Saturday, October 16, 2010

A Park Connector @ Mandai

The weather forecast for 2 Oct morning was cloudy with showers which meant that it was not a day for a long outing so I decided to check out a park connector at Mandai which is near my in-law's place.

My first shot on a gloomy morning was this Silver Forget-me-not (Catochrysops panormus exiguus ) 蓝咖灰蝶). A few of them were fluttering at a low level . The little marginal black spot on the forewing is closer to the fascia as compared to another highly look-alike species Forget-me-not (Catochrysops strabo strabo).
This dark brown skipper which looks like Caltoris cormasa was resting in the bush in the early morning.
The drastic and dramatic change in the weather before noon created a vibrant scene - I began to see many speices of butterfly fluttering around. This Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus cnejus) mating pair was enjoying their intimate moment under the hot sun.
The ground creeper Vigna reflexopilosa (?) was abundant there - I believe this is one of the larval host plants for both the Gram Blue and Silver-forget-me-not.
A close-up shot of some yellow flowers - take a closer look if you can see something very small.
This is a small orange skipper which resembles the Yellow Grass Dart (Taractrocea archias quinta). Its speedy darting flights from perch to perch at the ground level posed a great difficulty for me to track its where-about with my naked eyes.
The Common Faun (Faunis canens arcesilas) is a shade-loving forest denizen. I was rather surprised to see it puddling on a tarmac road - it might have come from the secondary forest nearby.
Another orange skipper appeared around 1 pm outside a big shelter where I was resting and packing up to depart. I am quite sure that this skipper belongs to the genus Telicota but which species it is ?
There were quite a few dragonfly species - one of them was this rather skittish Rhyothemis phyllis , hovering in the air and perching intermittently. I could only get a long-distance shot.
Two different species of spiders were spotted in the same vicinity - both look new to me. I hope some "spidermen" or "spidewowen" out there would provide the name for me. (Note : I think the first shot below is a Hasselt's Spiny Spider ?)
This is a kind of squash bug with a pair of long and solid hind legs - you may think that it was ambushing its preys on a grass blade. In fact it is herbivorous - plant sap is its main diet.
This cluster of wild fungus was growing on a tree trunk in a shady part of the trail - not sure if they would glow at night but the contrasting white colour was certainly prominent in the shade.
The construction of this park connector is still going on. I am sure when it is completed next year, it will be another wonderful place for macro-photographers to explore - many thanks to the Nparks' Park Connector Network.

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