Biodiversity in Meifeng

This morning we got up early to go for bird watching. Initially, my first impression of bird watching referred to some old uncles gathering in the void deck of their housing block to appreciate each other's caged birds. But the activity here in Meifeng was a lot different from what I usually see in Singapore. We literally watched the birds from afar of their habitats. Sadly, I only get to spot 2 different bird species from this bird watch. But I had a surprise discovery of a big pair of 'Watermelon butterfly'. A pity that they were residing far away in the branches that I did not get a snap shot of their mating scene. As we walk around, we found this very rare five-leaf clover!

It was said that four-leaf clover was already rare to be seen around and such leaves will bring good luck. Imagine how lucky we were to find one with 5 petals. Hope Lady Luck is there to give us all blessings! Even though we didn't see a lot of bird species, we chatted along and sang songs to brighten up the mood.

After lunch, we visited the Meifeng farm beside our hostel. we were exposed to a lot of plants and flowers species by the tour guide. We may know kiwi fruit, but how many people actually know what a kiwi plant looks like? Such are the examples of plants that were introduced by the guides. We even get to eat some of the plants, tastes ranging from sweet, sour to bitter. Some were even artificially arranged to tell the NSEW directions.

Other than the growing plants, we were introduced to dried flowers too. They were mainly used for fragrance, cosmetics and perfumes and were able to retain for long periods due to water absorbents and chemicals used.

Kiwi plant 

NSEW direction dial

"Light bulb" flower

 Dry flower room

Greenhouse at Meifeng

After the farm visit, we had farm-work experience in the greenhouses. Our tasks were mainly weeding the cabbages. Each of us was to enter a row of cabbage and pluck out the weeds that was competing nutrients with the cabbages. Although it was only one row, but it already took me 1 hour to complete half of it. I wonder how did the farmers endure such repetitive and prolong tasks.

Next, we get to make our own vegetable/fruit juice! It was basically blending apple, pineapple, cabbage and beetroot together. We were the 2nd team to blend the ingredients and after tasting the 1st team's concoction, we realized that beetroot gave a very bitter taste. Hence, our team maximized our mixture with apple and pineapple, limiting the amount of beetroot into our juice, and it turned out very nice! It was much sweeter and the colour was appealing.

The day ends with night observation on insects. It was mainly moth and beetle introductions in the farm. Moths are more active at night and they were attracted to the light so as to vary their mating with different species. Beetles have fangs(or claws) in front of their head for protection, fighting and obtaining saps from plants. I won't say it was a tough day but I am already information overload that lead to slight headache, haha. I will try my best to remember the details as far as possible. Good night all!