Working in a cemetery

Something struck me last night regarding doing field work in a cemetery. The inevitable question that comes around when you mention it usually goes something along the lines of "Are you scared working in a cemetery?" with the implication that it's a place for dead people and whether we are pan tan etc etc. We have several field workers who are scared of snakes. One is scared of spiders. While I wouldn't exactly use the word "fear", I would say that most of the field workers take precautions against the mosquitoes. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we try to keep our distance from bees and hornets. None of us like having ants get into our clothes. Scorpions and centipedes have been spotted before. See, that's the funny thing. We are usually more concerned with the "life" of the place getting to us. But the "death" of the place getting to us is usually what we are asked about.

Snakes

Nearly stepped on this python on 29th May. Was taking photos of a grave and while stepping back to get the entire grave into the frame of the camera, noticed something from the corner of my eye. Stopped and looked back, and saw this python slithering behind me. And so my first reaction was... to take a photo. Attempted to get another shot capturing it's head as well, but didn't manage to get that shot. Kept getting asked by various people whether I was scared (that it would attack me). My reply was that it obviously had noticed me first, and if it had wanted to, it would already had done so, rather than pass by me from behind.

Was with Ted Hin and Chai Jing on 18th April (the same day we spotted the large centipede) when I spotted this snake by the roadside. In the beginning, it was staying motionless by the roadside. I walked past it, noticed something, retraced my steps, and looked at it. Even then, I thought that it was a snake skin (and so did Ted Hin). And then I took a closer look. And then I realised that the small legs at the top, that I had initially thought belonged to it, were actually the legs of a lizard that it was holding in it's mouth. It remained motionless until Ted Hin mused aloud about hitting it on the head with a stick and bringing it back, and then it started running (erm, well, snakes don't run, but this was quite a hurried movement, and "slither" doesn't quite convey that speed) towards a tree. To give an idea of it's size, the lizard was the size of a normal house lizard, and it was enough to fill the mouth of the snake. So ya, it was actually quite a small snake.

Spotted this dead snake on 18th May. Took a few pictures when I first spotted it, while on my way to document the graves. It was still there by the roadside when I came back though, and so I took some photos and included one with a ruler, so that should answer the size questions. Brought it back to show Annabella. Think I really scared her with it.

Wendy's "5kg" (taken on 18th April)

Was partnered with Ted Hin and Chai Jing on 18th April. Saw grass rustling about a metre away. This was a slow "something moving inside grass and still continuing to move inside grass" rustle, not the "something inside grass that has been startled and moving at high speed (hopefully away) and then nothing" rustle.





Saw this large red and black centipede moving around and around. It would climb up to the top of a gravestone, do a backflip, falling back down and then repeat the whole process somewhere else again. I have no idea the centipede was trying to do. After spending something like around 15 minutes looking like it was just randomly moving around, Ted Hin mused aloud about whether we should hit it unconscious with a stick and bring it back. It started moving away after that... :-P





Oh, and Pik Ching thought that it was cute, but it was a pity that it was poisonous, or it would have made a nice pet. Hmmm... :-D





What? Oh, the "5kg" thing? That's cos' Wendy (Tan) misheard "centipede spirit" in Chinese.


Will likely upload the rest of the photos on Facebook in the next couple of days.

Large moth (photos)

Actually took photos of this large moth on 26th May,a Saturday at around 1 in the afternoon. Jing Xian was the one who discovered it.










Pictures of the moth taken from different angles.



























































A couple of close up shots to the moth.





























Shots with ruler :-D

















































A shot of the surroundings.













My favorite shot by far. The wind blew when I was taking pictures, and I took the chance to snap off this picture. The moth is still sleeping, but it does look like it's about to take flight from this picture, doesn't it?