Pedal & Plume Trip to Hampstead Wetlands Park

Tough ride, but I brought my Brompton to Brompton Road

The weather has been unpredictable for the last few weeks, and I had to postpone my planned trip to Hampstead Wetlands Park on my bike for birding till now. I knew this trip would take a few hours, and I did not want to get stuck in the rain at the nature park. But this is a rather long ride from my home (about 18km one way, 36km two ways), and I have decided to break it down into several segments to make sure I can complete it.

Let me start with the route to Hampstead, followed by the bird photos, and lastly with the route for the return journey, which went by a different path.

I started cycling around Loyang Ave, passed through Pasir Ris Park, Lorong Halus, and then along Punggol Waterway, and finally reached WaterWay Point. The ride is about 12.69km and took me about an hour and 7 minutes.

I had lunch there, rested for a while, and then headed to Hampstead.

For this segment, I took about 27 minutes over a distance of 5.86km.

There is a segment parallel to the Tampines Expressway that is sloping upwards. I managed to complete it without stopping, but at the expense of tiring my legs.

Resident Buffy Fish Owl at Hampstead Park

There were two birders, and they were both focused on the owl. Here’s a short shaky video of the owl.

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I took another shot of the owl, and started camping for the Violet Turaco at the pond, which unforutnately, did not come.

Instead, I have the other “regulars” in the park.

There is a large group of Asian Glossy Starlings camping here.

I suppose they have their favourite food here.

The Blue-Throated Bee-Eater is also around.

And the Black-Naped Oriole.

The stars of today’s trip are actually the Pacific Swallows.

Two chicks were camping on this tree branch, and the parent came to feed them.

The parent actually caught two dragonflies. So, the first one is fed properly to the first chick.

The parent flew back and forth again to pass the second dragonfly to the other chick.

The second chick is calling for its lunch.

But …

But the chick missed it.

And the parent did not know.

The poor chick did not realize the dragonfly was just beside it.

And the dragonfly eventually dropped off.

The poor chick then flew to a lower branch, and no food is coming for a while.

It’s amazing how birds can feed multiple chicks. I always wonder how the parents distinguish their chicks and somehow can feed them an equal amount of food. I suppose the chicks always learn to fight for their food, as the competition for the parents’ feeding is commonly seen in nesting behavior.

After about an hour of camping, I decided to move on as the Violet Turaco did not come. My next destination is the Brompton Road.

This route might not be the best to reach the junction, but you can cycle most of the way.

My Brompton at Brompton Road

Before starting on my return journey, I had a toilet break at a nearby rest station. Then head to IKEA Tampines for my next stop.

Before reaching IKEA Tampines, I took a quick water break along Punggol Waterway. The journey to IKEA Tampines took about 1 hour and 5 minutes over a distance of 12km. The segment parallel to the Tampines Expressway is where I got my top speed of 45.6km/h due to the downslope.

At IKEA, I had my garlic hot dog snack and two can drinks before moving on.

After the tasty snack, I cycled for another 43 minutes over a distance of 6km to get home.

There were a few lessons from this ride.

First, I almost got into a car accident at a zebra crossing. This particular crossing has 2 lanes. As I was reaching the crossing, the cars along the nearest lane started to stop before the zebra crossing marks. After passing one lane, I just assume the cars coming to the second lane will also stop. But this BMW did not, and I could see the driver panic and jam braked. I swerved my bike to the right (off the zebra crossing), hoping to avoid being hit, and was lucky the car could stop in time (over the zebra crossing marks). So, never assume the second zebra crossing lane is safe unless there are no cars or the cars have stopped.

Second, I always plan to have enough water to bring with my bike while cycling. I never knew I needed even more water when I have a break before cycling the next segment. So, I ran out of water and needed to find a refill along the way. This means that for future long rides, I would need to plan for water stops in my route to refill my bottle.

Third, for long multiple-segment rides like this, I must not overestimate my endurance. I knew I could complete the tough upslope segment parallel to Tampines Expressway, but when I was near my home, there was another upslope segment that has lower slope angle, but my legs got cramp upon pushing hard again. My whole journey took about 5.5 hours, and I almost could not reach home. So, for future long rides that have multiple upslope segments, I would need to calibrate myself to not strain too much; otherwise, I would end with cramps.

I hope this trip will inspire you to cycle more and to enjoy the nature around us.

Here’s a partial POV recording of my trip for the segment from Waterway Point to Hampstead Park. I ran out of battery in my action camera and could not record the entire journey. That’s another lesson to learn.

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