tHE tiDE cHAsER: From Kranji to Buloh

Heh heh. Seems like I'm the last to blog again.

The Semakau gang went to Kranji Nature Trail and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve last Saturday. It was quite a pleasant day, and Robert was supposed to guide us around since that was his territory.

Anyway, we were all set to go onto the trail to take lots of photos, when I realised that I forgot to bring my spare SD card... AGAIN!!! AHHHHH!!!!

Sigh... I think I must be getting old... Recently, I kept forgetting to bring my spare memory card, or even the camera altogether. End up I had to delete some of my older photos. Couldn't delete my newer ones as I can't remember if I had a proper backup.

Sigh... And I also forgot to bring the Sentosa Entrance ticket for Robert. 6 Jun 2006 was a special day for Robert - that was the first time he stepped onto Sentosa, after being in Singapore for so many years! He finally went to Sentosa last Wednesday to help with the Naked Hermit Crabs walk.

I was the one who kept all the entrance tieckets for those in the same car. He had wanted to get a ticket as some kind of souvenir - mind you, his first trip to Sentosa, you know? It's like some kind of milestone! :P

I'm supposed to pass it to him last Saturday, and I forgot!

Anyway, enough about my forgetfulness, and back to Kranji Nature Trail.

Since I was like left withonly 50 odd photos in my SD card, had to be really careful about what photos I took.

One of the first insects I saw was this leafhopper below. I've always wanted to get a shot of this insect.

During my kampong days, we used to called it 红先生, which means Mr Red. Leafhoppers feed on plant sap, and thus they are actually considered to be pests by gardeners.

We also saw a number of spiders.

The one above is probably somoe species of crab spider. Not sure about the one below though, which I only managed to get a butt shot.

We also saw several shield bugs.

Not sure about he species though :P

And just nearby was an uprooted simpoh ayer, or simpoh air, whatever. Anyway, the pronunciation is supposed to be the same :P

Anyway, that wasn't the only uprooted tree we saw. There were quite a few of them along the trail actually.

The bubble thing you see below is not some soap bubbles.

It's actually produced by the nymphs of froghoppers, otherwise also known as spittlebugs. And mind you, the nymphs were still hiding within the bubbles.

We also saw a slug on a tree trunk.

Not sure if it's an onchidium, but it sure looked a bit like one to me, though it's much flatter.

I also found an pretty ixora plant just next to the trail.

Understand the wild ixora with orange flowers at Sentosa were native plants, but not sure about these though.

We also saw a few cute little ladybirds.

Ladybirds have always been one of my favouriate insects. Remember reading a children story when I was young about a brave young ladybird which helped to fight other bully insects as it can release toxins. Very cool right?

Did a check on wiki recently, and found that indeed, adult ladybirds are able to release an oily yellow toxin with a strong repellent smell to deter predators. The ladybirds themselves are also poisonous to smaller predators, such as small birds. A human probably need to eat several hundred ladybirds before feeling any effects.

Anyway, enough of ladybirds, we also saw lots of dragonflies!

There were many of them along Kranji nature Trail and also at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserves.

There was also a little pond at the reserve which many blooming water hyacinth.

Can still remember those days when my grandma were rearing pigs. Every day, she had to chop the water hyacinth into smaller pieces, stir fry them in a huge wok, then feed them to the pigs.

Walking to the main hide, we had a pleasant surprise! There were actually a few storks on the mudflats!

Ok, have to admit I wasn't really all that surprise to see them since I had seen them on my previous trips to Sungei Buloh :P

They were supposedly the free-ranging birds from the zoo or bird park actually.

Near a little stream on the mudflats, there were many little egrets feeding too.

And if you look carefully at the above photo, you will notice lots of conical shells on the mudflats. They are the telescope creeper shells.

Dark clouds soon started gathering, and we thought we better get out of the area before we kenna trapped in the rain. As we were leaving the mangrove area, there was this sea hibiscus tree with a newly open flower (the yellow-coloured one), and an old flower from the day before.

The old flower seemed to be still quite firmly attached though. It just swayed along with the strong wind, as my gang left Sungei Buloh...

Do check out the following entries for more photos of the trip: