Festival of Biodiversity 2018!

Festival of Biodiversity 2018!
Tampines Mall : 2-3 June 2018

It's that time of the year again! Now in its 7th instalment, the Festival of Biodiversity, which started in 2012 at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, proved to be even bigger and better with more and more new nature groups coming on board. For a start, the venue at the open field next to Tampines Mall on the eastern side of Singapore was much more spacious compared to 2017's FOB.

The pre-dawn thunderstorms cleared just before the start of FOB 2018 and did not dampen the mood of the volunteers and visitors




A good change from previous cramped FOBs, this year's event had more generous and wider spaces for all 

An annual event organised by the National Parks Board (NParks) Singapore, in collaboration with the Biodiversity Roundtable, the Festival aims to create awareness and foster a sense of appreciation for Singapore's natural heritage. The festival showcases Singapore’s impressive and unique array of island biodiversity. This event celebrates Singapore’s natural heritage and in doing so, hopes to bring about greater awareness of the rich biodiversity that Singapore has.

The early 'bird' visitors to the booths

FOB 2018 was held at an urban mall again, with the objective of showcasing Singapore's nature to the heartlanders and mall visitors who may not have had a chance to enjoy Singapore's natural heritage. Held this year at a shopping mall in the eastern part of Singapore, this annual exhibition has travelled from a southern mall (VivoCity Mall) to a central mall (NEX Mall). Perhaps FOB 2019 should move to a western mall?

ButterflyCircle decided to take a hiatus from this year's FOB, after participating in 6 consecutive FOBs since its inauguration in 2012 until 2017. We felt that it was time to take a break and visit the exhibition this year as a visitor. Indeed, it was more fun when we didn't have the stress and burden of manning a booth at the exhibition. Perhaps next year, if FOB moves to the west...

FOB 2018 was hosted by Minister Desmond Lee, with Speaker of Parliament, Tan Chuan Jin as the guest of honour

FOB18 was hosted by Minister for Social and Family Development, Desmond Lee as with many previous FOBs. Minister Desmond is often seen as a champion of biodiversity and environmental conservation in Singapore. Indeed, he has won the respect and support of the green groups in Singapore for his tireless endeavours to conserve and protect the environment in his signature style of sincere and meaningful dialogue and balanced views. FOB 2018's Guest of Honour was our Speaker of Parliament, Tan Chuan Jin, who is another stalwart of nature conservation and an active supporter of the green community.

Speaker Tan Chuan Jin, a long-time supporter of nature conservation, giving some words of wisdom to the audience at the opening ceremony

In his speech, Speaker Tan had this to say "We must not miss the woods for the trees. In land scarce Singapore, there are real pressures and challenges but there has been amazing work done. Our biodiversity, our deepening understanding of our natural heritage is a testimony of the work done by all involved. There will be issues that we will disagree on and there will be encroachment issues but it should not negate the forward momentum of the work done."



A total of 602 species from various taxonomic groups were spotted during BioBlitz 2018 citizen science surveys organised by the National Parks Board

The VIPs then officially launched FOB 2018 with the announcement of the results from NParks' nation-wide BioBlitz 2018 citizen science surveys. The surveys netted some 602 species of terrestrial and marine fauna. Interestingly, as my good friend and veteran nature guide Subaraj quipped, "for the first time, I see more butterfly species recorded than bird species!"



Our VIPs visiting the booths and activity stations at FOB 2018

The rest of the morning and early part of the afternoon was spent catching up with old friends and networking with the nature community. It was heartwarming to see Minister Desmond Lee visiting every booth and interacting with the young and young-at-heart who were keen to share their expertise about their specific area of interest. Minister and the entourage spent a good part of more than 2 hours talking and interacting with the nature groups.


ButterflyCircle's contribution to FOB 2018 on the "Butterflies of Singapore" panel


The Harlequin, a critically endangered species in Singapore due to the very localised distribution of the species at a site that is slated for development

Of course, what's FOB without butterflies? ButterflyCircle contributed to the educational bit on  the importance of butterflies in the pollination of flowers. Our efforts on the Harlequin species recovery project and studies to help with the translocation of the species from the site where the butterfly is found, was mentioned on the educational panel. The site at the western part of Singapore is under threat from future development, and we are working against time to try to ensure that this species continues to survive in Singapore.


Some of the new groups participating at the FOB

This FOB saw the emergence of several new and interesting groups - each with its specific area of interest. It was also encouraging to see many young talent taking on the challenge of nature conservation and the amount of energy and passion that they put into studying their subjects of interest. New groups like the Macaque Working Group, Freshwater Crabs Working Group, Raffles Banded Langur Working Group, Biodiversity Friends Forum and Otter Working Group joined the FOB this year.






