From Ulu Sembawang Park Connector to Upper Seletar Reservoir

A nice Saturday morning on 20 July enticed me visiting the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector again - my first outing since I came back from a conference trip to Melbourne. Again the forest trail was devoid of movement of life until I noticed this beautiful dragonfly enjoying its peaceful perch on a twig. 

I realise that I am getting "rusty" in identifying dragonfly now - I am not sure if this is the Cratilla metallica as it looks different from what Tang's book shows, perhaps this is a juvenile ?

I went to a patch of grassland and bumped into a solitary Scarlet Flash (Rapala dieneces dieneces) which was seen feeding on some Biden flowers at first.

I believe this is a kind of squash bug, roaming on the leaf surface.

The wings look strange to me because an "armoured plate" was seen below the wings ?

I returned to the forest trail again and this time I was lucky to see a pair of Plain Plushblue (Flos apidanus saturatus) in an intimate position. Unlike some other insects, they were rather alert and afraid of my presence. 

Before I left for Upper Seletar Reservoir (USR) Park, a big blue bird came to rest on a tree branch, allowing me to take a few shots. What bird is this ?

It wasn't better at USR. I only began to see a couple of Lascars at the 2nd trail. This skittish and alert Spotted Judy (Abisara geza niya) was a pleasant surprise to me, disrupting my quest for shooting the Lascars. Exhibiting its usual behaviour of hopping around with half-opened wings, this Judy tested my reaction time for capturing a shot. I think I didn't fail too badly.

Chasing the Judy was a nightmare. At last the Judy showed some mercy on me, staying on a leaf slightly longer than I had expected - that gave me a chance to snap a few shots like this.

Two or three Malayan Lascars were frolicking and looking for puddling spots along the sunlit trail. With patience and a bit of luck, I manage to snap an open-winged shot.

The only skipper shot I had was this Potanthus species. With its small size and forewing's and hindwing's veins not darken heavily, I guess it may be the  P. ganda.

I met CH and Nelson at USR also. While waiting for butterflies to appear, we all agreed and lamented that the number of butterflies we could see these days have dwindled tremendously. Perhaps the forest habitat has been going through changes that we are not aware of ?Who has an answer ?