A visit to Lorong Halus landfill

Spent the morning birdwatching in Lorong Halus. Lorong Halus was a former rubbish landfill and sometime back in 2007, earmarked by the Public Utilities Board (PUB) to be turned into Singapore's first constructed wetland park in their ABC Water Masterplan. A visit there on Sunday,showed that plans are underway in turning that plan into reality.

Getting there
Accessible via Tampines Expressway (from direction of Punggol) exit or via Pasir Ris direction via Pasir Ris Industrial Drive 1. Once you are at Lorong Halus, there is a trail that runs beside a stream. Follow that and look out for birds as well as butterflies along this trail. There is a bridge you can cross near the end of the trail to get to the other side if you planning to take a look at the pond.

View Lorong Halus in a larger map


The walk itself is unsheltered most of the way is still very much a dirt trail that gets pretty muddy after heavy downpour and extremely hot during mid-afternoon. Trust me, i experienced both conditions along this trail ! lol. Where posible, come prepared with something to protect you from the sorching afternoon eat and the hungry mozzies too !!

Below are some of the photos taken along the trail.

Lorong Halus Trail

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Flock of Asian Glossy Starlings

Pair of Dollarbird

Coppersmith Barbet

What is amazing is left to its own device, this area can still be host to beautiful birdlife. What is unfortunate is that the pond itself seemed to be polluted with brackish material seeped out either from the underground contents of the former landfill or from somewhere else. Didn't see any birdlife at the pond at all.

Birds spotted

1. Red-whiskered Bulbuls
2. Dollarbird
3. Black Baza (spotted 2 in flight)
4. Black shouldered Kite (solitary-perched)
5. Crested Serpant Eagle (1 in flight)
6. Brahminy Kite
7. Pied Triller
8. White-throated Fan Tail
9. Coppersmith Barbets (spotted 2, 1-getting it's nest ready/the other perched nearby)
10. Blue-tailed bee eater
11. Cinnamon Bittern
12. Stork-billed Kingfisher
13. White throated Kingfisher
14. Common Kingfisher
15. Grey Heron
16. Little Heron
17. Marsh Sandpiper
18. Olive back Sunbird (male)
19. Scally Munia
20. Baya Weaver
21. Lesser Coucal
22. White breasted waterhen
23. Common iora
24. Asian Glossy Starlings