Toddycats field trip at Labrador Nature Reserve, guided by Oi Yee, Siva and Justin. Most of the walk took place down at the rocky beach, although the stroll to the shore allowed the old timers to dispense nuggets of memories about the park's history and ecology. The immense webs of golden orb spiders were pointed out, along with towering heads of Nibong clumps. Cicadas were distinguished from crickets and the crabby fate of a Singaporean endemic retold with sundry lessons recapitulated.
Below the jetty, Oi Yee captured life on the water's edge, turning cold rocks into hot spots of shells, secretions and slimey trails. A slippery coat of cells line the vertical plain, on which rise the volcanic cones of once free-swimming cyprids. The goo of green and grey is rasped by the radula of legless feet. Some of these coils are dimpled and sutured; others are craggy and creep just beyond reach of the tidal line. Still others have long ditched hard homes for a bearable lightness of being. Below them runs a foul network of limey tunnels sequestered from sea water to shelter the soft bodies of worms. The feast is not just for filter-feeders; Oi Yee plucks the antler-like of thalli of a red algae to show the raw form of gels we use in desserts and dressings.
On the rocks between the water and wall, nerites, turban and turbo shells graze with languid haste. Lifted up, the animals retreat deep into their coils to greet visitors with the opprobium of closed doors. The nerites were out in their Sunday best, with gaudy garbs of textured gold, fine marbling, smart pinstripes and bold blotches. Further down, the stern cofferdam that buffered the beach from the adjourning container terminal had come down to allow access to a small stretch of shore astrewn with coarse gravel of anthropomorphic origin and the debris of broken reefs. Little is astir on this corner of impoverishment. And in the crevices of the high shore, the rubble of humanity remains unclaimed, offering evidence of senses as unmoved as the still stones they deify.
That looks like fun. Wish I were travelling again but for the moment I'll travel vicariously through your photos and stories.
(Some odd stuff's been happening with your blog feed recently, BTW.)
Posted by: Snail | 09 March 2008 at 02:30 PM