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Saturday 12 August 2017

Morning Walk At Pulau Ubin (11 Aug 2017)

It has been years since I last set foot on Pulau Ubin (a small island about 10-15 minutes of bump boat ride from Singapore) and so I decided to take leave from work and go there for this week's macro photography session. When I set off from my home the sky was clear, but as I was nearing the Changi Point Ferry Terminal the sky became dark and started to drizzle. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I decided to proceed as planned.

When I reached the island, the sky was not drizzling but remained overcast. The last time I was on the island I rode around the island on a rental bicycle, but it turned out to be not so effective as the number of beetles encountered was really disappointing. For this trip I decided to walk instead of cycling, knowing that I may not be able to cover much ground on foot.

Here's a photograph of an Oriental pied-hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) supposedly to be commonly sighted on the island.


There is a new Sensory Trail and so I decided to take a look at the trail. The trail is lined with cultivated patches of herbal and food plants, and on a patch of ginger plants were several of this Leaf Beetle (Gonophora pulchella).


On another patch of ginger plants was this 3 mm first-time-encountered metallic-blue color Leaf Beetle. This beetle was very sensitive to movements and it promptly flew off after two photographs.


On a different patch of ginger plants was another first-time-encountered 3 mm metallic-bronze color Leaf Beetle. Not sure if it is a sexual dimorphism of the same species of beetle as above, or is it a different species of beetle.


Further down the trail was this familiar Leaf Beetle (Graphops curtipennis).


The Sensory Trail passes through a patch of Sea Hibiscus and on one of its stems was this lone Leaf Beetle. Sadly, this was the last beetle that I encountered on the trip as the sky started to rumble and dark clouds were gathering overhead, and looked like it will rain any time. So I decided to call it a day and took a bump boat back to Singapore.


This trip was no better than the last but it was probably because of the rain. Nevertheless, it was still consider a good trip as I was able to encounter two first-time-encountered beetles.

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