ICCS Pandan mangroves cleanup

Pandan mangroves is a remnant strip mangrove in the south-west of Singapore. As it is not looked after, there is a trash build up that is deterimental to the site. The Raffles Museum Toddycats & the BioD Crew (NUS) and Wildlife Reserve Singapore are conducting a cleanup for the second year under the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore. This year we will be joined by some trainees from the Singapore Police Force.

The deeper parts of the inlet is a tough and dirty site to tackle, with no shelters or toilets but soft mud, lots of mosquitoes in tide pools and some snakes instead! We will work rain or shine and are restricting numbers to reduce impact.

This cleanup is not for the faint-hearted but Toddycats and the Biodiversity Crew who are up for it are invited to sign up at here:

Saturday, 12th September 2009: 7.20am – 11.00am
International Coastal Cleanup Singapore:
Pandan Mangroves

Register at: http://tinyurl.com/iccspandan2009

Photo by Kelly Ong

Itinerary:

• 0710 – bus pick up at NUS
• 0720 – bus pick-up from Dover MRT (one stop west after Buona Vista)
• 0800 – reach Pandan mangroves bus stop; distribute into sub-groups, apply insect repellent, collect gloves, data cards and trash bags.
• 0810 – Safety Briefing, identification of the Trash Weighing Point (TWP), wet weather plan (carry on unless lightning threat)
• 0820 – Cleanup begins.
• 0845 – Loading teams start moving trash to the TWP
• 1000 – clean-up ends, data collation beings, weighing completed while participants evaluate the situation at Pandan.
• 1015 – participants clean themselves up – note no washing point, so bring a bottle of tap water and a change of footwear.
• 1045 – Pack dirty gloves to bring back wash, dry and return.
• 1100 – Bus returns to Clementi and then NUS.

What we will provide:

1. Transport to site.
2. Gloves.
3. Trash bags.
4. Weighing scales.

What you should bring:

1. Booties or covered shoes with hard soles.
2. Water bottle (at least one litre of water).
3. A snack to munch on after the cleanup, especially if you didn’t have time for breakfast!
4. Hat.
5. Insect repellent
6. Raincoat/ponco (we’ll carry on working in the rain)
7. Towel in a bag – to wipe off any sand and mud off you.
8. A light pair of long pants will help protect your legs from insect bites if you tend to get bitten, as well as from the debris.
9. A suggestion – dry fit clothes are suitable. If you prefer cotton, a change of t-shirt will come in handy after a sweaty workout.

Transport:
Registered participants can meet us at either

1. the NUS bus stop outside Science Drive 1 (7.10am; meet Otterman) or
2. Dover MRT Station bus stop on side of Singapore Polytechnic (heading west) (7.20am; meet Kelly Ong).

7.10am Pick Up Point – Meet N. Sivasothi a.k.a. Otterman

7.20am Pick up Point – Meet Kelly Ong.

Cleanup location concentration

Hi everyone,

the ICCS team are organising an August cleanup of our precious Lim Chu Kang mangroves. This complements the ICCS cleanups as the trash load there is quite high.

The location is at Lim Chu Kang Road end. Transport from NUS is provided.

If you want to battle marine debris on the National day weekend, sign up here: http://tinyurl.com/lck-08aug2009.

Cheerio!

Siva

The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (NUS) and Reflections at Bukit Chandu (NAS) invite you on a 4-hour walk with the Raffles Museum Toddycats. They have plenty of stories to share with you about the plants, wildlife, residents and battle heroes.

Two walks will be conducted, on Saturday 25th July 2009 at 8am and 9am. The walks last about four hours and will include visits to Raffles Museum’s Public Gallery, Kent Ridge Park and Reflections at Bukit Chandu.

Registration is now open – hop over to http://heritagefest.rafflesmuseum.net/

And as usual, it’s a Google Forms registration:

8th of June was World Ocean’s Day. During this period, the contributions to public education include:

5th June 2009 – The International Coastal Cleanup Singapore’s Zone and Site Captains (ICCS Otters) met to finalise sites and participation for ICCS2009. Registration by veterans has all but saturated sites but Changi and Chek Jawa can accommodate new groups. While site recces, site swapping and assisting year-round cleanups to get settled is ongoing, the next big thing on the ICCS calendar is the Organiser’s Workshop.

6th June 2009 – workshop/seminar at the Jane Goodall Institute Singapore symposium, “A Vision of Hope“: – “Nurturing the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) programme – how a small group of volunteers manage the largest and longest running environmental programme in Singapore,” by N. Sivasothi. See the News from the ICCS blog for details. Various other speakers

7th June 2009 – SPROUTS Workshop – “Blog for a cause,” by Kenneth Pinto, Ria Tan and N. Sivasothi. Introduced youth to past and current issues in the nature/environment communication, blogging basics and how WildSingapore generates and integrates community information.

