Nature class in Nangang Park 南崗公園

This time our nature class walk was in a park and ... there were no stairs!
There are so many parks in Taipei and New Taipei City, each one of them is worth exploring. I am really happy that I get a chance to visit these parks during Ania's nature classes.

Nangang Park is located in ... Nangang district of Taipei. It's not far from the freeway no.3 exit.

The main entrance to the park can be seen from afar, it's a huge,13 m high and 20 m wide, Chinese-style gate,

The park was created in 1988 between Fude St 福德街, Dongxin St 東新街 and Lane Dongxin St. 東新街170巷. There is a parking at the Dongxin St end of the park, as well as street parking. The closest MRT station is Kunyang Station 捷運昆陽站. From there you can walk along the Dongxin St to get to the park.

There are two ponds in the park and some small pagodas:

Which plants did we see in the park?

Why the root of this tree grows like this?
Simple answer - the tree is planted too close to the sidewalk and roots don't have space to grow.

 Mock (Indian) strawberry- Duchesnea indica -蛇莓草 - Poziomkówka indyjska

Wood sorrel - Oxalis corymbosa - 紫花酢醬草- Szczawik

Japanese mazus - Mazus pumilus - 通泉草

Elephant apple - Dillenia indica - 第倫桃

Ferns -  Polypodiopsida - 蕨類 - Paprocie

Sea mango - Cerbera manghas - 海檬果 (POISONOUS)

Dollarweed (Pennywort) - Hydrocotyle umbellata - 天胡荽 - Wąkrota

How does bark of this tree feel?

We also got a chance to observe some animals,birds, reptiles and insects:

So many tiny creatures on this tree.

Carolina satyr - Hermeuptychia sosybius

Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos - 綠頭鴨 - Kaczka krzyżówka

All in a row :-)

 Stink bug - Pentatomoidea - 椿象 - Pluskwiak

Lazy turtles on a log.

Kids had also time to play a bit:

Ania the witch!

Just when we were leaving the park we noticed someone with a strange thing on his back. It turned out that he was taking photos for the Google Maps Street View! The man agreed to hake a group photo with children,

On the way back to the MRT we stopped at another pond to see more birds and to eat some berries (forgot the name).

Some big papayas growing here.