21/09 - Venus Drive (18 Jul 09)

We had a nice weather today. By 7.45 am, all came and we proceeded with our shooting. There were not many interesting subjects at both sides of the bushes near the entrance of Venus Drive. We went a little in and spent quite sometimes at the small stream. Mating dragonflies, dragonfly with prey and some colourful damselflies were spotted but most were quite sensitive to us. The popular Green Crested Lizard was also seen but it was quite high up in the branches to shoot. Other interesting subjects include baby spiders, molting hoppers, wasp and interesting leaf (see right picture protographyed by Peter Low). At 9.30 am, it was getting quite hot near the stream and so we proceeded further into the forest. Over here, subjects spotted include 2 different forest mating damselfies, butterflies, 2 different robberfly species (one with prey) tiger beetles (blue & green species), "mantis fly", etc.

We stopped at about 12 pm and went to the nearby hawker centre along Thomson Road for lunch.

(Mating forest damselflies by Anthony Quek)


(Robberfly with prey by Anthony Quek)

Participants (10) : Anthony Quek (Team Leader), Darren Chng, Stephen Lim, Ong Lim Sim, Hazel Han, Shereen Ng, Teo Ngee Chye, Peter Low, Joshua Fong & Goh Teck Leong.

20/09 - Wild Wild West (4 Jul 09)

WWW at end Corporation Road was still as wild as before but the environment was more comfortable for shooting this time round. The tracks or walkways were well maintained with no overgrown grass. The ground were also not muddy (because of dry weather) and not so many mosquitoes than expected. It was a little windy at times but we still managed to shoot. Many common subjects were found with quite a good number of butterfly species. We left around quarter past 11 and met a few birders (Wei Luen, Richard & Ming) for lunch at a nearby food centre.

(Baby Caterpillars by Allan Lee)

Participants (6) : Allan Lee (Team Leader), Endy Tan, Hazel Han Shereen Ng, Kyaw Htay & Lee Yan Leong

19/09 - Holland Woods (13 Jun 09)

It was raining the night before but, fortunately, it stopped at about 7 am allowing us to proceed with our planned outing. There were not many subjects spotted and captured, which was quite a normal thing after a heavy rain. Nevertheless, there were still many dragonflies around such as the Crothemis servilia (see left picture by Pegi Lee), which is the most dominant species on the site. We had to stop shooting at about 11.30 am when it started to rain again.

(Crothemis servilia, male dragonfly by Cai Yixiong)

Participants (4) : Tony Png (Team Leader) , Cai Yixiong, Endy Tan & Pegi Lee

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