Chek Jawa Boardwalk with NHC (Nov 2013)

November marked that start of the school holidays and on the first Saturday morning, I was back at Chek Jawa Boardwalk with student councillors on the free guided tour conducted by Naked Hermit Crabs.

The turnout was great and it was awesome to have many groups of families with us on that day!

Here is Chay Hoon with her group and with her group are Kai Sing and Edmund who are my student councillors attached to co-guide with Chay Hoon as part of the council's Excel leadership exposure programme.

Never did myself and some of the guides expect to learn something new from one of my students, Yee Han!

He shared with us that the Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) are able to hold on tightly to a twig that is many times heavier than themselves. And true enough we witness the holding power of these tenacious ants! Wow. :)

You may read more about the gripping power of the weaver ants here. 

Another terrestrial first time for me would be what I think are wasps on a a leaf. Please correct my id if they are not wasps.

After introduction of ourselves and also on the background of the boardwalk, we went ahead to explore the mangrove boardwalk with hope to find lots of fantastic finds.

There are many animals that lives with the mangrove plants and roots and one of which would be this Belongkeng snail (Ellobium sp.). As seen in the photo, this snail is grazing on algae growing on the mangrove tree.

Many of these Lined nerite snails (Nerita articulata) are also found attached on the mangrove root!

It's always to a delight to both first timers and experienced visitors to spot the cute mudskippers! This mudskipper that was found resting on the mangrove with gold dots is known as the Gold-spotted mudskipper (Periophthalmus chrysospilos).

At the back mangroves, we were fortunate to catch a glimpse of this fleeting Mud crab (Scylla sp.)! Mud crabs are those that we eat in Singapore's famous chilli crabs.

And we also managed to spot the hermit crabs clinging tightly to the mangrove roots. Seeing them gave us a perfect opportunity to share why we are known as Naked Hermit Crabs.

Here's a group photo of my lovely and fun-loving group up at the Jejawi Tower. With me are my student councillors, Felix and Sylvia.

After we have completed the trip, we couldn't resist walking out from House No. 1 to look at the scenery from the jetty in front of the house.

And there you go, a good scene and backdrop for taking group photos!

And we walked out to the pick up area, the wild boars made their appearance and they caught the attention of many.

While waiting for the van, we tried to scrap the rubber tree and were amazed to see how the latex also oozes out as white liquid after a short while. Was a fruitful trip for all and we learnt and appreciate nature better!