrance to the place was this small 3 mm Leaf Beetle. The shape of this beetle was very much like the Lema diversa Leaf Beetle but much smaller and spot a light brown coloration. This is a first-time-encountered beetle. What a great way to start the trip with.

The next beetle was a small 4 mm Soldier Beetle. It was hiding under a leaf.

This is the first time that I purposely move off-track and go into the various small paths, not knowing what to expect. Just then I noticed a small 3 mm Leaf Beetle which remained motionless during the entire time of my photographing it. This was the second time that I came across this lovely beetle.

Moving down one of the many paths, I came across this Net-wing Beetle (probably Calopteron rubricolle) which was not particular fond of me. It was pretty restless and kept flying off when I was trying to photograph it.

Next was the highlight of the trip - a Leaf Beetle with a half-and-half coloration and pattern on its elytra. This was so interesting looking but I not sure if it was due to some injuries or was it some kind of mutation.

Moving to a plant that does not look too healthy, I found this lone beetle which was pacing up and down a leaf.

More paths to follow and just at the beginning of another path, I found this lovely orange, first-time-encountered Soldier Beetle.

Moving to a fallen and rotting tree trunk, I found this Fungus Beetle (Eumporphus assamensis) which remained motionless throughout the entire time that I was photographing it.

Walking onto another path, I found this bright first-time-encountered Net-winged Beetle. It looked like the Dictyoptera aurora Net-winged Beetle but it is orange instead of red in color. It was rather sensitive and flew off after a few shots of it.

The next beetle was one of my favorite Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus pardalis) that I would occasionally find in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.  This time round it was interesting as I managed to find 5 of this type of beetle along a particular path.

Near to the Fungus Beetle was a rotten tree stump where I found this lovely metallic blue Fungus Beetle which I just came across first time the night before.

Next to the metallic blue Fungus Beetle was small 3 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle.

Moving on to another path I found this first-time-encountered Soldier Beetle resting on leaf. This looked similar to the Crudosilis ruficollis Soldier Beetle except for the color of its legs and the shape and color of its pronotum (thorax).

The weather was getting warmer and so I retreated into the relatively cooler path where the overhead foliage were thicker. I figured that if I am feeling the heat, so critters that I am looking for would also find shelters from the heat. True to my thinking, I found a number of beetles along the shaded paths.

Here's a small 5 mm Net-winged Beetle.

A Leaf Beetle hiding under a leaf. Interestingly it didn't fly off when I slowly turn over the leaf to get some good shots of it.

A pair of small 2 mm Fungus Beetles were found on the side of a shaded tree.

While walking along the shaded path, I was drawn to some movements and found this Long Horned Beetle (Sclethrus amoenus). This was the second time that I came across this beetle. It is rather sensitive to movements and my Tamron AF70-300 mm lens came in handy as I am able to zoom in to it from 2 meters away.

Resting in the shade was this Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus). This is another hyper-sensitive beetle that will promptly fly away when it detected movements.  This photo was taken from a distance of about 2 meters using direct flash. Looking back, I should have used a flash diffuser to remove the hard shadow.

I was out of the trail and was near to the Visitor Center that I found this Chafer Beetle. Notice the long hairs at the edge of its elytra.

The last beetle that I found before I left the place was this metallic blue Leaf Beetle. It was pretty calm and did not fly off even though I was handling the leaf that it was on so that I can get better shots.

This trip was fruitful not only because I managed to find some interesting beetles but also because I managed to get a better feel of taking macro using my Tamron AF70-300 mm lens.

Night Walk At MacRitchie Reservoir (10 Jan 2014)

The weather was dry and it was perfect for a night walk for some beetle actions. Feeling a little lazy, I decided to go to the MacRitchie Reservoir as I have a direct public bus to the place and back, unlike the other locations where I would need to change to other bus services or have to walk quite a distance.

At the same time, I also decided to give my Tamron AF70-300 mm lens a try for the night macro session. This is the first time that I would use it through out the entire session and at the same time paired it with an external flash with a homemade flash diffuser. Most of the photographs for this session were taken with this setting - 1/160, F18 and ISO 400-800.

So without much expectations, I headed towards MacRitchie Reservoir. The first beetle that came into view was this Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus) feasting on a leaf of the Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) plant.

On another Singapore Rhododendron was a few of this roundish Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis). The Singapore Rhododendron seemed to be the favorite food plant for this type of beetle.

Another type of beetle was found feeding on the Singapore Rhododendron plant. This time round was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis).

A small Darkling Beetle was found on the trunk on a tree nearby. At a glance it looked like the commonly encountered Darkling Beetle, but as I zoomed closer I noticed that the legs are brown in color. This is different from the commonly encountered Darkling Beetle which has black colored legs. This turned out to be a first-time-encountered beetle.

