I had an awesome day at Chek Jawa with volunteers doing a marine survey for the NParks Ubin Comprehensive Biodiversity Survey. We are using the methods and materials developed by NParks for their citizen science
Intertidal Watch programme.
What a great bunch of volunteers from all walks of life, who came together on a hot Monday afternoon for the field training session. And also on Saturday for the classroom training session. Today, we saw otters at Changi and at Chek Jawa, and wild jungle fowl too!
Here are some of the enthusiastic volunteers on the way to Pulau Ubin. We saw otters at Changi Creek!
First, a stop at the Ubin Volunteer Hub to soak in the aircon, and soak in the information about how to do the survey.
Geok Yeng who leads the Intertidal Watch programme, quickly recaps the key steps, and emphasises safety issues.
The team looks fresh and ready for action, as Alan takes a group photo. Thanks to Alan for making all the arrangements.
Then it was off try out the survey on Chek Jawa. We learn how to set up the lines. And not to step on other people's sampling sites.
We are careful not to step into our own sampling site.
To take a shadow-free photo of the quadrat, the rest of the team have to stand far away. And lean back, almost as if a bomb was about to explode from the quadrat...haha.
Taking a photo of the data sheet just in case. There was a lot of counting of tubeworms and tiny hermit crabs, estimation of seagrass and seaweed cover, and pondering identification of all of them.
It was hot work under the blazing sun, but we did it! Bravo!
Here's the rest of the teams are work on their lines.
We really managed to cover quite a lot of ground in a short time.
We ended taking the Long Cut, for a scenic view of Chek Jawa.
Here's a video of the otters we saw today, and the jungle fowl and kingfisher too!
Two days beforehand, the volunteers also attended a classroom session. Here's Alan, who is leading on the marine component of the Ubin Comprehensive Survey, starting off the classroom session.
We will be surveying Chek Jawa on the eastern tip of Pulau Ubin.
Then Geok Yeng gave a very thorough and easy-to-understand presentation of the methods and materials that we will be using.
It looks complicated but it's not.
We then tried out the methods outside on the floor.
Experienced shore explorers such as Ivan Kwan helped to explain some trickier aspects of identification and surveying.
We had lots of fun!
If you would like to join the Ubin Comprehensive Biodiversity Survey marine surveys, please contact Alan Tan ALAN_TAN@nparks.gov.sg
