Semakau Inter-tidal Walk

It was more than 2 years ago when I last visited Pulau Semakau before the closure for the work on 2nd phase of the last landfill of Singapore.

This time round, I'm happy to be able to share all the beautiful wildlife of Semakau shore with our Emeritus Senior Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong.

This photo was taken after the walk... wefie time!  :)

A very familiar trail that we have to go through before reaching the shore.

The fun begin the minute we hit the shore. Common sea star can be seen everywhere on the shore which is very uncommon over the main land Singapore.

Is the season of Sargassum seaweed during this time of the year. Large part of the shore are covered with them.

Is good to see so many sea cucumber around.

Another snake like sea cucumber that we saw taking shelter over the Sargassum seaweed - Synaptid sea cucumber

Upsidedown jellyfish (Cassiopea sp.) is also in season. Saw many of them almost every few steps.

Saw this very bright colour Carpet anemone.

This Hairy crab can camouflage very well be it under water or on dry land.  When under water, their hair will break their outline so that they don't look like a crab!

This Noble volute is laying egg.

We also saw quite a number of nudibranch such as Polka-dot nudibranch, Gymnodoris & Bohol nudibranch.

Another real "Star" attraction is this Knobly sea star. They are no longer found on main land due to over collection by beach goer.

Managed to find 'Nemo'! We still have  wild clown fish in Singapore. Semakau is one of the place you can see them without getting wet with your dive suit/tank.

There are huge & soft. Used to see it when I was diving and is now expose during low tide.

Cuttle fish! So cute to see them swimming in the water.

When you see red colour... Warning! This red egg crab can not be consumed and their toxin will not be destroyed with heat (after cooking).

The sun about to set as the tide return... another great day on our shore.

Another Walkaround at Singapore Botanic Garden

Singapore Botanic Garden is one of my favorite place whenever I have some space time for photography. 

 One of the many statue in the garden, this one was hidden near the Ginger Garden.

 Golden Orb Web spider with her super strength & sized web.

There are several pond in the garden and dragonfly is one beauty that you will not miss. Darting around water edge, the hotter the weather, the more active they become.

 This White Breasted Waterhen searching for food along the water edge.

This garden is also one of the few area where you get to see 2 very similar but different species of monitor lizard. On the left is the Malayan water monitor (Varanus salvator) and the one on the right is the Clouded monitor lizard (Varanus nebulous). How to tell the difference? It may be a bit difficult from far, if you look closely, the main difference is the position of their nostrils. The Clouded monitor lizard's nostrils are lie mid-way between the eye and snout.

Another game I like to play in the garden is to try finding the Cicada location. They can be heard singing loudly everywhere in the garden but is a challenge to locate or spot them. Once you see one, you see all. I got them on video too. 2 male cicadas fighting for one female...

Hazy Afternoon at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

The migratory birds has arrived in the region and is time to pay a visit to Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. The haze situation in the morning was quite serious so I visit the reserve in the afternoon when the PSI dropped slightly to just above 100 unhealthy level. The haze situation around South East Asia has no sign of re-treating despite with the helps from several country to fight the forest fire that is burning and still spreading.

As I enter the reserve, this pair of Oriental Pied Hornbill appear right in-front of me! The male is trying to court the female bird and is in fact in the courtship feeding! Can you tell which is male & which is female?

This White Breasted Water Hen behave like a human being! She look left, then right and left again before crossing to another side of the board walk.

Saw this fruit bat sleeping under the roof at one of the shelter. They are nocturnal animal and only active at night.

Since it was low tide when I visited the reserve, most migratory birds will feed outside the reserve as the whole coastal area will be expose with the tide going down. So I look for resident bird instead. I saw this Collared kingfisher perched near the Main Hide.

This Grey Heron was feeding solo at the far end opposite the Main Hide.

This Striated Heron was waiting for the tide to come back so that the fishing will become easy.

One of the few migratory bird that still feeding at the Main Hide is this Common Red Shank.

Another migratory bird that I saw before leaving the reserve is this Brown Shrike.

If you plan to visit Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, do check tide table and try visit the reserve during high tide so that more migratory birds will feed within the reserve.

Coney Island Park, Singapore

After waiting for more than 2 years, Coney Island Park finally open to public! As with all newly opened facility, I expect some crowd so I choose to go early morning. 

The park open from 7am to 7pm. What a beautiful sun rise when I arrived at West Entrance of the park.

 I enter the park through West entrance.

This tiny island have 2 entrances. The West entrance is just next to Punggol Promenade Nature Walk while the East entrance is joined to Lorong Halus.

What can you do on this tiny island?

You may just enjoy the scenery, get into the forest. Scenery like this is something that consider uncommon in highly urbanized Singapore. They may look like pine trees but they are not. They are actually Casuarina trees also known as Rhu trees. This is probably how Tanjung Rhu got her name.

 If you are a bird watcher, this bird hide will come in handy.

 There are lots of signs of wildlife activities on the island.

 This heart shape nest probably built by Baya weaver birds.

Nature photographer of all sorts (be it insects, landscape or birds) flocked to Coney Island this morning.

 There are lots of cyclist too. Mountain bike is recommended due to the rough terrains.

Some just take out their phone and take wefie with their love bike. One pacik  try his fishing luck here too.

You may simply just explore this tiny island on foot. Highly recommended as you will get higher chance to see wildlife on the island by walking.

Some take the opportunity to groom their dog there too.

Pulau Ubin, another rustic island just opposite Coney island. It looks so close! Be forewarned, there are lots of sand flies on the beach. If you intend to walk on the beach, I will suggest that you wear long pants and long sleeve shirt.

Or you may just sit on the concrete path and enjoy the scenery and sea breeze instead.

Oh! There are shuttle service to Coney island from Pasir Ris and Punggol MRT!

Another nature space for the resident around Punggol/Pasir Ris area. What are you waiting for? Go visit today!  :)