A Crab Spider's Tale

Grabbie is a little crab spider. He lives in the pitcher of a pitcher plant in Tuas.



There are thousands and thousands of pitchers in the area, and Grabbie never had problem finding new homes when he wanted to.



The pitcher plants are located in a marshland covered with water, and Grabbie has lots of relatives and friends living there.



His neighbours include lots of dragonflies, and they come in many different colours and sizes.



The relatives of the dragonflies - the damselflies - also live here.



There are also many animals living in the water, including lots of foreign talents, and among them are the numerous apple snails.


But apart from the animals, there are plants too, such as the bladderwort with pretty yellow flowers.



Not far away from the marshland is a huge patch of grassland. While they look all green and brown from afar, the colours unfold as one takes a closer look.



There is the shy mimosa...



...the passionate love-in-the-mist...



...and stunning wild orchids.



On the orchids, you can sometimes find Grabbie's relatives - other crab spiders!



And here's another distant cousin...



Further away, the land is drier, but networks of sea morning glory creep all over.



There are several flowering bushes too, and the butterflies love them.



Every now and then, Grabbie and his friends are visited by some hairless apes which come in all kinds of colours.



Grabbie finds them to be rather fascinating but weird sometimes.



Today, however, Grabbie has no time for the weird visitors. He has decided that it's time to move on to the next stage of his life, as he carefully enters the home of a female spider.



She's huge! Much bigger than him. But Grabbie is prepared for this. Will Grabbie be successful in wooing the girl of his dream?

Afternote:

Unfortunately, Grabbie didn't know that whatever is the outcome of his courtship, it will be meaningless. Barely 20m away, the bulldozers are transforming his homeland into bare plots of land to be developed into racing tracks.

In probably less than a week's time, Grabbie, his family, his relatives, his friends, his neighbours, and thousands, if not millions of other wildlife in the area will go under the bulldozer and get buried alive.

While many people are shedding a tear or two for the declining population of sharks, dolphins, turtles and other bigger animals, how many felt the pain when millions of little critters sacrificed their lives for our development?

See also:
1. Cool Morning at Tuas 2nd March 08 by ST
2. Tuas Grassland by SJ

More stories on our previous trip:
1. Tuas Marshlands by SY
2. Discovery at Tuas Grasslands on 17 Feb 2008 by JL
3. Carnivorous Plants (Tuas) by ST

Ubin On A Rainy Day

I was supposed to guide a group of students on the Sensory Trail at Pulau Ubin today, but unfortunately it started raining even before the students meet us, and they eventually decided to cancel the walk when the rain didn't stop after quite a while.

As the rain wasn't really that heavy, AW and I decided to go ahead and bring one of the new guides, B, for a walk along the trail.



I was delighted to see some many juicy fruits on the mulberry bush. Used to have them when I was living in a kampong last time. Coincidentally, I just bought a bottle of mulberry drink earlier at one of the provision shops at Changi Village! This plant is also called the silkworm mulberry because silkworms feed on its leaves.



Many of the plants along the trail were flowering, including the citronella. Here's a bee attracted to its flowers. Oil extracted from the citronella can be made into insect repellent.



The garlic vines have lovely, purple-coloured flowers. The leaves are sometimes used as a substitute for garlic, and they taste somewhat similar.



In one of the flowers, I found a cute little beetle. Was it seeking shelter from the rain? Hmm...



I finally remembered to take a photo of this hibiscus in its white phase. The flower will slowly turn pink towards late morning, and eventually become dark pink in colour at the end of the day.



The honeysuckle was flowering too. This plant is also called the "gold and silver" flower by the Chinese due to the differences in the colour of the newer and older flowers.



These are the flowers of the sandpaper vine (Tetracera indica) which was also creeping around the same bush.



More wild flowers which I have no clue of its name... Look like little hairy balls to me. Quite cute :P



If I can remember correctly, I think this is related to the morning glory. The flowers are much smaller though - about the size of a 50 cent coin.



White melastoma - a refreshing change from the usual pink ones more commonly seen.



EO, who's leading a sensory trail group earlier, spotted this snake, which we have no idea of its species. Looks like it just ate something. (Update: According to SJ, this should be a dog-toothed cat snake. Thanks SJ for the ID!)



AW spotted this lynx spider which we thought was probably guarding its eggs. Anyway, they're always excellent models for macro shots!

After we completed the Sensory Trail, AW decided to drive over to Chek Jawa to meet up with our others friends who were guiding there for the Naked Hermit Crabs. And at the entrance to Chek Jawa, we saw this pretty stink bug while we're looking at the fruits of the wild ixora.



Somehow this reminds me of a Japanese samurai.



Here's a closer look at this pretty bug.



On our way back to Ubin Town, we went pass T & J who went cycling after bringing a group for a walk at the Sensory Trail. Always feel good to see this loving couple :)

And after this, it's all the way back to the Ubin restaurant which serves my favourite fried calamari and kampong chicken :P

In fact, it's durian season on Ubin too! Interestingly, durians were from the same plant family as the hibiscus.

Anyway, we bought 2 super delicious durians from one of the shops, and makan them over lunch. And YES! What a wondering way to end the day!