Nature Walk @Pulau Ubin

Backdated to 27th May 2013 ~ Located off the North-east coast of Singapore, Pulau Ubin is a small island roughly the shape of a boomerang. More info about Pulau Ubin: 

http://www.pulauubin.com.sg/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulau_Ubin

It has been more than 10 years since I visited Pulau Ubin. Mid this year, Daniel & Fiona (husband & wife birding enthusiasts), invited us (my guy & me) for a trip to Pulau Ubin. Primarily, the focus is on birds. So, on a Monday morning, we met at the Changi Jetty.

Note about ferry to/from Pulau Ubin: There's no official ferry to Pulau Ubin. All the boats are operated by individual private owner. They operate everyday from Changi Point Jetty to Pulau Ubin Jetty & back. The price to/from Ubin is a standard SG$2.50 per person, cash only. There is no fix schedule for the boats to operate. Depending on conditions, some ferry operators will be at Changi Jetty as early as 6am & as late as 10pm at Pulau Ubin Jetty, but there is no guarantee! The boatman will wait until there are 12 passengers before he will set off. On weekends & public holidays, the quota tend to fill up quite fast. On weekdays, the wait will be shorter in the morning (about 7am ~ 9am) & afternoon/evening (about 4pm ~ 6pm). During off-peak hours, you might have to wait as long as 2 hours before the boat sail. Sometimes, when business is slow, boat operators will set off with only 9 or 10 passengers.

Now, if you have an urgent need to get back to mainland in a slow period & if there is no one waiting for the ferry, you will have to pay the full price of 12 passengers (SG$30.00). If there are some people waiting, you will have to pay for the rest of the seats.

Eg: There are 6 people waiting (not including you). You will have to pay the rest of the 6 seats (SD$15.00) to meet the quota of 12.

We caught one of the first ferry & arrived at Pulau Ubin at 7am to be greeted by a gorgeous sunrise.

Arrived @Pulau Ubin.

Map & street of Ubin.

Walking off the jetty, we were welcomed by a noisy juvenile Asian Glossy Starling & a bowing Pacific Swallow. Seems to be a good start for birding on that day.

Asian Glossy Starling (juvenile) & a Pacific Swallow.

Alas, it was not to be. Among the 4 of us, none is very familiar with the place. So we chose to walk a short route, more like a loop of about 3+ km, starting & ending near the jetty. Our birds count was pathetic! Other than the 2 very common birds we saw at the jetty, we encountered very few notable birds that day. On this outing, Daniel & Fiona, actually wanted some pics of the rare Purple-throated Sunbird, but the birds were so very skittish! We only managed to snap a few poor record shots. The only other birds we managed to photo (not great pics) are Oriental Pied Hornbill, Oriental Magpie Robin & Asian Red-eyed Bulbul. A dissatisfying day for birding…

Record shot of the Purple-throated Sunbird & Oriental Pied Hornbill.

Oriental Magpie Robin & Asian Red-eyed Bulbul.

Unlike our friends who are birders, my guy & me are more of the hobbyist wildlife photographers or the shoot-anything-that-move-and-even-some-that-don't kind of enthusiasts. Our motto is, have birds, shoot birds. No birds, shoot anything!

During our walk, we passed by a garden alive with scarecrows.

Scarecrows Garden.

Durians & a strange plant.

When birds do not favor us, we shoot other animals…

Fiddler Crabs.

Thunder Crab.

Banded Paper Wasp.

Part of the way, we were escorted by a friendly village dog & at one place, we saw a lovely village well.

Village dog & village well.

One of our favorite subjects is Dragonfly & Damselfly.

Male & female Grenadier (Agrionoptera insignias) & a giant Sultan (Camacinia gigantic).

Another of our favorite is Butterfly.

Cycad Blue (Chilades pandava pandava).

At Butterfly Hill, my guy managed to nail a very rare species, which make up for the disappointment in birds.

Common Tiger (Danaus genutia genutia) & Orange Emigrant (Catopsilia scylla cornelia).

Horsfield's Baron (Tanaecia iapis puseda) - male & Common Evening Brown (Melanitis leda leda).

Cycad Blue (Chilades pandava pandava).

Jacintha Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina jacintha) & Common Jay (Graphium doson evemonides).

Plain Palm Dart (Cephrenes acalle niasicus) - male & Formosan Swift (Borbo cinnara cinnara).

Common Tit (Hypolycaena erylus teatus) & the very rare Eliot's Cornelian (Deudorix elioti).

So, a Butterfly save the day!

We left Pulau Ubin after a late lunch. Will definitely return again coz I wanna visit Chek Jawa. Didn't had the chance due to unfavorable tides on that day.

Info on Chek Jawa: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chek_Jawa

*Note: Birding is referring to the hobby of photographing wild birds & birders are people who indulge in this hobby.

*All information in this entry are accurate till date.