8th June 2009 – Filming at Lim Chu Kang mangroves with IFA Films for a feature on the marine debris issue for The VOX, a factual and lifestyle series for Channel NewsAsia.

9th June 2009 – talk at Republic Polytechnic’s Science Camp: “Waste to Resources” – “Marine Life in Singapore and the threat of marine debris,” by N. Sivasothi. Students at the camp participated in a cleanup at Lim Chu Kang mangroves coordinated by Dr Amy Choong. RP staff and students will be participating in the ICCS at the same site in September.

Attendance figures:

With one guide down with flu, another shifting house and others going or already overseas, the registration cut-off turned out to be just nice. A 15 participant to 2 guide ratio is quite comfortable and allows the guides to enjoy the ride more. This is important since we intend to keep at this for years. I did have to turn away some non-registered individuals at Ubin itself. We simply can’t take them on ad hoc anymore now that we have fewer guides.

Airani, writes:

Grace Leng and I led a group that went on a hunt to find durians – I warned them at the very first stop that I’m too much of a durian fan! We stopped and scoured the ground at every slightest hint that there might be fruits on the ground. At one point, we bashed through lallang taller than us. Two participants managed to collect three fruit. Even the small boy in our group followed us through the lallang!

I took them through the rubber plantation (yes, now open once agan) to get to Noordin beach. The former prawn pond is under construction to become a fish farm. It’s much more open now, so can’t stay too long for the heat but luckily we had plenty of shade nearby to take cover.

We met a bunch of youths wearing NYP dark blue t-shirts who had been going round and round the farm. They were heading to Noordin so I told them to go straight. I hope they didn’t take the right path at the fork in front – they wouldn’t have gone round again! hehe…

I like that the participants were all so game!

One of other groups (Joelle, Kenneth & Alvin) took the easier approach with durians by patronising auntie’s stall at Jelutong bridge:

Photos from:

• Alvin Wong
• Kenneth Pinto

Marcus and I took a large and game group to the Sungei Ubin, Sensory Trail and the Chek Jawa boardwalk where they fell in love with fiddler crabs and had a hornbill encounter with four individuals. They also saw two otters out in the distance. The Chek Jawa counter was teeming with people, it was like a fish market!

The ride to the east proved that exercising caution and riding slowly allowed the steep slopes along Ubin’s main trails to become manageable. At the site of the old Malay village, we encountered a 90-year grandmother back from the shore after collecting bivalves and oysters. She gamely chatted with us and posed for pictures!

We id not pursue durians but marveled at the enthusiasm of the durian hunters we saw all around the island. We had no idea the other groups were just as enthusiastic! As Marcus and I debriefed the ride (we were the last group back), our group members plunked rambutans on our table as they passed us on the way out to the jetty. Nice!

Ivan Khong writes of his enthusiastic group:

The early morning shower raised the humidity by several levels – and probably the number of no shows as well [attendance was 83% - ed.].

We did a brief introduction and bike check whilst awaiting other guides and participants to appear.

Ivan chatting with the early birds before the pre-ride briefing.

First stop, Pekan quarry! Egrets coming back from all directions from breakfast to rest by the tranquil water. Nice start – and the group already visibly excited!

At the good ‘ol Jelutong bridge, stories on mangroves were told. Participant eyes were aglow when informed about the importance of mangroves, and how marine litter is a bane to marine life. Mudskippers were skipping in the background (must be happy someone is raising their plight). Half beaks aplenty at the sluice gates!

At the Marina Ubin toilet stop, the group enthused over the hornbill research tower. It must have been a very welcome toilet break because everyone went!

On the way to the German Girl Shrine, we stopped (as usual) at the mouth of the inroad, for a quick safety briefing. This pays off well once again as even the wobbly ones make it to the top without incident!

At the beach near the German girl shrine, we saw a grey heron – no talking needed! The whole group was peacefully admiring the beautiful sight of this magnificent bird looking for food. As usual, the only time we forgot the camera, everyone shows up. Gave Ketam trail a miss, as many of the bikes were felt like they were going to crumble.

While waiting for group to reassemble at the mouth of the inroad, an old friend greeted us in the bright sunlight – Episersema!!! Sitting on top of the mudlobster mound, it was happily basking away. The enthusiastic folk approaching the crab scared it back into its burrow but it reappeared for the later group, along with a few others from other mounds! We had a hearty time with group as they had so many questions! Managed to get them going again by getting them excited about Sg. Buloh Wetlands Reserve. Heh!

