Butterflies galore in CCNR

Had an awesome trip in CCNR to spend the new year with HL, N, and R. I have been through this stretch of forest many times but this was the first since I started to learn about butterflies seriously. Boy, there were so many species new to me!

A Malay Lacewing on a Leea indica. The white and yellow patches at the lower portion of the forewing is characteristic of a female.

An Archduke with its distinctive orange tipped antennae helps to separate it from the Dark Tipped Archduke.

Probably a Malay Viscount.

This unimpressive (because of its dull colour) Common Faun kept skirting about the forest floor.

Surprisingly, we saw many stick insects, about 4 today. They were relatively easy to identify when they were flying because of their pink wings.

A Common Mormon feeding on an Asystasia gangetica flower.

An uncommon Rusty Leaf Mistletoe, Scurrula ferruginea growing from a Sendudok.

This Common Snow Flat was feeding on the bird dropping. Ew…

First time seeing the fruit of this Campnosperma squamatum.

What I thought was a figging tree turned out to be Gironniera nervosa after peeping through my binos.

An unknown aquatic plant with white flowers. Update: This is an exotic plant, Echinodorus palaefolius. Thanks to WF for the ID.

There were many of these Cruisers but only one allowed me to take a decent shot, because there was an abundance of flowers for it feed, therefore stopping many times to pose for a shot.

This feeding long tailed macaque made us notice…

the many fallen ripe fruits of Garcinia sp. (a native Mangosteen species)on the forest floor.

There were so many other butterfly species that we saw today! Its a pity that many were too fast to be captured on camera. Worthy to be back for another trip!

I grew a mistletoe

As the title said, the mistletoe seed of Dendrophthoe pentandra which I placed on a Vitex pinnata tree germinated!

Can you see the two small leaves coming out from the seed? :)

Merry Christmas!

Life in wastelands

I made two recent trips to two patches of wasteland forest in Clementi. To say that they are wastelands is an understatement. While the diversity cannot be compared to our nature reserves, they are still teeming with life and sometimes host some rare species. And basically, a fun place to visit for some nature rambling in the vicinity.

YF and C investigating this exotic climber Syngonium podophyllum which has spread throughout Singapore after escaping from cultivation.

A Malayan Banyan, Ficus microcarpa stands majestically at the forest edge.

Here is how the interior looks like. Wild, messy and fun. As long as you can tolerate the mosquitoes and spider webs. :)

A magnificent specimen of a fig strangling a logan tree, Dimocarpus logan.

One of the nice thing about this forest is apparent abundance of the endangered fig, Ficus apiocarpa. This patch is literally covered with the climbing fig. I guess this is probably the locality with its highest density in Singapore. You can see it climbing on a durian tree here.

Figging time for Ficus apiocarpa, with many syconia on the ground. However it was impossible to take a picture of it on the fig as they were too high up the trees.

We also walked around the perimeter and found a sliverback fern (Pityrogramma calomelanos), which can create a pretty silver taboo using its silver spores.

A flowering Melicope lunu-ankenda tree, my first time seeing the flowers.

An unknown climber with a bright red fruit.

Another check off my butterfly species sightings, the Dark Brand Brown Bush.

And lastly, a white throated kingfisher perching on an Albizia tree.

Manuka Honey

KY passed me a bottle of Manuka Honey together with some dried specimens of the Manuka plant when he was in New Zealand recently.

The honey was so named because the bees collect nectar mainly from Manuka bush, Leptospermum scoparium. KY said that it was a common plant there in New Zealand. It was said to contain anti-bacteria properties hence the honey was popularly consumed for sore throat and other ailments. It is said that the higher the UMF (unique Manuka factor) the better the quality of honey.