23/10 - Thanggam Forest (25 Sep 2010)

“H..E…L….L…..L……O……. There, Everybody. 

It is time for Project Macrolumbus again!

Calling ….. All Brave men! and All Brave women of IMOG!  

YES! WE WANT YOU!

Come! Join us! In another exploration trip in mainland Singapore! “

... that was how the invitation started off to all members, at the middle of the week. Later on, Saturday morning, 13 people decided to go on a journey to seek out beautiful macro photos at a new site in Thanggam. The outing started at about 7.45am,  Darren and Xiong ge came a little late. At the beginning of the path, I saw Carlo, Ravi, Eugene, and Darren were busy with their found subjects.

There were so many butterflies and insects under the shade of some tall trees! Lime butterfly, common mormon, psyche, common grass yellow, striped albatross, common evening brown, some 4 species of skippers, lesser grass blue, monkey hopper, assassin bugs, mating cotton stainers, mating flies, dragonflies, and some moths.

Moving in further, at the Elephant Grass and Morning Glory path I found Anthony, CP, Joshua, Allan, Xiong ge, Mr. Ong, Sharon, and Stewart were happy taking pictures of some beautiful wild flowers, caterpillars, spiders, dragonflies, and some other insects. So, I joined in the fun to photograph some blooms.

Some photos taken by members not far from this area :

Hours passed, next, we went through a thick patch of tall elephant grasses to get to the forested area.

Going into the forest, our Allan led the way of the exploration team. Not long after, we spotted quite a numbers of creatures : millipedes, dried leaf mimicking katydid, spiders, asian toad, and a lot of beautiful fungi!

A few more interesting subjects found in the forest :

All of us had a wonderful time searching and taking photographs. What a nice place! We had only explored 40% of the entire area. We will definitely come again in future. 

At about 12pm the trip leader showed participants the way out of the forest and walked to the main road. Soon, most of us were having lunch at the famous Jalan Kayu Prata Restaurant and some were having delicious prawn noodles.

Participants (13) : Endy Tan (Trip Leader), Allan Lee, Anthony Quek, Cai Yixiong, Carlo Caparas, Chan Choon Phiow, Darren Chng, Eugene Hu, Joshua Fong, Ong Lim Sim, Ravi Srinivasan, Sharon S. Lim, Stewart Ong

22/10 - Ang Mo Kio Town Garden West (18 Sep 2010)

Every Saturday is a special day for all NPSS IMOG members.  Early in the week, the trip leader will broadcast the venue to explore, announce the time to meet and how to get to the location.  By Thursday, all enthusiastic members will RSVP their attendance and a final headcount will be taken. Our much anticipated Saturday lies in the hands of the weather God.  


It was a great day to begin with and the weather was cool in the early morning.  I think it rained in the wee hours of the morning. The big pond was filled with a large number of lotus leaves but not many flowers were in bloom.  The garden keeper told us that June would be a better time to visit.   By the way, the fisherman had gone fishing elsewhere because fishing is not allowed in the pond.  




While the rest were busy setting up their equipment, I took a walk to the pergola and it was pretty in pink with Antigonon leptopus (common name Coral Vine, Honolulu Creeper, Chain of Love, Hearts on a Chain or Love Vine) in bloom.  Compared to Ang Mo Kio Town Garden East, this park is bigger and built on a hillock. A 120-step staircase will take you to a public square where many elderly uncles and aunties were swatting themselves to the rhythm of some frumpy music.  One of them told another that it could get rid of aches and pain. Hmmm ... I seriously doubt so!


We did not just forage for subjects around the pond this time, but we ventured across the garden.  Shereen found a Chrysalis with very colourful thorny spikes. I actually counted and there were at least about 20 spikes!  For the record,  a Chrysalis is the pupal stage of a butterfly.   The term is derived from the metallic gold-colouration found in the pupae of many butterflies.  I have never seen anything like it and I wonder what species of butterfly would emerge from it.

(Chrysalis taken by Allan Lee, spotted by Shereen Ng)

While I was intrigued by the Chrysalis and trying to figure out which was the best composition I should take, Peck Kheng, Shereen, Freddie, Rosemary and Choon Phiow moved on to another site near the playground. There, they found Shield Bugs both the adult and juvenile. They are commonly known as Stink Bugs because they have glands in their thorax between the first and second pair of legs which produce a foul smelling liquid. This liquid is used defensively to deter potential predators and is sometimes released when the bugs are handled carelessly.  

