Nature review of 2018. Part1 January to June.

My wife Sue Leeks and I were in Sri Lanka for nearly all of January 2018. Most birders go there to try to see as many endemics as possible. For me, as I had never been to Asia before, it was all new and all very exciting. I found it hard to prioritise the endemics (ie bird species unique to Sri Lanka). For those of us interested in wildlife, most would also be keen to see two Sri Lankan specialities - Leopard and Blue Whale. We didn't try for either of these because of rumoured surpluses of jeeps and big waves respectively.  We got off to a great start in the  Villa Talangama near Colombo - thanks to David Cromack for the tip off. It is highly recommended as an introduction to wetland wildlife in Sri Lanka - and the balcony shown above has great views over the Talangama wetland.  The ubiquitous and easy to photograph white throated kingfisher helped me to get to grips with my new Sony bridge camera.



Not long off the plane, from the hotel balcony, I thought that disaster had struck. My binoculars refused to focus on anything. I became convinced they had been damaged in transit. But fortunately it was just down to the glue on the focus wheel cover melting in the 30 degree heat. With the cover removed my Swarovskis were perfectly useable. Panic over.

This race of the purple faced leaf monkey has a restricted distribution. Possibly because they look a bit ridiculous with their furry goggles. 

It wasn't all about the birds in Sri Lanka. We were lucky enough to see a green turtle laying eggs on a beach near Bentota. I am not sure that "The Turtle Code" was fully followed by the local guides but the lady turtle didnt seem to be overly distressed and it was not disturbed for long. They are very strange creatures when they make their appearance on the land. The fruit bats, aka Flying Foxes were also amazing, especially those that had died and shrivelled hanging on electricity cables. Later in our trip we witnessed thousands flying over our hotel one evening heading off from their daytime roost. 

The Happy Man Guest House near Bentota was our next destination. What a fantastic place. Totally recommended. The Travel Writer Helen Moat tipped us off about this one. The above pics show Lotens sunbird and a water monitor.

Most visitors to Sri Lanka go on at least one safari. We ended up at one point in a queue of jeeps all trying to get close to a herd of elephants and churning up the muddy ground of Minneriya. Sue and I were the only passengers in our jeep and I kept on requesting the driver to stop to look at birds rather than elephants. The Chinese tourists behind us were baffled as to why the jeep in front kept on stopping at Elephantless and crocodileless places. An indian roller and the many painted storks were the main avian highlights. 

I saw stork billed kingfisher at several sites. Its quite amazing - kind of like a bird designed by a primary school child. Bee Eaters were very photogenic. This is a little green bee eater. It used the elephant proof fence to get the sting out of bees. 

Many tourists seek relief from the heat by visiting the Highlands. This is is  the very beautiful Hakgala Botanic Gardens near Nuwara Eliya. I love the chavvy hairstyles of the macaques. We saw one steal a boiled egg from a ladies handbag. It subsequently threw it away in disgust. 

Victoria Park in Nuara Eliya town centre is on many birders itinerary, especially when the winter migrants such as this Indian Pitta are around. This Pitta is a remarkable bird, in terms of its dumpy shape and colour scheme. It skulks about in leaf litter. 

Bundala National Park is great for birders and has far fewer jeeps than nearby Yala, famous for its leopards. Bundala gave us our only sightings of Chestnut headed bee eaters and small pratincole.  

Black Bittern was one of the birds I really hoped to see. We saw two in the space of an hour near our hotel in Tissa. Fantastic birds.

There hasn't been too much mention of endemics in this blog, but the blue magpie is the iconic endemic of Sri Lanka. 

leech socks are not the sexiest of hosiery. And the Sri Lanka Frogmouth is not the most handsome of birds. 

And so, back to a wintry UK. I got involved in an art journal project. These are two of my pages. For the song thrush, I tried to mimic the song, and put it through "SIRI", the voice recognition software on my Ipad. SIRI turned this into words as best it could. I copied out these words onto my journal page. "Deadly Deadly Google Google". 

February included a trip to the Norfolk and Suffolk coast with my birding cronies. Our visit coincided with some biting East Winds. The starling murmurations at Minsmere are well worth a visit in the winter months. 

a detail from my Art Journal. These semi abstract drawings are inspired by the colours and textures in nature, and remind me of Sri Lanka.

Flooded areas in my home patch looking along the River Nene just East of the City Centre. I did a lot of cycle birding locally, but 2018 was not one of my more productive years with few highlights on my local patches of Star Pit, Eye Green, Tanholt Pit and the Millenium Bridge/Flag Fen area. 

Kestrel near Peterborough Power Station. 

Mandarin Duck at Eye Green.

In April I was very fortunate to be able to go on a Study Tour to Vojvodina in Serbia organised by Gwyl Wren, who runs a small CIC called EUcan. There were only five of us in the party, and our Serbian hosts were terrific. We learnt a lot about how nature conservation operates in the province and saw some great flora and fauna. One day I am going to learn something about botany, and branch out beyond moths into butterflies. 

Our inlaws dog running through the blue bell woods at Wrabness near Harwich Essex. I also make a point of visiting the northern shore of Hamford Water on visiting my hometown. I have been birding there for forty years now. Man and boy.

June means hawkmoths in my garden moth trap. Elephant and privet. 

Sinister goings on in Richmond Park. A parakeet serial killer and a procession of dangerous moths. We had a superb guided tour of the Park in a field outing of vernerable naturalists who make up the '49 Club. 

by the end of June, the moth season was shaping up to be my best ever. For more of this see part 2 of this annual review - July to December.