Morning Walk At Dairy Farm Nature Park (26 Apr 2014)

The weather looked wonderful and I decided to go to the Dairy Farm Nature Park for a morning walk. It has been a while since I last went there as the car park there was unusually crowded.

I started with the mountain bike trail that leads to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the path was full of small durians, possibly dropped due to the thunder storms that we were having nowadays. From the look of the size of the small durians, it should be durian season soon, just like the last durian season trip that I made ( http://beetlesg.blogspot.sg/2013/11/night-walk-at-btnr-durian-loop-trail-22.html ).

The first beetle that I found was this small beetle that usually come out after rain. I was surprised to find it out walking about on a leaf as they would usually hide during this time.

Next to the small beetle was a big tree with many of these small 2 mm Fungus Beetle.

Moving further down the path, I saw what I thought was the usual orange-black Fungus Beetle that I often encounter on my trips. Upon closer look it turned out to be a first-time-encountered beetle. It flew away after two shots.

One of the reasons for this trip was for the fact that this place has many types of Tiger Beetle and I am hoping to get some better shots of them with my current macro setup since previous photographs taken were not very satisfying.  As I carefully scan the vegetation for beetles, this Tiger Beetle (Therates dimidiatus) flew right in front of me. I so glad that the longer zoom of my current macro setup allowed me to take a better photograph of this skittish beetle.

On a fallen log nearby was this pair of Darkling Beetles. I am surprise to find them out in the day as they are mainly nocturnal.

Moving quickly on the same log were several of this Ground Beetle (Pericalus tetrastigma).

A while later I found this Fungus Beetle resting on a leaf under some shade. This was the type of orange-black Fungus Beetle that I mentioned earlier on.

On another fallen log, I found several Fungus Weevils.

One of the highlights of the trip came when I turn into the Wallace Trail. This beetle is about 25 mm in size and was resting under some foliage shade. Not sure what type of beetle is this.

The next first-time-encountered beetle that I found almost make my heart skip a beat. It was a Leaf Rolling Beetle that I have been looking out for a long while.

Near to the Leaf Rolling Beetle was this first-time-encountered Leaf Beetle. It was hiding from the sun under a leaf. At a glance it looked like the regular orange colored Leaf Beetle, but upon closer look it differs in the hairy elytra.

Dairy Farm Nature Park has many Tiger Beetles and one of the  most common one around is this Cicindela aurulenta Tiger Beetle that you can find around the path if you pay particular attention along the path.

Moving to an open area, a Leaf Beetle (Lema diversa) was seen on a leaf under some shade.

The next surprise came when I was at a patch of  Spear grass (imperata cylindrica) where I found this first-time-encountered Weevil Beetle.

Moving back to the shaded path, I found a first-time-encountered small 1 mm Leaf Beetle on a leaf on the side.

Moving to a fallen log, I found one of my favorite Fungus Beetle (Stenotarsus pardalis).

Near to the Fungus Beetle was another surprise find, an odd-looking Fungus Beetle clinging to a thin tree branch.

On a tree nearby I found this lovely looking beetle larvae.

Hiding in some shade was this Leaf Beetle (Hoplasoma unicolor). It has been a while since I last encountered this type of beetle.

While I was walking down the path, a white color speck flew under a leaf. In my mind I thought it could be the white Ladybird Beetle that I like. Out of curiosity I looked under the leaf and found this white Ladybird. What a pleasant surprise!

Moving closer to the exit, I was glad to be able to find these two colorful Fungus Beetles near to each other.

I was out of the trail and move towards the Visitor Education Center and found this Weevil Beetle clinging to one of the shutters at the side of the building.

Near to the Visitor Education Center was a pile of chopped wood and I decided to take a detour before leaving the place. And to my surprise I found a pair of first-time-encountered Net-winged Beetle on the logs.

Among the logs was a Fungus Weevil with a lovely pinkish color pattern on its elytra.

The last beetle before I left the place was this shiny Fungus Beetle.

The trip was a surprisingly fruitful with several first-time-encountered beetles and I am so glad to have make the trip. I am especially happy to have encountered the Leaf Rolling Beetle that I have been searching out for a while.

