An Otterly Awesome Day Out at Pasir Ris Mangroves

Video of the otter we spotted by Ria Tan

As with all of our other walks, we had a wonderful time exploring the mangroves in Pasir Ris Park with our participants!

Over 80 participants turned up despite gloomy weather

We had close to 90 participants despite the slight drizzle and grey skies at the start of our walk.

Instead of dampening our spirits, the light drizzle helped to cool the environment in the park and that made the walk more enjoyable.

Here's our guide, Ley Kun (pictured in a white hat), giving an introduction before the walk.

Our participants were made up of groups of eager families and friends, who were excited to learn more about the residents of our local mangroves.

Encouraging the curiosity of our young participants

Kids are the best spotters of wildlife and often ask the best questions!

With the help of our curious, young participants, we got to spot many crabs and interesting insects, such as the mangrove shield bug and a red-coloured assassin bug!

Photo of these gorgeous creatures by Ria Tan

Mangrove shield bugs are often found in clusters under leaves in the mangrove. To find out more about these beautiful bugs, you can read about them here on Wildsingapore's fact sheets.

A cotton stainer bug nymph, spotted by another young participant

This young individual of the cotton stainer was found near the sea hibiscus plant, which the adults and young often congregate around. You can read more about them here.

A young mangrove pit viper, spotted by a sharp-eyed visitor

Mangrove pit vipers are a key part of our walk as our visitors are always excited to see them.

As with all other snakes and wild animals, they will not attack unless threatened or provoked.

We really enjoy having families join us for our walks as visitors help us to spot wildlife and ask a lot of great questions about our local flora and fauna.

Comments and drawings from our participants

At the end of our walk, we usually let our participants draw or write about what they saw.

Hard at work 

A quick drawing session in the mangroves

Here's some artworks and the young artists who drew them.

While the kids were drawing, we saw a smooth-coated otter fishing and a group of egrets resting in a tree.

We also had a grey heron and hornbills fly by when we ended our walk at the jetty!

We would also like to thank our participants for the encouraging comments on Facebook by our participants, Veronica Ong and Ahha Lim.

Veronica Ong Thank you for sharing with us this lovely place! Kevin (Evan) was awesome and so patient!

Veronica Ong We saw mudskippers, a purple snake, a dead horseshoe crab shell, otters, fish, snails etx

2

Ahha Lim Thank you very much for organizing this special event. I am looking for more outings with you.

1

 

Why you should join us at our next walk

Our walks are:

• For everyone (from families to individuals)
• Free-of-charge
• Fun!

We hope to see you at our next walk on 15 December 2019.

Follow our Facebook page for updates on the next walk.

Thank you to all our participants who joined us and our guides, Evan, Jonathan, Ley Kun, Ria and Sumita for the wonderful time!

Biggest turnout ever at our Pasir Ris Mangroves tour

100 visitors. What a fantastic turnout of families and friends to our evening walk at Pasir Ris mangroves walk on 25 May, 2019! We had to take 2 wefies - thanks to our enthusiastic guide, Che Cheng.

Wefie #1 by Che Cheng

Wefie #2 by Che Cheng

Captured the wefie moment - by Ria

Highlights of the walk include two sightings of the shore pit viper. In fact, the first pit viper, spotted by a visitor in Sumita's group, is a cute tiny one, not more than 10 cm long. Its triangular head is so distinctive even though it is just a baby snake. What a special treat! The other shore pit viper was spotted on the mangrove mud, slithering away in a hole in the ground. Please know that the shore pit viper is a highly venomous snake, so do stay far away from it if you spot one.

Great day at Chek Jawa on a Saturday morning

We had a great day at Chek Jawa with about 20 visitors on 23 Feb 2019. So happy to meet with enthusiastic visitors. Very lovely people!

We saw lots of animals including monitor lizards, an Oriental Whip snake, fiddler crabs, tree-climbing crabs, wild boars and macaques. Strangely, we did not see mudskippers in the mangrove and at the coastal side too. Not sure why.

The sun was out, the sky was a beautiful blue, and lots of fresh air. It's a good day to be out enjoying some nature!

One of the kids in the group spotted a pair of needlefishes in the waters just after the beacon. The fishes are about 40 cm long. What a treat to be able to see theses fishes!

