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.

A Mission on 6 Aug @ Lornie Trail

Within 20 minutes, I was at Lornie Trail, this time with a mission that I had no control in determining its outcome - to hunt for a brown skipper that I had shot some weeks ago.

This Saturn (Zeuxidia amethystus amethystus) was initially puddling on the forest floor. It was so well camouflaged that I didn't notice it at all until it was scared into a hasty flight from the ground and landed on a tree trunk.

After taking a few shots of the Saturn, I went straight to the reservoir edge. Several Chocolate Grass Yellows (Eurema sari sodalis) were flitting and feeding on the Mile-a-minute (Mikania micrantha ) flowers.

The Contiguous Swift (Polytremis lubricans lubricans) seems to be a permanent resident of this particular location . It has the habit of opening its wings partially when perching on the foliage.

A few Lascars were frolicking and feeding on the flowers under the morning sun. I was spoilt for choices as well as indecisive when a few of them appeared to synchronise their perch at the same time on different flowers. Finally I managed to take a shot which turned out to be a Burmese Lascar (Lasippa heliodore dorelia) - the rarest Lascar.

This is a Malayan Lascar (Lasippa tiga siaka) - can you see the subtle differences between these two Lascars ? Yes, if we examine and compare the relative sizes of the row of forewing marginal spots.

One of my underside shots of the same specimen.

While I was busy shooting the Lascars, I noticed an orange-red lycaenid zipping past me rapidly from the canopy level and landed on some flowers. This is a male Cornelian (Deudorix epijarbas cinnabarus) - an uncommon species that resembles a Rapala species.

Psyche (Leptosia nina malayana) loves to relax and flutter casually at low level, usually without perching unless it is attracted by flowers.

A Yellow butterfly without any markings on the underside wings, Tree Yellow (Gandaca harina distanti) is rather easily identifiable in the wild.

A pristine Large Snow Flat (Tagiades gana gana) was spotted perching underneath a leaf. I didn't know why it suddenly change its normal behaviour, resting on a leaf surface.

Another Flat skipper, this time the Common Snow Flat (Tagiades japetus atticus) took a short rest under the sun - a few more seconds were what I needed to snap its underside shot when it folded its wings .

Finally, on my way out, a weird and fluffy critter caught my attention. What is this ?

Though the white-antennaed brown skipper that I wished to hunt for did not show up - or it did but I missed it, I wasn't disappointed at all as the number of shots that I had taken was beyond my expectation - another fruitful outing for me.

Some Rarities @ USR

Upper Seletar Reservoir (USR) Park was teeming with butterfly activities in July. Once again, I spent a few hours exploring the park. With some luck and lots of patience and determination, I was rewarded with some pictures of a few forest butterfly rarities.

Compared with my last encounter with this rarity at USR, this time I could approach closer and took a quick snap of this Malayan Oakblut (Arhopala myrzala lammas) which is known to be alert and skittish.

Hoary Palmer (Unkana ambasa batara) is a rather large and uncommon skipper. This male was zipping around the shelter in the late morning. I snapped an instinctive shot when it was feeding on the Ixora flowers.

This female was spotted along a shady trail. She was rather tame in the early part of the morning, allowing me to compose and take the shot at ISO1000, f8 and 1/40.

No one could miss the presence of this Sumatran Gem (Poritia sumatrae sumatrae) when he took off or fluttered from perch to perch - as we would be mesmerised by the brilliantly coloured metallic green uppersides of this butterfly. It was a pity that this male Gem preferred a high perch all the time.

Though less attractive and smaller then the Sumatran Gem, the Narrow Spark (Sinthusa nasaka amba) is another uncommmon shade-loving forest lycaenid.

This is a pristine Aberrant Oakblue (Arhopala abseus abseus) which has very distinctive features - 3 pairs of tails, the black markings and a small white patch on the hindwing's costal edge make this Arhopala very different from many other species in the same genus.

This "chubby-looking" Suffused Flash (Rapala suffusa barthema) was taken near the reservoir edge. There are a few look-alike species but the lighter and less brownish colour of the underside wings and the presence of the faint orange markings may be the indications of this species.

This Erionota hiraca apicalis was snapped in a very shady part of the forest. It zipped past me and landed on a palm tree. What a skittish fellow which allowed me taking just one shot.

Perhaps this is a Arhopala major major which took a short flight and perched again when I accidentally stumbled over it.

Along the forest fringe, I spotted this female dragonfly, Orchithemis pulcherrima resting on a twig.

Finally, sharing a shot of this green frog resting on a big leaf near a stream. Is this a native species ?

I am yet to snap a shot on a few very rare skippers which they have made their appearance in USR lately. I hope I have better luck next time.

What Can You Find @ Tampines Eco Green Park ?

The Tampines Eco Green Park (TEGP) is situated in Tampines Town at the north-eastern part of the island. Occupying a large area close to 36.5-ha, it is bounded by Tampines Expressway, Tampines Avenue 12 and Sungei Tampines canal. My first visit to the park was on a sunny Saturday morning on 23 July.

Alighting at the Tampines train station, I followed the the direction of the rail track, heading towards the Sun Plaza Park and TEGP is just opposite the Sun Plaza Park.

This Black Veined Tiger (Danaus melanippus hegesippus) was found perching in the shade at a distance away.

You are likely to get attracted by the strikingly red flower buds of the Leea rubra (Family : Vitaceae) shrubs in the park. A very informative write-up on this shrub can be found in the online journal Nature in Singapore.

Many insects loved to visit the tiny flowers - one of them was this Club Silverline (Spindasis syama terana) which spent more than an hour feeding on the flowers.

A rather haggard Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis) also loved to feed on the tiny flower.

Some green fruits on this Leea rubra shrub on the foreground of this shot and the digger wasp (?) create a bit more variations in terms of composition compared to previous two shots.

There were a few Dark Glassy Tiger (Parantica agleoides agleoides) butterflies fluttering in the park. I noticed this guy particularly liked the flowers of a grass.

This is another Dark Glassy Tiger feeding on the white flower of Muntingia calabura (Cherry Tree).

On the same tree, there was this small Tailless Line Blue (Prosotas dubiosa lumpura) which preferred to stay high up on the leaf eyeing on the flower.

Many Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus) were flitting around because of its host plant - a crotalaria species was rather abundant there.

This bee which looks like a Apis dorsata kept visiting the yellow flowers of the Aquatic Sensitive Plant (Neptunia plena). This park was designed with the concept of preserving the natural environment and wasteland habitat - the wild flowers reminded me of the Pungol wasteland I used to visit.

The highlight of this outing was shooting this lycaenid, Peacock Royal (Tajuria cippus maxentius) which made me stand under the hot sun for more than 20 minutes.

A very uncooperative fellow which either stayed high on the tree or hid behind some branches or leaves. On my way back to the entrance, I was lucky to spot this beauty, a Long-banded Silverline (Spindasis lohita senama ) at the forested area.

This female Striped Albatross (Appias libythea olferna) was feeding on the flower of its hostplant - Purple Cleome (Cleome rutidosperma).

A good garden or a park should integrate a water ecosystem that allows aquatic life to thrive in. Indeed, I could see quite a number of dragonfly species darting around the pond. This was one of the species I managed to capture.

Apart from the 9 different butterfly species that I showed here, other butterflies I encountered were Plain Tiger (Danaus chrysippus chrysippus), Tawny Coster (Acraea violae), a Flash, Bush Browns and a few orange skippers. TEGP definitely has a lot to offer to nature lovers and photographers.