Morning Walk At Venus Drive (15 Mar 2014)

Another week passed by without seeing any rain in Singapore. The weather is really dry and the situation is further worsen by the haze caused by the slash-and-burn farming of our neighbor, Indonesia. The air was thick with the smell of burning and the haze has brought a thick layer of dust on many of the vegetation in the area. The seriousness of the situation can be seen from the layer of dust that settled even on the new leaves. Noticed how dusty the leaf in the background.

One thing I cannot understand is that the haze situation in Singapore is already so unbearable, how can the Indonesians living in and around the region where the burning occur could bear with it. I would presumed that the PSI (a measure of air quality) in Indonesia would be constantly be at hazardous level. Yet nothing done. :(

The dry weather has already claimed many plants that cannot handle the dryness, and even young trees are starting to die. Dead leaves were all over the trail and most of the fallen logs were dry like bones. No fresh fungus mushrooms were in sight for weeks already, even the bracket fungus that were on the fallen logs before the dry spell looked dry and cracked-up, presumably dead. With the dead leaves on the ground, you could hardly see the outline of the trail.

The trip started off well with the first-time-encountered Ant-like Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea) after almost about 10 minutes of searching. This has became the norm since the start of the dry weather as it would take a lot more time to spot beetles. This was found on the top of a giant yam leaf. Noticed the dust that are on the leaf?

The walk from finding the above beetle to the usual clearing yielded no beetles at all. This is really a bad sign of things to come as usually I would easily find many beetles along the way to the clearing.

The beetle that greeted me at the clearing was this Long Horned Beetle (Sclethrus amoenus) that looked very much like a Tiger Beetle. I am glad to be able to find this beetle despite the dry and warm weather.

The situation at the clearing was not as optimistic either, it was only after a thorough search around the place that I managed to spot a few of this highly active Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana).

On a plant near to the Tumbling Flower Beetle was a Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis). Noticed that there are also dust particles on it.

The clearing only yielded 3 types of beetles which is a far cry from  what one would find before the dry weather started. Disappointed I moved on and after about 10 minutes of walking I was thrill to find this beetle larvae, even though it looked a little bit messy. The reason why I am thrill to find this commonly encountered beetle larvae is that since the dry weather, I hardly find them. This could only means one thing - the beetles are not reproducing and they may be dying out due to the dry weather. :(

Moving on, I was pleasantly surprised to find this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Mordella fasciata) resting motionlessly on a leaf.

The weather has really taken a toll on the beetle population at Venus Drive as I only found one of this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis) at the location where it used to be a large colony of it. Even for this particular  beetle, it was hiding under a almost withered leaf.

No other beetles were found until I reached the location of the "Snow Tree". There used to be two tree stump side by side to each other but only one was standing today, with one lying on the ground nearby.

On first look the "Snow Tree" is also drying up with many of the fungus mushrooms that used to grow on it gone or died. Only at the base of the tree stump that is under some form of shade that I found a several Fungus Weevils.

The first Fungus Weevil that caught my eyes was this first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil. The find brought back some excitement into the trip.

Near to the above Fungus Weevil was another Fungus Weevil. It was a Fungus Weevil that I have been searching for months since I chanced upon it last year (but was not able to get a very good photograph of it).

I am glad that there is still a patch of black fungus in the shade that several Fungus Beetles were feeding on it. This lovely patterned 3 mm Fungus Beetle was among the few Fungus Beetles found on the black fungus.

Next to the Fungus Weevil was a tiny 1 mm Fungus Beetle.

I am so glad to be able to find these two Fungus Beetle. Since the dry weather started, this type of Fungus Beetles are hard to come by. The insect next to the Fungus Beetles is a Earwig insect. There are quite a number of colorful Earwig that you can find in Venus Drive.

On the same patch of black fungus was a <1 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle. While writing this blog, I noticed that in the background of this tiny Fungus Beetle was an even smaller beetle. Amazing that beetles can be so tiny.

