That's a wrap!

Instead of the usual run-of-the-mill post on the flora and fauna we saw, we’ll share about why Naked Hermit Crabs’ walks are so rewarding for guides. As volunteer guides, we enjoy what we do when we see adults whose faces light up with the same curiosity and excitement as our younger participants.

Our guide, Sumita, sharing about who we are and
why we do walks at endangered shores such as Chek Jawa

Photo by: Liz Lim

Photo by: Ria Tan

One of our guides, Chen Xi, shared with us that "I enjoy guiding with NHC because I get a chance to introduce people to the plants and animals they may not know about. It's also a good way to have a nice walk outdoors and relax."

The sight that always takes our breath away

Photo by: Liz Lim

Excitement!

Photo by: Ria Tan

Photo by: Ria Tan

We’ve been guiding at Chek Jawa for almost a decade and no two walks are ever the same. On most occasions, you’ll catch our guides being surprised about things we don’t expect to see. Another of the Naked Hermit Crabs, Xiang Tian says, "I enjoy guiding because the places we guide at are great to visit and we never know what we're going to see on our walks! The places we guide at are also at risk, so it's meaningful to show people what is there before it is gone.".

Sometimes we just enjoy the things
Ubin has to offer, such as organic Ubin jackfruit!

Photo by: Ria Tan

Looking forward, we hope to continue raising awareness about our vulnerable shores and to lend our voice to safeguarding our beautiful shores. We have a lot of exciting things coming up in 2019. Watch this space and our Facebook for our 2019 walk dates!

Over 60 participants and 7 guides joined us
at our last walk for 2018 at Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin!

We-fie by one of our participants, Jimmy Ng

16 Dec (Sun) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Join us our regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 16 December, Sunday. Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Just gather your family and friends, and have someone do the signup on behalf of the group. Best of all, this nature walk is free! Register on Eventbrite here.

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of our volunteer guides, 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.

Date: 16 December 2018 (Sunday)
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
Sign up here.

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.

More photos in the next section.

The Park that Never Ceases to Amaze Us: Pasir Ris Park

Despite a rainy start to the walk, we had over 40 participants turn up for our special walk at Pasir Ris Park. Even though we only do walks to this park two to three times a year, it's never a boring walk as there's a wide variety of biodiversity.

As the jetty and our usual route through the boardwalks was closed, we headed to find the family of spotted wood owls who are resident to the park. We spot them by looking for their puke pellets and listening to their soft 'hoots'. Some years, we see the adult male and female owl with their offspring. This time, we saw two of them nestled in a rain tree.

We took a leisurely stroll to the shore and saw a large group of roosting herons. During the mating season, you can hear the calls of the grey herons as they compete for mates. We ended off the walk by the shore where the kids in our group found many crab moults of flower crabs.

Ria explains to her participants that the best way
to find owls is to look out for their puke pellets
that usually contains undigested matter,
such as bones, feathers or plant matter
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

This puke pellet contains a shrew's skeleton
(a type of rodent)
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

One of the spotted wood owls
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

They aren't always easy to spot so guides usually point
them out. With a bit of patience and sharp eyesight,
the visitor finally spots the owls.
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

Kapok! The kapok tree produces pods that burst
to expose a cottony interior.
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

A grey heron heading back to the roost sight.
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

Taking in the sights and sounds at the shore
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

Everyone was intrigued by the crab moults
Photo by Nicholas Yeo.

We can't wait for our walks in 2019 at Pasir Ris Park and we hope to see you there! A huge thank you to our guides, Ley Kun, Ria, Xiang Tian and Sumita. And to Nicholas Yeo for taking the awesome photos of our walk.

10 November (Sat) - Free guided walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves

This March, the Naked Hermit Crabs are specially organising a very special nature walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves on 10 November, Saturday. This is a FREE nature walk on the mangrove boardwalk at Pasir Ris Park.

Sign up now on Eventbrite! Don't miss the opportunity to see some wildlife in action! Pasir Ris Mangroves is conveniently located 10 minutes away from Pasir Ris MRT station. We only do Pasir Ris Mangroves two to three times a year, so don't miss this opportunity!

There are many creatures look out for in the mangroves, such as mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, snails, herons and monitor lizards. The best part of the nature walk is at the end when we get to the small jetty over the river. There is a lot of animal activity in the evenings. We have seen young monitor lizards crawling into their nests as they settle in before nightfall. Sometimes, you may even spot kingfishers, jellyfishes and water snakes! It really is quite exciting for the children to be able to see these animals in the wild.

Rainy romp around Chek Jawa!

We were glad to be joined by 45 enthusiastic participants for our Chek Jawa walk on 14 October, who came for the walk despite the rainy weather! We were also pleased to be joined by the Channel 8 crew, who came along to film our walk for their ‘Frontline’ segment.

