# General > Events, field trips and gatherings >  Forest exploring this Saturday

## jwuog

Hi all, am thinking of going exploring the local jungle and streams (hopefully), if any, this Saturday.
Probably starting at 7am and finish around 2~3pm (if not lost).

Anyone interested to come along?

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## thebaldingaquarist

what are we looking for?
Buceps? 

I have no idea how to ID those plants, if you are teaching, i would want to join!

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## jwuog

Hi Erctheanda, I ain't teaching anything nor am specifically looking for anything.

Just exploring. I always have the urge to check out what's swimming in our drain and canals, so this is just checking out what's in the forest streams, if any.

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## thebaldingaquarist

I see, then perhaps i will skip this round. i am curious on the plant life though... but not trained in this field of work i guess.

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## Ingen

Monsoon period, be careful of flash flood if you are playing near drainage area.

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## stressed

May i know which area would this field work be taking place and the timing...I may be keen to join you to explore  :Smile:

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## jwuog

Hi Stressed, I have not set which part to explore or the starting point. That's open and can be decided on Friday. 

I stress (no pun intended!) this is purely for fun and not looking for anything specifically. I just hope to encounter some freshwater stream or pool will be great!

I don't plan to head to any giant concrete canal or big longkang.

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## Trichopsis

Won't be able to join you guys, but have fun! Hope you manage to find something interesting.  :Smile: 


Small is good.

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## stressed

> Hi Stressed, I have not set which part to explore or the starting point. That's open and can be decided on Friday. 
> 
> I stress (no pun intended!) this is purely for fun and not looking for anything specifically. I just hope to encounter some freshwater stream or pool will be great!
> 
> I don't plan to head to any giant concrete canal or big longkang.


no problem, good clean fun to explore, i am game. I will PM you my contact and we can link up from there.

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## stormhawk

There are several places in the Mandai-Nee Soon area that you might want to go to explore.

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## Navanod

Mandai is VERY prone to flash floods and lightning. Do take care. Watch out deadfalls and dead trees too
It is a fantastic place to wander about though. Beautiful, peaceful and many many streams. Just be aware that many paths and trails can turn into streams during a rain and resist the urge to hang around a stream with high banks...there is a very good reason why the tiny stream have shoulder height banks on the 2 sides.

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## TS168

It will be good if you intend to take photo graph and see wild animal .. snake , bird but you need binocular to see those beautiful bird up there.

open your eye and beware of snakes as they do sometime dont move at all.... especially near little stream ... ever saw a 2m long yellow and black strip snake just 5m aways if too engrose it dangerous. Happy treking and always open your eye.

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## jwuog

Thanks TS168, Navanod and Stormhawk for the heads up. Didn't go Mandai-Nee Soon, went to somewhere around Pierce. Wanted to revisit this little stream that I had been before and remember it being full of native dwarf shrimps and cryptocryne. It was raining, not too heavy and the ground was soft in some parts. Sank into calf-deep mud and sucked both my shoes off my feet. Had to cut it short and turn back. But it was peaceful and nice with the light sound of rain drops.

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## Trichopsis

Yeah, this might not be the best time of year to visit, what with the coming monsoons. I was meaning to explore some of these places back in June, but the haze put an end to those plans.

It might be interesting to check out places that are going to disappear/get developed soon, like the drains (now more like streams) at Bukit Brown Cemetery, Bidadari, and various other forest patches scattered around Singapore.

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## stormhawk

Yup, dry season around June-July is best to go exploring. And snakes.. must have this app on your phones. Look for SG Snakes if you are on Android. Pays to have a stick with you just in case. Usually enough to make them move away. They are more afraid of you than you of them, but one or two may get aggressive.

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## GHD97

Wow...sounds like my kind of party^^ used to catch all my fish from longkang and reservoirs^^ but doubt my mother would allow me to go with strangers... HAHAHA by the way there are some white-spot tooth carp in the streams of Bukit batok nature reserve^^ really nice specimens :Smile:

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## stormhawk

The last time I was there I did not see them, probably due to the heavy rain on that particular day. Maybe time to pay the place a visit again.

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## GHD97

@stormhawk they are only found in the stream behind the shell station kiosk. Not near the lake. The streams with those wooden bridges all have them^^

I saw adults with body length 3inches long :Smile:  worth a visit.

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## Trichopsis

These might turn out to be non-native striped panchax (_Aplocheilus lineatus_), the wild form of the golden panchax commonly seen in the LFS.
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2...nis327-332.pdf

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## GHD97

Ah yes it is^^ You are very well read Pseudogobiopsis :Very Happy:  Kudos~~ Thanks for sharing the article with us :Smile: 

Sigh~ so it is an alien species. But darn it is a beautiful fish :Smile:

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## Shi Xuan

Hi, 

Went for a walk at MacRitchie Reservoir with a good friend of mine, who happens to be a botany enthusiast. Our objective was primarily to identify the various plant species there and also, to look for pitcher plants, mainly _Nepenthes gracilis_. 

