Mandai Park Connector On 29 Aug

I dropped by at this Mandai Park Connector on 29 Aug which was an off day for many Singaporeans. I was quite fortunate to see and get a few butterfly shots during this short outing though the weather in the early afternoon was not very ideal for butterfly-hunting.

A few common Blues including this Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus cnejus) were fluttering around their host plant - a weedy ground climber, Vigna reflexopilosa.

Can you make a guess of this female lycaenid ?

I never expect I would see a female Scarce Silverstreak (Iraota rochana boswelliana ) open her wings fully in front of me - just a few seconds duration though. Look at the shot below, I am sure you could guess that she made a huge "vertical leap" to a leaf high up on a banana tree.

A brown skipper which looks like a Caltoris cormasa was zipping around with such a high speed that lost track of it. Somehow, I just tumbled on it when it perched on a leaf for me to snap a few quick shots.

You would find this white butterfly called Psyche (Leptosia nina malayana) flapping its wings casually, looking for flowers at a low level along forest fringes or in our wastelands. This was one of the moments I like - a picture showing its close affinity to its larval host plant, the Purple Cleome ( Cleome rutidosperma).

I noticed ants were usually found on the flowers of Vigna reflexopilosa. Take a loser look you should be able to find something else on the flowers - an interesting and amazing biological mutualism demonstrated by different species.

This beautiful blue dragonfly, perhaps a Diplacodes nebulosa was rather common at one waterlogged spot along the trail.

On the whole, the weather in the month of August this year was rather unusual - wetter than before. As such, I was not able to go for a long trekking into some of our remote wild places or nature reserve areas for quite a while.

After Rain @ Bah Soon Pah (BSP)

What a disappointing Saturday (27 Aug) - not because it was the day for President Election (PE) but rather the cloudy and rainy morning dampened my spirit and deprived me of an outing.

The weather turned slightly better in the late morning. After casting my vote, I went for lunch and headed for BSP. The sky finally cleared up in the afternoon so I decided to find out what critters were active on this PE day.

I was rather lucky to spot a pair of mating Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus) just outside the Oh Chin Huat Hydroponic Farm. What a docile pair, they simply ignored my presence.

At the dead end of BSP road where a small plot of wasteland is, this small black-headed ant (don't know what species) behaved rather weirdly - attempting to jump from the edge of a leaf ?

This pale green planthopper flew across me and landed on a blade of Lalang grass.

A tiny spider was not too far away from the planhopper. It remained stationary for quite a while.

I have not seen this cute tortoise beetle for a long time. What a shy creature, it turned its head away when I took the shot.

Calopogonium mucunoides is a fast-growing and invasive ground creeping vine which can be found in many disturbed areas and wastelands. The light purplish-blue and pea-like flowers grow in a cluster on stalks coming out from leaf axis.

This is another pea-like flower of Centrosema molle sprawling on the ground. Other species in this genus is described in this paper. For those who are interested in knowing more about this common wasteland weed, here is a write-up on the CIAT website.

Other Critters and Plants @ Semakau Island On 20 Aug

Continue from my previous post.

There were not many species of butterflies on the grassland. Fortunately, other critters and some very beautiful wild flowers kept me busy. Let me begin with some flowers.

This uniquely patterned, large and showy pinkish-purple flower of the Beach Morning Glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae) is definitely attractive. This coastal ground creeper is quite invasive which has extended its territory to the scrub land. A detailed write-up on this plant can be found here.

Passiflora foetida is a vine that can grow wild in wasteland. Though its white flowers are less conspicuous, these flowers could attract insects - look carefully, there was a fly on the flower.

I guess these are the flowers of Vigna reflexopilosa. A small colony of Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus) and one or two Gram Blue buterflies (Euchrysops cnejus cnejus) were spotted around this ground creeper.

This pair of mating leaf beetle was found on a blade of grass.

This is another tiny and cute beetle - a great deal of patience and luck was needed to get a decent shot under a windy condition.

Another interesting-looking and colourful beetle (or was it a bug ?) was looking downwards, clinging on to some young leaves, making it difficult for me to take a proper shot.

This is the only spider species that I saw - a rather small one. I have no idea what it is.

