Month: December 2014

Last Saturday, 13th December 2014 was a bright sunny day for a group of nature explorers from Earthlink to take a stroll down to parks in the southern ridges of Singapore starting from Kent Ridge Park to Mount Faber Park. The 6-kilometre walk was accompanied by sharing of knowledge on the encountered flora and fauna in the areas by fellow Nature Guiding Committee.

The exploration of the first park, Kent Ridge Park was begun from the pond located at the park entrance which hosts various species of dragonflies. Various plants like Simpoh Air which used to serve as an indicator for nearby water source, Singapore Rhododendron which is a local butterfly-attracting flowering plant and fish-tail palm tree which is easily recognised by the shape of the leaves were pinpointed along the walk in Kent Ridge Park. After walking through the Canopy Walk where the participants could enjoy a breath-taking view of Pasir Panjang Nursery, Colonial Bungalows at Alexandra Park, Bukit Timah Hill and Normanton Park, they stopped by a historical site known as Reflections of Bukit Chandu for a visit. The museum highlights the history of Opium Hill and a battle over Pasir Panjang area between Malay regiment and Japanese army in World War II to the visitors.

The walk continued to Hort Park and participants were introduced to themed gardens in the park while having a short break. The park allows people to appreciate nature and gardening-related activities. Participants then carried on their journey through Alexandra Arch, an 80-m long bridge which opens like a leaf over Alexandra Road to the elevated Forest Walk of Telok Blangah Hill. The design of elevated walkway was in fact inspired by the triangular-shaped leaves of the fast growing  Mile-a-Minute plant (Mikania micrantha).

Henderson waves was another iconic landmark being passed by participants during the walk at Telok Blangah Hill. It is the tallest pedestrian bridge in Singapore and was constructed by a series of seven undulating  ribs double up as alcoves. The high platform serves as a good observation spot for various migratory birds of prey.

Moving onto Mount Faber Park, participants were mesmerized by the beautiful view of southern part of Singapore and Southern Islands from the top of Faber Walk. Nature guides pointed out some commonly seen trees in the area such as Rubber trees which served as the largest exported commodity of the country in the past and the Royal Palm tree which is originated from Caribbean Island and brought into the park as a whole tree from its country of origin. The long walk was finally ended upon walking down the small-gap staircases of the Marang Trail with a short debrief from Nature Guiding Committee. Participants found the walk as an eye-opening exploration of the local nature and historical sites where they could enjoy great sceneries along the way as well as gaining tons of knowledge on the local biodiversity and Singapore history.

Date: 8th December 2014 (Monday) and 9th December 2014 (Tuesday)
Time: 8:45am to 2:15pm (Monday), 8:20am to 12:10pm (Tuesday)
Venue: Jurong Eco Garden
JEG Biodiversity Audit Training Program is one of Jurong Eco-Garden Community Programs. It purports to provide training for student leaders in the identification of local biodiversity as well as to be a platform for participants to give back to the community. The recorded data from this biodiversity audit program will be highly useful for documentation and future references on the species found in JEG in particular.
The activity was held for two days in which the biodiversity training and mock-biodiversity survey were carried out on the first day followed by the actual biodiversity observation on the second day. The presentation highlighted important topics such as the local biodiversity of Singapore, bird identification, butterfly identification, dragonfly identification and survey techniques. Hand-out materials containing list of target species in JEG were also given to the participants for their resource reference during the audit activity.
The actual biodiversity audit was done early in the morning as most target species like birds, butterflies and dragonflies would be more active during this period of time. The participants were split into smaller groups of five and assigned to cover three various transects in different sequences. Different routes for each group were devised to prevent congestion and double counting in each transect. Each group would consist of writer, resource manager, time keeper and observer/photographer for efficient and effective data collection.
Participants found the program fruitful and engaging as they gained useful knowledge on the biodiversity identification and were able to practice it upon the audit program. They also enjoyed exploring beautiful nature features in the garden like birds, butterflies and dragonflies. In future, these participants are expected to be able to train other students in biodiversity audit program.