SP forest walk

This morning, I decided to venture to a small forest patch near Singapore Polytechnic. Fiona kindly accompanied me for this trip.


I have always been fascinated with this row of bougainvilla plants (Bougainvilla sp.). More commonly known as shrubs, these plants can actually climb quite high, over 5 meters in this instance! The tree it was leaning on is the paper bark tree, Eucalyptus sp.


Beneath the tree is the introduced weed (Hemigraphis primulifolia) that has virtually invaded every grassland here since its introduction in 1980s. It seemed to fare especially well under shade.


The sandpaper vine (Tetracera indica), named due to their rough stem, has their dried fruit split opened, exposing the seeds inside.


The Simpoh Air (Dillenia suffruticosa) is said to have deep roots to tap on underground water sources, and people used them to mark locations for digging wells.


The wild cinnamon (Cinnamomum iners) is a common roadside tree planted as noise screens as its foliage extend throughout its trunk.


The yellow mimosa (Neptunia sp.) were flowering so beautifully that I decided to use it as my new banner!


Fiona spotted a pair of moths (Lamprosema tampiusalis) mating!


We spotted a fly (Order: Diptera) with an interesting pair of patterned wing.


There were also a lot of assassin bugs around.


A beautiful geometrid moth (Triminda aventiaria) which seems to be quite common around this area.

The shiny long-legged fly (Family: Dolichopodidae) is a predatory insect that feeds on other small invertebrates.


There was a small river which was enclosed to form a pond and some stone steps allowed us to cross over to the opposite bank, where the trail finally ends and we had to head back.


There were definitely more animals we saw than what I had posted here. Unfortunately, I did not take that many pictures today, but it was a nice trip nevertheless :)

Kent Ridge Road walk

Staying at home for the past 2 days really makes me think of alot of negative things. Some things were just not the same again. Haiz... Anyway, some sunshine finally showed out today so I went out for some exploring again. I went into this restricted forested land near NUS (yes, I trespassed again) to see if there’s any interesting stuff inside. Definitely very wild place in there with lots of creepy crawlies. Although there’s a trail present, I kept walking into thick strings of cobwebs. But I saw one large black bird the size of a hen. Not sure what bird it was, will consult dingli when he’s back from KL. However, I was quickly turned off by those nasty mosquitoes. In just 20mins I have 15 bites all over my arm! The last straw was when an insect flew and smack right on my cheek. Gee :S I quickly turned back and walked to NUS. But think there’s much to be discovered there. Will go back next time with some insect repellent.

A nice view was this plant inflorescence of the plant Leena indica, which attracted many of these yellow butterflies and some flies and wasps.

Enlarged picture. A black wasp and a yellow jacket (left circle, body with yellow strips)? A tiny black fly on the extreme left centre.

Back at NUS, I found this orchid with beautiful white flowers on a tree. I had been suspecting that those epiphytes were orchid plants and today finally confirmed it after seeing the flowers. Its pretty surprising for me that there are actually wild orchids in abundance all around. A check on the net actually reveals that it is the most common orchid in Singapore =_=''. It was said that many of them were planted intentionally by authorities to encourage their growth. Also they bloomed when there was a sudden drop in temperature of at least 5.5oC (remembered Prof Loh saying that). All this raining probably cos their blooming now. Anyway, I went to LSlab2, thought of saying hi to Mrs Ang but sadly she was on leave. But I took some Helianthus annus seeds from another lab tech for girl who want to grow them.

Pigeon orchids, Dendrobium crumenatum on a tree near science canteen

It was still early so I thought of taking a walk at Kent Ridge Road, where I visited during one of the Biodiversity lab sessions two years back. It turned out to be a rather pleasant walk.

Red ants harvesting from scale insects

There was this clearing where there was a great view of the forest till King Edward hall and Pasir Panjang wharves. It was here that I heard the crowing of a cockatoo and found it perched high up a tree. Three swallows were also gliding in the sky like tiny aeroplanes. A pink-necked green pigeon came flying on the canopy of another nearby tree. This is my first time seeing it and the its colorful plumage is really amazing. Walking down the road, there was a sudden disturbance at the trees and I saw another large bird in brown and black streaks flew quickly past. Wow...can't catch much of it so dun think can identify.

An Tanimbar Corella (cockatoo), Cacatua goffiniana

Pink necked green pigeon, Treron vernans

Another unidentified bird

There was a pathway leading down to the Medical blocks and at the medical garden, I found out that there were actually mistletoes growing on the weeping willow.

inflorescence on a mistletoe growing on weeping willow

An intial wasted trip to the state land turns out to be not bad at Kent Ridge road instead. At least my mood improved slightly after this trip.