To prevent heat exhaustion (and to conserve energy for work the next day), a coconut break beckoned at the “why you so like that” stall. Then we journeyed north towards Mamam beach, and stopped by the coconut plantation to see the source of their cool drink! This group’s enthusiasm was bubbling still, and we planed to take them to the sensory trail after Mamam when a sprarakling flash of lightning rearranged our plans immediately with a sprint back to the village!

As we headed back to the jetty, we reflected upon our rides of past- and turn to face a brighter future ahead thanks to the little things each of us had done that day in our very own way.

Pedal Ubin is here again! Join the Toddycats for an exciting morning of stories-sharing, and appreciation of nature and heritage on Pulau Ubin. Of course, get a good workout on your bicycle along with all the fun.

Come join us on Saturday, 13 June 2009 from 8.30am to 12pm on Pulau Ubin, soon to be a last bastion of a kampung in Singapore!

For more information and registration details visit http://pedalubin.rafflesmuseum.net/

Hi everyone,

thank you for your great effort at Envirofest, it was really exciting to see you introduce biodiversity to the regular crowd – they’ve mostly not read anything online and the knowledge acquisition curve was as steep as Vigilante Drive!

Blog posts and photos
See: http://envirofest.wordpress.com/
With more to come later, on this blog.

Our manpower strategy
A few of you were anchors who took long shifts and I salute your energy. A few of you a did 6-hours while the majority punched in for 3-hour shifts (and a little in the heat of the event!). This combination was highly effective ; we maintained a flow of fresh faces, voices and energy and the anchors ensured continuity. It was marvelous seeing all of that energy!

A few others played supporting roles which was very helpful. I’m sorry we only thought of fans on the SECOND day. Guess that on the first day, Dinesh and I were preoccupied with the arrangement of groups at booths. Anyway now the fans are part of our arsenal!

All in all there were 38 of us helping out – a conservative estimate had us talking to more than 2,000 people. This equals the intense 3-day Museum Fest record from 2002 – where we had a smaller frontage.

Of the dugong and biology students
You can see from the photos in that post and the links in the 2002 event that we have used the dugong foetus for eight years and counting. We have since abandoned the need for a backdrop – too much work. Instead we just plop the specimens on a table and go. It’s the guide talking that makes the difference.

This year’s Envirofest also saw the return of the biology students with a vengeance. Their background in biodiversity, zoology and ecology allowed them to hit the ground running. However, it was interesting to see that the non-biology veteran volunteers had a stronger local and practical grasp of the subject as a result of their experience and long immersion in the community.

The one thing I wished I had remembered to do is to ask each volunteer to get to know the people, role, methods and motivation of the other groups at Envirofest. There were many wonderful people there that day. Working together in a non-crisis situation reflects their commitment to the issue of public education.

Further learning
We might have cornered the market on exhibition manpower but obviously have to work on improving delivery (we are didactic) and building field experience to supplement stories over time.

Well that’s something to look forward to.

Links to photos and blog posts are listed on the Envirofest blog.

Cheerio!

Sivasothi

We’re going to Envirofest!

Envirofest is an important calendar event as we reach out the public at their natural habitat – the shopping/transport hub. You will meet people of all walks and children and most of what we tell them about local fauna and flora is fascinating news, so its important work.

Confirmed at the Toa Payoh Hub, Minister Yaakob (MEWR) will launch the event and it will run for two days. 21 organisations are confirmed for the event and at the recent meeting a few days ago, everyone is optimisitc and rarin’ to go!

The biodiversity groups are planning to present an integrated exhibit for the first time – a trail on the biodiversity in Singapore will that present sections on terrestrial, freshwater, mangrove and marine ecosystems; we hope this rough map will become a reality:

The critical difference as always is the public education guide, so please sign up here for a three hour shift duty (or two) at:

http://envirofest-reg.rafflesmuseum.net/

Toddycats exhibits will go modular into packages of specimens with relevant photos and stories. I will conduct training on two week nights at NUS to help prepare you.

Training dates:

1. Wed 13 May 2009: 7pm – 10pm
2. Thu 14 May 2009: 7pm-10pm

Exhibition details:

• Sat 23 and Sun 24 May 2009
• Setting up: 9am, Pull down at 8pm
• Shift 1: 11am – 2pm
• 2pm – 5pm
• 5pm – 8pm

Ivan Khong has been a Pedal Ubin guide for Toddycats for half a decade now. Last night, he shared his reflection with fellow guides on why he has been guiding at Pulau Ubin regularly all these years and continues to do so.

The Pedal Ubin Guides are also known as the Jungle Fowls hence the feathery allusions.

