It's the Eve of the Eve of the Lunar New Year, but this didn't deter volunteers from making time for another mudflat survey!
We gather at the new Woodlands Waterfront Park. Fortunately surveying is not depicted as one of the suspicious activities that requires a call to the authorities! Haha.
Thus in good spirits, we head down to a nice sandy stretch in front of Sungei Cina which lies next to the Causeway. The tall buildings are those in Johor across the Straits.
A little hop, skip and scuttle down a drain and we are safely on the shore.
Yen-Ling gives us a short briefing about the Survey, in the shade of a shoreside tree.
She demonstrates how we should look carefully for wriggly little creatures that are found here.
Then we're off to the survey site. Thankfully, the ground is not very soft!
Some of us have 'choped' the best spot in the shade of the pier. By the time I get back to photograph them, they have been here a long time and surveyed it 'deeply'!
The rest of us are spread out over the mudflats, working hard in the hot sun!
We leave no log unturned.
We give Helen our finds and she sorts them all neatly into various animal groups.
Among the large finds were huge clams! Bravo!
There was large crab in this bucket!
As I look for anemones on the jetty legs, I came across this pair of insects that look like they are mating. They are so engrossed I even managed to take a photo of them with small sneaky cam!
Oh uh...dark clouds are starting to gather around us.
Anyway, it was time to wrap up the survey. Yen-Ling shares more about what we found.
There were lots of 'pods'. Amphipods, copepods! Also crabs, worms, clams, snails, anemones. And lots of barnacles!
Yen-Ling cuts short her explanations as the heavens opened up above us! We got all wet as we hurried back. But everyone was still in good spirits! What great volunteers!
At the carpark, thunder and lightning crashed and flashed above us! Yikes! Luckily there was shelter nearby. Some of us took advantage of the downpour to wash up!
In the heavy rain, we could hardly see the survey site!
Although the mudflat here may appear unexciting, this is where otters have been sighted! Here's this awesome video clip of a mama otter retrieving one of her naughty babies at the Park in September 2011! More about
wild otters in Singapore, which are quite commonly seen in many of our mangroves and shores. If you spot an otter, please share it with
Otter Watch.
The more we know about our shores, the better we can understand how to protect them and the awesome animals that live there!
Come join the Survey and help make a difference for our marine biodiversity!
To join us, register your interest in
this form and you'll be invited to join the mailing list to receive updates on the Survey and sign up for Survey activities.
Also check out our
FAQs for more about the Survey.
To find out more about our common mangrove wildlife, check out the online
Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore and the wildsingapore
wild fact sheets.
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