Even though it was the 10th day of Chinese New Year (年初十), a strong team of 20 macro shooters turned up at Kranji Nature Trail (KNT). The weather was good and at the car park meeting point, we saw a beautiful golden sunrise not too far away. Surprisingly, nobody bothered to take any snapshot of it, probably because we were too busy exchanging CNY greeetings!
At the entrance of KNT, there were plenty of greenery and bushes under an open sky offering great opportunities to photograph dewy subjects. Below is a common hopper with dews taken under backlighting condition.
(A backlit hopper with dews - Anthony Quek)
We did not stay around the entrance for long as the sunlight was too strong for our liking. We moved about 150 metres inwards where we could shoot under the comfort of sheltered trees.
(150 metres from the entrance)
Most of us spent almost 2 hours here as there were abundant of subjects to keep us busy! CP Chan was the luckiest as he had the luxury to shoot under a very comfortable environment. I would not want to move a bit if I were in his position!
(Now you know why many people joined IMOG outing!)
However, there are others who are more adventurous and preferred to explore deeper into the bushes for the sake of finding rare insects as demonstrated by Foong & Xingjian:
(Foong & Xingjian in action)
Many spider species (some with preys) were sighted here such as Hasselt's Spiny spider, St Andrew's Cross spider, Golden Web spider, Lynx spider, large jumping spider, etc.
(Happy meal by Lee Yan Leong)
(Large jumping spider by Joe Kellard)
Other subjects spotted include various hoppers, dragonflies, colourful sting bug, caterpillars, butterflies, changeable lizard, a "human-liked face" bug, etc.
As we explored further into the trail, it eventually led us to the seashore with the Johor Straits on one side and mangroves on the other. At the mangroves, it was not difficult to spot all kinds of crabs. However, most of them were skittish in nature and hard getting close to them. CT Lim was fortunate to photograph a friendly male Delsman's Semaphore crab.
(Delsman's Semaphore crab, male, by Lim Cheow Tin)
After more than 3 hrs of shooting, most of us were tired and we took a rest at a shelter near the mangrove forest where we had some nice chit-chats.
(Foong, Allan, Sharon, Hazel, Yan Leong)
(CT Lim, Foong, LS Ong, Allan, Yixiong, Sharon, Anthony, Hazel, Yan Leong)
We called it a day at 12 pm and went to the nearby coffee shop for lunch. Since Endy had to leave early at 10 am, I would like to use his pet phrase to conclude this outing ie. "it was another very successful IMOG outing!".
Please see the following links for other images taken during this outing:
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