A Quiet Day at Lower Pierce Reservoir Park

It was a sunny and hot Saturday morning on 22 July. After getting some work done at home, I decided to have my early lunch at Casurina Road before dropping by at Lower Pierce Reservoir (LPR) Park. It was rather quiet throughout the whole morning. The only good catch of the day was this Common Awl (Hasora badra badra. As usual, it hid below a leaf so getting a good shot was always a challenge.

Not far away from this Awl, a robber fly was resting on a Fish Tail Palm leaf.

The next moment, I noticed that a white flimsy object appeared in front of its month, what is this ?

This is a dorsal view of the robber fly.

A Chequered Lancer (Plastingia naga) was zipping around. After checking a few leaves, she finally laid this tiny reddish hemispherical egg on a leaf surface of a Fish Tail Palm (Caryota mitis). She disappeared out of my sight completely once she laid this single egg.

A common forest denizen, The Branded Imperial (Eooxylides tharis distanti is a long-tailed Lycaenid which tends to "hop" from perch to perch.

There were quite a few Common Five Rings (Ypthima baldus newboldi) feeding on some very small white flowers. The sky suddenly turned cloudy and it was rather windy when these shots were taken.

Another Common Five Ring was feeding on another cluster of flowers.
A large cluster of wild mushrooms was found on a rotten wood along the boardwalk.

More than a week from home made me long for the fresh air and the tranquility our forests would bestow us. I really enjoyed strolling in the forest, listening to the different forest symphonies and taking pictures in a natural environment surrounded by lush greenery and the reservoir.

What a Good Outing to USR !

It has been more than a month since my last visit to Upper Seletar Reservoir (USR) Park. 16 June  seemed to be a lucky day for many BC members who were at USR for their weekend shooting.

At the usual spot, I noticed this Chequered Lancer (Plastigia naga) perching quietly on a leaf. I approached it slowly and took a few shots.

There was a lonely Dark Blue Jungle Glory (Thaumantis klugius lucipor) playing hide-and-seek with us. After our persistent chasing and stalking, we managed to get at least a shot when it was resting on the forest undergrowth.

Some of us moved towards the reservoir edge. Along the way I saw this mating Chestnet Bob (Iambrix salsala salsala)

Dr Seow identified this as Arhopala sublustris ridleyi.  

It has been quite sometime since my last encounter with a Lesser Herlequin (Laxita thuisto thuisto) - a relatively uncommon lycaenid, this species tends to hopped around on the leaf surface with its wings partially open.

At around 1 pm, The Plane (Bindahara phocides phocides) one of the rarest Lycaenids was spotted by CH along a hedge of shrubs. It was rather tame and stayed at a rather difficult position for us to take some shots. We encountered the male more often than the female. 

After shooting the Plane, I went back to the trail where we found this rather pristine Malay Tailed Judy (Abisara savitri savitri). It displayed its typical usual behaviour of turning and hopping on the leaf surface, making us work extra hard for a shot.

We also spotted a rather small male Great Helen (Papilio iswara iswara) resting high up on a leaf.

A rather worn-out skipper Zographetus doxus perched rather tamely. 

A brown skipper appeared to be the Small Branded Swift (Pelopidas mathais mathais) offerred me rather nice posture and background for a shot.      

It was a fruitful outing at USR where most of had great fun shooting together.