Of Kites and green spaces

Where can you find a giant squid and a cow together? At a grass patch in Sengkang!

It has ages since I last flown a kite so I decided to organise an outing with some friends.

We have all kinds of kites, like this giant panda.

Even a giant stingray!

Another sotong, though it looked rather emo.

While none of us successful got a kite up high into the sky because of the lack of wind, we still had a blast of time. While I do advocate wild and spontaneous vegetation for state land to support more biodiversity, I also have to admit that well manicured green spaces like this are important for other purposes.

Mangrove ‘Alba’

Its been more than a year (or perhaps more than that) since Sungei Punggol was dammed.

A view from Anchorpoint community centre. Many dead trees, that I remembered as Avicennia alba, now stood as a ghostly reminder of their past presence. This is to be expected, since this tree is not known to be freshwater tolerant.

‘Alba’ means white, referring to the white underside of its leaves. Now, I guess we can refer to its barren white trunk and branches.

Walk in Sengkang forest

There are lots of forest fragments in Singapore and it is always interesting to bash in to see what is inside. Today, me, together with PY, H, WQ, G and J went into such a forest which used to be a plantation, evident from the lots of Durian, Rambutan, Starfruits and Rambi inside.

I reached earlier than the rest so had a head start to scout the area. Managed to grab a shot of two woodpeckers on a sea almond.

Finally got a chance to get a photo of the flower of this bitter-gourd, Momordica charantia.

Another morning glory which I am not sure of the ID.

My itching mouth finally can’t stand it and I decided to taste this jelly-like fruits of this exotic plant, Pipturus argenteus. No taste at all…

It is pretty amazing to see that someone actually maintains the trail! Look all the leaf litter neatly gathered.

Whats this? Some Costus or ginger? Update: Costus lucanusianus

 
A slug which WQ found.

This figging Malayan Banyan, Ficus microcarpa attracted lots of hungry birds.

Here are the figs.

A plant growing everywhere here which I have no idea what it is again. Help?

Took me awhile to figure out what this climber is. But now, it suddenly occurred to me that it should be Gynochthodes sublanceolata.

Taking a break.

 
Am surprised to see this Hoya sp. here. Probably verticillata?

There was a patch filled with the climber Gymnopetalum sp. Was again itching to taste the fruit but decided not after opening it. The fleshy parts covering the seeds looks like bird shit man… =.=”

And so, end of another fun trip. But should plan trips that I can see more new plants though. Will have to be 3 weeks later… high key army from next week onwards… Sian-ness!

Thanks WF for the ID.

Fruity Sengkang

I remembered quite clearly the mangroves in Sungei Punggol whenever I pasted by TPE to reach Yishun for my guitar lessons years back. Now it was cleared to make way for Sengkang sports complex and Sengkang Riverside park.

I was in the park recently with PX and M. Most of the plants were still young. It was obvious that the theme of the park was about edible trees, apparent from all the edible fruit trees planted throughout the park.

Here is logan, Dimocarpus logan. Tastes nice too (oops).

Morus alba, also known as:

Mulberry.

M pointed out some YOG people were flying kites here.

This was my first time seeing nutmeg’s (Myristica fragrans) flowers.

Anacardium occidentale, the fruits famously known as cashew nuts. The sap of this plant is said to be very caustic.

We found a changeable lizard hunting in action, and it caught a grasshopper. You can see the legs still sticking out from the lizard’s mouth.

My first time seeing the female flowers of the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis too.

Here are its fruits, riped (left) and unriped (right).

This is a new plant for me. Flacourtia sp.

Here is a plant which looks like a Dillenia sp, from the corrugated cardboard like leaves. It has flaking bark. Wonder what this is. I wish they put ID boards for all the plants there so that it is easier for people (like me) to learn. Update: Dillenia indica.

Lots of fruits, but little shade. But guess it is NParks intention as seen in their website to let this park to have extensive lawns for people to play in. Guess when some of the trees grow taller, this will be a nice little fruity park.