Labrador Park Visit

9th/18th Feb, 2011 ~ Labrador Park, a place I'd not visited in a long long time. I love nature & nature photography. But am a little afraid of the wild jungle... yeah, I know I'm controversial. Therefore, nature parks & reserves are the next best things. When I was in school & boyish, I love to visit those. Stopped doing that when I became more womanly & started working. The local working lifestyle is devastating. It drained me, leaving me tired out on weekend, no energy to do much on weekend, but rest. Local working conditions sux big time!
However, I still love nature & photography. Took a short break from work recently. In between jobs, I took the opportunity to reconnected myself with Mother Nature again. After years of absence, the 1st nature park I visited is the Bottle Tree Park as recorded in my blog here. Next was Labrador Park which I visited twice.

Labrador Park


Located at the southern part of Singapore, Labrador Park stretches more than 1 km in length at the shoreline with 1 end near the Keppel Golf Club. From there, a lovely view of an old colonial style house, Keppel Marina & Sentosa with cable cars over the water. At the other end is Rocky Shore with an old jetty which is no longer accessible to public. Quite a disappointment since it was a long time ago last I walked on that jetty. I believe the closure is due to Rocky Shore having the last surviving corals on mainland Singapore.

View from both ends of the shore.

At 2 ends of Labrador Park.


Labrador Park is steep in history. Discovered, mapped by Chinese sailor explorers & later the British. During British colonial period, due to Singapore strategic position as a major port in the Far East, the British constructed 1 of their coastal defense sites at Labrador Park. Bunkers, gun emplacements & machine gun posts were build. Today, some of those war relics were preserved for their historical value.

Discovering History

Holy Molly BIG Gun!


The sea around Labrador Park might not be as picturesque as in historical past, but still is an ideal spot for picnic, fishing or enjoying the sea breeze. With Singapore as a major modern port in East Asia, countless boats & ships steam pass the sea at Labrador Park.

Picturesque Views

Old Tramper, Ferry & Luxury Cruise Ship

Rest & Relax


There's an attractive playground for kids.

Kiddy Hamster @Play =P


And many photo spots for camhog like me! xD

Photo Interests


Or you can try rock climbing...

Cliff Climbing Hamster


Hahaha... no, no. I'm only joking. There's no rock cliff to climb at Labrador Park. The 'rock' in the pic above is a replica of Dragon Teeth Gate which was destroyed by the British to widen the entrance to Keppel Harbor. I did not really climbed it. Just crawl up a little more than a meter off the ground, for photo shoot. xD

For the more adventurous, you can brave the nature trails.

The Dark & Mysterious Nature.


Beware of nasty blood-sucking, biting insects. Best to applied insect repellant before venturing into the forested area. I didn't & quickly rediscovered that I'm no Jungle Jane. I was bitten quite badly even though I did not walk into the little jungle.

Spotted Back Hamster =(


No worries if you are not the jungle type, but is a nature lover like me. At the fringe of the nature reserve or at the park, there are abundant of flora & fauna to delight you.

Flora Delights

Cheerful Flowers

Pretty Butterflies & Moths

Dragonfly Heaven

Spider Attack!

Cutie Squirrel!


And a gruesome discovery. A dead bird dangling from a tree branch with a fishing line in its beak. A dismaying sight. I dunno who did it, but it was definitely an act of cruelty.

Cruel Death


Stray cats are also devastating to wildlife. In many countries, stray cats had done much damage to wildlife unaccustomed to these superb hunters. However, this one that I saw is a lazy fat cat. =P

Artful Napping


My other purpose in visiting nature parks is nature photography. Avian photography, to be precise. Birds as a group, with their multi-color feathers & various active lifestyles intrigued me. Another thing that makes me wonder at birds are the theory about dinosaurs being related to birds. In birds, what we may be seeing are the true descendants of the dinosaurs & I love dinosaurs! No dinosaurs around today, but birds aplenty. To me, they are like miniature dinosaurs. Their activeness present quite a challenge to photograph them properly & this challenge attracted me. Am not exactly a bird watching enthusiast. Just wanting to apply the art of photography to those feathery friends.
Had tried to take photo of birds in the past, but without the proper camera, can't get good shots of them. Now I can coz I just got myself a Canon SX30 with a 35x(840 mm) SuperZoom lens. Come, little birdies & be immortalized in my photo album. LOL! xD

Bird Spotting


On my first trip to Labrador Park, when I was going towards Harbour Front bus stop, I stopped by the structure of an old lighthouse lamp & posed for a pic. It was then I heard the chirping of Sunbirds. Looked up & saw a pair of Olive-backed Sunbirds building a nest at the nearby overhead pedestrian bridge.