Rain or shine, the walk will go on!
Photo by Ley Kun Wong

A participant being interviewed by Channel 8
Photo by Ho Xiang Tian

You can check out the segment we're featured on Toggle! We're featured from 16:50 onwards.

Even in the rain, there’s still plenty to see at Chek Jawa, such as the mud lobster mounds and the animals living inside!

A large mud lobster mound.

Look out for holes in these mounds! It may just be the home of the tree-climbing crab, which climb up tree trunks during high tide.

A tree-climbing crab near its burrow.
Photo by Chen Xi

One of our eagle-eyed participants spotted a dusky-gilled mudskipper, which you can recognize from its small size and reddish fins.

A dusky-gilled mudskipper on a branch.
Photo by Chen Xi

From the top of Jejawi tower, we could see many different kinds of birds flying above and around the mangrove canopy. One of the birds we saw was the oriental pied hornbill, which was resting in a tree.

The hornbill sure has a large beak!
Photo by Ria Tan

Another bird we spotted was the great billed heron, which was flying across the mangrove shore. These large birds wade around in the water with their long legs to find fish to eat.

The great-billed heron in flight.
Photo by Ley Kun Wong

There were also many different mangrove plants we could see along the boardwalk. These plants are adapted to growing in the salty, waterlogged mangroves and have special features such as breathing roots to take in oxygen from the air.

Mangrove trees growing near the shelter.
Photo by Sabrina Zhou

Along the edges of the coastal boardwalk, we could see little balls of sand arranged outside holes in the ground. These sand balls were made by the shy sand bubbler crabs, which hid in their holes as we came close. If you stay still enough, you might just see them come out!

A shy little crab.
Photo by Chen Xi

We also managed to find some halfbeaks swimming around near the boardwalk. It’s easy to mistake them for leaves floating in the water.

Leaves or fish?
Photo by Chen Xi

One of our guides, Evan, was able to spot a common sandpiper along the shore. You’ll need a good eye to find it.

Spot the sandpiper! (Answer is at the end of the blog post)
Photo by Chen Xi

When we ended our walk at House Number 1, it was still drizzling, but we were all glad that we could still have so much fun despite the rain.

 

Big thanks to all the participants who came for the walk with us as well as the Channel 8 crew! Thanks also to the guides Ria, Ley Kun, Sumita, Xiang Tian, Evan and Chen Xi for making the walk possible; as well as Ria, Ley Kun, Xiang Tian, Chen Xi and Sabrina for the photos!

Please look out for our next walk in November! Registration will open next week so look out for updates on our Facebook page.

P.S. Did you find the sandpiper? It’s right in the middle of the photo, on the brown rocks!

Over here!

14 Oct (Sun) - Free guided walk at Chek Jawa Boardwalk

Join us our regular Chek Jawa Boardwalk outing on 14 October, Sunday. Come explore this very special and beautiful corner of Singapore mangroves with us. Just gather your family and friends, and have someone do the signup on behalf of the group. Best of all, this nature walk is free! Register on Eventbrite here.

Chek Jawa is rich in biodiversity, and with the help of our volunteer guides, 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.

Date: 14 October 2018 (Sunday)
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
Sign up here.

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.

More photos in the next section.

Owlsome day out at Pasir Ris Park!

We had the pleasure of having around 35 visitors join us for our walk at Pasir Ris Park!

A small part of the group! It was hard gathering everyone together when there were so many things to see!
Photo by Ria Tan

As part of the Pasir Ris Mangrove boardwalk was closed, we decided to take an alternative route through the park where we saw many amazing animals as well!

Visitors still got to see the Nypah Palm, one of our favourite plants in the Mangrove! The fruits give us our delicious Atap-chee.

Photo by Ria Tan

A sharp-eyed participant in the first group spotted a well- camouflaged Oriental Whip Snake! Thanks to Evan's heads up, all the groups were able to see this beautiful snake resting beside the boardwalk. Can you spot the snake in this picture?

Photo by Ria Tan

The snake is a brilliant green and was about 50cm long! Here's a close up shot thanks to Jonathan.

Photo by Jonathan Tan

After the groups finished exploring the back mangroves, we went to take a look at the Spotted Wood Owls that an advance team of Dayna and Yi He went ahead to find. 

Photo by Ria Tan

We saw both the male and the female Spotted Wood Owls, who looked as us sleepily from their spot in the Rain Trees.

Photo by Dayna Cheah

Right below the owls, we also found some pellets! Owls eat their prey whole as they do not have teeth, and will then regurgitate the bones and fur of their prey. Here are some photos of the pellets we found!

This could possibly be the skull and bones of a bat!
Photo by Sumita

We then stopped by a bridge overlooking Sungei Tampines, where we saw many monitor lizards either swimming or resting on the trees!

Photo by Ria Tan

We then went to the beach to explore! 

Photo by Ria Tan

We saw a whole that had been dug near the mangrove tree, damaging some of the roots. This could possibly be someone who was digging to get worms to use as bait for fishing.