A T-Rex lurked around the booths, ready to get everyone to love nature!

The more established groups like the Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore), ACRES, Herpetological Society Singapore, Wildlife Reserves Singapore and many other regulars made up the rest of the interested exhibits. There was even a T-Rex prowling around the exhibitions, ready to snap up anyone who didn't care for nature!


Dr Vilma Rozario holding the attention of the young ones

As with previous FOBs, the kids' activity booths featuring nature handicraft and storytelling, were popular with the young ones. There were skits put up by school children on the main stage throughout the day. It was a great day for family outings and parents who brought their children to FOB 2018 had an educational and entertaining tour of Singapore's biodiversity.


A number of NParks' Community engagement booths at the FOB 2018

Jo Teo and her volunteer students from Chung Cheng High School at the FOB

The annual FOBs should continue to create awareness and appreciation for Singapore's natural heritage, and to continue the neverending effort to educate and inform the young and old about our awesome biodiversity in Singapore. It is with this hope, that we can build and nurture our Biophilic City where humans and nature can co-exist in harmony.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by Huang CJ

Butterfly of the Month - May 2018

Butterfly of the Month - May 2018
The Common Posy (Drupadia ravindra moorei)


A Common Posy sharing the sweet secretions of a young shoot of the Bandicoot Berry plant with some ants

The month of May is almost over as we look back at a rather interesting period of global and political precedents in a world that is more fraught with uncertainties these days. After a flurry of nuclear tests and a show of aggression and disregard for any possibility of hostilities with the US, North Korea's President Kim suddenly did a turnaround and agreed to an inter-Korean summit with his southern counterpart.

That historic meeting was the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953 that a North Korean leader stepped foot in South Korea. The summit focused on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, peace establishment and mutual cooperation. An agreement known as the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula and was signed by both leaders in the South Korean border village of Panmunjom.


A male Common Posy sunbathing with open wings and showing its blue hindwings

What followed was an announcement that the North Korean leader would meet the US President for a dialogue on denuclearisation. This meeting would take place on 12 Jun in Singapore. However, subsequent events continue to put into doubt whether the meeting would take place. The US then cancelled the meeting. In a surprising turn, another unannounced inter-Korean meeting was held on 26 May - the strongest sign yet that the two Korean leaders are trying to keep the on-again off-again summit on track.




President Trump said in a Twitter post late on Friday: "We are having very productive talks about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th, and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date." And once again, Singapore may be put on the world map again, with this historic meeting in the making. It is probably quite chaotic for those who are involved in preparing for this US-North Korean summit, with the current diplomatic flip-flops, and we wonder if the meeting will really happen on our little island in the sun or not!


A female Common Posy showing its upperside

The other bit of news that caught a lot of people by surprise, was the results of the Malaysian General Elections. Having grown up in Malaysia, I would never have imagined that the "balanced scales" logo of the Barisan Nasional, the ruling political party in Malaysia, would no longer be associated with the Malaysian government. Helmed by the 92-year old former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir, the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan swept into power on 9 May 2018.


A newly eclosed Common Posy clinging on to its empty pupa case

This marked a historic defeat for the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, which had been the governing party of Malaysia and its predecessor state, Malaya, since the country's independence in 1957. The groundswell and unhappiness at the alleged unbridled corruption was underestimated by the ruling party and caught Prime Minister Najib Razak by surprise. More drama followed after investigations into the allegations of corruption and ill-gotten wealth were reopened. It has yet to be played out to a conclusion, and Malaysians from all walks of life will have to wait to see what will happen in the coming weeks or months.


A mating pair of Common Posy

Moving back to our more peaceful world of butterflies, we feature a pretty and colourful Lycaenid as our Butterfly of the Month for May 2018. The Common Posy (Drupadia ravindra moorei), a tailed Lycaenid, is a relatively common species that is mainly associated with Singapore's forested nature reserves. It is rarely seen in urban parks and gardens. The species prefers the forested environment in Singapore.


A Common Posy on the young shoot of the Bandicoot Berry

Where it occurs, the Common Posy can sometimes be common, where several individuals may be seen together, fluttering in the shady forest habitats. The species loves the young shoots of the forest shrub, Bandicoot Berry (Leea indica) where it feeds on the sugary sap of these young shoots.





The Common Posy has a weak hopping flight, usually stopping on the tops of leaves with its wings folded upright to rest. However, at certain times of the days in hot sunny weather, both the males and females of this species have been regularly observed to open their wings opened flat to sunbathe.



Upperside of the male (top) and female (bottom) Common Posy

The male Common Posy has a dark brown forewing on the upperside, and a bright blue hindwing. The female is a paler brown with traces of an orange discal patch on the forewing. The tornal area of the hindwing is bluish-grey with several black spots.



