After a 3-month break, we decided to visit Dairy Farm Nature Park, one of our favourite macro site.
Watch this space for more updates!
Participants : Ben Ee, Catherine, Choy Kah Wai, Dion Wong, Henry Tan, Hwang Nian Huei, Lester Koh, Kyaw Htay, Seah Tock Toh, Sia Kian Teck, Zaw minsoe, Endy, Anthony Quek (Trip Leader)
Destination Stream, by Timothy Tan
Since the 1st outing on 16Aug2008, iMOG has led a total 199 trips for nature Macrophotography. Amazingly, there were only 2 cancelled trips due to heavy rain. We have visited many different sites (although about 16 sites were lost due to development). We had a lot of fun in the outdoors taking photos and made many friends too.
All trip leaders were delighted to have organized so many trips and celebrated this great achievement by making iMOG T_200 a two days trip to Mount Belumut, Johor, Malaysia. It was also our very first overseas iMOG outing and the destination was site no. 80.
Due to accommodation constraints, this trip was not open for signing up. Only those who have shown great support to iMOG’s outings over the years and honoured guests were invited.
Below is the record of the outing:
The group photo, by Tony Png
On the first day of outing, there were many Damselflies . . .
A beautiful damselfly (Neurobasis chinensis, Male) in the stream by Allan Lee
Metalic wings, by Allan Lee
Close up reveals more beauty, by Allan Lee
Mating pair, by Lim Chuan Kwee
The female, by Lee Yan Leong
Other species . . .
Damselfly, Heliocypha perforate, Male, by Lee Yan Leong
Damselfly, Euphaea ochracea, Male, by Cai Yixiong
Damselfly, Dysphaea dimidiata, Male, by Dion Wong
Among the rocks, there were green frogs . . .
Green on back, by Henry Tan
Side view of frog (ID?), by Lee Yan Leong
Big big Eye, by Allan Lee. Can you see the photographer?
We went to our homestay lodge . . .
This is the staying place, by Tony Png
Near the homestay, sunbirds were nesting . . .
Sunbirds’ nest, by Ben Ee
At night, we share some woderful iMOG stories together, then we went out to check the surroundings. We saw some cute sleeping birds, owl, and an interesting moth.
A moth in night, by Lim Chuan Kwee
After a tiring day and night, we slept and looking forward to the next day.
On the 2nd day, we reached the stream early and checked the upper part of the stream. . .
Rushing waters, by Lee Yan Leong
Some damselflies had just emerged . . .
Left: Newly emerged, by Sharon SL. Right: Rhinagrion macrocephalum, by TM Seah
Dragonflies had emerged too . . .
New to this world, by Anthony Quek
Adult dragonfly (ID?), by TM Seah
At a glance there was nothing, upon closer examination, some “difficult to find toads” were there near the stream . . .
Among the branch litter, by Endy
getting down further and we saw . . .
The Toad (ID?), by Catherine E
It also blended well in wet environtment . . .
Blend-in, by Allan Lee
Some Mayflies were seen too . . .
Mayfly, by TM Seah
Mayfly, by Allan Lee
Mayfly Close up, by Lim Chuan Kwee
In the forested areas . . . we saw . . .
Tiny red fungus, by Tony Png
Looks like Lor bak, by Endy
Bracket fungus, by Lim Chuan Kwee
Insects aplenty . . .
Little brown grasshoper, by Lim Chuan Kwee
Common Bluebottle, by Ben Ee
Kohinoor, by Ben Ee
Commander, by Ben Ee
Cicada, by Allan Lee
Around noon, the sky was getting dark, it was going to rain.
We packed up and went for lunch . . .
Luch time, by Tony Png
It was Deliiiciousss!!! With full tummy, we returned to Singapore.
At last but not least, we thanked the trip leader for the great effort for organizing the outing.
Trip leader relaxing himself in the stream, by Endy
Blogging in progress . . .
Participants (16): Timothy Tan, Henry Tan, Dion Wong, Catherine E, Lim Chuan Kwee, Ben Ee, TM Seah, Lee Yan Leong, Geoffrey Davison, Anthony Quek, Allan Lee, Cai Yixiong, Endy, Hazel Han, Sharon SongLim, Tony Png (Trip leader)
I did a search in our blog and the last visit to Venus Drive was in October 2015! It was our trip #17 led by Anthony Quek. Fast forward two years later, this same location is now called Windsor Nature Park however, our playground namely Venus Loop remains unchanged and untouched.
