A Visit to Noordin Beach on 12 Mar 2011

Why does the snake cross the road? And why must it cross when I was cycling on the very same road?


I had to jam brake and even hurt my toes so as not to run over it. And what did it do after I stopped.? It gave me that "what the xxxx" look, then continued sliding across the road. I managed to get a photo of this reckless Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina) when it was safely on a plant on the other side of the road.

Anyway, I went to Pulau Ubin with Kwan Siong yesterday as I had not visited Noordin Beach, and thought of checking out the mangrove plants there.


My main objective was to check out the Berus Mata Buaya (Bruguiera hainesii), which happened to be flowering like nobody's business!


And some of the flowers were on rather low branches, and hence I managed to get some close-up shots of them.


Here's another flower. This plant is critically endangered not just in Singapore, but internationally as well.


There were a number of seedlings too.


Along the way, we saw a number of other plants flowering, including this Dalbergia candenatensis, a mangrove climber., which has lots of pretty little white flowers.


And the flowers attracted several pollinators, including this Blue Glassy Tiger (Ideopsis vulgaris macrina).


The Nyireh Batu (Xylocarpus moluccensis) was also flowering, and the pollinated ones will eventually develop into cannonball-like fruits.


I only found a lonely flower on this Teruntum Putih (Lumnitzera racemosa).


The Latherleaf (Colubrina asiatica) was both flowering and fruiting. This coastal plant is so-named due to its ability to produce a lather in water.


So was the Chengam (Scyphiphora hydrophyllacea), which bloomed in bunches of little white flowers.


The Gymnanthera oblonga which I saw was flowering about a month ago was not flowering this time round, but I could see a few flower buds developing.


I also saw several Bakau (Rhizophora stylosa) flowering, fruiting, and developing seedlings.

Several animals were spotted, apart from the snake, though I only took a few photos.


I found a few Thespesia Firebugs (Dysdercus simon) on a Portia Tree (Thespesia populnea). Unlike the more common Cotton Stainer Bugs (Dysdercus decussatus) found on Sea Hibiscus (Talipariti tiliaceum).


This Stink Bug (Pycanum sp.) appeared from no where and decided to land on Kwan Siong's bag.


In the mangrove area, we saw lots of Blue Striped Hermit Crabs (Clibanarius longitarsus).


But we also saw these smaller striped hermit crabs, which are also Clibanarius species, but the obvious blue stripes were replaced by brownish stripes instead. Not sure if they were variations or a different species.


We also saw many little mudskippers, possibly some kind of Periophthalmus species.

It was great to be back on Ubin. Do hope to find time to go back more often! :)