Dragons and Damsels Workshop

This is the 19th in a series of upcoming monthly workshops by The Leafmonkey Workshop for existing nature guides and those interested in becoming nature guides.

Date: 3 September 2010, Friday
Time: 7.00pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens, 1 Cluny Road, Singapore 259569 [Map]

Please note that there has been a change of venue!

What is this workshop about?
This workshop introduces the ecology, biology and identification of dragonflies and damselflies. Our local Odonata experts will also share about the dragonflies species and its conservation in Singapore.

This workshop is likely to be more useful for those who have already started guiding. The workshop is not intended to replace self-study and practical experience in the field.

SPEAKERS

Robin Ngiam
Robin Ngiam is a Senior Project Officer in the National Biodiversity Centre, National Park Board. He has just completed a two years Dragonfly Project in which he conducts surveys of park ponds and nature reserves; provide inputs to park managers and landscape planners on creating and maintaining pond habitats for dragonflies; and also conducting dragonfly training for staff. In addition he participates in outreach programmes by giving public talks to promote dragonfly conservation.

Throughout his five years in NParks, he has gained in-depth dragonfly knowledge through field surveys and interactions with like-minded individuals whom are either colleagues or NParks volunteers. Dragonflies are fascinating and Robin considers himself to be in a continual learning process.

Tang Hung Bun
Tang Hung Bun is an avid dragonfly-watcher and photographer. In 2009, he retired early from teaching and now dedicates his time to studying the dragonflies of Singapore. Together with Cheong Loong Fah and Robin Ngiam, he is responsible for the addition of 16 species to the national dragonfly checklist in the past six years.

Tang is also one of the co-authors of the newly released "A Photographic Guide to the Dragonflies of Singapore" published by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in August 2010.

PLEASE REGISTER AT
http://tr.im/register2010

Registration is strongly advised as it allows us to better customize the workshop to suit YOUR needs! If you have difficulty submitting your registration on this website, please email us at


CLOSING DATE
Please register by 1 September 2010.

PROGRAM
7.00pm - Registration, Networking, Bring your own Dinner!
7.30pm - Lecture on Odonata
8.30pm - Workshop discussion and group presentations.
9.30pm - End of workshop

REGISTER NOW!

COST OF WORKSHOP
Our workshops are free! Workshops are run by volunteers for volunteers. Any contribution is most welcome because your support helps us keep the workshops alive! Find out more.

ABOUT THE LEAFMONKEY WORKSHOP
Click here to read more about the workshop objectives, aims and purpose. If you are not sure if the workshop is suitable for you, read here to find out more.

WORKSHOPS FAQ
Please read the workshop FAQ which aims to answer any of your other burning questions.

Guides of Singapore Shores

The "Guides of Singapore Shores" is a weekly series of workshops held over 5 Thursday evenings beginning in July, organised in collaboration between the Blue Water Volunteers (BWV), The Leafmonkey Workshop and WildSingapore with Supporting Partner, The Singapore Scout Association.

8 July 2010 (Thur): Introduction to Intertidal Guiding*
15 July 2010 (Thur): Reefs and Coral Rubble
22 July 2010 (Thur): Rocky Shore and Coastal Forest
29 July 2010 (Thur): Sandy Shore and Seagrass Meadow
5 August 2010 (Thur): Mangrove animals and plants
* Compulsory Module: You will gain most by attending "Introduction to intertidal guiding", which is thus compulsory.

The workshops will be held at 7pm - 10pm, at The Singapore Scout Association Headquarters, 1 Bishan Street 12 [map]. Registration at 6.45pm.

Each workshop sessions will comprise a one-hour lecture, followed by a two-hour workshop. The workshop is where you will brainstorm guiding techniques, sharing and learning with one another. Participants are encouraged to attend the full 3-hour session to gain the most out of each workshop.

At the end of the series of indoors classroom workshops, a field evaluation session will be conducted on 14 August 2010 (Sat) to give participants a chance to put theory into practise. Workshop trainers and fellow participants will provide individualised feedback to participants at the end of the field session.

To minimise impact on the shore, the number of participants in the field evaluation session will be limited and priority will be given to those who attended at least 75% of the programme including "Introduction to intertidal guiding".

This series of workshops is tailored to benefit existing nature guides and those interested to become shore guides. If you are an experienced shore guide, please join us so that the rest can learn from you. The bulk of the time is allocated to a workshop, where everyone can share, learn and DO!

To enable us to tailor the programme to suit your needs, please complete this registration form to sign up for the various workshops.

What the Fig?

This is the 18th in a series of upcoming monthly workshops by The Leafmonkey Workshop for existing nature guides and those interested in becoming nature guides.

Date: 14 May 2010, Friday
Time: 7.00pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Civil Service College [Map]
31 North Buona Vista Road Singapore 275983

What is this workshop about?

This workshop introduces you into the world of figs: their diversity, ecology and how to identify them. Learn more about the importance of plants to humans and the environment, and the art of basic plant identification. You'll also be able to to feel and touch various cut plant specimens, particularly figs!

This workshop is likely to be more useful for those who have already started guiding and who have some basic knowledge of figs or plants. The workshop is not intended to replace self-study and practical experience in the field.

SPEAKERS

Angie Ng
Angie is a retired Geography teacher with a passion for plants. She goes figging (almost) everyday and is one of the co-authors of "A Guide to the Fabulous Figs of Singapore". She is currently the chairrperson of Nature Society (Singapore)'s Plant Group.

