A Cloudy Morning @ USR

I met fellow BC members Chng, Loke and Mark when I strolled on a shady trail on 21 May. The sky turned cloudy and it started drizzling. We were about to call it a day when the clouds seemed to disperse slightly. So, we decided to walk around again.

I took a quick shot of this dark brown skipper, perhaps a Caltoris species when it perched on a leaf.

Mark spotted an injured and tattered Painted Jezebel (Delias hyparete metarete) on a leaf. It dropped on the ground and he managed to position it on a flower for us to take some shots.

My last butterfly shot was this rather common but unattractive Common Four Ring (Ypthima huebneri) flitting and feeding on Yellow Creeping Daisy (Wedelia triobata).

I cannot identify what these fungi are. They grew on rotten woods but looked like ferns.

A cluster of white mushrooms certainly could not escape my attention especially when critters all went for hiding.

Wild Flowers and Common Critters@ Bah Soon Pah

27 May was the last Saturday of the month. I would have gone for a long outing to some wild places if I had not arranged an appointment in the afternoon. So, I decided to take a look at the wild flowers and critters along Bah Soon Pah again.

I looked for species that I have not captured during my last visit. This grasshopper dressed up with an green outfit didn't seem to be afraid of my presence. This is a hoverfly, flitting amongst the attractive pink mimosa flowers - quite abundant on a piece of vacant farm land but getting a good shot was rather challenging as it hardly stayed still.

My first butterfly shot of the day was this Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana javana). I saw at least 4 individual sunbathing and feeding on wild flowers but they were just too alert for me to take a shot. This guy was resting momentarily when I had a quick snap.

My second butterfly shot was this common brown skipper - a Small Branded Swift (Pelopidas mathias mathias) feeding on the white Asystasia flower.

A very pretty and attractive climber was in full blooms with many pink flowers. This vine was growing on a fence. I guess this is Antigonon leptopus commonly known as coral vine.

Finally, this wild weed looks like Purple-leaved Button-weed (Borreria laevicaulis) whose purplish coloured leaves are slightly leathery and oblong. The small white flowers are rather uniquely arranged between the leaves.

Dairy Farm Park To The Summit On 28 May

Our last "training session" on a cloudy Sunday morning (28 May) before we head to Ermei Mountain did not give me many shooting chances. But I was happy to see some "new" critters that I didn't see during my last few trips to the submit.

This butterfly is common. If you observe carefully, it may be just perching in front of you. This Branded Imperial (Eooxylides tharis distanti ) was shot on our ascent to the summit on a rather cloudy morning.

This rather small green tiger beetle was seen moving on a leaf surface, apparently with its prey in its mouth. Its side-view shot is prettier than the top view.

A well-camouflaged forest damselfly, Malayan Grisette (Devadatta argyoides ) was found near the ground, perching with wings folded above its body.

My first sighting of an Abisara geza niya along the trail got me quite excited about it. But this guy was just too skittish, alert and full of energy. This is the the best environmental shot taken from a distance after at least 15 mins of chasing and stalking on steep stairs.

I really had a hard time getting a proper shot - apart from going up and down the stairs, when it was closer to me, it never stayed still and kept turning and flitting around. Here is one of those instinctive rapid shots - at least I captured the beauty of the green eyes.

It was drizzling when we reached the submit - surprisingly unusual as there were very few people there. We came down along the shortest path to carpark B before the rain got heavier. I should be on Ermei Mountain when this post goes on-line on 8 June.

Lornie Trail Part 2

Continue from my last post .

I usually check out the reservoir edge whenever I take a slow walk on this particular trail as this is the spot where I may find many different dragonflies - though mostly common species, I always hope to encounter surprises.

I have seen all three different Rhyothemis species at this location. This Rhyothemis phyllis is a common dragonfly but getting a good close-up shot of this beauty is never easy.

This is a male Rhyothemis obsolescens. According to Tang's book, it is uncommon. I took a quick shot of this guy before the wings were depressed.

This all red dragonfly with two black spots on the dorsum of the last two abdominal segments looks like a male Urothemis signata insignata - quite abundant on Vesak Day.

A mating pair of Orthetrum chrysis was spotted at the ground level. I was wrong to assume that they would be tame while they were doing their "business" - any slight movement would disturb them into a hasty flight.

This is a small green-eyed dragonfly Chalybeothemis fluviatilis (Green-eyed Percher). I could not get closer to as it perched far from the edge of the pond.

This elegantly perched dragonfly with a light blue abdomen looks like Aethriamanta gracilis.

Finally, I saw this small moth resting on the underside of a leaf, it didn't look attractive to me - its beauty was revealed only when I looked at the viewfinder.

Lornie Trail Part 1

17 May was Vesak Day, a gazetted public holiday in a multi-racial and religious Singapore. I was on a casual forest stroll along the Lornie Trail. Not too far from the entrance to the greenery and tranquility of the forest, a Chequered Lancer (Plastingia naga) displayed what a "ghosting effect" whenever I snapped a shot.

I decided to take some shots from a more difficult angle but with a brighter background - surprisingly, it stayed still. I guess the skipper may be sensitive only to certain intensity of the flash light.

At the same sunny spot where I shot a bunch of Malay Lacewing (Cethosia hypsea hypsina) larvae here, I saw how arts could be manifested in nature - a cluster of eggs likely to be of Malay Lacewing were lined up on a thin and young stem of a climber.

This is a male Cruiser (Vidula dejone erotella) whose fulvous-orange colour on both the upper and underside wings are distinctive enough to be seen from far. Though a rather common forest species, we seldom found the female on the ground. A commonly seen behaviour of the male is that they like to puddle on damp ground with wings flapping. This was the only timely shot which captured a split-second moment when both wings were almost flat on the ground.

