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!