Mandai Mangrove on New Year's Eve

I visited Mandai Mangrove on New Year's with a few friends, and as usual, there were quite a few things to see!

While I think the diversity of mangrove plants is not as high as Kranji or even Pasir Ris, it has a few rare mangrove plants growing in abundance, and they are very easily accessible for photo-taking. Hence, I still like to visit it once in a while.


Apart from Kranji, Mandai Mangrove probably has the most number of Kalak Kambing (Finlaysonia obovata) plants on mainland Singapore. Most of them were climbing up trees, but a few were growing over shrubs and treelets, and thus was easy for me to get some photos. I only saw the purple-flowered variety here though, unlike Kranji where both purple and white varieties could be seen.


Here are the fruits! Have mentioned before that somehow they reminded me of the Pringles mustache. Haha.


The were many patches of Brownlowia tersa too. It just occurred to me that its flowers bloom in the late afternoon around 3-4 plus. Have tested this out on both the Kranji trip and this trip. We only see flower buds in the early afternoon, and towards the end of our trip when we visited the plant again, the flowers had opened up!


It had cute little butt-like fruits.


The were many Mangrove Lime (Merope angulata) shrubs as well. A few of them were flowering!


Several were fruiting too. Some of the fruits were quite low and stained with mud.


Others that were higher up were green and glossy.


Mandai possibly has the biggest population of Beccari's Seagrass (Halophila beccarii). There were every where, and some of the patches looked as big as soccer fields!


There were a few Ipil (Intsia bijuga) trees, and one of them has a few fruits on it. So far this is the shortest Ipil that I have seen fruiting. Guess I should probably visit it again one of these days to check if it's flowering.


This rather common mangrove climber, Caesalpinia crista, has a few fruits on it also.

Apart from plants, there were a number of interesting animals too!


I spotted a cuckoo (Cuculus sp.), but not sure what species it is.


A male White-barred Duskhawk (Tholymis tillarga) was resting of a twig. This species is common in Singapore, and is more active in the late afternoon.


These are the Aquatic Moths (Eristena mangalis). The aquatic habit does not refer to the adult, of course, but the larvae.


A big jaw spider that I am not sure of the species.


On one of the Mangrove Lime plant, I spotted a Lime Butterfly (Papilio demoleus malayanus) caterpillar!


One of the dead tree was full of such holes, probably made by some longhorn beetles.


And there were lots and lots and I mean REALLY LOTS of Mangrove Horseshoe Crabs (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda)!

We spent like about 5 hours here, though for quite a while we were hiding from the rain. Nice trip, and certainly I will be back!

Kranji and Sungei Buloh on 30 Dec 2010

Made a trip to Kranji Nature Trail to explore the mangroves last Thursday, and while I did not see the much talked about Bruguiera hainesii, there were still quite a number of interesting sightings.


The most exciting find will be these Mangrove Leaf Slugs (Elysia bangtawaensis) - my first time seeing them! Not sure exactly what they feed on, but will assume it to be some algae, similar to other species of leaf slugs. These slugs can store the chloroplast of the algae that they feed on, and use it for photosynthesis!


There were so many of them in this puddle of water.


There were many Gedabu (Sonneratia ovata) trees here, and many of them were fruiting. This mangrove plant is said to be critically endangered in Singapore.


Yet another exciting find will be this other critically endangered mangrove plant - the Berembang (Sonneratia caseolaris). This was a really huge tree, but unfortunately the top part of the tree was broken off, but I could see new branches growing where the trunk broke.


Several Mangrove Cannonball Trees (Xylopcarpus granatum) were fruiting, and we found a fallen fruit below one of them. The seeds inside are dispersed by water.


Like most of our northern mangrove forests, there were huge patches of the Beccari's Seagrass (Halophila beccarii).

We also spotted a Black Spitting Cobra, but unfortunately I did not managed to get any photos as it was moving too fast into the undergrowth.


We moved on to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, and soon spotted this Mangrove Tit-Berry (Allophyllus cobbe) with its bright red fruits.


The Teruntum Putih (Lumnitzera racemosa) with its pretty little white flowers.


At the main bridge, I spotted a Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) - my first time having a decent photo of this pretty bird.


And I was really delighted to see the Brownlowia tersa blooming!


Here's a closer look at the pretty flowers.


I went to the boardwalk to take a look at the Kalak Kambing (Finlaysonia obovata) which I noticed was fruiting a few weeks ago, and interestingly, the fruit was still there!


And on a branch just next to the boardwalk, I spotted a Sultan (Camacinia gigantea) dragonfly.

Overall, a nice walk despite the little bit of rain! :)