Exciting happenings at the Festival of Biodiversity 2012

The big day has finally arrived.
All the exciting happenings at the Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens.
It the Festival of Biodiversity, organised by National Parks Board (NParks).
The Naked Hermit Crabs together with other marine groups are involved in this big festival.

Next to the Tanglin Gate entrance, a signage has been directing visitors to the festival.

Even at the drop-off point, the big signage welcomes all visitors to the festival.

International Day of Biodiversity @ Katong Convent with Siva

Today (22 May) is a very special day.
It is the International Day of Biodiversity.

At CHIJ Katong Convent, we have a special guest with us today.

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity open house 2012

It's the day!
Today is the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity open house 2012.
Today's open house is one of the many programs from the National Heritage Board's Children Season 2012, a series of various museum programs for children to enjoy the fun of visiting the museum.

I reached the museum as early as 09:15 and a small quiet crowd was already going through their public gallery guided walk. I went to register for my 10:00 behind-the-scene guided walk. It was a slow long wait.
Nearing 10:00, the crowded started to arrive slowly. The level 3 lift lobby was starting to get crowded. So was the corridor leading to the museum as the various activity booths were being setup (masking making, face painting and mini excavation).
The participants gathered around the RMBR volunteer holding the signage to "Behind-the-scene".
One of the children participants bought the book "Private Lives: An Expose of Singapore's Mangroves" and he was so eager to read about it.

Shortly past 10:00, the group was lead to through a door in the museum and we entered the specimen collection area.

[Update] Talks @ Festival of Biodiversity

There have been some new updates on the talks to be conducted during the Festival of Biodiversity.

Do note that all talks will be held in the Function Hall (100 pax), unless stated otherwise.

26 May 2012 (Saturday)

Freshwater swamp forest conservation  

Time: 1.00 pm - 1.45 pm

Dragonflies of Singapore 

Time: 2.00 pm - 2.45 pm

Birds and Butterfly Watching in Singapore: Using the Bird and Butterfly Applications

Time: 2.00 pm - 2.45 pm (concurrent session with Dragonflies of Singapore)

Venue: Function Room (50 pax) 

27 May 2012 (Sunday)

Macro World of Singapore

Time: 1.00 pm - 1.45 pm

Development History of the past 200 years and its effect on Habitat Loss

Time: 2.00 pm - 2.45 pm

Bodies of evidence: A morbid celebration of biodiversity

Time: 2.00 pm - 2.45 pm (concurrent session with Development History)

Venue: Function Room (50 pax)

Going home!

Time: 3.00 pm - 3.45 pm

Conserving South-east Asia's biodiversity: mission impossible?

Time: 4.00 pm - 4.45 pm

Details for each talk can be found here.

The Festival of Biodiversity is going to be fun, exciting and educational event for all ages.
There will be many interesting exhibits put up and hands-on activities for everyone.

Do mark the dates down on your calendar!

The snail thinks its a cat?

This morning, I saw something odd but interesting.

The snail was moving a piece of cat food. Is the snail going to eat it? This is a very interesting sight.

That piece of cat food did move. The snail was pushing it and trying to do something to it.
Strange...

Breakfast with wild boars at Chek Jawa

It's the Naked Hermit Crabs monthly guided walk at Chek Jawa today.
Before I arrived at the Changi Point Ferry Terminal, I check out the noisy trees along the road.

In one of the tree holes, a long-tailed parakeet looks out of its home.

Taking a bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal and then a taxi service from Pulau Ubin, we arrived at Chek Jawa. At the town centre of Pulau Ubin, the van driver stopped in front of the temple to pick some some stuff.

Festival of Biodiversity: Learning Journey for Schools

The National Parks Board (NParks) is organising a series of learning journeys for primary and secondary schools in the week of 21 - 25 May 2012. This series of learning journeys will lead to the Festival of Biodiversity.

The learning journeys will bring students of both primary and secondary schools to the various venues in Singapore to explore and about more about the nature of each place.

