Sunday, November 26, 2017

A Crab-ulous day out at Chek Jawa!

We are delighted to have had 42 visitors join today at Chek Jawa for our monthly walk on the 25th of November!

Before we headed off to Pulau Ubin, Ria spotted a family group of otters at Changi Creek! They were very shy around humans and hugged the seawall as they swam past the jetty.
Smooth-coated otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) at Changi Creek

At Chek Jawa, everyone gathered outside the start of the trail for a quick group photo right before we set off. Here are the happy visitors posing for the photo!

Photo by Ria Tan

It was a beautiful sunny day, which made the scenery atop the Jejawi Tower even more breathtaking!

Visitors could enjoy panoramic views of Chek Jawa and could even see the high tide from the tower. Here's an amazing photo of the visitors enjoying the sights by one of the participants of the walk, Glenda Heng!

Photo by Glenda Heng

One of the groups even stopped to take a photo with the beautiful backdrop of the sky!

Photo by Glenda Heng
Back in the mangrove, the visitors were entranced by the Nipah Palm, a plant found in the mangrove which provides us with our favorite attap chee! The seeds of the Nipah Palm were quite close to the boardwalk, so visitors were able to take a good picture of them.

Photo by Ria Tan

Eagle-eyed visitors also spotted fiddler crabs in our mangroves! The male fiddler crabs have an enlarged claw that is of a very bright color which they use to attract mates and intimidate other males.

Here's a beautiful picture of a male fiddler crab taken by Glenda.

Photo by Glenda Heng

Along the walk, we also spotted a giant mudskipper resting in a pool as well as a crimson sunbird hovering above us! Glenda also spotted a Centaur Oakblue and Common Bluebottle, which are both beautiful butterflies.

Centaur Oakblue
Photo by Glenda Heng

Common Bluebottle
Photo by Glenda Heng
Near the coast, visitors also spotted a lot more fiddler crabs that were very actively waving their claws at each other! Take a look at them in the video below.


It was high tide today, so the Gold-spotted mudskippers had all come further up shore. The visitors were able to see them up close in their huge numbers!

Gold spotted mudskippers 

One group had also spotted two water monitor lizards sunbathing on the shore! Indeed, the sun had been quite hot out on the boardwalk and it did make for very nice pictures. Once again, Glenda Heng had captured very nice shots of the visitors on the coastal boardwalk!

Photo by Glenda Heng

Photo by Glenda Heng


On our way back through the coastal forest, we also saw cotton stainer bugs on a sea hibiscus tree! These bugs feed on the sea hibiscus seeds and sometimes will congregate in large groups on a single leaf as shown below.

After the walk, the children sat down and drew what they saw on the walk! Here are some of the children with their lovely drawings.

Photo by Ria Tan

Photo by Ria Tan

Photo by Ria Tan

Photo by Ria Tan

Photo by Ria Tan

One of the children even took it upon himself to make some octopus! He was very creative to use the fallen leaves of a tree nearby to form legs. Here he is with his creation!

Photo by Ria Tan

We had a very enjoyable walk today with all the lovely visitors. Thank you to all the visitors for coming down to explore Chek Jawa with us! A big thank you to Glenda Heng for sharing with us her photos and giving us permission to use them as well! And off course, thank you to Ley Kun, Ria and Dayna for guiding today as well.

Our next walk will be on the 16th of December 2017 (Saturday) at Chek Jawa. You can register here. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

25 Nov and 16 Dec, 2017 (Saturdays) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

The year-end school holidays are here.... YIPPEE! If you are looking for outdoorsy nature activities to do with the family during the holidays, why not join our nature walks at Chek Jawa Boardwalk, Pulau Ubin? Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Best of all, our nature walks are free!

We are running two public walks, and both dates are open for registration now! Just appoint someone to signup on behalf of the group. We welcome small groups of families or friends. Unfortunately we are not able to accept registration from large groups of people due to our limited resources. Click on our Online Registration Form.

Date: 25 November 2017 (Saturday) and 16 December 2017 (Saturday)
Meeting place: Chek Jawa Information Kiosk, Pulau Ubin
Meeting time: 9:30 am
Duration of walk: 2 hours
Fees: No charge for now, but small donations are accepted

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of an experienced volunteer guide, you should be able to see lots of interesting plants and wildlife. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

For more information on what to expect at our Chek Jawa Boardwalk outings, and when preparing for your visit, please make sure you read our post specially written for you. The post will also give you lots of details like how to get to Chek Jawa, where to meet, what to bring.


Meeting place: Information Kiosk at Chek Jawa Wetlands

Group photo before the walk begins
Click to see more photos of our past events at Chek Jawa.

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