9/2011 - Lower Seletar Reservoir (9 Apr 2011)

Another good site was found! This time, IMOG was exploring the North of Singapore, Lower Seletar Reservoir.

I reached the point of gathering at 6:50am, then a few minutes later came CT Lim. He shouted from his car's window opening "Hey Endy, Why are you earlier than me?" I said "Ha..Ha.. I am the trip leader today!" : ) . As always, he was full of energy and ever ready for our regular outing.

But we were not the earliest, there were already 2 uncles there, started harvesting the fresh water plant for aquarium trade. Wah! not an easy job! They woke up so early and stayed very long in the water.

The outing started at about 7:50am. There were 3 routes in sight, but the route-2 was not recommended, as it was quite dangerous to cross the narrow water pipe. Michael went to route-2 and told us that it was indeed quite risky. So we concentrated more at route-1, searching for subjects. Spiders, ladybird beetles, grass hoppers, damselflies, dragonflies, and some small red beetles were among the litte creatures found for our photography.

Later, CP Chan found an average sized stink bug. It was not very colourful, but it had some fine pattern. After a while, when everybody was almost done taking photos of it,  Sharon asked " Why is the size of the upper part of body is getting bigger? why is the colour changing to yellow and red." We soon realized that it was molting! Wow!! We were so lucky!!! All of us got very excited for witnessing its amazing molting process.

At around 10:00am, we went on to route-3 joining Mr. Kyaw and the others who had been  exploring the green area accessible below the flyover / high way. On the way there, I saw a tiny hopper with a very interesting pattern on its wings. Sharon was telling me that we need a specific set-up to photograph it, but I said " No..No..No..! What we really need is Allan!". This is so true, as Allan is so good in taking very small subjects, Ha..! Too bad he was in Paris, we miss you Allan! Hope you are coming back soon!  : )

Route-3 has a flatter ground, safer for senior citizens and all of us to explore. Most of us focus at the area surrounding a temporary temple. Some other little animals found during the trip were : blue glassy tigers, grass yellows, dragonflies, changeable lizards, moths, weevil, plant hoppers, mating millipedes, spiders, and a lot of little blue insects. CT Lim, Mr. Ong LS, CP Chan, and me explored until the end of route but the area at the edge of the reservoir was grown with a dense stretch of elephant grasses which was not easy to maneuver around.

Nearing the end of the trip, I received an SMS from our friend Mohammad, he was late after rushing a report and could not find his way! So...  Me, Cathy, and Vivien went out to the entry of track 24 to get him in. He came just in time for lunch. We ended the outing around 12pm and had a lunch together at the Hawker Centre of Ang Mo Kio Ave 6.

Participants (22) - Endy Tan (Trip Leader), Sharon S. Lim, Anthony Quek, CT Lim, Chan CP, Kyaw Htay, Sonia Zou, Ong Ngee Ming, Joe Tan, Sadiran Samikon, SC Fang, Michael Ee, Joshua Fong, Yeo Tang Lim, Cathy Wong, Ong Lim Sim, Stephen Lim, Leonard Tan, Vivien, Steward Ong, Shirley and Mohammad KaramiNejad Ranjbar