Butterfly Photography at Our Local Parks - Springleaf Nature Park

Butterfly Photography at Our Local Parks
Featuring : Springleaf Nature Park


A tranquil view of the water and lush greenery at Springleaf Nature Park

We continue our exploration of the many public parks in Singapore managed by the National Parks Board (NParks). There are currently over 300 parks in Singapore, big and small, and 4 nature reserves under the management of NParks. In keeping with Singapore's "City in a Garden" vision, the planning of Singapore has taken into account the preservation of greenery in our intensively developed island. This is to ensure that Singapore does not become a jungle of concrete, bricks and mortar.

Signboard at Springleaf Nature Park, showing the 6 Ha park, the streams and park connector

This weekend's blog article features a small park of about 6 Ha in size. What is unique about this nature park, is that it is situated at the confluence of two streams from the catchment in the Mandai and Sembawang precinct. The water from these two streams drain into the the Lower Seletar Reservoir towards the east of this park.

Landscaping around the managed part of the park is aesthetically pleasing, but with the wrong plants, very low butterfly activity is observed.

This nature park, called Springleaf Nature Park, is located in an area formerly known as Chan Chu Kang (曾厝港) village. This village was named after the village headman by the name of Chan Ah Lak 曾亞六 (1813-1873), who owned the land in this area, where he cultivated pepper and gambier cash crops in the 1850's. The village was later renamed to Nee Soon Village after Lim Nee Soon established a rubber plantation there.



With the rapid urbanisation of Singapore, the area became part of Yishun New Town. Opened in Nov 2014, Springleaf Nature Park is the first of four new nature parks which will serve as green buffers to the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. These parks - which include Chestnut, Thomson and Windsor Nature Parks - will help to reduce visitorship pressure on the Reserve by providing an alternative venue for the public to enjoy nature-related activities. The development of these nature parks in Singapore is part of a holistic approach to conserve the biodiversity in our nature reserves.



The entrance pavilion at Springleaf Nature Park - designed by CPG Consultants.

Access to Springleaf Nature Park is via Upper Thomson Road. There is a small carpark (chargeable) with about 20 lots if you are driving. The main single-storey visitor pavilion and rest rooms are located next to the car park and adjacent to the main road. A small cafe, run by Verdure forms part of this visitor pavilion. A convenient location for some refreshments after an outing at the park!




The elevated viewing platform that encompasses a tree into its design

The view out to the promontory where the two streams converge

Setting out from the visitor pavilion will bring you to a simple red 'rubble' concrete path that winds sinuously towards an elevated circular platform that encircles a tree. From this platform, a visitor can look at the scenery beyond and the confluence of the two streams and the promontory where they intersect. A wide canal then extends beyond, where the edges are 'softened' with grass verges, instead of a hard concrete engineered canal.



Areas with good potential for planting butterfly-attracting plants or creating a small butterfly garden

Moving towards the left, one is greeted by an open space with cultivated trees. A tall hedge of Bandicoot Berry (Leea indica) and Red Tree Bush (Leea rubra) line the edge of this open grassy field. You can then make your way to the side table of the canal and walk alongside the edge of the green verges.




The resident Gram Blue butterflies and their caterpillar host plant, the creeper weed Vigna reflexopilosa

Along these areas, you can find wild-growing patches of Vigna reflexopilosa, the caterpillar host plant of the Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus cnejus). Once you reach this area, it is very highly likely that you will encounter several individuals of the Gram Blue, both males and females, fluttering restlessly amongst the low shrubbery. This butterfly feeds on the wildflowers in the vicinity, and the males have also been observe to puddle on carrion and bird droppings on the forest floor.



Skippers found at Springleaf Nature Park

Amongst the tall grasses like Lalang and Guinea Grass that grows along the forested edges, you can expect to see several species of Hesperiidae like the Contiguous Swift and Small Branded Swift zipping amongst the bushes and opening their wings to sunbathe. Skippers are also seen feeding at the flowers of the Chinese Violet (Asystasia gangetica)


There is good bird diversity at Springleaf Nature Park

Walking along the canal, you can observe the active bird life and the resident Kingfishers, Blue Tailed Bee Eater and Swallows will often be around to entertain you with their flying and hunting prowess. Up on the branches of the tall trees, you can often hear the calls of the raptors that nest in the upper reaches of these majestic trees.



Other urban butterflies that flutter around the area are the Plain Tiger, Chocolate Pansy, Leopard and Lemon Emigrant. However, due to the lack of the preferred nectaring plants for butterflies, Springleaf Nature Park's butterfly diversity is somewhat low. This is a pity, as the location of this park that is close to the Central Catchment Nature Reserves would have given it the advantage of being able to attract a wider diversity of butterfly species to this park.