Bian Tan
Bian graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Master’s in Plant Taxonomy. He was the SEA Programme Coordinator for the Botanical Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), and assists botanical institutions with plant conservation, environmental education and the SEABG network. Prior to this, he spent almost 20 years in the USA studying and working at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens, where he pioneered the establishment of their South East Asian Cloud Forest.

PLEASE REGISTER AT
http://tr.im/register2010

Registration is strongly advised as it allows us to better customize the workshop to suit YOUR needs! If you have difficulty submitting your registration on this website, please email us at


CLOSING DATE
Please register by 12 May 2010.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
Click here to read more about the workshop objectives, aims and purpose. If you are not sure if the workshop is suitable for you, read here to find out more.

WORKSHOPS FAQ
Please read the workshop FAQ which aims to answer any of your other burning questions.

COST OF WORKSHOP
Participation is by donation and participants are free to pay whatever they are comfortable with.. What does this mean?

PROGRAM
7.00pm - Registration, Networking, Bring your own Dinner!
7.30pm - 30 minutes of background content
8.00pm - Workshop discussion and group presentations.
9.30pm - End of workshop

REGISTER NOW!

Operation No Release

This is the 17th in a series of upcoming monthly workshops by The Leafmonkey Workshop for existing nature guides and those interested in becoming nature guides.

Date: 30 April 2010, Friday
Time: 7.00pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Civil Service College [Map]
31 North Buona Vista Road Singapore 275983

What is this workshop about?

This workshop focuses on the impact of exotic and invasive animals on our natural ecosystems in Singapore. Topics covered include:
(1) What is animal release? mercy release versus pet abandonment
(2) What are the impacts of animal release?
(3) How can you help?

This workshop is likely to be useful for anyone interested to do more about the release of animals into our natural habitats. It would be especially useful for anyone interested to volunteer for or would like to find out more about NPark's efforts in tackling this issue. The workshop requires active participation and includes role playing activities and is not to be mistaken for a public talk.

SPEAKER

Karen Teo, NParks
Karen Teo is a Senior Outreach Officer of the Central Nature Reserve Branch (National Parks Board). An ex-teacher by training, Karen is passionate about conserving Singapore's natural heritage. She did her Master thesis on Bukit Timah Nature Reserve at the Australian National University. Currently, she develops, facilitates and organises outreach and educational activities/programmes at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Central Catchment Nature Reserve. In addition, she gives talks on nature conservation issues of Singapore to schools, organisations and the universities and conducts training workshops for teachers on fieldwork activities in the nature reserves and nature parks.

PLEASE REGISTER AT
http://tr.im/register2010

Registration is strongly advised as it allows us to better customize the workshop to suit YOUR needs! If you have difficulty submitting your registration on this website, please email us at


CLOSING DATE
Please register by 28 April 2010.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
Click here to read more about the workshop objectives, aims and purpose. If you are not sure if the workshop is suitable for you, read here to find out more.

WORKSHOPS FAQ
Please read the workshop FAQ which aims to answer any of your other burning questions.

COST OF WORKSHOP
Participation is by donation and participants are free to pay whatever they are comfortable with.. What does this mean?

PROGRAM
7.00pm - Registration, Networking, Bring your own Dinner!
7.30pm - 30 minutes of background content
8.00pm - Workshop discussion and group presentations.
9.30pm - End of workshop

REGISTER NOW!

Wiping out the Trade in Wildlife Recapped

Date: 9 April 2010 (Friday)
Venue: Civil Service College
Participants: Nature guides and prospective nature guides
Facilitators: Ria Tan, November Tan and Chen Jinwen
Guest Speaker: Louis Ng

Last Friday at the Leafmonkey workshop, we put aside our lighter, cheerier topics on the amazing biodiversity in Singapore and shifted our attention to a more somber one: wildlife trade in Singapore.


Do we extend our hand?

Yes, in Singapore. For many of us, this was a surprising realization. How could Singapore, with its tight border controls, miss the countless animals – endangered and/or caught in the wild – which were smuggled into its borders?

Louis from ACRES, together with Anbu and Zan, came down to share with us the sobering reality of wildlife trade in Singapore.


Louis Ng of ACRES

In his comprehensive presentation, we were riveted as we learnt about the ease of buying tiger and bear parts from nondescript Chinese medicine shops. To think that just downstairs, amongst your neighbourhood shops, could be one which is doing its part to exacerbate the poaching of tigers in another country – such is the extent of the problem we have on our hands. Singapore’s efficiency and importance in trade works just as well for illegal wildlife as for legal commodities.


Bears in horrid conditions - the cruel trade in bear products

And this is not an easy problem to solve, as we found out during the activity after Louis’ talk. We held a mock debate session between numerous stakeholders – the government (AVA), public, pet traders and the NGOs. The issue at hand was the (illegal) wild pet trade in Singapore, which is prolific and often involves the extreme suffering of the animals which are smuggled in cramped conditions. However, whether it was due to the bureaucracy of our government or the immense popularity and rational – if completely mad – reasoning of our pet traders, our pet traders gained the upper hand. Kudos to Lesley, the epitome of the rationally mad pet trader, who managed to present with a straight face while the rest of the pet traders were trying their hardest not to break out in laughter.



Despite the negative slant of the debate, an important learning point was to take responsibility in whatever we believe in. Evident from our debate was finger-pointing: from within stakeholder to between on the problem of wild pet trade. Nothing happens unless we take the first step. I am glad to hear about ACRES initiatives like the rescue centre and undercover investigations, as it means someone has taken the lead. Is it our turn now?

November Says:
To show our appreciation for Louis and ACRES staff for taking time out to do this workshop with us, and also to support their cause of helping animals in the wildlife trade, a total of 195 peanuts contributed to the golden pig by workshop participants were donated to ACRES.