Lots of little
colourful fiddler crabs scuttle around the Chek Jawa boardwalk. A leisure trip allows me to slow down and take close up photos of them.
We saw other interesting critters, and sadly, a fisherman laying a very long driftnet across the seagrass meadows.
There are all kinds of
mudskippers in the back mangroves. Alas, I couldn't find the
Blue-spotted mudskipper and we didn't see any snakes though we looked hard. Marcus did spot some rarey dragonflies.
There were lots of
Gold-spotted mudskippers along the shoreline, quarreling and shoving one another as usual.
Hello! A young
Malayan water monitor takes a look at us before scurrying away into the undergrowth.
Marcus points out the two different kinds of Chut-chut snails that had crept quite high up the mangrove trees. Preparing for a very high tide? The
Red chut-chut has a reddish body while the
Black chut-chut is more slender and has a black body.
Marcus points out Young Mama
wild boar and her oldest surviving piglet have a mud bath and foraging near the boardwalk. They also had a good butt rub on the trees. There are signs that Young Mama might have recently given birth to a new litter. Perhaps we will see a new batch of watermelon striped babies soon?
Although they are wild animals, we can have a close look at them from the boardwalk as long as we don't frighten them.
Such
peaceful interactions with wild animals on Chek Jawa (and elsewhere) is only possible if people refrain from feeding and alarming the animals. Tips on how to be a good visitor are posted at key points at Chek Jawa.
We organised this walk to introduce Chek Jawa to
Adrian Levrel, a French marine biologist working in French Guiana with WWF-France. It was nice to share our shores and learn from Adrian too.
Along the boardwalk, we came across a crew filming what seems to be a
Bollywood style story. There was a guy and a gal, a guitar and singing
and dancing!
The huge dead tree that used to be in the middle of the shore has washed up and seems to be jamming up the mangrove trees on the high shore near the boardwalk.
Sadly, we saw a fisherman lay a very long driftnet along almost half of the length of the entire seagrass lagoon.
Here's a closer look at the fisherman.
Just last month, we removed a long abandoned driftnet here. More about the net on
Project Driftnet.
We often see
dugong feeding trails on the seagrass meadows. Dugongs breathe air and will drown if they get entangled in a driftnet.
From the Jejawi Tower, a lovely view of Chek Jawa's shores with Pulau Tekong on the horizon.
Sadly, this is the stretch of water where a road will connect Chek Jawa with Pulau Tekong in the
7million population plan.
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| Click on images for larger view. |
We should appreciate and enjoy Chek Jawa and Pulau Ubin while we can!
More about
Pulau Ubin and
Chek Jawa: how to get there and what to see and do.
Or join the FREE guided walks at the Chek Jawa boardwalk with the
Naked Hermit Crabs. Their next walk is on 2 Mar (Sat). This walk is specially for families and kids.