A patch where Lantana camara used to grow, but now removed and covered with wood chips

Even at the main entrance area, where large patches of Lantana camara used to be planted, are now gone. Perhaps it was too much of a maintenance issue that resulted in the removal of these butterfly 'magnets'. The Javanese Ixora bushes appear to be unhealthy and there are very few flower heads that would encourage visiting butterflies to feed on them.




More tranquil views of blue and green at Springleaf Nature Park.

Walking on the other side of the canal after crossing the bridge along Nee Soon Road and heading back to the entrance pavilion, again the planting of orchids and other non-butterfly attracting plants did not do anything to attract the potential species of butterflies that can be found in the area. All in all, whilst this Nature Park has a lot of potential to attract butterflies, the current planting palette completely misses any opportunity to do so.



Male and female Gram Blues sunbathing

Other than an almost 'guaranteed' sighting of the Gram Blues in this Nature Park, the butterfly diversity is left much to be desired. A more judicious selection of both nectaring and host plants would have made a big difference, as could be seen in the Bukit Panjang Butterfly Garden, which is also near the Central Catchment Nature Reserves. Until that happens, visit the Springleaf Nature Park for its rich bird life and tranquil green and blue scenery. But all is not lost - its butterfly diversity can easily be improved by planting the right plants to attract butterflies.  It has the potential to stand equal with some of the more successful butterfly-watching parks and gardens in Singapore.



How to Get There :
By Public Transport : Take bus service SBS 138, SMRT 167, 169 or 980 and alight at bus stop outside the former Nessea Club along Upper Thomson Road.

By Car : See map for details. Parking charges apply.

Text and Photos by Khew SK

Butterflies of Borneo

Butterflies of Borneo

Time for new Field Guides?

Glorious Begum (Agatasa calydonia mahasthama) but called "Eight Coloured Jack" by Otsuka in his book

A visitor from Europe recently left me an email to inquire about local references and literature about South East Asian butterflies, and in particular, Borneo where he planned to spend a week. Whilst I was able to point him to several decent works about butterflies in the region, I was quite hard-pressed to refer him to good field guides about Bornean butterflies. Continued searches on the internet, good nature book stores and amongst like-minded butterfly enthusiasts did not turn up anything other than what was already currently available.

A map of Borneo island.

The island of Borneo is the 3rd largest island in the world. It is politically divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. The island covers 751,936 sqkm (that's more than a thousand times the size of little Singapore!). About 73% of the island is Indonesian territory known as Kalimantan. In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on a small island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei Darussalam, located on the north coast, comprises about 1% of Borneo's land area.


Banded Faun (Faunis stomphax stomphax) - Bako National Park, Sarawak

Borneo has extensive primary rainforest cover that is believed to be over 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world. In recent years, infrastructural development, logging and oil palm plantations have continued to decimate the natural rainforests. In the past decade, severe massive forest fires further reduced pristine rainforests to ashes. The island is home to a large number of endemic species, and the number of species new to science cannot be underestimated as researchers rush to document Borneo's rich biodiversity.


Kinabalu Swordtail (Pathysa stratiotes) a Bornean endemic. Mahua Waterfall, Sabah, Malaysia

There are nearly a thousand species of butterflies that have been discovered in Borneo. Of these, close to 10% are endemic to the island - meaning that these species are found only on Borneo and nowhere else in the world. Over the years, species new to science continue to be discovered as previously inaccessible parts of the rainforest are opened up. Mount Kinabalu in the state of Sabah, is the highest peak on Borneo, rising to 4,101m. There are many endemic montane species of flora and fauna found in Borneo.



One of the best taxonomic references on the Butterflies of Borneo is the out-of-print Butterflies of Borneo, Vol 2 No 1 Lycaenidae (published in 1991). However, this book only deals with the Lycaenidae species in Borneo, whilst the elusive Vol 2 No 2 covers Hesperiidae.


Currently the most comprehensive field guide on the butterflies of Borneo

Another book by the same author Kazuhisa Otsuka, is a 224-page hardcover Field Guide. A selection of about 200 species of butterflies found in Borneo is featured in the book. The book is rather short on the introduction of butterflies in Borneo and taxonomic details about butterflies. Searching for species in the usual organised taxonomic families is difficult, as the author organised the book by habitats. Even the index to the species pages are ordered by habitats and there is no easy way of searching for each species alphabetically, either by scientific or common names.




