Grey Pansy In Danger @ Seletar Wasteland

On the last Saturday of the year 2011, I dropped by Seletar wasteland. My last visit to this wasteland was last National Day (see here). I was shock to see ....

My first shot of the morning was this bee feeding on the Mile-a-Minute flowers. Displaying all sort of "stunts" , it never gave me a good opportunity to take a satisfactory shot.

A very dark skipper perching on a blade of grass was in my sight at a distance away. It allowed me for one quick shot only. Looking at the camera's viewfinder, from the colour and the shape of its wings and body, I sensed that it wasn't the kind of skipper I usually saw.

I patiently searched and found it again. It was a Forest Hopper (Astictopterus jama jama) - my first sighting of this skipper at this wasteland and my second sighting on the main island. Here is another shot with a stronger fill-flash to brighten up the wings to show more details.

Next, I spotted a Centaur Oakblues (Arhopala centaurus nakula) which is one of the commonest and largest Arhopala species - my first sighting of this lycaenid at this wasteland.

This orange skipper was very alert. It tended to open its wing whenever it perched under the sun. It looks like the Common Dartlet (Oriens gola pseudolus).

Being skittish and very sensitive to the camera's flash light, it was never cooperative and kind to me. This is my best underside shot.
After feeding on some wild flowers, this female Common Mormon (Papilio polytes romulus) suddenly rested on a leaf in front of me.
The Grey Pansy (Junonia atlites atlites) was thriving - at least half a dozen of them were frolicking under the sun and at least two females were busy laying eggs. This particular mother Grey Pansy was testing the soil to lay her egg - luckily she was wise enough not to oviposit any egg om the ground if my eyes didn't deceive me.

Of course she got it right at last - can you see a tiny egg in green colour on the host plant which looks like Nelsonia canescens (Family : Acanthaceae) ?

The Grey Pansy (Junonia atlites atlites) is the rarest of the four Pansies we can find in Singapore. A permanent resident of this wasteland. I always found them around whenever I visited this place - I really hope that I will find them during my next visit there if there is one !!

The upperside wings were prettier with some patterned markings and ocelli.
Here is shot of another specimen when it perched on a blade of grass.

Currently there is a road-widening project going on along Tampines Expressway that is parallel to this wasteland. About a 50-metre stretch of the original wasteland in front of the construction site remained untouched on 30 Dec 2011. I guess by now it has been gone. I am not sure how much of the wasteland will remain eventually but one thing is quite certain - the Grey Pansy and the host plants are in great danger of disappearing from this habitat.

Seletar Wasteland On Our 46th National Day

Just like any other public holidays, I woke up early on 9 Aug. Bad economic news filled the front page of the newspaper - another severe financial crisis is looming. I saw the need to replenish our "green-intake" for our mind and body to help rejuvenate the subdued mood, I decided to visit the wildest place that I could think of - the Seletar wasteland.

Common Sailor (Neptis hylas papaja) is a rather common butterfly in this wasteland. One of its larval hostplants Aeschynomene americana was abundant along the first 500 m stretch of the trail.
The black-and-white upperside wing patterns are very similar to a few other Sailors or Sergeant species. A very well-documented of the life history of this species can be found here.
Grey Pansy (Junonia atlites atlites) seems to be a permanent resident in this wasteland. There were at least four individuals frolicking under the morning sun, executing their typical flapping-cum-gliding flight pattern. They usually landed on the leaf surface after a short flight, with both wings folded, displaying the rather unattractive pale grey undersides.

The uppersides are "prettier". This Grey Pansy was seen "loitering" at the ground level where the plant Nelsonia canescens (Family : Acanthaceae) was growing.

This dragonfly Rhyothemis phyllis was abundant. I noticed a few of them hovering in the mid-air but I failed to get any decent in-flight shot despite my effort in stalking and chasing them.

However, the hover fly on the other hand is easier for me.

This Orb-web spider (Nephila species) could be easily spotted due to its large size.

This rather worn-out orange skipper looks like a female Palm Dart (Telicota augias augias).

Almost at the end of the trail, I saw this Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina) feeding on the white Asystasia flowers.

Insects in the Order Orthoptera are endowed with leaping prowess due to their muscular and powerful hind legs. I guess this is a nymph of a katydid.

Another nymph of a grasshopper was hiding under a grass blade in a bush.

A predatory fly with a pair of large and sharp eyes and spiny legs, this robber fly was lurking at the edge of a leaf, ready to strike any passing-by insects.

