On the way to the meeting point, I saw a tree getting swarmed by several flying creatures. Thinking they were birds of some sort, I whipped out my camera to try and grab a photo of them so I can try to identify the species. However, I was unable to get any clear shots as the creatures didn’t stop to land. After watching them for a while longer, I started to suspect that they were bats instead of birds. I wasn’t quite sure if they were hunting insects or snacking on the figs on the tree, but either way, they were having quite a feast.

I didn’t have a very good opinion of figs before the trip. The only things I knew about them were the notorious strangling figs that drained the resources of their host plants before suffocating them and the fact that every fig comes with a free serving of wasp larvae. (Yuck!) Uncle Tony, our guide for the trip, soon changed my mind though. He told us how two different trees might have their figs fruiting at different times and its constant availability allows them to be a staple source of food for many creatures as opposed to other seasonal fruits. 

“Say everyday you eat rice porridge. Not very nice to eat but it is filling. Then once or twice a year there’s durian season and you can eat durian. But in between, you eat the rice porridge to stay alive. The figs are the rice porridge for the animals. “

Uncle Tony

The very first thing Uncle Tony showed us was an old rain tree. He said the rough bark of a rain tree is specially suited for plants like ferns to take root in. Sure enough, there were bird nest ferns covering the tree, even on some of its highest branches. The crevices underneath the roots of the ferns serves as rest places for bats in the day, while the top of the ferns, in the middle of all the leaves, is a popular roost for owls. This singular tree is already home to such a rich ecosystem!

Nearby there is also a fishtail palm, another important source of food for creatures. It’s so named because the shape of its leaves look like a fish’s tail. Though it looks like someone took a bite out of its leaves, the ragged edges of the fishtail palm are grown naturally.

Another common but also critical food provider is Dillenia Suffruticosa also known as Simpoh Air. It’s found all over Singapore and is a keystone species in many forests. It provides food and shelter for many animals and gives shade for other young plants to establish themselves.

Even though all these plants are fairly common in Singapore and can be found in most forests, they are a vital part of the ecosystem. But sadly, this is often overlooked by many people. Truly, it is these common and underappreciated plants that play the most important role to keep the habitat alive.

Mr Tony taught us to put our light source near our eyes so that any eye shine from the light reflecting off the eyes of animals hiding in the vegetation will enter our eyes. Unfortunately, our group didn’t have much light. Mr Tony’s flashlight ran out of battery and the flashlights that the other members in our group brought were not that strong. Me? I completely forgot to pack mine 😅. Hehe oops!

Thankfully we still managed to spot a colugo hanging out on the side of a tree. The little guy was just vibing up there. (This was also when I learnt that my camera is ill-equipped for night time photography) It’s so CUTE!!!!!!

We continued onwards and found more plants which Mr Tony taught us to identify. We saw cinnamon plants with unique reddish leaves and 3 distinct veins running vertically down each leaf.

We also saw a baby rubber tree that has made Singapore its home. Its leaves are made out of three leaflets and Mr Tony said that if we were to break its stem, we would be able to see white sap coming out of it.

We also saw fluffy plant I mean uh Koster’s Curse, which I found very interesting. Look at its berries!

And this caterpillar dangling from a single silk thread which I thought was really funny cause it was just hovering there.

While looking for more colugos, we also came across many interesting trees, like Ixonanthes reticulata, aka the Ten Men tree, identifiable by its spirally shaped leaves. (“Relative of the even taller Twenty Men tree” Uncle Tony jokes.)

And the Jelutong tree which resembles a pole due to its lack of visible roots (as opposed to some other trees that have buttress roots.

We then had a fireside chat at the quarry. (SPOILER: There was no fire D:) There were many cicadas chirping and we even heard a few owls!

Uncle Tony told us about the past struggles that nature lovers had to go through to have the government listen to them and conserve our nature spaces. Though the government is now more willing to listen when it comes to environmental impact, not all species are subject to the same amount of concern. For instance, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve was only preserved when the presence of rare migratory birds was brought to the people’s attention, causing everyone to flock to the place. However, for areas like the Dover forest that were cleared, the victims were all common plants. 