This is a female Knight (Lebadea martha parkeri). She liked to glide and perch from leaf to leaf and puddle on the ground occasionally but not for long. Rather alert and skittish, she really tested my patience for getting a decent shot. On the contrary to Cruiser, it seems that the male is less common.

Along a shady forest path, this tailed Arhopala hopped across the trail. I identify this as a Tailed Disc Oakblue (Arhopala atosia malayana). Seow TL from ButterflyCircle has also confirmed it.

This is another shot from a different side. Lycaenids in the genus Arhopala would increase the number of butterfly species in Singapore once some lookalikes with very subtle differences are identified with confirmation one day.

The male of the Malay Baron (Euthalia monina monina ) is polymorphic - it has at least 3 different forms here. This is form-monina if I am not wrong.

It also displayed the typical behaviour of puddling on the ground and perching on the leaf surface along the forest trail from time to time.

A small robber fly remained quite still on a leaf.

This is another slightly larger robber fly stretching its hind legs and displaying the same behaviour - looking at the trail.

I aways found robber flies facing the trail, scanning for intruders and ambushing its preys when they perched. I had a "face-off" with this guy.

Association of ants with other insects can be seen quite easily in nature (more info here). Here is a shot illustrating a symbiotic relationship between some small ants and two lycaenid larvae found on a young leaf of a Macaranga plant.

It was a fruitful outing for me - very pleased and relieved to see that the forest is still teeming with life. I will feature some dragonflies in my next post.

From Dairy Farm Park To The Summit

I had another training session with my friend on a fine Sunday morning. We started rather early at the Dairy Farm Park. Walking towards the trail leading to the summit, I saw this wasp hovering and then resting underneath a leaf. I went down, looked for a suitable angle and snapped a few shots.

As usual I didn't get many chances to shoot when we were ascending the hill via Seraya Loop and Jungle Fall Path - one of the toughest trails leading to the summit. Occasionally, small critters like this Soldier Fly may just appear in front of us.

Of course, fungi were abundant but sometimes I ignored them. Here are some small and fleshy wild mushrooms found on a dead wood.

A rather large and conspicuous dragonfly, this male Camacinia gigantea is a permanent resident at the summit. While resting at the Summit Hut, I could see a few male C. gigantea darting, chasing, hovering and perching on the twigs. But where are females - I have not seen one !!

We usually descend along the Dairy Farm Loop as it is shorter and it leads us to a spot where a Lantana bush is - yes, hoping to shoot butterflies.

This small lycaenid is Pointed Line Blue (Ionolyce helicon merguiana) which has lost its tails. According to Seow, one of the features of this species is its rather sharp vertex angle of space 3 (next to the eye-spot) on the hindwing.

At the Wallace Education Centre, some Raffles Girls' School students were hosting an art exhibition entitled Illuminating Nature (see here). We spent some time there listening to their presentations - I am glad I met Mrs Hoo and other familiar faces.

While on our way back to the carpark, some showy orange-red flowers of the Rose Cactus or 七星针 (Pereskia bleo Family : Cactaceae ) attracted my attention. A spiny shrub that has ornamental and medicinal values, Rose Cactus has been one of the research areas for some researchers in Malaysia. A detailed write-up about this potentially useful plant can be found in Gardening with Wilson

Lastly, I found a pristine Pointed Line Blue near the toilet -it was fluttering and puddling on the ground.

I hope we have time for another training session before we head to Sichuan province in early June.

Chestnut Avenue On Polling Day 7 May 2011

After voting, I decided to drop by Zhenghua Park and Chestnut area on a very hot Saturday morning. I didn't get a chance to press the shutter for a long period of time until I saw this strikingly-coloured net-winged beetle.

A kind of spiny spider, it was resting or perhaps waiting patiently for its preys in its webs.

This is another shot from a different angle - the lighting was so harsh that I didn't get the correct exposure initially.

This Assassin bug is rather common - it was feeling the heat as well, decided to perch and rest.

I could feel my body was dehydrated under the menace of the scorching sun and the heat wave. I succumbed and decided to take cover under a big tree. Met a couple of cyclists asking for direction, I could sense that more people these days were taking up cycling as a hobby.

Finally, this Common Caerulean (Jamides celeno aelianus) was kind enough to pose for me - a consolation shot for me.

The weather is getting hotter when it is hot. Slowly and surely, we will begin to feel and see the effect of the climate change - are we prepared for it ?

Along Old Upper Thomson Road Part 2

Continue from my previous blog post.

Old Upper Thomson Road is a long and winding road that took me more than 2 hours to stroll from one end to the other end.

I almost bumped into this moth larva which was hanging vertically from a tree clinging on its tiny silk, trying very hard to climb upwards for a foothold .

It was "dancing" in the air, demonstrating all sorts of body movement.

I had to be very patient and quick to snap these shots as this acrobatic larva was moving and swaying in the air.

A solitary Yellow was fluttering around a young Abizia tree (Paraserianthes falcataria) across the road. I could see from far that some leafs were being eaten - so many Three Spot Grass Yellow (Eurema blanda snelleni) larvae on one leaf stalk.

On another leaf stalk, I saw a late instar larva displaying some tiny liquid droplets on its body. I guess this is a kind of defence mechanism to fend off any intruder - you can see a tiny critter on its body.

Other larvae many not be so lucky - one poor larva was eaten up by a wasp.

The stretch after the Upper Perice Reservoir entrance was rather quiet. I could not find any winged critters except this strange looking moth caterpillar was moving on a leaf.

I cannot remember when was the last time I walked on this serene and quiet road - I like the way it is now and hope it continues to provide nature photographers, hikers, joggers and cyclists a safe and easy road to ramble on during weekends.