Snakehunts at Buloh

Snake-hunting is something that I've always wanted to do, after hearing the Wildfilms veterans go on and on for countless times about how fun and exciting it is. So when I saw the email requesting for volunteers, I jumped on the chance!

Buloh around and after sunset presented a fascinating glimpse of the tremendous diversity of wildlife it supports. Over a few trips, we saw Atlas Moths, some really funky spiders, the family of otters, a crocodile, lots of snails and birds, and of course the target actively sought - dog-faced water snakes that popped out of seemingly nowhere at that certain point in time just as the final rays of the setting sun slipped beneath the horizon.

In between taking regular temperature readings of the air and the pools and streams, collecting water samples and catching fish, we spotted and bagged snakes of all description doing all sorts of things.

Big snakes and little snakes...


Resting snakes...


Snakes swimming in tandem...


Snakes feeding...


(close up)


Snacks for snakes.

We even bumped into a kind of old Wildthing which we'd thought had gone extinct, here shown bagging the snakes carefully - to be taken back to the lab for measurements and tagging before release.

Sisters with no monkey business for a change

“Where’s the monkey, where’s the monkey?”

The moment we jumped off the boat to the jetty at Big Sisters Island, we were greeted by some loud screeching sound. Looking up, we saw the culprit sitting on a coconut tree. Seems like we have to guard our belongings fiercely again today.

It’s a bright and sunny day, and the water was exceptionally clear. The monkey was definitely not going to spoil our mood. But as we walked further inland, it appeared that the monkey was a lone ranger. Was thinking, its other kakis probably swam over to little Sisters while it was sleeping :P

And that’s certainly good news for us, but BAD news for those over at little sisters :)

Anyway, we soon got into action and went into the lagoon. It never fails to amaze me how much things can change in just over a month. When I was here last month, we had lots of green sea weeds, but now, the place was littered with Sargassum. Gone were the leaf slugs that we found in abundance the last time I was here. But within minutes I stepped into the lagoon, I saw a yellow-lipped sea krait, and Chay Hoon found another one later. It seems like there were quite a few blue-spotted sting rays as well. But what really caught my attention were the corals. The water was so clear, that some how all the corals seemed at least twice as beautiful!

As usual, Chay Hoon the huntress found quite a number of interesting things, including this really beautiful nudibranch which Ria thinks is a Chromodoris lineolata.

We also found this beautiful flatworm.

Robert found this scorpion fish, which Ria thinks is a Parascorpaena Picta - the Painted scorpionfish.

It’s really useful having Robert around, since he is so tall. We used to have to climbed up the table in the middle of the shelter to hang the lights, but Robert just have to stretch his hands to secure the lights.

Around 8.30, we packed up and went to the jetty to wait for the boat, which was supposed to pick us up around 8.45 so that we can reach Clifford Pier before 9.30, in time for the fireworks at River Ang Bao. However, the boat was late, and there was this other boat at the jetty which simply refused to move away from the berth. We ended up having to perform dangerous acrobatics jumping from one boat to another with our heavy equipment. And that boatman (who refused to move his boat), actually had the cheek to tell us that since we are "camping", we should be more rugged! When he shouldn't have docked his boat there in the first place!

Eventually, everyone got to our boat safe and sound, and we managed to get back in time to view the fireworks.

Sargassum or Sea Slug?

Was at St John’s Island on the third day of the Lunar New Year. As the only filmcrew, I have to do the shooting as well as keeping a lookout for marine creatures.

So there you are, holding the camera in one hand and my chopsticks on the other, I ventured out in search of things to shoot. Spotted two sea slugs while I was on my way to shoot a ribbon worm. One was found stranded on sand and the other on a piece of sargassum seaweed. A check on the Sea Slug Forum, it look like a crosslandia sp.

Doesn't the sea slug look like part of a sargassum seaweed?

Here’s a closer look at it.

Besides that, the Polka-dot nudibranch (jorunna funebris) can be found everywhere on the seaweeds and sponges. And Ron also found this nudibranch and a rarely seen flatworm.

Nudibranch : phyllidiella nigra

Flatworm : Pseudobiceros hancockanus