My intended
site today was to have been Bukit Timah, the forested hill in the middle of
Singapore. A worn track up the side of an embankment caught my eye however and
I found myself, unexpectedly at Singapore
Quarry.
The approach
to Bukit Timah passes under what I had previously assumed to be a railway
bridge, but I had never paid much attention to it and had never seen a train
crossing it.
A worn track led me up to it and revealed that it was the old
Malayan Railway, now disused, but with remnants left as a reminder (Google Earth
ref; 1 20 44.15N 103 46 31.32E). Now it is a path that leads around the base of
Bukit Timah on its eastern side. Unlike the very popular reserve, this path was
very quiet and I walked it for an hour without seeing a single person.
The path is
thickly wooded on the reserve side with trees and bushes screening a housing
estate on the other side. Pin-striped
Tit-babblers and Yellow-vented Bulbuls
were seen in the low down vegetation and a Lineated
Barbet called and was eventually found in a lightly leaved tree.
A flock of Asian Glossy Starlings were seen
feeding in a berry tree. The flock had members at various stages of maturity
including insistent chicks and a sub-adult which had almost attained its adult
plumage, but still retained a youthful streaking on its breast.
Since my
inquisitive nose had paid off earlier, I trusted it again and took another
path-less-travelled-by that led up by the support of a bridge that crossed the
path (1 21 18.54N 103 46 10.60E). The bridge is disused now, but led me up to a
road which curved round to Singapore
Quarry.
Despite
finding it by sheer dumb luck, I recognised it immediately as a site mentioned
in my new odonata book for Singapore. Decking juts out into the water and
provides a great platform for dragonfly watching in the vegetation which has been
sympathetically planted around it.
A group from
Singapore’s N Parks division were conducting a wildlife survey including birds,
butterflies and dragonflies. What luck to stumble upon them! The bird expert,
Ryutah, informed me that they had seen the Blue-eared Kingfisher this morning which I was
very keen to find so I staked out the birds preferred branch and within half an
hour, it flew in, stopped for a moment and flew on.
Olive-winged Bulbuls were seen in the grasses in the
water, but I could not get a decent picture of one until it came in close to join
me in the shade.
As well as a
red-letter kingfisher, the quarry brought a delightful bronzeback snake. Although
one of the wildlife group called it as an Elegant Bronzeback, I suspect that it
may be a Blue
Bronzeback as the eye is not too big and the black streak does not extend
onto the lips. I am very happy to be corrected if anyone knows for sure.
Follow the
road around from the quarry and after a kilometre, you will find the Wallace Education Centre (Google Earth
ref; 1 21 37.16N 103 46 37.72E) which includes a trail that is unfortunately
impassable at the moment.
The centre
is built in the old Dairy Farm buildings and celebrates the contribution of Alfred
Russel Wallace to the study of evolution by natural selection and geographical
influence. The quarry and the 60 acres that make up the light green in the map above are collectively known as the Dairy Farm Nature Park.
Birds seen;
White-bellied
Sea-Eagle 1, Changeable Hawk-eagle 1, Spotted Dove 11, Zebra Dove 2,
Pink-necked Pigeon 12, Blue-eared Kingfisher 1, Collared Kingfisher 1, Lineated
Barbet 1, Common Flameback 1, Common Iora 2, Pied Triller 1, Black-naped Oriole
8, House Crow 5, Pacific Swallow 11, Yellow-vented Bulbul 12, Olive-winged
Bulbul 4, Dark-necked Tailorbird 1, Oriental White-eye 10, Pin-striped
Tit-babbler 6, Asian Glossy Starling 31, Javan Myna 32, Orange-bellied
Flowerpecker 1, Olive-backed Sunbird 1, Crimson Sunbird 3, Little Spiderhunter
1, Eurasian Tree Sparrow 8, Nutmeg Mannikin 2.
Return to
the junction of Dairy Farm Road and Upper Bukit Timah Road for the best chance
of finding a taxi to take you to the nearest SMRT station.
Visit the dedicated Oriental Page for more posts from Singapore including; Paser Ris and Bukit Timah.
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