Festival of Biodiversity

Something big and exciting is happening on 26 and 27 May 2012.

source: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/festivalofbiodiversity/index.php 

The National Parks Board (NParks) Singapore is organising an inaugural Festival of Biodiversity to share the efforts made in conserving and enhancing biodiversity. The objective of this festival is to bring to general public a deeper appreciation of Singapore's rich biodiversity and it benefits, and how each can play a part in conserving our biodiversity.

Lining up for this festival are talks, art & craft workshops, film screening sessions, guided tours and storytelling sessions. There are also fun activities for the young and little ones at the festival, and exhibitions for all young and old. It will be two days of buzzing around and excitement.

Do mark the dates down on your calendar. Hope to see you there.

[Update] RMBR Open House on 19 May 2012

Great news to those planning to go for the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) Open House 2012!

A new activity has just been opened for registration.

"A Fish Out of Water"

Amazing Serapong

Today I visited a very special place - Sentosa Serapong. Located next to a golf course and overseeing Pulau Bryani, it is a natural reef full of maine life to see.

We had the privilege of having 3 staff from Sentosa to join us in this trip. The actual venue is quite some distance from our meeting point and we had the pleasure of getting to the place via buggies. 

The first task is to "slide" down the high sea wall of Serapong. This is my first time to get my butt involve, seating on the sloping and slippery rocks of the sea wall and slowly sit my way down the wall. It was kind of fun and I got worried of hitting the nerites on the rocks near the sandy portion. There is just so many things to talk about.

The first thing I documented is the big parasol green seaweed (Caulerpa peltata). Each stalk of this seaweed looks like a unbrella.

Big parasol green seaweed (Caulerpa peltata)

Mystery of the seeds with wings (Part II)

Remember the picture of these seeds?

Today I took the same route home again. It was a sunny morning and I decided I should take a look at the tree(s) that disperse these seeds. I am totally clueless when it comes to identifying trees. Unless the tree is very commonly found along roadsides and I have learnt it in school.

Tall tree

Great morning at Pulau Subar Darat (Small Sister's Island)

My second consecutive morning shore trip.
Today we visited the other Sister's Island - Pulau Subar Darat (Small Sister's Island)

Welcome signage

The Sister's Island are not connected. Each of them has their own jetty to alight. Everyone got to work quickly after alighting. A team of 3 slide down the seawall next to the jetty to check out the rocky shore first. The second team, and I, started from the main lagoon. The lagoon at small sister's is different from big sister's. The proportion of sandy area in small sister's is larger than in big sister's.

Seed with wings from a tree

While walking home from breakfast after today's shore trip, I noticed some funny looking seeds scattered along a short section of the walkway. The seeds look like

The seeds have wings, which helps them in dispersion by wind. However I could not recognise nor identify the tree that disperse such seed.

The seeds are formed on a twig and falls off individually, waiting for the wind to sweep them to other locations. I have kept these seeds I've collected in a plastic container. Hope that they will come in useful someday.

If anyone knows the I.D. of this seed, do let me know.

First shore trip: Pulau Subar Laut

Today I had my first taste of shore visit at Pulau Subar Laut, a.k.a. Big Sister Island.
Sisters Island is one of the many southern islands in Singapore. It is next to St. John's Island.
Knowing the tides is very important to shore visit to avoid being stranded in deep waters when the tide comes in. Today's trip had to start as early as 3.30 am.

I was worried that the trip might not be able to take place as it was pouring heavily at that time and lightnings were threatening. Thank goodness, the rain stopped when we boarded the boat but small drizzle came on and off during the trip.

Ria gave me a quick orienteering of Big Sister Island and soon after, we were off to the big lagoon. Upon reaching the shore, the first comment was "Watch out for stonefish." *glup*
I have read about the dangers of stonefish and their sightings on our shores. Throughout the visit, I keep thinking and looking carefully on the shore bed to avoid Mr Stonefish. As a newbie to shore visit, I walked very slowly. (Remember, stonefish!)

My first marine creature encounter is a small octopus. Its width is slightly smaller than the length of my compact camera. The image is quite blur as I was still adjusting to the dark environment and handling lights and camera at the same time.

Octopus