Lighthouse Girl

Olive-backed Sunbirds nest building activities.


I went back to check on my second trip & was sadden by the sight of a damaged nest. Poor little Sunbirds wasted their effort. =(
At Labrador Park, I was rewarded by sightings of many different types of birds, including a group of migratory Blue-tailed Bee Eaters playing on the sea breeze, soaring like kites, looking like gleaming jewels in the sky. Alas, I couldn't get a good shot of them as they are too fast & far away. Wish I know where they roost. However, I had plentiful shots of other birds, common & uncommon ones.

From left to right, top to bottom: Javan Myna with 2 Spotted Doves, Zebra Dove, Eurasian Tree Sparrow & Pacific Swallow.

Zebra Doves couple crossing a road.

From left to right, top to bottom: Male Pink-necked Green Pigeon, female Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Unidentified bird & Sandpiper.

Brown-throated Sunbird & White-collared Kingfisher.


Kingfishers are some of my favorite birds to photograph. They are so colorful & cute! Saw 2 species at Labrador Park.

White-collared Kingfisher(top) & female Common Kingfisher(bottom).


On my second trip, it rained some. After the shower, birds perched in the open to dry themselves, thus making it easy for me.

A wet & sad-looking Yellow-vented Bulbul.

Preening Brown-throated Sunbird.


Singapore is a tiny island with very little area set aside for nature. With the recent influx of foreign immigrants & workers, the population exploded, making matters worse. The authorities may denied that we are overpopulated, but whenever I took the public transport, even at off-peak hour, it's super crowded & the whole bus or train carriage will be filled with over 90% of non-locals. Most of them are uneducated, selfish, uncaring, ill-mannered & without social responsibility. Talking loudly, intrusive, grabbing everything they can lay their hands on, destroying, abusing public facilitates & leaving behind rubbish everywhere they went. It's depressing to see trash everywhere, at the seaside, parks & nature reserves. Beside driving up property price, more & more land will be cleared to house these new immigrants. More shopping malls or entertainment center to spoof money off them. In the name of progress, nature suffers. At what price will we pay in future?
So, I intend to visit as many nature parks & reserves as possible. Indulge in more nature photography before all are gone. Fragile ecosystem will disappeared forever.

In Harmony With Nature


My list of places to visit: St. John Island, the nature reserves at water catchment areas, Pulau Ubin, Sungei Buloh, perhaps Hort Park & many more. Will be revisiting Botanic Garden too.

Note: Encountered 2 examples of intrusive foreign immigrants/workers while at the park. When I was waiting silently, patiently near a flowering small tree for Sunbirds to appear, 2 Bangalas stopped nearby, talking loudly, frightening away every damn thing! With the whole big park around them, they had to stop & talk shop at where I was?!? The second time was when I spotted a squirrel sitting on a tree branch. While I was photographing it, 2 curious Ahneh approached & asked loudly what's in the tree. Told them it's a squirrel. Instead of keeping quiet, they started pointing excitingly & talk louder to each other. Then they started walking towards the tree, talking loudly all the while, frightening the squirrel away! WTF?!? These people love drama, can't be quiet, noisy like a Bollywood movie with no volume control & are ill-mannered busybodies! No Fucking Brainers!
I will NOT apologize for what I said here. Someone once told me I have to be sensitive to people & respectful of them. Yeah right... I can be, but can they?!? When 1 party holds the responsibility, the other party must too. If not, is it fair? There is a sarcastic quote about this: Responsibility in a society means the majority leaves it all to the minority to hold the responsibility. I'm sick of those idiots! Respect is earned, not to be demanded! You show me bad behaviors, I will label you appropriately, as according to your conduct.
Sensitive my foot! Fuck political correctness! I am a racist only if stupidity is a race!