I think this is a kind of lacewing (this is an owlfly, thanks Marcus) which I have never seen before.

Here is another record shot from a slightly different angle.

I am not sure if this is a kind of broad-headed bug which rested on the mimosa leaves.

I encountered quite a few small dragonflies like these shots below - they look like the Diplacodes nebulosa.

Another individual.

On our way back to the jetty, I saw this male Diplacodes trivialis dragonfly perching on the ground.

I saw a few Yellow-Barred Flutter (Rhyothemis phyllis) dragonflies hovering in the air and settling down on a twig at times.

According to John, this wasp looks a Ropalidia marginata (need confirmation). It didn't stay long enough on the ferns for me to take more shots.

I have no clue if this is a rare or common grasshopper - since it was a survey outing, I would post it here.

I am not sure what plant this is but the flowers certainly attracted some insects.

A close-up shot on the tiny flowers.

Here is another plant that I hope someone could provide me with a name.

Though the white flowers look quite small, they are quite nice and unique if we view them with a macro lens.

On our way back to the jetty, we stumbled on a pond (in fact we saw two ponds) and scared off a flock of birds resting there.

The vegetation and plants that grow on this landfill are getting more diverse, growing taller and denser. This huge grassland will be home to many more animals in years to come.

Butterflies @ Semakau Island On 20 Aug

Thanks Khew for giving me a lift to the West Coast Pier, reaching there a few minutes before 7 am, the earliest outing I have ever had. Thanks Ria and Marcus for organising this trip and inviting ButterflyCircle (BC) members to do a butterfly survey on the island.

The morning sea was calm and the constant breeze really helped refresh our body and engage many of us in conversations. I didn't feel it was a 30-minute long journey. After a quick briefing by Ria at the Semakau jetty, we walked towards the hut, a few kilometers away.

Cher Hern and I saw some Blue Pansies (Junonia orithya wallacei ) frolicking at the edge of the open grassland. We broke away from the group and decided to fill our stomach first before we ventured into the overgrown grassland to chase the Blue Pansy.

This female gave in to my relentless effort of chasing and stalking and she finally rested a bit longer, allowing me to take a few shots.

This is a record shot of a male Blue Pansy - can you see the slight differences in the size of the eyespots ?

There were many Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina otis lampa) fluttering eractically on a patch of grassland near the jetty where we had our breakfast.

Another common butterfly on this huge open grassland, the Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe contubernalis) was seen fluttering amongst the wild flowers - but they were often shy away from camera.

Tawny Coster (Acraea violae) was rather abundant in this open wasteland as its larval host plant is passiflora foetida - a common wasteland weed, was growing wild here.

Another specimen was taking a rest on some dry seed pods.

This is either a 3rd or 4th instar larva of the Tawny Coster which was munching the leaf of the hostplant.

This grassland is really big. After two hours of wandering in it we still have not reached the forested area where other BC members were. So we decided to turn back to the jetty in order not to miss the boat at 12:30 pm.

The erratic flight pattern of a small lycaenid attracted my attention. Determined to find out what it was, I waited patiently for it to perch and tool a few shots - it turned out to be a Tailless Line Blue (Prosotas dubiosa lumpura).

I encountered quite a few orange skippers along one stretch of a dirt road.

I must thank Dr. Seow from BC for identifying these orange skippers for me. This is a shot of the Common Palm Dart (Telicota colon stinga) stretching its legs while I took this lucky shot.

Another specimen.

I noticed that this orange skipper was slightly bigger than the Lesser Dart (Potanthus omaha). Seow said this is Potanthus confucius - apparently a rather common species in Hong Kong

Its proboscis and antennae went deep into the corolla tube of the Asystasia flower.

This is a record shot of a Potanthus species at the same vicinity of the previous two shots. It looks like a P. confucius.

This brown skipper, a Contiguous Swift (Polytremis lubricans lubricans) was rather skittish and sensitive to flashlight - no chance for a better shot.

There were many other critters making this huge open grassland their home - you will find out in my next post.

Blog posts related to this outing :

(a) Wild Shores of Singapore - 'White patch' in Semakau mangroves : a closer look and Semakau Otter Overload !

(b) Singapore Nature - 110820 Semakau forest