Quick Look at the New Sengkang Riverside Park

Managed to have a quick look at the new Sengkang Riverside Park this morning. It was generally a rather nice place, and certainly deserve a more proper exploration when I have the time.


Here's a look at the bridge in the middle of the new Punggol Reservoir.


There is a constructed wetland in the middle of the of the reservoir. At the edge of the reservoir are the original mangrove plants that were already here when the reservoir was still Sungei Punggol.


The usual freshwater plants like the cattail (which unfortunately is a non-native plant) and cyperus were planted on the wetland.


It was drizzling a little when I was on the bridge over-looking the artificial wetland, but I could still see several birds, like the munias above.


There were a few sunbirds too.


A surprise find will be this Water Horn Fern (Ceratopteris thalictroides - the spiky plant in the middle). It's rather uncommon in Singapore, and before this I think I have only seen them on Pulau Ubin in one of the disused prawn ponds. Don't think this is planted, since there was only one of it in the middle of no where. This fern is also cultivated as an ornamental and aquarium plant in the region. It is supposed to be edible, though I read some where saying it may contain toxins.



The original mangrove looks interesting, and just from a quick look I spotted a number of true mangrove species, including Rhizophora mucronata, Bruguiera cylindrica, Sonneratia alba, Avicennia alba, Avicennia officinalis, Heritiera littoralis, Exocoeria agallocha, Acrostichum aureum. I certainly need to come back again one of these days!


The park also has lots of fruit trees, including longan, chiku, star apple, butterfruit, mangosteen etc. Certainly rather interesting for kids to learn about where their fruits come from.

We spent less than 15 minutes here, I think, and had to rush off. Am certainly going to check my calendar to see when I can visit this place again!