Crabs! Fish! Snake! And other exciting encounters by kids on the Pasir Ris mangrove boardwalk with the
Naked Hermit Crabs!
What a great way to celebrate Earth Day!
There were lots of other
Earth Day events planned at Pasir Ris in the morning. I hope they went well despite the rain. Fortunately, we had clear cool weather for our evening walk! As I waited for the visitors to turn up, I notice that the sunbird nest at the toilet that we saw
a few weeks ago is gone. Oh dear.
The mysterious mounds made by mudlobster are 'condos' riddled with crab holes and full of crabs!
Dad has found a little caterpillar hanging on a piece of silk! Amazing!
Ivan shares more about the fascinating
Nipah palms.
Our favourite spot is the jetty on Sungei Tampines, we can see nesting herons, spot all kinds of fishes, as well as lizards and more! Sadly, this is where I also saw
lots of dead fishes last month. Today, however, the Sungei looks ok.
Alas, one of the kids spot this abandoned trap on the mud.
We saw a Red-eared slider, a turtle that is not native to Singapore. This turtle comes with the pet trade and often end up in our waters as irresponsible owners release them when they are no longer wanted. These
introduced alien species can disturb our native wildlife and affect our natural ecosystems. This is why we
should NOT release our unwanted pets into our nature places.
A strange long fish is seen swimming in the murky water. Ivan suggests it is an arowana, another non-native fish that was probably released into our waters.
Pei Yan helps sort out the drawing session. I missed taking a photo of Sankar who did an awesome job for his first guiding session with the Naked Hermit Crabs!
Kids really focus on the important things. One of the most important things in mangroves is MUD. Lots and lots of it.
I'm always stunned by how much the kids notice on our trips. Here Fion, aged 8, has a wonderful labelled drawing of her favourite finds.
More photos and drawings on the
Naked Hermit Crab blog.
Don't worry if you missed this walk, join the Crabs for our next walk on 28 Apr (Sat) at 5pm.
More details.
There EW MORE Earth Day events the rest of the week. Come for Prof Leo Tan's inspiring talk or help clean Tanah Merah shore with the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore.
More details.
