A Rather Quiet Sunday On MNT

A heavy downpour lasted almost the whole of last Saturday (20 March) prevented me from going to any wild places for my weekly nature walk. I made up the loss by taking a short walk along the MacRitchie Nature Trail (MNT) the next day afternoon - yes, enjoying greenery has become an important routine for me on weekends.

Some old trees were felled near the entrance of the trail and I saw a few signboards saying that reforestation programme was in progress. Reforestation programme is necessary for our trees and forest habitats to maintain a healthy state.

The critters seemed to stay away from where the reforestation work was. At last, this non-native Changeable Lizard (Calotes versicolor ) appeared in front of me. It has become our most common lizards in our gardens, town parks and many wild places since it was introduced into Singapore many years ago. Sad to say that our native Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocela cristatella) is losing the battle against the Changeable Lizard in the wild. This small but beautiful Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (Dicaeum trigonostigma ) rested on a tree branch at quite a distance from me. I hesitated a while before I took a few steps forward and snapped a long distance shot to capture its beauty with my macro lens. This is a planthopper which was found on a leaf surface with its wings open. It certainly looks like a moth in this position.

A very beautiful and attractive damselfly which I have shot many times, Ceriagrion cerinorubellum is widely distributed in town parks with ponds and water catchment areas in our nature reserve.

There were several of them along the reservoir boardwalk. I spotted this intimate pair trying to form a "wheel". Despite several attempts by the female, they were not successful.

A very common squirrel in many parts of our forested wild places, Pantain Squirrel (allosciurus notatus) is usually very skittish and alert. I usually didn't have any chance to get closer to them as any slight movement would scare them away. While I focused on shooting the mating pair of the dragonflies, this cute fellow came down and wandered around on the boardwalk wooden railings. Without making any movement, I quickly took a couple of shots.


Is this a "glowing" planthopper ? This was my first sighting of a rather strange and pretty planthopper. It rested on a dead branch in a very shady part of the forest trail. My shaky hands just could not allow me to lower the shutter speed further to get a brighter background.