The author organises the book by the following habitats and sub-habitats :
Lowland Butterflies (by sea shores and islands)
Lowland Butterflies (around villages and farms)
Lowland Butterflies (in forests)
Low Mountain Butterflies (by streams)
Low Mountain Butterflies (edges of forests)
Low Mountain Butterflies (in forest)
High Mountain Butterflies (by streams)
High Mountain Butterflies (by ridges)
High Mountain Butterflies (in forest)




Although meant to facilitate easy reference to the species found in their natural habitats, it is extremely difficult to navigate the book to look for a particular species, as many species have overlapping habitats. This makes the book less useful as a field guide to the less experienced butterfly watcher. The author has also chosen to coin new English common names for quite a number of the species featured in the book, which are totally unfamiliar across the available literature on South East Asian butterflies. This makes the search for different species by their common names even more challenging!


A pocket guide featuring 100 species of Borneo - by Prof Dr Fatimah Abang

A second book, referred to as a "pocket guide", is a 130-page paperback by Fatimah Abang, a Professor in Entomology from Department of Zoology of the University Malaysia Sarawak. This book is intended to serve as a very basic guide to assist butterfly enthusiasts in the identification of some of the butterflies found in Malaysia. This book, entitled "Butterflies of Malaysian Borneo - a Pocket Guide", showcases a total of 100 species of butterflies.




The first 20 pages of the book starts with a useful introduction to butterflies and explanation of some of the various aspects of their habitats and host plants, morphology, life cycle and classification. The rest of the book is organised by the families of butterflies, albeit the photos of the species are from museum specimens and very few field shots are found in the book.



A useful index can be found at the end of the book, which aids in the search for species pages found in the book - by alphabetical order of their scientific and common names. Some of the English common names used in the book may have been influenced by the author of the previous book and appear to deviate from the typical names used by authors in the region.


Clipper (Parthenos sylvia borneensis) - Poring Hot Spring, Sabah, Malaysia

Whilst both these field guides on Bornean butterflies may have their shortcomings, they are nevertheless the only currently available books dealing with species found in Borneo. This leaves a big gap in the educational literature about the butterflies of Borneo for other authors to fill.


A soon-to-be published Guide to the Butterflies of Borneo - © Beaufoy Publishing

At the moment, Beaufoy Publishing has indicated that a 'coming soon' 150-species Butterflies of Borneo book is in the works. Authored by Honor Phillipps, the book is described to contain the full checklist of the butterflies of Borneo as at 2012 and their status in each state of Borneo. However, a quick check on the internet websites show that this book is still yet to be available.


Common Tree Nymph (Idea lynceus) - Poring Hot Springs, Sabah, Malaysia

Friends in the photography groups have also indicated that another book is also in the works. This book, will be published by renowned publisher of all things Borneo, Datuk Chan Chew Lun who owns the Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd. a Kota Kinabalu-based publishing house. It is one of the leading English language and natural history publishers in Malaysia and Southeast Asian region. The company has published numerous works relating to the biological richness of the region, with a focus on the island of Borneo.

Butterfly enthusiasts will certainly look forward to these new publications on the Butterflies of Borneo.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Goh LC, Rod Eldie and Khew SK

Photos from the books "A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Borneo and South East Asia" and "Butterflies of Malaysian Borneo - A Pocket Guide" are copyrighted property of their respective authors and publishers, and samples of the pages from the books are featured here under the principles of fair use.

Further references :

Taxonomic List of the Butterflies of the Labi-Teraja Area - by Vic Hitchings

Butterfly of the Month - November 2017

Butterfly of the Month - November 2017
The Common Three Ring (Ypthima pandocus corticaria)


A Common Three Ring perched on a grass blade in the nature reserves

2017 is chugging steadily into its remaining two months as the end-of-year monsoons hit the region. These days, the volume of rainfall coming down in a short time appears to challenge conventional design in drainage and hydraulic engineering. Coupled with high tides, the statistical probability of flooding in our urban environment is often much higher than predicted.

Recently, up north on the island of Penang in Malaysia, an unprecedented flood hit the city of Georgetown after being inundated with heavy rains for several hours. Photos and videos of the floods circulated widely on social media, as the state authorities struggled with evacuation plans and moving residents of low-lying areas to safety. The early Nov flood had a rainfall of 315mm and the highest on record for Penang. Sadly, seven people, mostly senior citizens, fell victim to the floods and the majority of these drowned in the rising waters.

Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia, under flood waters - a victim of climate change? © Reuters

With the rapid urban development of Penang island, its existing drainage system, both natural and engineered, was unable to cope with the unexpected deluge of rainfall. As residents struggled to get back to their normal life, aerial photos of the Pearl of the Orient showed many areas covered with brown muddy waters and rubbish carried by the floods. Many basement carparks in buildings were completely submerged, extensively damaging any vehicle unfortunate enough to be parked there. The consequences of climate change are here, despite some global leaders' refusal to believe that there are no problems with our environment.



Back in Singapore, the weather has also been unforgiving. Daily rains, whether welcomed or otherwise, was a fact of life over the past month. On one such rainy day, the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) tunnels flooded for the first time in its history, causing the train network on the N-S line to be shut down for about 20 hours. Social media erupted with criticism at the company responsible for running and maintaining the MRT system. The problem was traced to a failed pump system which was not automatically activated as designed to do.


A mating pair of Common Three Ring

The MRT woes continued with more interruptions by recurring signalling faults and other unforeseen causes that created inconveniences and caused much public ire. Just last week, another of such software faults caused injury to over 30 passengers when a train collided into a stationary train ahead of it. Even though the train was travelling at 16 km/h as reported, several passengers' injuries were severe enough to require hospitalisation.



Back to our butterfly world, the rainy season has seen the usual drop in numbers of butterflies. The inclement weather has also reduced the number of outings amongst butterfly watchers, and it's often a gamble (which we sometimes lose!) against the rain gods if we choose to head out to the forests for any butterfly watching activity.



This month, we feature a rather drab and under-appreciated butterfly, the Common Three Ring (Ypthima pandocus corticaria). This species, from the sub-family Satyrinae or often collectively referred to as Browns and Arguses, was once a very common species in Singapore. However, in recent years, the species has become very localised, and not very widespread. This may be due to the fact that its caterpillar host plant, Ischaemum muticum (Poaceae), a 'wild grass' is not as common as in the past.  Or could it be due to habitat changes that are no longer conducive for this species to survive?



The Common Three Ring is found mainly along the fringes of our nature reserves, where the species' host plant can still be found. Perhaps, as a strategy to support the remaining population of this once-common butterfly could be to allow some areas near the nature reserves to be left wild with Ischaemum muticum, and these areas managed so that this caterpillar host plant is not wiped out by other invasive plant species. There could possibly be alternative host plants that the species' caterpillars may feed on, and such grasses should also be allowed to survive in the wild.


A male Common Three Ring sun-bathing

The butterfly is greyish brown on the upperside with a large sub-apical yellow-ringed ocellus with two silvery dots on a black background. The underside is a pale buff brown with fine dark striations on both the fore and hindwings. The hindwing has three yellow-ringed ocelli with the tornal pair with two silvery spots.



A female Common Three Ring with opened wings

The species of the Ypthima genus have their English common names after the number of ocelli (or eyespots) on the hindwing. The Common Three Ring is the largest of the species found in Singapore. The species has a rather feeble flight and stays close to the ground, amongst low shrubbery and grasses. Where it occurs, it is not unusual to find more than one individual flying in the area.


A Common Three Ring puddling at a sandy spot

In the early morning hours when the sun begins to warm up the environment, the Common Three Ring can often be seen with its wings opened almost flat to sunbathe in the warm rays of the sun. At other times of the day, it usually flutters around the low grasses and perch with its wings folded upright. The butterfly is also seen feeding at the ripened fruits of the Straits Rhododendron and wild flowers like the Mile-a-Minute weed. Occasionally, it can be observed puddling at damp sandy ground.



Once known to be as common and widespread as the ubiquitous Common Grass Yellow, the Common Three Ring is fast losing its title as the commonest butterfly species in Singapore. In fact, its other cousins in the genus have taken over the title of being the commonest Ypthima in Singapore. Careful observations should record the remaining colonies in the nature reserves and then some management plan carried out to ensure the survival of this once-common species.


A Common Three Ring perched on the leaf of Melastoma malabathricum

Despite not being an iconic or attractive butterfly species, the Common Three Ring is still very much a part of Singapore's extant biodiversity and should continue to be a species that can be found here. For a 'low profile' species, its caterpillar life history of over a month from egg to adult is considered long. Any disruption to its process of reaching adulthood may render this species into the 'rare' status in future.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Khew SK, Loke PF and Horace Tan

Further Reading and related articles :

Life History of the Common Three Ring
Lords of the Rings - Singapore's Ypthima species
Common Three Ring - A Cinderella of Butterflies