Morning Walk At Zheng Hua Park (07 Aug 2015)

This was a special day as it was Singapore's first special and additional public holiday declared in celebration of our 50th National Day this year. As I have to run some errands in the morning near to Bukit Timah Road, I decided to check out the Zheng Hua Park which is about 15 minutes drive from Bukit Timah Road. This was the first time I am doing macro-photography at the place and was hopeful to find something interesting.

The weather looked fine on the way there but when I reached the place, the place looked wet and the sky was a little overcast. The first beetle was found at the entrance to the park and it was a Spiny Leaf Beetle (Dicladispa armigera) on a blade of Lalang Grass. This raised my hope about the place since it was only at the entrance that I already found a nice beetle.

Near to the Spiny Leaf Beetle was a low bush where this tiny Ladybird Beetle (Cryptogonus orbiculus) was found resting on a leaf.

My hope was shot lived as I walked along the walking path of the Zheng Hua Park as not a single beetle was found. It was only that I decided to stray off the main path and walk into a mud track that I found this small 1 mm Leaf Beetle on a badly eaten leaf.

Near to the Leaf Beetle was a small banana plant that I found this Ladybird Beetle (Chilocorus circumdatus) hiding under one of the leaves.

Just then, I realized that I have stumbled upon a patch of vegetable "farm". Actually, this is not really a farm but a plot of land used by the people staying around the area to grow vegetables and plants. On the leaf of an egg-plant was this Ant-like Flower Beetle (Anthelephila cyanea).

The place was full of low creepers with large yellow flowers and on them were many Leaf Beetles. I was later told that these creepers are hairy gourds plants.

Near to the orange Leaf Beetle were several other Leaf Beetles (Aulacophora lewisii).

On a plant near by was a small Ladybird Beetle which looked very much like the Cryptogonus orbiculus Ladybird Beetle, but differed in the location of the red spots.

The next beetle was found near to the Ladybird Beetle but it was so alert that I only managed to take one shot and it flew away.

Another Leaf Beetle that was flying around the place was the Lema rufotestacea Leaf Beetle.

Moving actively around the creeper leaves were several of the lovely Tortoiseshell Beetle (Cassida circumdata).

Here's another Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) that can be found at the vegetable patch.

On a badly eaten plant was this 28-spots Ladybird Beetle (Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata).

There was a small wood pile near to the vegetable patch and on it were several of this Fungus Weevil (Eucorynus crassicornis).

Next to the Eucorynus crassicornis Fungus Weevil was another more active Fungus Weevil.

Just when I was done photographing the Fungus Weevil, I found a small mud track which led to a small shack and another vegetable patch. In the shack was an old man resting in a chair. I greeted and strike up a conversation with him. Through my conversation, I found out that his name is Mr Yam (阮) and he is over 80 years old. He has been working the vegetable patch for years as a hobby.

Just then the sky started to rain and Mr Yam invited me to take shelter in his small shack.

Here is a photograph of the small shack after the rain.

A random shot from within the shack during the rain.

The rain finally stopped and it was time to say goodbye to Mr Yam. I took my leave and decided to call it a day as the chances of finding any beetles after the heavy rain is almost zero. Just as I was about to exit Zheng Hua Park, I found this tiny Jewel Beetle eating away on a young leaf.

The last beetle for the trip was a small 2 mm Leaf Beetle on a leaf.

The trip was interesting even though it was rather short because of the rain. Although I didn't cover much ground during this trip, I am glad to be able to find about 17 different beetles. The place looked promising and I would surely visit it again when opportunity arise in the future.

Night Walk At Venus Drive (31 Jul 2015)

After last week's light trapping trip, my interest in using light trap to lure beetles to me to photograph got the better part of me and I redesigned the light trap to be even more portable, using a DC choke to power a 20W UV florescent light. At the same time, I replaced the 12AH battery with a lighter battery.

It rained very heavily in the late afternoon and the sky still looked very much like it would rain again. Not wanting to put to waste the efforts that I have put into the redesigning of my light trap, I decided to go to Venus Drive as the place would have a better chance of finding beetles even during wet weather. Here's my light trap mounted on a tripod with a white netting around the UV tube. Effectively, it looked like a blue light lantern.  

After setting up the light trap, I decided to do my usual routine of looking for beetles. In any case, it is not good for the eyes to be staring at the UV light. The first beetle encountered was a Chafer Beetle with a a metallic bronze coloration.

The vegetation in the area was very wet and the chances of finding any beetles would be very slim. Sure enough, it was only about 10 minutes of walking before I found this Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus). Noticed that the beetle was also drenched by the rain earlier on.

