091224 Venus Drive

Christmas present from Venus Drive, the treetop village is back! Also, smaller clusters of the same mushrooms along the path before the treetop village.

One thing I realise, it is good to bring a second camera when shooting this species of mushroom. It doesn't glow very brightly and so exposures easily reach 5min or longer. A second camera allows the wait to be more productive and make the time go faster as well.


The treetop village under normal light.


Underside.


Topside.


Stray light from my torch lighting up the background as I was restlessly walking up and down the path to pass time during the obscenely long exposures.


Can you spot the snake?


snake with iridescent scales. Suggested by Marcus to be a Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor).


Huntsman spider.
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091223 Venus Drive

Quite a satisfying night. We saw a snake, 2 geckos and many mushrooms. And we didn't even cover half the entire distance, stopping way short because we wanted to end early (which we didn't, spending a good hour on the frog because it stayed so still we could actually pick bits of loose grass off it).


Looks like a Golden-ringed Cat Snake (Boiga dendrophila). It was easily 2m long and completely unafraid of us, going about its own business with the air of an apex predator.


My first time seeing 2 Kendall's Rock geckos (Cnemaspis kendalli) together.


A pupa with the distinctive basket surrounding it. What insect is it?


A very still but not very well positioned Salticid.


Bioluminescent mushrooms dotted the landscape in greater numbers than during my first visit. Unfortunately we didn't see any large clusters as we didn't go all the way.


Damaged gills.


Against an orange-red sky.


Looks like a Common Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax).
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091221 Botanic Gardens

Went to stretch legs after watching Avatar and showed my friend the rainforest walk at the Botanic Gardens.


My first photo of a Cicada.


Barklouse?


What tree is this?


Plenty of caterpillars on the handrails.


Twig-like feather-legged spider. It was green to the eye and strangely brown through the lens.


Argiope sp..




A couple of tiny beetles.




Wasps? One of them was feeding on the white flowers beside the Koi ponds near the Green Pavilion. That flower bush proved to be quite a nice place to look for bugs :


Salticid, very shy.


Most flies now bring to my mind the show "The Fly (1986)".


Plenty of iridescent flies on the bush.




Mantis nymph?
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091128 Tampines Avenue 9

Man I clean forgot all about blogging this short trip until I saw Ria's stream photos which reminded me I had some marsh photos somewhere. And yeah, I believe I belong to the camera operator category as well.






There's a marsh inside there somewhere. Ivan had a closer look at it while I elected to keep my feet dry and go after the dragonflies instead.




Dragonflies.


Cricket.


Cricket nymph.


Strangely shaped grasshopper.


Nicely patterned fly.




Salticid? Doesn't seem to have headlamp eyes though.


Snail threesome.


Closeup on what I take to be where the action is. Correct me if I'm wrong.Love dart action?
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091218 Tanah Merah

Actinodendron, Actinostephanus haeckeli both missing. Died of natural causes? Poached? Destroyed by vengeful victims?

Didn't see any Cypraea arabica or Saron shrimps also but it was largely daytime during the trip and they were probably all hiding.


Anemone coral.


Tiny Acropora.


Pocillopora.


Turbinaria coral next to Porites?


Soft coral.


Thick mass of eggs (nudibranch?).


Another egg mass-like thing. Polychaete?


Synanceia horrida. These may be more easily spotted by looking out for symmetry in rocks (stonefish are symmetrical left and right side at the head) and the distinguishing curved lines running from the eyes to the mouth above the hollows of the cheeks. Still it is best to just be very careful that the sand is soft before stepping down, retract immediately if feel anything poky and avoid stepping on rubble totally unless absolutely necessary.


Synaptid sea cucumber. They stick to skin when touched, a feeling similar to nematocysts stings but are actually tiny hooked sclerites. Best not to pick them up or touch them at all though as they are very fragile.


Phymanthus.


Five-spot anemone shrimp on Stichodactyla haddoni.


Zoanthids.




Top shell snail with a shell that seems to be encrusted.


Oval moon snail (Polinices mammatus).




Lambis lambis, an exciting find by Marcus.


Archaster typicus seem to be doing very well, covering a very extensive area of the shore.


Elysia ornata.


Pseudobiceros bedfordi.


Pseudobiceros uniarborensis.


Dendrodoris denisoni.


Tanah Merah has a fairly large population of fan worms, some even occurring in small groups like these 3.


Mysterious lump.


Copperband butterfly fish. Fish appear almost immediately after nightfall.


Shrimps, zebra coral and sea grapes.


Cluster of Ascidians discovered by Kok Sheng under a rock.


Completely orange hermit crab, my first time seeing one.


Can't quite see the claw tips properly, sigh. Looks like Orange stripe hermit crab but totally lacking the white nodules.


Atergatis integerrimus.
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091217 Sembawang

This shore has plenty of anemones and some weirder items.


Strange transparent massIdentified by Ria as these Hydroids.


Closeup of strange transparent mass.


Some parts of it have polyps. No idea if they belong to the mass or not.


Drill eggs.


Spiral melongena (Pugilina cochlidium) eggs.




Bivalve found stuck to the underside of a rock.


Cute tiny thunder crab.


Astropecten indicus.




Anthopleura handi?


The only mangrove anemone we saw.




Striped bead anemone. There were many and they came in dark as well as light colors.












The most plentiful anemone on the shore.


Mysterious organism on one of the anemones.


There were some Onchs.




Bristle worm.


Ribbon worm.


Ragworm?


Mysterious worm-like organism.
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091214 Venus Drive

Went with Richard. He brought along a light stand with a clamp for his torch and good times were had by all.






Huntman spiders.


Beetle.




The frogs were hopping everywhere. Some stayed long enough for quick photos.


Tiny frog, about 2-3cm long. Dark-sided Chorus Frog (Microhyla heymonsi)?


Cricket.


Harvestman.


Tiny spider, about 4-5mm long.


Hersilia sp..


Quite surprised to see these bioluminescent mushrooms given that the weather for the past few days weren't exactly wet.


Scorpion under UV light, with an accidental firing of my flash through the gaps in the foil reflectors.


Scorpion under pure UV light.


Storena cinctipes (spotted ground spider).


Cricket masticating something.


Huntsman spider, about 10mm long.
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