(Mating Stink bugs taken by Peck Kheng)

(An adult & two juvenile stink bugs by Chan Choon Phiow)

People were seen walking along the footpaths that meander through the forest.  After an hour of walking, foraging and clicking, the sun came shining down on us including the droplets of water and little bugs.  

(Shadows by Anthony Quek)

We gathered around the butterfly nectar plants and there were at least 3 species of butterflies hovering around the Lantana camara bush (common name Shrub Verbena, Spanish Flag or Tick Berry / in  Chinese 五色梅).  Not too far away, I chanced upon a Batik golden web-spider, known for the impressive webs they weave.  I stood about 3 feet away and the web spanned 2 feet across me.  

(Batik golden web-spider taken by Sharon)

Acisoma panorpoides (common name Asian pintail, grizzled pintail or trumpet tail) was found perched on a log.  It flew away a few times but each time it returns, it landed on the same log.  It was very shy but cooperative so I took the opportunity to move in closer.

(Dragonfly taken by Sharon)

We gathered around to chit-chat and waited for Ong L S to have a go at the Stink bugs.  Hopefully he is happy with his shots otherwise there will always be another opportunity for improvement.

Participants (14) : Sharon S. Lim (Trip Leader), Anthony Quek, Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Joshua Fong, Tan Peck Kheng, Shereen & Freddie, Yeo T L, Kyaw Htay, Rosemary and Chan Choon Phiow, Simon Ow and Ong L S.

21/10 - Pasir Ris Beach (11 Sep 2010)

Within the Pasir Ris Park, there is a small patch of mangrove at the river mouth of the Sungei Tampines. The substrate of this mangrove is kind of sandy, or sand mix with mud, which is a good habitats for a good variety of crabs such as fiddler crabs, soldier crabs, ghost crabs, sand bubbler crabs, etc..

(Sand Bubble Crabs by Hazel Han)

These crabs normally live inside burrows that they created or just hide under the sand when the tide is up, and come out to look for food, (algae deposited on the sand surface, organic detritus, or dead organisms, etc) looking for mates and other activities when the tide is down and the sandy beach is exposed. The weather condition and tide level is just fine and we did enjoy the observation and shooting. Most of us adopt the wait and shoot approach, i.e. waiting for the crabs to come out of the burrow, then shoot them in distance. Yan Leong, with his two friends, together with Peter Low, all laying down on the sand/mud beach to get a good low angle shots dispite the wet mud... The exciting part of the trip is actually for many of us to see a lot of interesting behaviour that we never have experience before. A good behaviour is how the tiny sand bubble crab creats so many sand bubbles.

(Mudskipper by Cai Yixiong)



When the tide slowly moved up, quite a number of mudskippers also came close to us, and some of us get a good chance to shoot them in a close distance. After the beach shot, some of us went back along the mangrove boardwalk, and got to shoot some colourful bugs and lichen...

               

(Lichen Pattern By Darren Chng)

Participants (16) : Cai Yixiong (Trip Leader), Ng Hwei Min, Catherine Wong, Vivien Wee, Lewis Eng, Darren Chng, Peter Low, Joe Tan, Yeo Tang Lim, Stephen Lim, Lim Chuan Kwee, Hazel Han, Ong Ngee Ming, Lee Yan leong (with two friends).

20/10 - Tagore Forest (4 Sep 2010)

This new macro site is a forested areas along Tagore Drive.  There are quite a no. of durian trees and the path that connects from the main road to this large piece of deserted land is probably created by nearby residents who came here during the durian picking seasons! 

Common subjects spotted include catepillars, spiders, dragonflies, praying mantis, hoppers, etc.  We were also fortunate to capture some uncommon insects such as a female Striped Albatross butterfly, a Gynacantha Subinterrupta dragonfly but the catch of the day had to be the "Squirrel Mantis" spotted by Allan where most of us took turn to have a shot at it.

(Female striped albatross by Darren Chng)

Other images posted at NPSS forum are as follows:

Ornamental Tree-Trunk Spider by Allan Lee
Twig-like caterpillar at Tagore by Darren Chng
Ornamental Tree-Trunk Spider & Leaf Hoppers by Peter Low

Participants (12) - Tony Png (Team Leader) , Endy Tan, Allan Lee, Anthony Quek, Chan CP, Rosemary, Michael Ee, Darren Chng, Peter Low, Ong Lim Sim, Kyaw Htay & Steward