The underside of both sexes is a rich orange on the forewing with some dark bars. The white hindwing is marked with solid black bands and spots. The hindwing has three white tails at veins 1b, 2 and 3, of which the tail at vein 2 is the longest of the three. The tornal area of the hindwing features two black spots and a patch of iridescent blue scales.




Interestingly, the caterpillars of the Common Posy has been successfully bred on no fewer that five local host plants. Amongst these host plants are Saraca cauliflora, Desmos chinensis, Dimocarpus longan, Lithocarpus elegans and Agelaea macrophylla. It is highly likely that there may be more host plants that the caterpillars of this species feed on.

Text by Khew SK : Photos by May Chan, Federick Ho, Khew SK, Koh CH, Loke PF, Horace Tan, Anthony Wong, Mark Wong and Benjamin Yam

Butterfly Photography Series - Part 3

Butterfly Photography Series
Digital Post-Processing - Part 3 : Photo Retouching using Clone Stamp Tool

In this 3rd instalment of our Digital Post-Processing series, ButterflyCircle member Loh Mei Yee will share her digital techniques to remove minor unwanted elements in a photo and how to clean up the background of a shot to bring out the subject of the shot using Photoshop tools. Over to Mei Yee....



In Part 1 and Part 2 of our Digital Post-Processing series, I shared how to enhance photos using mainly Nik plug-ins to remove noise, sharpen images, adjust brightness and contrast, and cropping photos. In the following 2 parts of this series, I will be showing how to remove unwanted elements and how to clean up the background with the use of Photoshop tools like the ‘Clone Stamp Tool’ and ‘Layer Mask’.

Photo retouching…is it necessary? When we are out photographing butterflies, our goal is to do as much “right” in the camera as possible so that we won’t need to do too much “fixing” in post-processing later. As for me, I will always try to achieve clean or blurred background, so that the butterfly is isolated from its environment, leading the viewers’ eyes to the main subject of the shot - the butterfly. But when we are out in the field, there are things that we cannot control, like where the butterfly lands. We may end up with photos having distracting elements like a twig, a branch, leaves or glaring spots caused by the sun.



Photography purists will argue that photographs should never be altered in any way and that they should retain their authenticity. However, some photographers would prefer to have these elements to be removed to make the photo look more pleasant. Good post-processing can bring out the character of the photograph, making a good photo a better one. There is no “right” or “wrong” in photography, everyone has different preferences, we just have to do it in an “ethical” way.

Below are 3 examples of what can be achieved in Photoshop, from minor manipulation like removing some small distracting elements to a more major make-over.

#1 : Example of a minor touch-up with only the flower of the grass being removed.

#2 : A little more work was done here with unwanted elements removed, distracting hotspots/highlights and background smoothened out.

#3 : A major clean-up on the background to remove contrasty patches, distracting elements and hotspots.

Firstly, let’s talk about the Clone Stamp Tool. The Clone Stamp Tool allows you to duplicate or clone images. The process involves setting a sampling point in the image which will be used as a reference to create a new cloned area.

Open your file in Photoshop. From the Toolbar, choose the Clone Stamp Tool.

Under the “brush preset picker”, you can choose either soft feathery edged brush or hard edged brush. Frist, let’s try the soft feathery edged brush.

Set a sampling point by holding Alt key (for PC) or Opt key (for mac).

Click on the area you want to clone (without holding any key on the keyboard). The cloned image has a soft feathery edged.

Next, let’s try the hard edged brush.


You can see that the cloned image has a hard edge.

The distant between the sampling areas and the new cloned areas remains the same if they are cloned without setting new sampling point.

Only pixels within the brush will be picked up for cloning. A small brush size picks up a smaller area for cloning.

A large brush picks up a larger area for cloning.

Another convenient way to change the brush size is to hold ‘Alt + right-click’ (for PC) or ‘Opt + Ctrl + click’ (for mac) on your mouse and drag to the right to increase the brush size and drag to the left to decrease the brush size.

Removing the flower buds on the left. Set a sampling point on the green background and clone stamp on the flower buds.

Continue setting new sampling points as needed and continue cloning.


Continue cloning until the flower buds disappear.

I have also summarised the digital processing technique of using the Clone Stamp Tool in Photoshop for removing minor unwanted elements and cleaning the background of your shots in a simple video below.

Watch in HD for better quality.

We have come to the end of Part 3 tutorial. In the next and final article, I will be showing how to use Layer Mask in Photoshop for photo retouching. See you in the next article!

Text and Photos by Loh Mei Yee

Previous articles in this series :

Digital Post-Processing - Part 1 : Basic Post Processing
Digital Post-Processing - Part 2 : Noise Reduction