The park was opened by National Parks Board (NParks) on Saturday 22 April, with three new trails including Drongo trail, Hanguana Trail and Squirrel Trail. Instead of walking on the muddy ground, especially when it rains the night before, visitors can now walk on the boardwalk.
All the participants gathered around at 730am for a quick briefing on the trail etiquettes (Do’s and Dont’s) before we explore the renovated park. We did not remain on the boardwalk for long and quickly moved on to our macro photography site at Venus Loop. We were delighted to still see a rich habitat of wildlife.
Jumping spider by Dion
Mating flies by Sia
Common Flashwing Vestalis Amethystina by David Wong
Assassin bug by Allan Lee
A marsh habitat was created using the natural terrain to provide an additional wetland habitat for the biodiversity. Here, a rich diversity of dragonflies can be seen.
Dragonflies by Cathy
Wasp by Allan Lee
Copper-cheeked frog by Allan
Hammerhead worm by David Wong
Spiral ginger (Cheilocostus) by Sharon
Robber Fly by Allan
Chocolate pansy by David Wong
Flat millipede by Cathy
Skipper by Kyaw Htay
Natural canopy by Endy
by Allan Lee
Fungus by Anthony Quek
A group of nature park enthusiast led by an English-speaking female guide had gathered around us. The guide was explaining to them about the facts and habitat information on St Andrew’s Cross Spider.
St Andrew’s cross spider by David Wong
The were also looking for the resident Malayan Colugo which they finally caught a glimpse of this beauty resting on the tree bark.
Colugo by Allan Lee
by David Wong
Heliconia plant
Rose Myrtle by Endy
Fungus
Beautiful water droplets by Endy
Dragonfly by David Wong
Moss on tree bark
Treehugger (female) by Cathy
The trip ended in the late morning as it started to rain. A few participants left us a little earlier to have breakfast with their loved ones. If you have missed our outing, do remember to join us next time.
Participants: Catherine, David Wong, KT Sia, Dion, Henry Tan, Latish, Kyaw Htay, Wong Heng Meng, Allan Lee, Anthony Quek, Endy and Sharon S. Lim (trip leader).
Some participants were late, we waited for a while and moved on.
On the way, there was a big patch of fungus under a tree! So many of them!
Fungus under a tree by Timothy Tan
Allan found something interesting.
Hopper on fungus by Allan Lee
Among the brown fungus there were other little white fungus, too.
Little White fungus by Endy
Close up by Allan shows an intriguing pattern!
Fungi Pattern by Allan Lee
Then, we proceeded to the new site.
Slug by Endy
Many species of slugs were busy doing their business. And there were also other creatures :
Gilled mushroom by David Wong
Nymph of planthopper by Henry Tan
A Tiny Moth by David Wong
Many frogs were around a ponding water:
Frog (top view) by Endy
Frog (side view) by David Wong
Spiders were seen too:
A Spider by Allan Lee
Jumping Spider by David Wong
Green eyed Spider by David Wong
On the way out, some beautiful fungus beetle and a beautiful cup fungus were spotted:
Fungus Beetle by David Wong
Cup Fungus (top view) by Timothy Tan
Cup Fungus (side view) by Allan Lee
We completed the route by 11am and had a nice lunch together : )
See you in the next trip!
Participants (14): Sia KT, CP Syn, Timothy Tan, Foong Kham Tho, Phang Wai Keong, Henry Tan, Dion Wong, Linda Phua, Flor M Juera, Said Sulaiman, Samuel Dai, David Wong, Anthony Quek, Allan Lee, Endy (Trip leader)
Some photos taken during outing :
Bird Dropping Spider by Endy
Snail on Fungus by Kyaw Htay
Malayan Lascar by Endy
Jumping Spider by Htike Htike Win
Resting Plain Tiger by Endy
Tiny Butterfly by Anthony Quek
Caterpillars of Malayan Eggfly by Endy
Mating Moth by Ryan Tan
Ginger Flower by Endy
Blogging in progress . . .
