Dairy Farm Nature Park - no more free parking soon

The trail is shaded most of the way.

This is a trail that leads to a former granite quarry that is now transformed into a place of peace and tranquility and where for the first time I managed to photograph a huge eagle in flight from a great distance with my Panasonic FZ1000 camera.

Insect-hunting is once again a futile exercise this morning. Nothing new and extraordinarily interesting from the insect kingdom made an appearance. Nevertheless there were enough subjects for photography in the two hours that we walked the nature trail to the granite quarry and back to the carpark.

Incidentally, the small carpark that at the most has 20 parking lots will no longer be free soon. Makes one wonder how sensible it is to install an expensive electronic parking system to make collection from just 20 carpark lots. As usual no one in the government that encourages its citizens to take up healthy activities like walking in the parks has heeded the pleas to re-look this blanket charging of car parking at our parks and nature reserves.

We are not asking for free parking. Just tiered parking charges would be more sensible to make people who abuse the parking lots pay without penalising nature lovers like us. Like the prices of coffee from hawker centres to cafes, the cost of living keeps creeping up and activities like enjoying nature is now at a cost. As I have said before, it now costs me an average of $12 a week for me just to continue with my healthy lifestyle of regular walks in the parks of Singapore. And that, makes me $50 poorer each month. Hello? Is anyone listening?

Ferns that army boys used to pluck to camouflage themselves during training.

A fruitful fig tree.

Flower of the crepe ginger plant.

I need more practice with the tracking focus of my camera.

New leaves are red.

Creepers that take support and nourishment from the tree.

Grasshoppers leftover lunch.

Skipper taking a drink of nectar.

Carpenter bee taking a drink too.

Solitary bird taking in the view.

African tulips shot from a distance with the zoom.

Grass.

Ginger specie. Lots of these flowers around.

Skipper.

An assassin bug.

Fly rubbing its hands in glee.

Not sure what fruit this is.

Fishtail palm leaves.

Wait till you see how tiny this flower is.

The changing colours of decay.

Approaching the quarry.

Flowers of the Acacia tree. Not good if you have a sensitive nose.

Flowers of the Albizia tree.

Albizia tree.

The craggy face of the former granite quarry adds character to the surroundings.

New leaves.

Here comes the eager near the face of the quarry.

My best shot of the eagle in flight. Click on photo.

At maximum zoom 1600mm. Just an impression of the majestic bird at rest.

A totally black dragonfly.

And now the lovely blooms of this ginger specie.

Another skipper at rest.

This monkey looked like it had on white eye shadow.

Going back.

A decent shot of a bird that is very active.

Fern about to unfurl.

Lovely tail.

Like a crab claw. See the ants?

He ain't heavy, he's my grandson.

Nature's twists and turns.

Leaf formation, so lovely.

This dragonfly is unusually choosy about where to rest.

The best pose but my camera did not capture it well.

Mushrooms galore. Pity they could not be eaten.