Photo by Ria Tan

We then ended off the walk admiring the sunset on another bridge looking down Sungei Tampines.

Photo by Liz Lim

We saw many fishes and monitor lizards!

Photo by Ria Tan

Big thanks to the guides Ria, Sumita, Jonathan, Liz, Xiang Tian, Evan and Dayna for making this trip possible! Also thank you to Ria, Sumita, Jonathan, Liz and Dayna for their amazing photos.

Do look out for our next trip in October back at Chek Jawa!

1 September (Sat) - Free guided walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves

This March, the Naked Hermit Crabs are specially organising a very special nature walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves on 1 September, Saturday. This is a FREE nature walk on the mangrove boardwalk at Pasir Ris Park.

Sign up now on Eventbrite! Don't miss the opportunity to see some wildlife in action! Pasir Ris Mangroves is conveniently located 10 minutes away from Pasir Ris MRT station. We only do Pasir Ris Mangroves a couple of times in a year, so don't miss this opportunity!

There are many creatures look out for in the mangroves, such as mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, snails, herons and monitor lizards. The best part of the nature walk is at the end when we get to the small jetty over the river. There is a lot of animal activity in the evenings. We have seen young monitor lizards crawling into their nests as they settle in before nightfall. Sometimes, you may even spot kingfishers, jellyfishes and water snakes! It really is quite exciting for the children to be able to see these animals in the wild.

Otterly fun time at Chek Jawa!

 We were delighted to have 45 visitors join us for the walk at Chek Jawa. It was a beautiful day, with large clouds drifting above us in the sky and a cool breeze tickling our faces. We also saw really amazing creatures today!

Photo by Ria Tan

Before we started the walk, we saw three wild boars and monkeys at the shelter! They were most likely attracted by the fruiting rambutan trees.

Photo by Ley Kun

The visitors were very excited to see them!

Photo by Ria Tan

There was also a Common flying dragon (Draco sumatranus) on the tree nearby.

Photo by Jonathan Tan

Jonathan was explaining to the visitors how they have flaps on the side of the skin which they can extend to glide from tree to tree!

Photo by Ria Tan

With a great start to the walk, all of us proceeded down towards the mangroves. The climb up the Jejawi tower was tiring, but the view was worth it!

Photo by Liz Lim

We were also treated to a display by the Oriental Pied Hornbills, who flew in to the durian trees a distance away from the tower. Participants were extremely happy to see these huge birds in their full glory!

After coming back down from the tower, our sharp-eyed participants managed to spot many tree climbing crabs and mudskippers in the mangroves.

Photo by Ria Tan

One of the visitor favourites is the Giant mudskipper, which can grow to be about as big as your foot!

Photo by Dayna Cheah

Some visitors were very excited, and wanted to take a closer look at the critters in our mud!

Photo by Ria Tan

One group was lucky to see a Paradise Tree Snake! This aboreal snake can flatten its body out to glide between trees.

Photo by Jonathan Tan

As we admired the Bakau trees, visitors were entertained by the Fiddler crabs who were out in full force!

Photo by Dayna Cheah

With a cool sea breeze, we enjoyed a slow stroll along the coastal boardwalk. 

Photo by Liz Lim

Photo by Liz Lim

Because it was low tide, we could see the pillars underneath the boardwalk with interesting animals living on it. We saw barnacles, oysters and ascidians!

Photo by Liz Lim

Further out to sea, we spotted a Great-billed Heron fishing in the distance. It is the largest heron we have in Singapore!

Photo by Dayna Cheah

We also saw a few Water monitor lizards, and one group saw one digging for crabs in the mudflat!

Photo by Jonathan Tan

One group was very lucky to have been able to see a lone Smooth-coated otter!

Photo by Dayna Cheah

Otters are usually quite shy, but this otter swam right up to the boardwalk, dipping in between the waves.

We ended off this amazing walk at House No. 1, where the children drew amazing drawings of the animals they had seen or would liked to have seen!

Photo by Ria Tan

After the walk, the guides and their friends decided to stop by Ah Ma's drink store for some cold drinks and fresh rambutans from Ubin!

Photo by Ria Tan

Here's a precious group photo of the guides and their friends with Ah Ma and Ivy!

Photo by Ria Tan

As we were slowly munching on our rambutans, we saw a fresh delivery of rambutans come in! Yum yum!

Photo by Ria Tan

Right beside the drink store is a rich mangrove, with many birds, fishes and rare mangrove species! We took a little walk there to see what we could find.

Photo by Ria Tan

Thank you to the guides Ria, Ley Kun, Sumita, Jonathan, Liz, Xiang Tian, Alyce and Dayna for making this walk possible! Big thanks to Ria, Jonathan, Liz, Ley Kun and Dayna for their photos as well.

Look out for our next walk in September and please do join us for a day of fun!