The walk with OtterWatch really taught us a great deal about how we should co-exist with nature, particularly the smooth-coated otters found here in Singapore. The otters are highly social mammals that are spotted in the mangroves, mudflats and coastal areas, where they forage for clams, fish and other small animals.
What to do when you encounter otters? 1) DO NOT touch, chase or corner them. Observe them from a distance of at least 10 metres away. 2) DO NOT talk loudly or use flash photography. 3) DO NOT feed the otters. 4) DO NOT litter or leave sharp objects in the water. DO NOT block the exit ways of otter homes. 5) DO keep your dog on a tight leash. Your dog might chase them or frighten them.
OtterWatch also taught us how we could help the otters by diverting traffic if we see otters attempting to cross a human sidewalk. Most incidents of humans clashing with otters are always caused by accidents.
NParks has also identified some ways private property owners can keep otters out of their homes:
Diagram courtesy of NParks
The next time we see an otter, before blaming them for their tyranny, we should start establishing boundaries with each other to avoid confrontations with them.
The Kranji Mudflats is a place that was only accessible via permission from the police coast guard for research purposes. For the purpose of this trip, booties are highly recommended.
Lester from the Nature Society guided us along for the trip. The gate to the mudflats stood in front of an abandoned warehouse that was infested with mosquitoes. The mudflats are littered with marine debris, and we had to watch our step. Unfortunately, I lost all the photos for this trip, but you can view some of them from the other posts!
Picture courtsy of NParks
We learned that the Nature Society did research and data collection on invertebrates such as Horseshoe Crabs as not many others were willing to do so.
Of course, the highlight of the trip was Horseshoe Crabs! But we did see many other species of invertebrates, ranging from crabs, snails, flatworms, and more. We also learned that despite its’ namesake, the Horseshoe Crab is not even an actual crab and is more closely related to arachnids.
Horseshoe Crabs are farmed for their eggs as a delicacy in Thailand. Their blood is also used to determine the efficacy of vaccines in the past. When people were dying of injection fevers, in the 20th century, scientists had no idea what was causing all these deaths. Until the discovery of endotoxins. It so happens that the Horseshoe Crab’s blue blood can detect traces of these endotoxins, thus making vaccines safer to use.
Lester told us that over time, the number of Horseshoe Crabs has declined. It is thus important to study the Kranji Mudflats and their residents, to understand what is going on with our ecosystem.
Personally for me, when I was considering my AFN, I was not very sure on what I wanted to do because the people around me are not the biggest nature-lovers. I thought that I would not be a nature-lover, but after attending the trips, I realised that it is because I never really understood the wonders of nature. So I thought it would be a good idea to start small by bringing the nature walks to them.
I decided that I wanted to do infographics with the knowledge that I have gained from the past few events. I showed the infographics to them to show them what I have learnt and share with them the experiences I had during the nature trips. I am quite glad that after my small sharing, most of my family and friends are more committed to keeping nature clean and are now more interested to attend nature walks. I think that with every small thing we do, we can create an impact on them. Slowly but surely, more people will try to play their part in preserving our natural environments.
We gathered early in the morning at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park to experience bird-watching. Personally I have never been bird-watching and it was truly an eye-opening experience going for this trip. We were first greeted by the sight of roosters. Great call to the morning! Did you know? There are roosters and there is another bird similar to the rooster, called the jungle red fowl. You can tell the difference from the colour of their legs.
At Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park, there are many different types of birds that live there. We saw birds such as the King Fisher, the purple and grey herons, as well as the sun bird. We saw birds such as parakeets but these birds are non-native, they could have been pets and were irresponsibly released. Too many birds that do not really belong in the habitat will cause some disruption so it is important to remind family and friends to consider carefully before purchasing pets.
I realised that bird watching is a lot about being observant. Through this trip, under the patient guidance of the guides, I got to hear the sounds made by the birds. It is not very loud but if you listen carefully enough, you will hear it. We also needed to keep a lookout because with many animals, they won’t just stay there for you right? So we need to pay close attention. Some useful tools to have will be a pair of binoculars and a camera.
I also got to witness the interactions between the birds. Nature is all about seeing the interactions between animals and the environment and enjoying it requires us to be patient and observant. As this is my third and last trip for this challenge, I think the trip really made me realised what it means to take time and see what is around us in nature. With that, thank you to everyone who made this trip memorable. Thanks for reading!
Figure: Historical maps of Tampines EcoGreen’s vincinity in 1987, 1998, 2010, 2022 in respective order of bottom right, bottom left, top right, top left. Credits: Historical Maps of Singapore, NUS.
Tampines Ecogreen is a witness to the rapid changes in natural and urban geography. Through much of the 19th century with the history of colonisation, most of Singapore’s primary forest had become secondary forests by the 1880s due to economic pressures that are intertwined with Britain imperial needs, of which much of the island had transformed into plantations, kampung settlements, or colonial configurations of various kinds (O’Dempsey 2021).. Even a hundred years later, this legacy of resource extraction is witnessed by the quarry as marked in the map above of 1987 – where the Ecogreen stands in the present. A quary is a site of hard labour where locals extract valued rocks like granite, and the story of Tampines Quarry is thus intertwined with the rest of Singapore’s, such as the nearby Pulau Batu Ubin, or “Granite Stone Island”.