It didn't really go as planned, as we were pretty much distracted by the commotion in the otherwise calm water. 
Being a weekday, we also had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a few common wild faunas, namely; the Malayan water monitor (_Varanus salvator_), Long-tailed macaque (_Macaca fascicularis_), Slender squirrel (_Sundasciurus tenuis_) and the Asiatic soft-shell turtle (_Amyda cartilaginea_)

Unfortunately, we didn't take much photo but still, I would like to show what I've took with my handy camera phone;



Notice the silhouette ball between the two patches of weeds, it is actually a school of _Puntius schwanenfeldii_. 



Wild hard Mushroom 



Close-up view



2nd species, unidentified sp. of fungi



Lastly, a photo of the long-tailed macaques. This is a huge troupe, probably around 25 individuals. I only managed to take a single photo because the alpha male started to approach me while I was doing so.

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## KilliNewbie

Try going from 10pm till morning, it is absolutely amazing. I followed the trek so as not to get lost, 11km in all. No torch = pitch black. U can't even see ur fingers in front of u

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## Shi Xuan

> Try going from 10pm till morning, it is absolutely amazing. I followed the trek so as not to get lost, 11km in all. No torch = pitch black. U can't even see ur fingers in front of u
> 
> Sent from my HTC Desire 601 using Tapatalk


Forest exploration at night would be a good way to see and observe nocturnal animals but not without a torch, or better still, a night vision camera. I'm very interested in the fauna the Reserve got to offer.

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## jwuog

> Forest exploration at night would be a good way to see and observe nocturnal animals but not without a torch, or better still, a night vision camera. I'm very interested in the fauna the Reserve got to offer.


Nice! Perhaps we can do one of these night exploring one of these weekends or just general exploring. I always want to 'catalog' all the available streams, manmade or artificial, in s'pore and see what's living in there. Whether it's longkang fish etc. Let me know.

The other day I was walking along the 'bridge connecting all the parks starting from hort park' (don't know what's it called), and one part I think it's somewhere towards Kent Ridge, there was a sloping work being done, and further along when I looked down, I saw a natural stream, parallel to the highway, was thinking that someone ought to go check it out.

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## delhezi

> Forest exploration at night would be a good way to see and observe nocturnal animals but not without a torch, or better still, a night vision camera. I'm very interested in the fauna the Reserve got to offer.


LOL I would love that too. But seeing as recently that a saltwater croc was spotted lying on the walking trial, which is adjacent to large water bodies a good portion of the time, and that large crocodiles are nocturnal ambush predators, I wouldn't call that activity 'advisable'.

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## Shi Xuan

> LOL I would love that too. But seeing as recently that a saltwater croc was spotted lying on the walking trial, which is adjacent to large water bodies a good portion of the time, and that large crocodiles are nocturnal ambush predators, I wouldn't call that activity 'advisable'.


I would consider a saltwater crocodile at MacRitchie Reservoir remote. It's not located anywhere near coastal areas of Singapore. Sungei Buloh etc. would be certain. Perhaps, someone mistaken a Malayan water monitor as a crocodile. It's worth mentioning that a water monitor can grow to a considerable size, though nowhere near the size of their Indonesian cousin, the Komodo dragon.

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## delhezi

> I would consider a saltwater crocodile at MacRitchie Reservoir remote. It's not located anywhere near coastal areas of Singapore. Sungei Buloh etc. would be certain. Perhaps, someone mistaken a Malayan water monitor as a crocodile. It's worth mentioning that a water monitor can grow to a considerable size, though nowhere near the size of their Indonesian cousin, the Komodo dragon.


It was on the news; was it Sungei Buloh instead?

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## Trichopsis

Yep, Sungei Buloh has a thriving population of estuarine crocodiles. There are also several reports from the Lim Chu Kang-Kranji area, so I strongly advise that you avoid the water's edge if you're exploring these areas by yourself.

There are rumours of crocodiles in MacRitchie and Lower Seletar (although there hasn't been any definitive evidence), but there's always a chance that these could have been misidentified Malayan water monitors. Do take note that the Central Catchment Nature Reserve itself is off-limits to hikers at night (unless you're tagging along with NParks or scientists from other research institutions and have a research permit. Same goes with going off the designated trails in these nature reserves, even in the daytime.

