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To be updated.....

24 Nov 2024 - Walking Trails at Lower Peirce Reservoir Park

We went for an early morning walk at Lower Peirce Reservoir Park today.  It's located not far away from Thomson Nature Park which we explored 2 weeks ago.

Lower Peirce Reservoir's history dates back to 1910 when it was impounded as the Kallang River Reservoir. Later renamed Peirce Reservoir in honor of Robert Peirce, a former municipal engineer, the reservoir has witnessed the transformation of Singapore's landscape.

As we walked towards the boardwalk trails, we noticed some red patches on the rocks.  I did a search on the internet and realized these were actually snail eggs.  

The large egg clusters belong to an invasive snail species known as the golden apple snail.  More than a month ago, large amounts of such invasive snail eggs were spotted in Lower Seletar Reservoir.  While the eggs do not affect the water quality of the reservoirs, PUB and the National Parks Board (NParks) regularly remove these eggs as part of their maintenance works in nature areas and reservoirs.

No wonder I saw many snail shells on the nearby grass patches.

Lower Peirce Reservoir Park, which nestled along Old Upper Thomson Road, is a 10-hectare park and home to a mature secondary rainforest.

There are several trails in this park, and we intended to cover all of them.

This is the main entrance that leads to the boardwalk that winds through the lush greenery.

The 900-meter boardwalk provides stunning views of the reservoir and offers opportunities for wildlife spotting.

This part of the boardwalk can be quite slippery, especially after rain.  So be extra careful, otherwise one may accidentally slip into the shallow water as there is no railing.

The boardwalk continued into the dense rainforest.

Can you spot anything in the following photo?  It's right in the middle.

It's a rare Lesser Mousedeer.  This is our first time spotting a mousedeer in the wild.  Watch the video at the end of this post to have a closer look at this beautiful mammal.

We then followed the boardwalk which led us to another trail.

The trail led us to the Casuarina Entrance along Old Upper Thomson Road.

Our plan was to walk along the road towards another Jacaranda Entrance which brought us back into the rainforest.

We saw quite a number of wildlife along this trail, in particular a Plantain Squirrel and ......

Yet another Lesser Mousedeer!  Spotting it once is considered lucky, spotting it twice is unimaginable!  Woohoo!

We slowly walked back to the reservoir while encountering a diverse range of plants.

Fun fact:  The source of the Kallang River, Singapore's longest river, is the Lower Peirce Reservoir.

The river flows for approximately 10 kilometers from the Lower Peirce Reservoir to its mouth at the Kallang Basin, near the Merdeka Bridge.  Along its journey, it passes through various neighborhoods including Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Toa Payoh, and Geylang Bahru.  In the photo below, the reservoir is on the right, and Kallang River is on the left.

Enjoy the following video which features the rare Lesser Mousedeer, Plantain Squirrel, Long-tailed Macaques and more...

19 Nov 2024 - False Parasol Mushrooms

As Javier and I were walking home after our lunch, we saw several huge mushrooms on the grass by the pavement.  They appear to be Chlorophyllum Molybdites, commonly known as False Parasol Mushrooms or Green-Spored Lepiota.  While Chlorophyllum Molybdites are not deadly poisonous, they can cause severe gastrointestinal distress, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

18 Nov 2024 - Beautiful "Visitor" to my Office Building

Upon alighting from my car at my office car park this morning, I heard a trumpeting call from above.  As I looked up, I saw an Oriental Pied Hornbill on the roof of our office building.  It's a large, distinctive bird with a large, colorful bill.  Oriental Pied Hornbills are known for their distinctive calls and their social behavior. They often live in small groups and are important seed dispersers in the ecosystem.

3 Nov 2024 - Exploring Ruins of a Former Hainan Village (Thomson Nature Park)

Last Sunday, we explored the Rambutan Trail at Thomson Nature Park.  Today, we decided to cover the rest of the trails in the park, namely

- Ruins and Figs Trail

- Stream and Ferns Trail

- Langur Trail

- Macaque Trail

We started with Ruins and Figs Trail, which is on the left from the park entrance.  This is the longest trail in the park and will take you to a total of 9 sites that were once part of the Hainan Village. The conserved ruins showcase building foundations, walls, wells, staircases and the old road network. The terrain is relatively easy with a few gentle inclines.

Lorong Pelita and Jalan Belang were two actual roads which connect the village to the main road in the past.

Around the area we could see bricks with names engraved on them.

We enjoyed walking through the lush forest, with overgrown roots, fallen trees and streams all around us.  The trees on both sides of the trails shielded us from direct sunlight, which made the walk a lot more comfortable.

At one part of the trail, we looked up and saw lots of birds circling above us.  Zoom into the below photo and spot all the black dots in the sky.

Soon, we arrived at a section of the park where aerial roots hang down from the branches and form thickets along the trail.  Google AI suggested that these are The Malayan Banyan (Ficus Microcarpa), to be confirmed.

The key highlight of this walk is of course the remnants of the Hainanese Village.  Some historical facts.

"From 1930s to 1980s, there flourished a charming little settlement in this area - the Hainan Village.  Residents enjoyed its beautiful natural landscape, complete with meandering stream that flowed between twin hillocks whereupon houses and farms were built.  Come 1980s, the residents started moving out due to housing development plans, and the village was eventually covered by secondary forest."

All ruins are out of bounds to visitors.  The following is one of the abandoned houses that we could get the closest to.

It's amazing how quickly things grow in the tropics.  Over the past 40 years, fig-trees have taken over the ruins.

We continued on the trail with more ruins along the way.

These seem to be the abandoned wells used by the villagers in the pasts.

At this point, we decided to take a turn into another 2 trails to lookout for some wildlife.  We took the Langur Trail followed by Macaque Trail.  Following is some wildlife that we saw.

We did not manage to spot the Raffles’ Banded Langur, which is a vulnerable primate species.  Will try again next time.

Finally, we took the Stream and Ferns Trail which will eventually lead us back to the park entrance.

Saw the following log with a smiling animal face, not sure if it's natural or someone trying to be funny.

We then came to a tree whereby its roots have overtaken the path.  Nature is simply amazing.

Had to be extra careful when walking over them.

We saw a few more remnants of the village before completing the entire trails.

Before visiting this park, we would not have thought such ruins exist in Singapore. Personally, we think this kind of local history should be taught in school, instead of studying the history of other countries. :-)