In a secondary school essay – I remember reflecting upon how I saw in the distance, from the 11th floor of my flat, a fire engulfing nature in the darkness of night. It was a Saturday night after visiting grandma. Now a memory of a memory, I’ve learned to find these maps myself (try it! libmaps.nus.edu.sg is very accessible) and know that it was not a dream – despite my teacher being amazed and unsure if I could have mis-remembered what should have been around 2003. The Ecogreen was only finalised by 2011 – this transformation of nature into parks is something that is real, and could be foreseen in the coming years too in other places such as near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. Places are being marked for recreation, and as nature advocates we should also be interested in land use and for instance, arguing that existing parks could be put into better use and mitigating Environmental Impact such as through Environmental Impact Assessments.
From then till now, Tempinis Ecogreen, weathered from a time when it was nameless, to when it was a quarry, when to its current name and site, the enthroned Tampines Ecogreen is a great place for beginning birders (NParks version) to learn about biodiversity! I am not much of a photographer, and here are some of the sights we saw 🙂
Genus Amata (still figuring out what species on iNaturalist)
Common Parasol.
As mentioned in my previous posts – I happen to have a camera which has a “Micro-lens” function, and I am thus only able to take good photographs of insects or plants! Of birds, we saw the Oriental Magpie Robin (and here’s another Natural Heritage essay on this written by me and a friend!), White-breasted Waterhen, Black-naped Oriole and other relatively common sights. A group of kingfishers repeatedly dived for prey at the pond – here’s another among many things I was not able to capture on camera or video. To me – the greatest joy has been to hear a beautiful chorus of birds in the forests (not common!) and the echo of cicada through the enclosure of canopy. Sound than the sight of the creatures telling of the interconnections of life is a topic I’m passionate about!
My family was quite amazed at our little walk! Our little tour through the biodiversity here was interesting to them, as I shared with them the skills and knowledge from what I learned through becoming a Biodiversity Friend. Perhaps surprisingly, my greatest personal takeaway was observing that the Waterhen has multiple different calls which are interestingly varied – some of which are much lower-pitched than most birds. My uneducated guess is this makes sense given their ecological niche. To visit and re-think the tempinis (an old alternative name, before it was decided that “Tampines” was the better transliteration across languages in early 20th century print culture) was an Act For Nature because it was nature itself which bridged my parent’s own pasts at kampung jalan lempeng or kampung changi with a better climate-resilient future that we citizens must imagine together and continue to be watchful of.
For my act for nature (AFN), I decided to bring my mother and my sister to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve to hopefully impart some of the knowledge i had acquired during my 3 field trips. We saw a large variety of animals and plants, even those that i did not see on previous walks. I shared the photos and videos of my 3 previous trips, and explained to them about the things that i learnt.
shiny jumping spider on a railingbutterfly with orange and black spots that look like eyes! possibly used to scare away predators?insect that looks like a grasshopper but i’m not sure (near the golf course at CCNR)stingray? in the macritchie reservoir. spotted by my mothercute baby spiders under a railing :))chicken crossing the roadmy sister found what looks like a wasp wrestling with a red dragonfly. the dragonfly escaped on its own eventually :))long tailed macaque, photo from shutterstock (a monkey tried to grab my mothers bag on the treetop walk so we had to leave before i could take photos)
After our trip, I felt that my mother and sister had grown to appreciate the greenery and animals around us better. They were both pointing out the colourful fungi growing on the fallen trees throughout the reserve, and being more observant of their surroundings. My sister was also eager to try and identify the species of insects and animals that we saw near our home.
wasp mothfan horned beetle stink bug that i found at home! preserved it in hand sanitizer (it was dead already)rare sighting of a toucan so close!green chafer beetle (came into my house to sleep)
Our guides led us to a walkway not far from the entrance, where they showed us a cockroach egg sac on a leaf. I had assumed that most of the wildlife would be found deeper inside the nature reserve, so I was a little surprised. We were also informed that though cockroaches were pests to humans, they are important to the rainforest ecosystem, where they are much cleaner than their urban dwelling counterparts. 🙂
photo taken by james, one of our guides
We also learnt that insects’ colours could come from either pigments or nanostructures which reflect light in certain wavelengths into our eyes.
photo taken by james (thank you!)
We also managed to see a treehugger dragonfly, which unlike many other dragonfly species often perches vertically on trees, hence giving the impression that they are “hugging” a tree.
We also managed to see a large termite mound which I didn’t manage to get pictures of. Termites are also seen as pests to many of us, but they are also important because of their detritivorous nature. This means that they feed on dead organic matter and help to return nutrients back to the soil by aiding in decomposition.