Surprisingly I found a few Rove Beetles resting on the black fungus. Guessed that its habitat is shrinking rapidly and has limited their movements to this small patch of black fungus. They were relatively less active here.

On the "Snow Tree" was this Fungus Weevil, resting motionlessly on the bark despite the camera flashes.

Just before I am done with the "Snow Tree", another tiny 1 mm beetle appeared.

It was about time for me to leave the place as it has taken me much longer time than expected to find beetles. On the way to the exit, I found this Darkling Beetle (Strongylium erythrocephalum) resting on the shaded side of a tree. It was good to find this beetle in this weather and especially so after long time since I last encountered this beetle.

The last beetle of the trip was a Checkered Beetle that was seen running along a dried up tree log. It was quite a challenge photographing this even with the 300 mm zoom lens due to its constant movements. I only managed to snap a quick shot of it when it rested in between its flying and running.

Although the result of the trip was better than expected, I am really concerned for the beetles as I do not know how long more would they be able to withstand this dry and hazy weather. At the same time, I am also concerned that the air quality in Singapore would deteriorate further with the continual burning in Indonesia. Crossing my fingers that the air quality will be good enough for me to photograph more beetles next week.

Night Walk At Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West (07 Mar 2014)

It was reported that the month of Feburary was the driest Feburary since 1869 and the weather continued to be dry and windy. I wanted to find out the impact of the dry weather on the beetle populaions, so I decided to take a walk at the Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West.

The place was bone dry and at some places the amount of dead leaves on the ground was ankle deep and at some remote locations, the leaves litter was almost knee deep. The dead leaves crackle with each step that I took.  In my heart I am expecting the worse for this place in terms of finding beetles.

After a while of walking before I found this lone Chafer Beetle (Apogonia expeditionis) on the dry leave on the ground.

A stone's throw away from the Chafer Beetle was an unexpected find - a Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes). This is the first time I come across this type of Long Horned Beetle at this place.

Upon encountering the Long Horned Beetle, my hope of finding more beetles was raised, but it was short lived as it was only about 20 minutes later that I found this 1 mm Fungus Beetle.

Walking further for about 5 minutes before I found these two Darkling Beetles near to each other, with the first one at about 6 mm and the latter 4 mm.

Moving along I scanned every tree for beetles. The bark of most of the trees were dry and without life, with only the occasional one or two of this 2 mm Fungus Beetles.

The next beetle that came along after a long while was a first-time-encountered Darkling Beetle. Its roundish shape differentiate it from the Darkling Beetles that I encountered before.

The surprise find for the night was this Checkered Beetle. This is the first time that I encountered this type of beetle in a town garden.

On my previous trips to this place I found a location where there is a large colony of the Cicindela aurulenta Tiger Beetle. Without much hesitation I make a bee-line to the place, but to my great disappointment the dry weather has possibly destroyed the Tiger Beetle colony as I only find a single Tiger Beetle (Cicndela aurulenta) at the location.

After walking for a long while without finding any other beetles, I decided to turn back and head for the exit. Along the way to the exit, I found a Chafer Beetle (Phyllophaga marginalis) happily feeding on  a leaf.

The last beetle before I left the place was a commonly encountered Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus). This beetle and the Apogonia expeditionis Chafer Beetle can usually be found in large numbers, but sadly this was the only Adoretus compressus Chafer Beetle that I found for this trip.

The result of the trip was not unexpected given the dry weather. I am fortunate to be able to find 11 beetles as it could have been worse like the trip to Punggol Road.

Morning Walk At Venus Drive (01 March 2014)

After the dismal trip the night before I decided to go to Venus Drive in the morning. Venus Drive was chosen  as it has a much higher chance of finding beetles despite the dry weather. It has not been raining for more than a month and this can be seen from all the brown dead leaves that litter the Venus Drive trail.

I was rather worried at the start of the walk as all the usual spots where I would find diurnal beetles yielded no beetles as the vegetation were dry and dying. I was really concerned that this trip would be like the night before trip. It was pretty "amazing" that I didn't come across any beetle until I reached the clearing that I usually visit.