Moving further into the trail, a Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus quadriguttatus) was seen resting on a leaf.

A small 2 mm black beetle was seen on a tree trunk and from my previous experience, the beetle may not be black in color. True enough as I zoomed closer on the beetle, it turned out to be nicely patterned. It was a Fungus Beetle.

Further down on a think tree was this small 4 mm Fungus Weevil.

Moving along, a Ground Beetle (Onypterygia longispinis) was found chewing on a freshly bruised tree bark. This particular Ground Beetle was so engrossed with its feasting that it did not move at all throughout photographing session. It was an unlikely behavior as this particular type of Ground Beetle is rather sensitive to light and movements, and would typically fly off when they sensed movements.

On a nearby rotting log was this Fungus Beetle.

Moving on I saw a speck of orange on a tree trunk and found this lovely orange color Fungus Beetle. This is a first-time-encountered beetle.

On the same tree trunk was this beetle larvae. I always enjoy photographing them as they reminded me of jelly sweets.

Walking down the graveled path, I was not at all surprised to find this Long Horned Beetle (Aeolesthes holosericeus) as you can usually find different type of Long Horned Beetle here. The only surprise about this particular beetle was that it remained very still for me to photograph, which is not typical as it is quite sensitive to movements and I would usually need to 'chase' after them to photograph them.

The next was a wonderful find as I seldom come across Click Beetle of this size (~25 mm). Those Click Beetle that I usually come across were typically less than 10 mm in size. This is another first-time-encountered beetle.

A commonly encountered Darkling Beetle was seen on a tree trunk.

On the same tree was another bigger (~15 mm) Darkling Beetle. This particular beetle was black in color whereas there are also similarly looking Darkling Beetle that has red colored legs.

When I first started photographing beetles, I thought that these were silverfishes until later on that I realized that they are Rove Beetle. I have always wanted to photograph these hyper-active and sensitive beetles but they are quite a challenge to photograph (and still is). I was fortunate to find this lone Rove Beetle (Sepedophilus bisignatus) that stopped for a relatively longer time between its high speed runs.

Several of this Fungus Beetle were found on another rotten log. This was quite a difficult beetle to photograph as it is pretty shiny and the patterns on its elytra were very subtle.

On the same log was a large Darkling Beetle (~10 mm).

Moving to a very large rotten tree trunk on a slope on the side, I found this Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus tetraspilotus) moving actively on the log.

While photographing the Eumorphus tetraspilotus Fungus Beetle, my eyes caught sight of this small 3 mm metallic blue and orange Fungus Beetle. This is a first-time-encountered beetle.

The highlight of the trip was found on the same log. It was another first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle. Interestingly the pattern on this beetle looked similar to a Ground Beetle that I found previously.

Moving to a tree that was covered with green algae, I found this large 15 mm Darkling Beetle.

On a tree nearby was another Darkling Beetle.

Moving down the trail I came across a fallen tree on the side a few meters down a gentle slope. I decided to check it out and found this lovely colored Fungus Beetle (Micrencaustes lunulata).

Next to the Micrencaustes lunulata Fungus Beetle was a large tree stump where a large bracket fungus was growing on it. Underside of the bracket fungus was a large group of Eumorphus tetraspilotus Fungus Beetle (about 10) and near to them was this lone Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus politus).

On the same bracket fungus was another lone Fungus Beetle (Eumorphus assamensis).

After a few minutes of strenuous photography on the slope (covered with decomposing leaf litters), I was simply glad to find this small (~2 mm) Fungus Beetle.

Time passes quickly and it was time for me to turn back. As I was walking back towards the entrance, I saw this Fungus Beetle on a small tree. I initially thought that it was the Eumorphus assamensis Fungus Beetle and was deciding whether to stop and photograph it. Since I still have a little bit of time, I decided to stop and photograph it. And to my pleasant surprise, I found "extra" spots on it. This is a different Fungus Beetle and it was only the second time that I came across this type of beetle.

I didn't came across any beetle when I was heading towards the entrance, thus this beetle larvae because a welcome sight for me.

The last beetle was found by chance when I was looking at an interesting looking spider on a plant and noticed some movement on a tree trunk. It was a Ground Beetle (Minuthodes multisetosa).

The trip turned out to be better than expected, with me learning how to take night macro with my Tamron AF70-300 mm lens and external flash. I also learned how tiring it can be with the added weight of the external flash , LED light and the heavier Tamron lens (compared to my usual 18-55 mm Sony lens that I used for macro photography in the night.) The several first-time-encountered beetles was a bonus for the satisfying but tiring trip.