Night Walk At Lower Pierce Reservoir (25 Apr 2014)

The weather was looking fine when I headed towards the Lower Pierce Reservoir but was sadden by the light drizzle as I was about to reach the place. The place was drenched to the bone and the hope of finding any beetles seemed so remote.

Instead of heading straight to new place that I "discover" last week, I decided to take a detour to another spot that I have not explore before. To my surprise, the first beetle that I encounter was this Fungus Beetle (Amblyopus vittatus). The place was so wet that you can even see a drop of water on the beetle.

The next beetle was not a surprise, it was a Chafer Beetle (Adoretus compressus).

Moving to a small plant nearby, I found a small 8 mm beetle resting on a leaf. At first glace I thought that it was a Aprosterna pallide Chafer Beetle, but upon closer look it turned out to be a first-time-encountered beetle. I am not too sure what type of beetle it is but I would hazard a guess that it is a Fungus Beetle.

Moving towards a fallen log, I found this lone Fungus Beetle.

Next to the fallen log was this cute Chafer Beetle.

Moving further, I found a tree with several beetles on it. The first one was a Long Horned Beetle (Coptops annulipes). It looked rather different in terms of its coloration of its elytra but the difference could be that this is a female specimen.

Next to the Coptops annulipes Long Horned Beetle was a Fungus Weevil (Sitboderes impressus). As with its name, the coloration of this beetle is pretty stunning.

Near the feet of these two beetles were several really tiny beetles. They looked like Fungus Beetles.

On another tree was this Darkling Beetle, resting motionlessly probably due to the earlier rain.

On the same tree was this brown 8 mm beetle.

On another tree was this Fungus Weevil.

Moving to some low bushes, I found this interesting pair of Chafer Beetle that looked familiar and yet not. This could be another first-time-encountered Chafer Beetle.

Moving further down the low bushes, I found this first-time-encountered Ground Beetle (Pentagonica marshalli).

On a next plant to the Pentagonica marshalli Ground Beetle, another first-time-encountered Ground Beetle (Pentagonica flavipes). I am so glad be able to find two first-time-encountered Ground Beetles at the same time.

Just when I am about to come out of the detour, a Leaf Beetle was found a leaf near the place where I exit. This is one of my favorite Leaf Beetle.

Moving closer to the "clearing" area, I am surprised to find a lone Tiger Beetle (Cicindela aurulenta) resting on a leaf.

Near to the Tiger Beetle was a first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle. This beetle looked like the usual black Fungus Beetle, just that it is entirely coffee-brown in color.

At the "entrance" to the "clearing", a Leaf Beetle (Colasposoma auropenne) was sleeping on the leaf. It started to move about after a few shots.

The first critter that I found at the "clearing" was this beetle larvae.

On a fallen log were these three amigos Fungus Beetle (Episcapha quadrimacula).

On the same log was a pair of this large Darkling Beetle.

On another log was this lovely metallic colored Ground Beetle (Catascopus dalbertisi). Interestingly, there were a number of this beetle on all the fallen logs at the place, just like the "clearing" at Venus Drive.

I was hoping to find the lovely yellow Illeis koebelei Ladybird Beetle but was only able to find its pupa.

The most amazing thing about this trip was to find tens if not hundreds of this type of Darkling Beetles congregated on all the fallen logs at the place.

On a log was this tiny 1 mm first-time-encountered Fungus Beetle.

At the center of the "clearing" is a large fallen tree and on it were many types of beetles. One of them was this Ground Beetle (Pericalus tetrastigma).

Crawling hurriedly along the tree was this Weevil Beetle.

Cling on the side of the tree was this large 20 mm Darkling Beetle (Promethis valga). I saw a Promethis valga Darkling Beetle during last week's trip at around the same place, may be this is the same one that I saw.

Moving gingerly at the side of the tree was this Ground Beetle (Coptodera marginata).

Another Weevil Beetle was found on the tree log but unlike the other Weevil Beetle this particular one remained very still.

Time passing by quickly and it was time for me to leave the place. Just as I was about to leave, this Long Horned Beetle (Anacylus griseatus) flew right in front of me.

The trip was exceptionally fruitful despite of the heavy rain. I am surprised to be able to find so many different beetles even after the rain. This place surely can rival Venus Drive in terms of finding beetles.