18/09 - Segar Road (30 May 09)

We started at about 7:45 am but was forced to call off at about 10:10 am due to heavy rain. Segar remains as one of the good shooting sites as there are still quite a number of shooting subjects to be found during this short period. A mating pair of Stinkbugs, a bird drop spider, crab spider with prey, a lot of lawn wolf spiders on the ground, mating darters, etc. We were glad to see our friend old Michael came to join us. Also, it was a pleasant surprise to see Ng Hwei Min, our ex-treasurer, appeared in our outing for the first time.

(Mating Stinkbugs by Cai Yixiong)


(Lawn wolf spider with prey by Chan CP)

Participant (11) : Cai Yixiong (Team Leader) , Ong Lim Sim, Pegi Lee, Shereen Ng, Endy Tan, Darren Chng, Joshua Fong, Rosemary Ong, Chan C P, Ng Hwei Min & Michael Ee

17/09 - Margaret Drive (23/5)

Margaret Drive macro site is an accessible and pleasant place to walk around and do some macro shoot. There were mating moths, grasshoppers, moths, lynx spiders, crab spiders, St Andrew spider, some dragonflies. Subjects-wise not as productive as places near nature reserves such as Chestnut Avenue, Kranji Nature Trail, etc. Hazel met Frank Starmer who frequents this macro site and his view was that much more careful scrutiny would unveil more subjects from this interesting place.

(Cicada exoskeleton by Darren Chng)

The condition of the terrain has improved as compared to a previous outing there when it was the rainy season and large areas were water-logged. Having a Macdonald at the nearby Ridout Garden was a good feature of this macro site! It was great that Hazel and Rose had introduced their friends to our macro group. Perhaps if the friends are interested, they can sign up with Endy as NPSS paid-up members. Another passing thought is that with a laptop, and with air con comfort, we can actually have a "part 2" for our outings which would include image viewing/sharing/critique and participants can also share some Photoshop tips. Strike while the iron is hot. Oh yes, great to see Chuan Kwee our long time pal and NPSS member!

(Mating Day Moth by Rosemary)

Margaret Drive recommendation level for future outings: Slightly above Medium, but not High.

Participants (14) : Darren Chng (Team Leader), Shereen Ng, Wong Loong Tat, Hazel Han with 2 friends, Endy Tan, Pegi Lee, Kyaw Htay, Joshua, Chan CP, Rosemary with 2 colleagues & Lim Chuan Kwee

16/09 - Kranji Nature Trail (16 May 09)

Weather was good in the early morning. By 8 am, all participants arrived some as early as 7 am. There were many common subjects such as leaf hoppers, dragonflies, lynx spiders with prey, crab spiders with prey, butterflies, Shield bugs, Bee, etc., However, by 9.30 am, it started to become hot and humid. As expected, there were many mosquitoes especially as we proceeded further into the nature trail. A few of us were also attacked by ants which was quite a distraction! Nevertheless, most of us continued shooting until we called it a day at about 12 pm. We drove to the nearby canteen to have our lunch and chit chat.

Catches of the day were spiders with preys which Kranji Nature Trail is well known for.

(Lynx spider with prey by Allan Lee)

Participants (13) : Anthony Quek (Team Leader) , Pegi Lee, Ong Lim Sim, Kyaw Htay, Hazel Han, Wong Loong Tat, Shereen Ng, Ngee Chye, Richard Ho, Chan CP, Allan Lee, Darren Chng & Cai Yixiong

15/09 - Sungei Ulu Pandan (9 May 09)

This is a new macro site introduced by Endy Tan. Response was good with 12 participants. We saw cricket (see left photo by Yan Leong), katydids, centipede with prey (see bottom right photo by Allan), spiders with prey, bettles (shield bug, scarab caught in web & lady bug), butterflies, caterpillar & pupa, and moths (mating and camouflaging). Many species of birds were sited too.

Participants (12) : Endy Tan (Team Leader) , Lee Yan Leong, Tony Png, Pegi Lee, Ong Lim Sim, Wong Loong Tat, Kyaw Htay & son, Hazel Han, Allan Lee, Joshua Fong & Shereen Ng

14/09 - Bukit Timah Cycling Trail (25 Apr 09)

This is a new macro site introduced by Yixiong. We met at 7.30am. After parking, proceeded to the Bukit Timah Bicycle Track. We shot at a nearby stream. The weather was fine. There were spiders, rare damselflies, green crested lizard (see left photo by Kway Htay), praying mantis beside other subjects. We stopped at 11.am and lunched together.

We had to be especially careful to keep out of the way of the mountain bikes that came hurtling very fast downhill.

(Praying Mantis by Cai Yixiong)

(Stick Damsel, Pericnemis stictica by Kyaw Htay)

Participants (10) : Tony Png (Team Leader), Cai Yixiong, Hazel Han with 1 friend, Allan Lee, Kyaw Htay, Ong Lim Sim, Rosemary, Chan CP, Edwin & Shereen Ng

13/09 - Singapore Botanical Garden, Ecolake (18 Apr 09)

SBG Ecolake used to be a good macro site with variety of subjects but it didn't seem to be the case on this particular saturday. There were still many dragonflies and damselfies. Fortunately, we managed to spot a colourful red shield bug nymph (see right photo by Darren) which can be considered as the catch of the day for some of us.

Paricipants (7) : Darren Chng (Team Leader) , Pegi Lee, Wong Loong Tat, Richard Ho, Anthony Quek, Cai Yixiong & Endy Tan

12/09 - Night Shoot at Bukit Batok Nature Park (11 Apr 09)

The original plan was to shoot at the Hindhede Park next to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, but being changed at the last minute to Bukit Badok Nature Park as the car park of BTNR will be closed at 7:30pm, and no public is allowed to enter the Nature Reserve at night. (Most of the Singapore Island was raining except the BTNR area). BBNP seems to have a little drizzle shortly before we arrived. The vegetation is a bit wet, but did not affect our shooting activity very much.

(Spitting spider with babies by Chan Wei Luen)

Interesting subjects sited by by the group are Colugo (did not manage to shoot it as it moved quickly up to tree), Leafy Katydid (By Wei Luen & Ricjhard), False Scopion (by Allan), Garden Spider (Allan), Moth, Zodariidae spider (CYX), Malline sp (CYX), Spitting spider (by Richard; Destine), Forest Cockcroch (Yan Leong), Crab and toad, etc. It was another successful night macro conducted by our IMOG.

(Asiatic Toad by Richard Erh)

Participants (10) : Cai Yixiong (Team Leader) , Allan Lee, Endy Tan, Hazel Han, Ong Lim Sim, Destine Ang, Kelvin, Chan Wei Luen, Richard Erh & Lee Yan Leong