Participants (10) : Linda Phua, Htike Htike Win, Tan Swee Yuan, David Wong, Kyaw Htay, Sia KT, Allan Lee, Anthony Quek, Endy, Cai Yixiong (trip leader)
Holland Woods is a forested area located opposite Ngee Ann Polytechnic. Running through the forest, is a canal that leads to Sungei Ulu Panda. On both sides of the canal are lined with tall grasses, making it a good site for macro photography.
This place used to be frequently visited by members of NPSS & iMOG in the years 2008 to 2010 because there were lots of subjects especially dragonflies and damselflies. Unfortunately, from 2011 – 2013, it became less popular probably due to the overly-managed on the vegetation by PUB contractors as well as large number of visitors and cyclists going through it to the KTM line. Our last iMOG outing here was 14 Sep 2013. From 2014, this site was not accessible to the public due to the widening of road around this stretch of area until this year.
We were glad to find that Holland Woods looked as wild as before with plenty of wild flowers greeting us at the entrance.
(Wild flowers by Endy)
The shooting site were surrounded with tall grasses where most of us got our pants wet bashing through.
I was hopping to shooting insects with dew but it was not a good day to do so. Nevertheless, Henry still managed to photograph a tiny hopper with interesting water droplets.
Surprisingly, not many damselflies were spotted. We found only a handful of Common Bluetail and Variable Wisp.
There were quite a number of butterflies but not easy to capture them into pixels.
Other subjects found include spiders, various hoppers, Ladybird, hover flies, etc.
It was nice to see many beautiful flowers of different colours growing healthy along the canal.
Can you spot an insect on the flowers below?
We ended the outing at 10.30 am and headed to Bukit Timah Food Centre for our early lunch.
Participants: Kelvin Dao, Linda Phua, Kyaw Htay, Latish, Samuel Dai, Victor Ong, Lim Ser Yong, Henry Tan, Dion, Endy, Anthony Quek (Trip Leader)
What a good turn out! We were surprised that many friends, including those who only appear once in a very long time, joined this outing.
The new site was very green and beautiful.
We had to enter the site through an opening in a thick foliage.
Flatid Planthopper by Nicky Bay
As we entered, we were greeted by a beautiful planthopper.
Then, we saw many more species. Below are the best from our photographers:
Red bracket fungi by Endy
A little beetle by Nicky Bay
Weaver ant & planthopper by Kelvin Dao
Spiders were aplenty there, here are some of them :
Ant mimicking jumping spider by Nicky Bay
A jumping spider by Kyaw Htay
A closer look at the jumping spider by Nicky Bay
Spittting spider by Nicky Bay
Many dragonflies were flying around:
Dragonfly in flight by Ben Ee
It was not easy to get close to certain species.
A resting dragonfly by Ben Ee
Close up of a Red dragonfly by Kelvin Dao
But still, there were some that allowed us to slowly approach.
Dragonfly up close by Catherine E
Butterflies were also everywhere :
A few butterflies by Ben Ee
Blue Glassy Tiger by Catherine E
They were flying most of the time and stop for a while. Some species just wouldn’t let us get near them.
Peacock Pansy by Endy
Photographers among the bushes
In the green bushes, we also found:
Yellow ladybird beetle by Catherine E
Katydid nymph by Nicky Bay
Moulting Katydid by Nicky Bay
Later that day, Nicky found a Golden Orb weaver spider with prey and showed it to us.
Catch of the day by Goh Teck Leong
Nicky used his latest experimental camera setup to do wide angled Macro and the results are quite interesting:
Golden Orb weaver spider with prey by Nicky Bay
Golden Orb weaver spider by Nicky Bay
When were about to leave the site, suddenly, we saw a tree frog :
Four lined tree frog by Goh Teck Leong
It is a nocturnal animal, so it looked hanging there sleepily.
Another view of the frog by Hwang Nian Huei
Coming out of the site we saw a group of Grass Yellow butterflies drinking on the ground:
Grass yellow butterflies by Catheriine E
After photographing the butterflies we went for a lunch together at a nearby Coffeeshop.
Lunch!
The food were good! The photos are not bad eh? Next time do join us in outing again ; )
What a successful outing! See you again soon!
Participants: Syn Chue Pui, Kyaw Htay, Tiang Hwee Ee (Ben Ee), Kelvin Dao, Linda Phua Mee Kan, Samuel Dai, Nicky Bay, Ko Aung, Goh Teck Leong, Dion Wong, Henry Tan, Huang Nian Huei, Catherine, Endy (Trip leader).