I wonder who created this linear arrangement - a form of "art" piece to me.

Whenever I came to this wasteland, I always waited at one particular spot for at least 10 mins, hoping to meet up with one of our lost friends, NBGY (Eurema brigitta senna). Their last known home ground at Punggol was destroyed about two years ago. We miss them ! Let's hope they have found a new home at one corner on this wasteland which I have not discovered.

Seletar Wasteland On Christmas Day 2010

It has been more than 6 months since my last visit to this wasteland in the north-east of Singapore where some major industrial development has been going on nearby. I was glad to see that this wasteland has been very much intact.

The "entrance" to the trail was blocked by fallen tree trunks but that didn't stop me from moving forwards. There were a few Pipturus argenteus (Native Mulberry) shrubs near the entrance and quite a number of Malayan Eggfly (Hypolimnas anomala anomala) larvae were munching the leaves happily. A detailed write-up of this plant can be found here.

The jelly-like fruits of this shrub are white in colour. I believe they are sweet and edible.

Same as my previous few outings to this wasteland, Common Sailor (Neptis hylus papaja) were quite abundant. Though they were rather skittish and alert, however with lots of patience and luck, I managed to take a few shots when they were feeding.

The Common Sailor has a habit of flapping its wings when feeding. This is a snap shot of the upperside wings, showing clearly the arrangement of the white spots which are very similar to a few other Neptis and Athyma species.

Without the underside shot, it is rather difficultfor us to identify this Lycaenidae species with confidence.

Luckily, I had one underside shot to confirm that this is a Tailless Line-Blue (Prosotas nora superdates) - it came down from the tree-top as fast as it disappeared.

Common Caerulean (Jamides celeno aelianus) was everywhere because one of its larval host plants - a ground creeper looks like Pueraria phaseoloides was abundant here.

A dark brown skipper with its underside hindwing unmarked and "spiky legs" looks like a Baoris species. It was quite lethargic on a rather cool morning - I could see the dark clouds were gaining momentum moving towards where I was. About noon time, gutsy winds accompanying passing rains finally disrupted my outing so I had to turn back hastily and head to Yishun to have my lunch.

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.

After Rain at Seletar Wasteland

On 3 Oct, Yong and I were heading to Seletar wasteland instead of elsewhere, thanks Yong for giving me a ride. We were lucky as the weather was undesirable for outdoors enthusiasts in many parts of the island (see here). The brief spell of the morning shower presented us with a rare opportunity of shooting this small Bush Hopper (Ampittia dioscorides camertes) together with water droplets. John has confirmed that this is Vespa affinis (lesser banded hornet). I saw quite a number of them buzzing around, often curling their body while feeding. This was one of the instantaneous shot when it landed on some leaves. I have very little knowledge of grasshopper. I found this particular immature grasshopper (?) interesting and strange to me - where are its eyes ?These two ants look like a species in the genus Polyrhachis ? They showed a great interest in a small critter (don't know what it is). I observed that the ants used their antennae to tickle the bugger and at times used their legs to touch the bug as well. Ants are well known to have symbiotic relationship with other fauna species, I wonder if this is another example. There were quite a few clusters of this flowering herb which looks like Pig Grass, Synedrella nodiflora (Family : Asteraceae). Though many flowers were not in full bloom, some yellow ray florets were attractive and prominent enough to capture our attention. This Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina) was addicted to the nectar, allowing us to take a few shots. A distinctive identification key of Blue Glassy Tiger is that the underside forewing's light blue cell streak was discontinued by a dark bar. This was where and how it rested above my head when it has got enough nectar. When I looked through the lens, I loved that creamy green background and decided to take this shot from an elevated angle. There were at least half a dozen of them fluttering around some vines which were unknown to me. We also found quite a few Common Mime (Chilasa clytia clytia 斑凤蝶) larvae resting on the upperside of some young wild Cinnamon leaves. Katydid is a singing insect that has large and powerful hind legs and a pair of long thread-like antennae. This was found in the bushes and its dorsal view shows a prominent brown band. Finally, I would like to present a magnificent winged beauty that was frequently found around the area. Club Silverline (Spindasis syama terana 豆粒银线灰蝶) is one of my favourite butterflies that I would love to shoot whenever I encounter it . We spotted two individuals however I didn't have the luck to take more shots.
I was rather disappointed that I did not see any adults of No Brand Grass Yellow (Eurema brigitta senna) (see previous post). I hope the females have laid many eggs and the next generation of NBGY is in the making otherwise we may have to say good bye to NBGY .