Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserves

[siaogu]

I need to attend a field trip and so, i took some photos.

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserves is one of the 4 reserves in Singapore and it is the only Mangrove reserve.


One of the abandoned shrimping pond that was built before the land was sanctioned as a reserve. It is now converted to a bird watching area where the migratory pacific golden plover (pluvialis fulva) made a compulsory stop at this particular spot. Once they arrived, they would have changed into their breeding plumage.


Telescopic snail is a very common snail found along the shoreline of the mangrove. Locally, it is called the Rodong snail (Telescopium telescopium). [blurry photo since I have stretch my zoom on my point and shoot]


Mangrove stink bug (Calliphara nobilis) feeding on the leaves of the Buta-buta tree (Exoecaria algallocha)


Nipah Palm (Nypa fruticans) is where you get your "Atap Chee", a fruit that is taken and preserved in sugar syrup and placed on top of shaved ice for dessert. This picture is taken along the board walk.

[gavstang]

Very interesting Vincent..suprised there are still mangrove swamps in Singapore..thought the only jungles left were the concrete kind...

[siaogu]

Picture taken along the board walk. This plant is called Bakau Minyak locally (Rhizophora apiculatahas) and has prop roots when they are a sapling. When they grow bigger, the main roots are lifted off the ground the whole plant is supported by stilt roots. This genus of plant uses viviparying to disperse its saplings.


Pencil roots in the Mangrove where they are used to taken in oxygen from this H2S plagued land. These roots probably belongs to Avicennia spp.


Conical Breathing Roots of the Mangrove Apple (Sonneratia caseolaris).


Sea Holly (Acanthus ilicifolius) found along the boardwalk. It has 2 different leaf shape with the upper leaves shaped like hollies. Due to the salt content of these region, they need to change the shape of their leaves to prevent excessive respiration.

[espranch]

Interesting/beautiful pictures and info, Vincent. Thanks...Betty :-)

[siaogu]

Common Derris (Derris trifoliata) is a climber that has alternative use. In the past, fishermen uses its sap to poison the water. When the fishes gulped in the water, they are paralysed. These toxin can be neutralized with heat, that is why consumers are not affected by it. However, this type of fishing is now banned.


Common Derris (Derris trifoliata) is a climber and also an aggressive one. These are the marks left behind by the climber.


Golden Orb Web Spider (Nephila spp) is quite common at the reserve too. This particular spider is a female. It is almost 100X bigger than the males which lay scattered on the web.


Malayan Water Monitor Lizard (Varanus salvator) can be commonly found anyway in the reserve. I guess that is because it is the one of the top predator there.

[siaogu]

Well, hope you guys like the info.

[swtheory1986]

Nice pictures Vincent, its really interesting to see pictures of ecosystems from across the globe. Those stink bugs have some amazing colors on them.

[devasha]

Wow, thank you for sharing. Is that spider actual size? It is huge! How close did you get to it? And could it tell you were there?

[Paph]

Beautiful Vincent: next to the last is excellent!

[siaogu]

Wow, thank you for sharing. Is that spider actual size? It is huge! How close did you get to it? And could it tell you were there?

The spider is bigger than my palm...