Pulau Ubin

Yup, as stated above, I went to Pulau Ubin today. I sat a boat to that island. It cost my father $7.50. The ride is $2.50 per person. Just in case you are wondering who I went with, I went with my brother and of course my father. We rented 3 bicycles and started out to look for animals. We headed for a place called the Chek Jawa Wetlands.

The first thing I saw hopping along was a Banded Bull Frog. This nocturnal insectivore is common even in urban areas.

We continued our way to the Mangrove Broadwalk and saw these mudskippers together. Some even rolled over in puddles of water. Cute!

This little crab was about to hide into a hole dug by itself. Look at the pincers. There is a big difference in size.

A whole gang of crabs.

A Nipah plant.

This little crab digs holes too. According to someone, this is a Sand Bubble Crab. Quite small in size.

The spider which made this web is a good web artist.

Can you spot the camouflaged mudskipper?

This Mud Crab is the biggest crab I have seen today.

This crab has beautiful colours. This is the nicest crab I have seen today.

Another crab with different size pincers.

A Malayan Water Monitor. This creature is among the largest lizard in the world. It can climb trees and is also an expert swimmer and diver. It feeds on small animals and fish.

A shot of a Yellow-lined Epeus. This spider can grow around 9mm. It can be found in heavily wooded gardens or mangrove swamps.

Can you spot the grasshopper in this picture? The actual size is about 6cm.

A crab pulling a leaf. Wonder what is it going to do with the leaf. Eat it? Or is it going to lay its eggs on it so the young can feed on it?

After we reached the end of the broadwalk, we cycled back to the shophouses and ate chilli crabs. Does anyone like them? I like it. I also ate black pepper lobster. This is the end of the trip. I did heard someone say he saw an Oriental Whip Snake but I did not see any though.

Trip to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve(again)

Yesterday I went to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve again. Shawn had to wait for someone so I went there first. These was what I saw:

Can you spot the Clouded Monitor in this picture?

The lizard in this picture might be a Sun Skink.

This snake is either the Elegant Bronzeback or the Blue Bronzeback. After seeking help from an animal expert called Nick Baker, I found out its a Blue Bronzeback.

Shawn came right after I saw the snake. We took some pictures of the snake and move on with our journey. These was what we saw:

A type of flower. Anyone knows what is it?

A nice little cricket.

Yap. Two snakes that day. This beautiful snake is either the Oriental Whip Snake or the Malayan Whip Snake. Through further examinations, I say it is the Malayan Whip Snake.

This poor colourful caterpillar had been killed by ants.

Has anyone seen this type of grasshopper before? I have not.

This spider is a female Golden Web Spider. I like its colours. It can grow about 5 cm measuring from the head to the tip of its abdomen.

A treehopper. Cute isn't it? Hmm... Maybe I should buy a book on insects. This way I can identify the insects I saw.

The second and the third caterpillars of the day. Colourful and hairy. Hmm... Maybe I should buy a book on caterpillars too.

This Clouded Monitor is digging for food. It feeds mainly on small animals which it often find digging in the substrate.

This spider is most likely to be the Common Housefly Catcher. It had caught a moth. This picture proves that spiders sometimes catch preys bigger than themselves.