This was meant to be a search for special trees around Sungei Jelutong on Pulau Ubin, but the hunt was periodically interrupted by bugs that barged their way onto the trail and threatened to lure my duck onto slippery slopes and into deep trouble. A trail through the back mangroves married swampy pools and thick secondary forest to provide a happy intermingling of crossborder fauna. A pair of tiger beetles – not the usual ones that prowl on sandy tracks, but a species that is probably somewhat arboreal in habit – abandoned their usual flightiness to share their juices and spawn a new brood of hunters.
Closer to the road, a half-foot long walking stick assumed a position of stiff resistance to the visual depredations of my duck.
Further down a patchwork of old prawn ponds, the walking bunds are bordered by flowering sea hibiscus and Bruguieras. Male carpenter bees patrol territories around individual trees, buzzing through with predictable regularity to ensure that each three-dimensional corner of airspace is secure from intruders. Weekends offer no rest for creatures who live for nothing more than a taste of the birds and the bees.
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