Coming to a wood pike, I was rather disappointed to find only one of this commonly encountered Darkling Beetle.

More walking without finding any beetles until I came to another wood pile. This time round the fallen tree trunk had several beetles on it. There were a few Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula) which turned out to be rather shy and quickly moved away from the torchlight's light.

Near to one of the Fungus Beetles were several Darkling Beetle (Ceropria induta).

And slightly further from the group of Ceropria induta Darkling Beetle was a Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi).

More walking until I found this small Darkling Beetle hiding in a crevice of a tree trunk.

Coming to a fallen tree branch, I was surprised to find this Darkling Beetle.

Coming to the spot where I usually find one of my favorite beetles, White Ladybird Beetle. Without fail, I managed to find it under a leaf. On normal nights, the beetle would have flew off when it detected movements. This night the Ladybird Beetle remained entirely still for me to photograph it, probably due to the wet weather.

Moving to a small tree, I found a few of this mating Darkling Beetle.

On another tree was a similarly small Fungus Beetle.

More walking until I came across this Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta).

More walking until another wood pile where this small 3 mm Darkling Beetle was found.

On the same tree branch was another lovely Darkling Beetle.

Just while I was finishing photographing the Darkling Beetle, a beetle flew and hit my forehead and fell to the ground. Upon closer examination, I found a lighter brown color Chafer Beetle.

Walking down the trail, I came across this Fungus Weevil high up a tree. In order not to miss this beetle in this wet weather, I stretched to photograph this beetle for the purpose of recording the encounters on this trip.

Walking further, I was glad to be able to find this Leaf Beetle (Argopus brevis).

The sky was thundering away and I decided to turn back to check on the UV light trap and call it a day. Just when I was walking back towards the light trap, a 5 mm Weevil Beetle crawling on a small tree.

On the same tree was a Rove Beetle, resting in a crevice. It must be due to the wet weather that the beetle remained very still through out the photographing.

With much anticipation, I approached the UV light trap. Much to my disappointment and yet expected, there  was only a tiny 2 mm beetle resting on the netting.

The last beetle for the trip was a Fungus Weevil.

This trip was rather disappointing and yet not unexpected because of the rain. I will likely to try this again on days with fairer weather.

Light Trapping At Lim Chu Kang Cemetery (24 Jul 2015)

This Friday trip was special as it would not be my usual find-and-photograph trip. Instead I set up a light trap to attract beetles to photograph. I only used the light trap when I went to Malaysia but have tested it many years ago in Singapore. The result of the test was very bad as expected and hence I have never tried this in Singapore ever since.

 The reason why I am doing this again was because of a request by Reynard, a beetle-loving teenager whom I met online. He has not experienced light trapping before and was curious how to set up a light trap. Despite knowing how it would turn out, I agreed to show Reynard my light trap. My set up has gone through many modifications and has been designed to be portable, but at the expense of stability.

The place that we have chosen to set up the light trap was Lim Chu Kang Cemetery as we were aware that Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) can be found in the area. I have been wanting to photograph it and hence the choice of the location. The Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle used to be very common in Singapore but the number decreased over the years as Singapore became more developed.

Minutes upon turning on the light, many tiny insects started to land onto the white sheet behind the light. In all honesty I am not hopeful to find any beetles and was happy to find this tiny 2 mm brownish beetle on the white sheet. 

On another part of the white sheet was a 2 mm first-time-encountered beetle which I am not sure of its family. The shape of the beetle made me think that it could be a Ground Beetle, but I cannot be sure.

Another first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle was found at the lower part of the white sheet.

Another first-time-encountered beetle was this 2 mm beetle. I am not sure of its family as it looked like a cross between a Chafer Beetle and Dung Beetle.

The biggest beetle attracted by the light trap was a 8 mm Leaf Beetle (Attica cyanea).

While we waited for more beetles to turn up, we were exploring the surroundings but found nothing of interests. When I went back to the light trap to check, I was thrilled to find several of this first-time-encountered Rove Beetle (Paederus riparus). I read about this Rove Beetle and how it can cause serious skin irritations, but have never encounter it until now. I am so glad to be able to photograph it during this trip.

Next to Attica cyanea Leaf Beetle was another first-time-encountered Rove Beetle, about 3 mm in length.

After about 1.5 hours after the light trap was set up, we decided to call it a day given the lousy but not unexpected result. Nevertheless, this is an interesting trip with several first-time-encountered beetles. The trip also brought back fond memories of my light trapping trips in Malaysia.