“Reflections on the Puddles of Ubin,” by Ivan Khong, to Pedal Ubin Guides, 15 Mar 2009.

‘Ol Jungle Cock was doing some thinking last weekend. After roosting on my “throne”, here’s a little something to share..

Returning from work last sun, I did think about what most of us feel about the feeling of routine and perhaps even disillusionment we get from guiding. In my line of work, we probably say the same something at least a hundred times a week. But by doing so, lives are saved from adverse decisions (from doctors and nurses who are usually victims of too much/too little information). The patients are thus lucky because we humans speak the same language. The same can’t be said for nature.

For those of us who know and realize the importance and beauty of Mother Nature, it is our voice `she` depends on to air her plight and suffering (and importance). By doing what we do- by reaching out and informing the public through our work, we are slowly but surely spreading the word and light on conservation, preservation and much more. What may sound like same old to us could be enlightenment to others.

We had good rides and bumpy rides. We all had our foul ups and foul flights. Sometimes our feathers were ruffled; sometimes we added feathers to our cap. But one thing is for certain- each time we’re on Ubin doing what we do, we are slowly and surely creating and ensuring a better future for everyone, no matter how little we feel we’re doing. One drop of water doesn’t make a puddle, but if we all continue to work together, we can create an ocean.

Have a smooth wheeling and dealing week ahead!

Steely Eyed Warrior

Saturday 14 February, Valentine’s Day & Chinese New Year Eve.

Sunday 15 February, Chinese New Year.

The year was 1942.

Those festive occasions were probably far from most people’s minds as Singapore was on the brink of surrender.

They were most likely the least of the Malay Regiment’s concerns as they fought to hold Pasir Panjang Ridge – the present Kent Ridge.

So, the Pasir Panjang Guides gathered with a 50-strong group of diverse participants to commemorate the battle on 14 Feb – incidentally a Saturday this year.

Participants and guides gathered as dawn broke. We can only imagine what it must have been like 67 years ago at the site of the University Cultural Centre, where the Battle of Pasir Panjang began on the morning of 13 Feb.

It is quiet and peaceful as Siva introduced the walk, the battle and the guides to the participants. There were history students, biology students, a PhD candidate, educators and administrative staff from NUS, a group of eager tour guides and other members of the public.

Our route roughly corresponded with the retreat of the Malay Regiment, from where the battle began to their final stand at Bukit Chandu (Opium Hill). We followed Kent Ridge Crescent and climbed up the stairs near the Central Library to reach one end of Kent Ridge Road.

The road is lined with vegetation which is typical of the ridge, so participants got to hear more about the unique group of flora which populates this area. By the end of the walk, we heard a few participants identifying plants by their scientific names, so they were definitely listening.

In fact, a lot of them were taking notes! That is to be expected from a group which is dominated by our campus community.

We then set off to a well-hidden place, one of the few visible reminders that the Ridge was part of a sprawling military installation. This is a nice reward for the participants who dragged themselves out of bed before sunrise. This place is small, so we split into three groups.

The observation post which was built not long before World War II never fails to capture invoke a sense of wonder.

Besides looking at flora and buildings, we also chanced upon a few animals. The caterpillar above caught our attention, with its shape and colour enabling it to blend into the background.

Back on Kent Ridge Road, the walk continued and we took our traditional photo, which you can see at the bottom of the post. As we walked out of campus, we pointed out a plaque – another little-known part of Kent Ridge – which commemorates the renaming of Pasir Panjang Ridge to Kent Ridge.

A quick walk through Science Park Drive brought us to Kent Ridge Park and Normanton Park Estate. This used to be an oil depot, which was a significant part of the battle story.

Our walk in the park brought us to higher ground, eventually to a lookout point which gave a commanding view of the Southern Islands. Unfortunately, it was quite hazy, so we had to make do with a limited view. Still, it was enough to impress upon everyone why the ridge is important – you can see Singapore City, the southern coast, Bukit Timah and large swathes of the island from up here.

Almost at the end of the walk, we were assaulted by a brief shower. We took cover in one of the gazebos near the Canopy Walk. We brought the focus back to the Malay Regiment as we were reaching the place of their last stand against the Japanese.

Fortunately, the shower passed, and we made our way to Reflections at Bukit Chandu.

After nearly five hours, the guides bade farewell to the participants. Those who still had energy – and many were still bright and cheery after the long walk in sun and rain – explored the World War II Interpretive Centre, where they pondered on the sacrifice of the Malay Regiment.

The Traditional Group in the Mirror Photo

• Check out Friend of Yesterday.sg PY’s post about the walk!
• Photos from the Walk
• Route and Geotagged Photos in Google Earth (.kmz)