As the trip was ending, one of our guides spotted an assassin bug on a leaf as we were approaching the shelter. He also shared that the bugs “wear” their preys’ carcasses on their backs after feeding on them. This helps act as camouflage for their predators and also helps to blend in with their prey by disguising their smell.
This trip was a few weeks after the bioluminescent algae at Changi Beach made headlines in Singapore. Hence, this made me very excited to learn more about Singapore’s coastal biodiversity.
Here are a few animals the guides showed and explained to us:
-sand dollars can be found buried under a thin layer of sand. The living sand dollars have a coating of cilli along their circumference, whereas the dead ones do not. The guides also shared a few stories about seeing children collecting wildlife during family outings and explained to us how that might kill the animals and damage the ecosystem.
a sand dollar!
-the small balls of sand we see on the beach during low tide are caused by sand bubbler crabs. They feed by filtering detritus and plankton through their mouthparts.
-soft shell crabs are (flower?) crabs that are harvested before their exoskeletons harden after the moulting
-we also learnt how to differentiate between the female and male crabs. Female crabs have a larger and rounder abdominal flap to accommodate their eggs during breeding. Male crabs, on the other hand, have a more triangular shaped flap.
(image from researchgate.net)
Barnacles that are alive have a “door” covering the opening on its surface, which opens during high tide for feeding and closes during low tide to prevent drying out. I was surprised to learn that barnacles are animals, I had always assumed the opposite due to their stationary nature.
-moon headed sidegill slug: we were told that this was a rare sight, so i felt very lucky! Our guides sent us a video of the underside of the slug to show the flapping motion that the slug uses to move, which is different from the crawling motion that other sea slugs use.
When we arrived, we were told that the otters had just passed by and we were a little too late to see them at the meeting area. Unfazed, we still made the long walk all the way to the opposite side of the Kallang river to catch a sight of the otters. When we arrived, we saw a large family of otters feeding on the fish in a pond. I was surprised to see such a large group as I usually see only one or two otters swimming together at once.
The otters then moved to another water body in search of food. Baby otters are vulnerable without their parents, which was showed by the timidness of the otter pup that got left behind. I was relieved when its mother came running back to shepard it back to the main group. Mother otters are also very protective of their young, similar to other animals. Hence, we were advised to stay about 3-5 metres away from the animals in order not to provoke them.
baby got left behind 😦otter mama to the rescue :))
Recently, there has been public outcry about the “out of control” otter population. However, I believe that we should show understanding to animals that have had their habitats breached by human populations. We should take measures to preserve the wildlife we have instead of resorting to fast and loose methods such as culling of wildlife. I hope that in the future we will continue to maintain the rich biodiversity in Singapore!
Inspired by the Chestnut Nature Park walk and Friends of Chestnut Park, I decided to appreciate the nature parks around my neighbourhood rather than the more “famous” wildlife spots. I brought my family out as a day of bonding and also to show off all the ecological knowledge that I have picked up and hopefully also to increase their love for nature.
Arriving at the park
We saw various species of birds and it was quite fun for me to identify the different species. It was really nice for me to see my mom sharing my excitement at new bird sightings, even if she doesn’t know what kind of bird it is.
Yellow vented bulbulWhite breasted WaterhenBrown-throated SunbirdFemale Common IoraMale Common IoraBlack-naped oriole
A huge blur flew overhead and landed on a nearby tree and we were thrilled to realise it was a heron.
Selfie with the heron
I started telling my mom more about the history of Bishan AMK park, namely how it was transformed from a concrete canal to a natural waterbody with plants We were standing on the bridge overlooking the natural canal when we spotted a waterhen having a bath in the middle of the flowing waters.
The scenery is gorgeous
We also saw a flock of Red Junglefowl, though these seem to have interbred with domestic chickens as they do not have the green legs that is unique of the wild ones.
There were also a pair of Malaysian Pied fantails that were hopping around on the branches. We were especially amazed when they spread out their tail feathers. Fantail is an apt name indeed.
A curious squirrel also came over to get its picture taken.
We then headed to the Butterfly Habitat to look at all the plants they had there. Ironically we saw more damselflies at first than butterflies.
A pair of Blue-tailed damselflies and a Plain tiger butterflyOrange LeafhopperWhite Moth Plant hopper
While we were admiring the insects, we were interrupted a clucking from above us. We looked up and were surprised to see a mother hen and her chick in the tree above us.
The coolest sight of the day was probably a pair of Plain Tiger Butterflies resting on a dead leafless tree. It felt like a very poetic sight.
All in all, it was a really enjoyable trip! I really treasure the opportunity to share my love for nature with my loved ones and sort of showcase and get them to realise the beauty of the natural world around us. I’m also thankful for the bonding experience with my family and the increased familiarity I have developed with the wonders of Bishan AMK Park. I am definitely going to bring my friends and family out on more nature walks in the future.
BFF Biodiversity Challenge 2022 