For rare plants, they usually don’t make much of an impact on the environment, cause there’s only one or two of them. It is the common plants which the environment relies on the most. The impact on the ecosystem resulting from their removal would be much worse than the loss of rare species. But the general public doesn’t really cares about these common plants.

On one hand, I get where the government is coming from. If forced to choose between preserving an area containing a highly endangered species and one that contains the same species that can be found in various other areas, I too would have picked the highly endangered species. However, Uncle Tony encouraged us to expand our view of the situation beyond just that one area. Take the Dover project again. The area cleared contained many albizia trees. These trees are fairly common and are the preferred nesting tree of raptors, the white-bellied sea eagle in particular.

These birds of prey like nesting in the albizia tree due to its soft branches, which allows them to fly in and out of their nests without having to worry about banging their large wings. The removal of the albizia trees in the Dover forest could result in raptors moving away from the area due to a lack of nesting spots, which could subsequently cause an upset in the balance of the ecosystem. And though there are albizia trees found elsewhere, they could be further away from food sources or cause increased competition between raptors for ideal nesting spots. 

It’s not just about this one project or this one area. Sure I can let you clear this small patch of land, but what impact does that have on the larger ecosystem?

Uncle Tony

However, he warned us again going in and banging the table demanding for change, cause that way, nobody would listen to you. Change takes time and we also have to be ready to make compromises. We can never stop or go against progress, but all we can do is to try to ensure that said progress causes the least amount of harm to the environment as possible.

Uncle Tony also told us about that while the government as a whole has implemented more measures to protect the environment, there are some that still flout the rules out of convenience. He recalled once when they were doing a frog survey, the entire river became “teh tarik” due to silt from road works being dumped into the river 2 kilometres upstream. His stories were all so interesting and educational and really got us to realise how far we have come in terms of advocacy for nature. 

We then carried on with our trek, encountering many trees with interesting leaves 🍂, the first of which is the Breadfruit tree. Uncle Tony picked up two leaves from the ground, one big, and the other bigger! To my surprise, the bigger one is actually a young leaf! As it grow older, it loses its lobes and becomes smaller.  Uncle Tony says that its size is because the newer leaves at the bottom need to capture more sunlight as they are further away from the sun. Therefore they grow even bigger than the older leaves up top, which have a greater exposure to sunlight.

We stopped for a while to check out a pavilion in the hopes that there were bats hanging on the roofs or moults that snakes left behind. Snakes would find a solid surface to squeeze against to help them shed their old skin and apparently pavilion rafters fit the bill. Unfortunately, we had no luck with this pavilion…

The next tree with cool leaves is Syzygium grande, more easily known as the Sea Apple. I say this because I spell it as Caesium grande when I tried to guess the spelling from the pronunciation of its scientific name 😅. Its leaves are splotchy and have a vein that runs along the entire edge of the leaf.

The last tree we learnt about was Macaranga bancania, who has a special mutualistic relationship with ants. The tree provides the ants with food and shelter while the ants defend the tree from external threats. 

As we were heading back, we spotted another pavilion. I suggested checking it out but Uncle Tony was not very optimistic. But lo and behold, we saw not one, but TWO shed snake skins hanging from the rafters. Uncle Tony used a stick to get them down and we admired the softness of the snake’s scales. He informed us that these were most likely from a Paradise Tree Snake, one of the more common snakes found in Singapore. (They can also glide!!!)

All in all, it was a very fruitful night. Honestly I was ready to call it a win when I saw a colugo for the very first time, but this walk really far exceeded my expectations.

I’ve learnt so much from the entire experience! Not just about the various species, but also about advocating for nature. I also met really amazing people that have such a great love for nature. Thank you Uncle Tony for teaching us so much and thank you to my fellow group mates who made the walk even more enjoyable!!

I’ll end off this post with another quote from Uncle Tony.

“If you only remember one thing from this, remember not to ignore the common plants. Without them the ecosystem cannot function.”

Uncle Tony