Happy 2011 from Venus Drive

Happy 2011 new year to everyone!


2011 is the International Year of Forests. And here we were (James, Geraldine, Edna and myself) at Venus Drive forest to celebrate the last few hours of 2010 and entering into year 2011. It was also my first time on a terrestrial night trip to have a look at the critters found in the forest.


After seeing so many marine flatworms, I hope to see the terrestrial counterparts on this trip. And true enough, my wish was fulfilled. I found this large terrestrial flatworm (Bipalium sp.)!


The anterior end or head of the flatworm is quite cute with a cresent shape. Thus, it looks a bit different from marine flatworms.


The ladies were here for the bioluminescent mushrooms! And they were excited to see them with their own eyes. With the help of James and his tripod, we were rewarded with nice long exposure shots of this naturally glowing mushrooms.


Here is how the mushrooms look like without when I took this photo with flash (presence of light).


Without external light, the mushrooms glows beautifully in bright green.


We were all shocked to known that these mushrooms are actually very small, unlike those photos we see in Jame's blog which are big! Here is Geraldine trying to get ready to take her shot of the mushrooms.

If you notice her lens, she had my new Raynox macroscopic add on lens while shooting the mushrooms. Yes, this is my first trip trying out this add on lens onto my kit lens. It was definitely not easy to hold the torch and the camera while shifting back and forth physically to do the manual focusing. It was good training though for future trips and use of macro lens.

As this was my virgin terrestrial night trip, everything looks fascinating and novel to me! As such, my identification of these creatures are also nearly passable. Below is a gallery of photos taken and pardon me for lack of identification or description. James did share some of the idenities during the trip but my scattered brain did not function well late at night. Will appreciate if you can help me id through your kind comments.


Cranefly found by James.


What usually looks boring actually is quite cute in this macro shot of this tiny moth. The eyes are just so adorable.


Unknown spider-like creature 1.


Unknown spider-like creature 2.


I found this stunning huntsman spider! It is as big as a leaf blade and is gorgeous-looking.


Here's a closeup at this pretty spider!


Unknown greenish bug that looks like a grasshopper.


Probably a grasshopper? I like the markings on its body.


Another grasshopper-looking creature that probably is not a grasshopper! It has a long snout-like protrusion.


This is a female stick insect.


Here is another one that is more slim and long.


Unknown critter 1.


Unknown critter 2.


Unknown critter 3 hugging so dearly onto a leaf. So cute!


An unknown spider snacking on a caterpillar.


Unknown critter 4.


This Tingid bug got James very excited as he has not seen it before. Acording to him, this is probably a Ypsotingis.


Unknown critter 5- I love its green-jade coloured body.


A terrestrial slug! To complement the terrestrial flatworm seen earlier.


This is a earwig bug. They have forcep-like pincers.


A very small red bettle that is about the size of a water droplet!


I think it's my first time seeing wild scorpions in Singapore- and this is even snacking on a cockroach!

Indeed, our forests are teeming with life! I look forward to more night trips with James and hopefully train up my macro-photo taking skills.

More photos of the trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/koksheng/archives/date-taken/2010/12/31/