The first beetle that greeted me was a first-time-encountered hairy Leaf Beetle. It is about 15 mm in size and is considered relatively large compared to all the Leaf Beetles that I have encountered. The encounter brought back some hope that the trip may not be a washout after all.

The next beetle was a small bronze-colored Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis) on a near by plant. It was resting motionlessly on a leaf, probably trying to conserve energy in this exceptionally dry environment.

The next beetle was another first-time-encountered Ladybird Beetle. It is about 2 mm in size and it was hiding under the shade of another leaf.

Given the poor start of the trip, I was exceptionally thorough and slow in sweeping the place for beetles than usual. Even when I was sweeping the place at almost half the speed of what I used to do, beetles were nowhere to be found.

My heart leaped when I spotted this bright orange Ladybird Beetle (Chilocorus circumdatus) on a Simpoh Air leaf.

At the base of a shaded tree was this Fungus Weevil resting from the heat of the sun. This is a first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil.

Flying around the place were several of this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Glipa malaccana). This beetle was very hyperactive, probably due to the hot and dry weather.

A surprise encounter was this Tumbling Flower Beetle (Mordella fasciata). This is only the third or fourth time that I encounter this beetle.

Still in the vicinity of the clearing, another first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil was seen resting on the base of another tree.

Yet another first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil resting at the base of another tree. I am so glad to find so many first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil at one place.

Just when I was about to leave the clearing, another Fungus Weevil was seen clinging to the side of a tree.

Moving further into the trail, I finally found a commonly encountered Leaf Beetle resting on a leaf. On normal days, one can easily find different types of Leaf Beetle all around Venus Drive. Sadly for this trip, this is the only one that I found. The other commonly seen Leaf Beetles such as the Lema diversa were nowhere to be found.

After having walked for about 10 minutes without encountering any other beetles, this beetle larvae was a welcomed sight. In fact, ever since this dry weather started I noticed that the number of beetle larvae encountered has plummeted steeply. This is the only beetle larvae that I seen throughout the entire 4 hours walk.

On a saw dust covered tree was this dusty Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula). This tree looked very much like the "snow tree" but differs in the amount of wood dust it threw out from its trunk. The wood dust is likely the handiwork of wood boring beetles.

The highlight of the trip came unexpectedly while I was looking around a patch of sparse trees. This large 20 mm Jewel Beetle was seen moving hyper-actively on a bare tree that had all its leaves dropped. This is a first-time-encountered beetle. This is also the first time that I came across a Jewel Beetle in Singapore that is so big. The Jewel Beetles that I usually encountered are very small, usually about 3-5 mm in size.

Such large size Jewel Beetles are rather rare in Singapore nowadays and I am indeed glad to have this opportunity to come face to face with it. In fact, I am so glad to be able to find 3 of this large Jewel Beetle during the trip.

On the same tree where the Jewel Beetle was feeding were several different sizes Checkered Beetle.

After encountering the Jewel Beetle, it was almost time for me to leave. Just then I found this Long Horned Beetle (Thranius bimaculatus) resting calmly on a leaf next to the path. I particularly like this Long Horned Beetle as it is not easily spooked and would remain very still for me to take photographs, even if the camera flash were flashing away.

Coming to the remains of the "snow tree", I only found this small 3 mm Fungus Beetle resting on top of a dried bracket fungus.

My time at the place was almost up and while I was walking briskly towards the exit, I saw a slight movement on a tree trunk and found this first-time-encountered Fungus Weevil.

Coming to a fallen log near to the exit, I found several of this metallic green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela chrysippe).

Near to the Tiger Beetle was this hyperactive Fungus Weevil which only allowed me one shot of itself before flying away. I am not able to see if this is a first-time-encountered beetle given this is the only shot of the beetle. This also marked the end of this trip since this is the last beetle that I found before leaving the place.

The trip was surprisingly fruitful, especially the encounter with the large Jewel Beetle. Although the number of first-time-encountered was high, I am concerned that the dry weather will claim even more beetles. Let's pray that the sky will rain soon.