A Hazy and Cloudy Day @ Seletar Wasteland

My last visit to this wasteland at Seletar was last October (see here). After fulfilling my other commitment in the early morning, I decided to head out to this place even though the weather was a little hazy and a cloudy on a Saturday noon.

It was quite obvious that some shrubs and trees had been chopped down and a wider food path had been created - definitely not a good sign for nature lovers.

I saw this male Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus) resting in a shade, a very common species in this wasteland as its larval host plant the Indian Curry Leaf (Murraya koenigii ) was growing very well here.

There were quite a few Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus cnejus , 棕灰蝶) ) fluttering around in the late morning. They were rather active and alert and hardly stopped long enough for me to compose a better shot. I believe this is one of its host plants, a creeper growing quite well despite the dry weather in the past few weeks. I noticed this Lemon Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona pomona) resting on a lalang grass blade. Out of a few shots that I took, this particular shot captured a rare moment of it using one of the front legs rubbing its eyes.

This female Blue Glassy Tiger (ideopsis vulgaris macrina ) was fluttering around a Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruitcosa ) bush, demonstrating a typical behaviour of a female trying to lay eggs. I patiently observed her and indeed she laid two eggs on a vine climbing high up on the Simpoh Air shrub.

She might have "exhausted" after laying the eggs so she decided to rest on a twig. What a good chance for me to snap some quick shots before she regained her energy and flew off.

This small Lycaenid is Apefly (Spalgis epius epius) which belongs to a a family of butterfly called Miletinae whose larvae are carnivorous. It displayed a rather erratic flight but all of a sudden it perched on a lalang , presenting me a good opportunity to take a few shots before it took off hastily again.

This may be a female Crocothemis servila dragonfly which was quite common in this long strip of wasteland. A drab and inconspicuous moth was hiding in a bush close to the ground. Identifying a moth is never an enjoyable thing for me to do. A very common spider in many wastelands, it looks like a female Golden Web spider (Nephila pilipes) enjoying her meal - a fly. Here is another shot, showing more of her underside. Leafhoppers feed on various plant's xylem sap and this particular species (Bothrogonia ferruginea) is very common in our wastelands. Though not big, its prominent orange "outfit" makes it very noticeable when it lends on a leaf. Interestingly, the presence of a few black spots on its head and the front sections of its body make it look like a ladybird beetle.
This wasteland has very rich floral and fauna species. We have lost quite a few wasteland habitats (eg Punggol and Daily Farm areas). I really hope it will not be developed in the near future.