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## GHD97

There are crocodiles at Macritchie Reservoir :Smile:  A jogger sent a picture of it to Straits times and it was published^^ Last year I think.

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## tetrakid

If anyone can find some Daphnia during the exploration, it's sure to be _ho say liao_.  :Smile:

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## KilliNewbie

Wahh free daphnia = lfs lose business 

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## tetrakid

> Wahh free daphnia = lfs lose business 
> 
> Sent from my HTC Desire 601 using Tapatalk


Not much business lah, since not many lfs sell Daphnia. That is why I hope to find a place to scoop a bit regularly, even longkang is also siok, as long as the longkang got no sai in it. But usually if got Daphnia, then very likely to have sai there.  :Smile:

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## KilliNewbie

Ofc *laughs*

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## Simon

Shi Xuan

I know of a location with probably Nepenthes gracilis. Was there a few weeks back, the plant is still there but didn't see any pitcher




> Hi, 
> 
> Went for a walk at MacRitchie Reservoir with a good friend of mine, who happens to be a botany enthusiast. Our objective was primarily to identify the various plant species there and also, to look for pitcher plants, mainly _Nepenthes gracilis_. 
> 
> It didn't really go as planned, as we were pretty much distracted by the commotion in the otherwise calm water. 
> Being a weekday, we also had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of a few common wild faunas, namely; the Malayan water monitor (_Varanus salvator_), Long-tailed macaque (_Macaca fascicularis_), Slender squirrel (_Sundasciurus tenuis_) and the Asiatic soft-shell turtle (_Amyda cartilaginea_)
> 
> Unfortunately, we didn't take much photo but still, I would like to show what I've took with my handy camera phone;
> 
> ...

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## tanmikel

at least in this tiny little urbanized jungle , there is still some nature left

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## Shi Xuan

Yeap, there still are. We should also not forget about the few sparse islands around Singapore. Let's just hope that our government don't try to urbanise them. Such natural heritage should be left best for generations to enjoy. 

BTW, some cool facts for urban dwellers to know of;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s_of_Singapore
http://lazy-lizard-tales.blogspot.sg...kembangan.html

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## Shaihulud

Leaving the official trail is illegal under the Parks and Tree act, can get you a big fine.

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## jwuog

Went exploring with another guy today around Gombak/Bt Batok area. Most canals were dried but found one that leads to a forested area that becomes a natural stream with sand/pebbles bottom. Found a crab, don't know what species. Saw a froggie/toad with diamond shape head but brown and flat. Lots of longkang fish/guppies swimming in the stream.

photo01.jpgphoto05.jpgphoto02.jpgphoto04.jpg

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## KilliNewbie

Hehe the rain is back ! Might be going for a walk at either bt batok, bt timah, macritchie or sungei buloh at the end of this month. 

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## Trichopsis

The crab looks like the lowland freshwater crab (_Parathelphusa maculata_), the one species of native freshwater crab that's somewhat tolerant of disturbed habitats. 

Freshwater Crabs & Shrimps of Singapore (not a complete list)





Hopefully our other much rarer freshwater crabs and shrimps have managed to survive the dry spell.

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## KilliNewbie

And collecting this crabs from the wild is illegal right ?

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## pcw

I've seen those crabs before. On a similar note, tekong's flora and fauna are pretty interesting too. I've also seen some fish which look like tiger barbs around the woodcutter's trail area. Plenty of them, with some shrimps too.

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## jwuog

Photo 18-4-14 1 57 16 pm.jpgPhoto 18-4-14 2 06 08 pm.jpgPhoto 18-4-14 2 07 47 pm.jpgPhoto 18-4-14 2 07 47 pm.jpgPhoto 18-4-14 2 13 28 pm.jpg

Went exploring again with a friend this afternoon before it poured. Found a winding stream. Water temperature is cool with sandy bottom. Loads of, what I guessed is wild guppies. Caught just one baby (no net) and it's colourless so I am not sure. Also caught a frog/toad (2nd picture). The stream is littered with fallen branches, some of them look quite nice. The last picture is a log that somehow form a mini waterfall.

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## Sidney

Looks cool where did you go ?

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## jwuog

> Looks cool where did you go ?


Somewhere in the vicinity of dairy farm

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## nature247

I used to visit these kind of places more than 10 years ago as I'm interested in aquatic plants and animals. Would like to join you on such outings but couldn't or don't know how to PM you  :Sad:

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## jwuog

> I used to visit these kind of places more than 10 years ago as I'm interested in aquatic plants and animals. Would like to join you on such outings but couldn't or don't know how to PM you


What's your number, nature247? If you don't mind, just post it here and I'll contact you. 
Doubt if you can receive PM as of now.

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## nature247

97570267 Thanks.

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