We saw lots of long-tail macaques before and after the walk. The guides took the opportunity to remind visitors not to feed the monkeys.

A shout-out with thanks to our volunteer guides - Sumita, Ria, Xiang Tian, LK and our intern, Francine, for guiding!

Also, check out the video that Ria made of the walk: https://wildshores.blogspot.com/2019/02/black-water-at-chek-jawa.html#.XHZanogzY2x



Do join us at our upcoming events in March:

10 March, 2019 (Sunday) - guided walk at Berlayar Creek by trainee guides

16 March, 2019 (Saturday), 4 to 8pm - a community event organised by Celebrating Singapore Shores. Come and meet the wonderful people who are involved in marine conservation and education in Singapore! No registration is needed.

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!

An otterly fun time at Chek Jawa!

We are happy to have had 38 visitors join us at Chek Jawa today!

Bright happy faces as we began today's walk!
Photo credit: Ria Tan

After quickly splitting into three groups, we set off to discover what Chek Jawa had in store for us!

Celebrating Youth Day at the Pasir Ris Mangroves!

We are happy to have had 37 visitors join us at the Pasir Ris Mangroves for our Youth Day Walk, held in collaboration with The Wild Side and Nature Adventures SG.

You learn something new every day!

Soon after the walk began, we came upon many white mushrooms growing along the base of a tree. Our visitors were surprised to learn that the part of the mushrooms we see above ground are only the fruiting bodies, while the main body of the mushroom is mostly underground!

An otterly wonderful walk at the Pasir Ris Mangroves

It’s been quite a while since our last walk at the Pasir Ris Mangroves, and we are glad to have 57 visitors join us for the long Easter weekend!

A little rain won't stop us!

After a quick introduction, we split into four groups, each led by our volunteer guides. It had begun to drizzle when the walk began, but luckily for us, the rain only lasted for a while, and we were able to resume the walk after a short wait.

15 April (Sat) - Free guided walk at the Pasir Ris Mangroves

Specially for kids and families, explore Pasir Ris mangroves with volunteer nature guides from the Naked Hermit Crabs on this FREE guided tour of the boardwalk!

Sign up now on our online registration form! 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. Bring your children down to enjoy nature during the weekend!

Giant mudskippers are a common sight in our mangroves!

There are many creatures look out for in the mangroves, such as mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, herons and monitor lizards. Sometimes, you may even spot kingfishers and water snakes! It will certainly be an unforgettable experience with your friends and family!

Date: 15 April, 2017 (Saturday)
Time: 5 pm (We should end around 6.30pm, just before sunset.)
Meeting point: Pasir Ris Park, Carpark C.

Sign up here.

Meet near the first toilets nearest the entrance to Carpark C. The meeting point is a short stroll from the Pasir Ris MRT station. Pasir Ris Park is a very long park with many carparks (from A to D). Do look at the map to be sure you are heading for the correct carpark.

Please sign up for the walk at our Online Registration Form. We look forward to seeing you there!

Do read on for more information about our FAQs and what you can expect to see!

A Jelly Good Time with the Naked Hermit Crabs!

The March holidays are here, and we are glad to have a group of 44 visitors join us for our monthly Chek Jawa Walk!

Say Cheese!
Photo by Mohammad Juhari.

After a quick briefing, we split into four groups and set off to explore! Each group was led by one of our four guides, Ria, Dayna, Sumita, and Ian.

Chek Jawa outing with the Naked Hermit Crabs

We have concluded the final two walks for 2016. There were 60 visitors in November and a bumper crop of 80 visitors in December. We are so happy to see the wonderful turnout of parents with their kids in tow! The school holidays are perfect for families to spend time together exploring the wild side of Singapore. With the Crabs as guides, it's a great way to explore Chek Jawa Boardwalk!

Visitors in December

The walk begins with a briefing from the guides. There were 4 guides altogether, and visitors were split roughly 20 to a group.

Briefing before the walk

We found lots of ripened fruit on the ground - fruit from the seashore nutmeg tree. In fact we found at least 3 areas in Chek Jawa littered with the bright red fruits. Chek Jawa remains one of the last strongholds for the critically endangered species of the seashore nutmeg in Singapore.

Seashore nutmegs