Georgia - May 2026 - Day 3 - Eagle Gorge and up to the Caucasus

I woke earlier than the rest of the team and had a stroll around the garden of the guesthouse. Completely still at this hour the flutey song of a Golden Oriole filter across the village, and the numerous local Blackbirds fed on the grass. A Common Redstart perched briefly on the fence and Greenfinches were singing from the trees. Once the team was assembled we headed out, looking to get a bit of birding in before breakfast. Although we had been close to Kobechi Lake the previous day we had carried on past it in order to maximise the amount of time on the Steppe. This morning we had the ideal amount of time to take in this small body of water just outside Dedoplistskaro. Rob had already been here a few days earlier as it had held a Red-crested Pochard, but I think he had missed the Black-necked Grebe and was therefore keen to give it another go. Or the other way around, I can't now recall.

The first bird we set eyes on caused some confusion as we initially assumed we were indeed looking at a Black-necked Grebe, but it soon dawned upon us that we were in fact looking through the reeds at a Red-necked Grebe. Excellent. The Black-necked Grebes, a pair, would emerge a little later, and the Red-crested Pochard was still present and correct in one corner. There were a few Coot on the lake, another trip tick, and on our walk along the top edge we also found Little Grebe. Montagu's Harrier passed overhead, presumably the same bird as yesterday, and later on a Marsh Harrier cruised along the bottom edge. Swallow numbers by the edge seemed to build and build, and two separate Quail sang from nearby fields. Best of all we then picked up churring Nightjar. By the standards we were used, ie Wanstead Flats, this whole place was simply wonderful. A small walk around the scrub between the lake and the top fields produced Green Warbler, Corn Bunting, three Lesser Grey Shrike and a Whitethroat amongst others. 

Eagle Gorge

After another sumptuous Georgian breakfast we packed up and headed out. Today would be a long day in the car to transfer up to the mountains at Stepantsminda - the main focus of the trip. But before we settled down for our bone-crunching ride we made a stop off at Eagle Gorge, a well known birding site in this area. The main target here was Wren! Just kidding....well, a bit. Anyway, we did indeed bag the Wren and European Sparrowhawk, but also found some common dross like Black Stork, Steppe Eagle, Woodchat Shrike, Blue Rock Thrush, Hoopoe and Rock Bunting. And Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrike for good measure. We were beginning to find that birding in Georgia was relentlessly terrible.

Blue Rock Thrush. I find that most bird portraits can be enhanced by the choice of a nice perch.

Woodchat Shrike

Lesser Grey Shrike

Barring one stop for KFC (I declined and went and bought a bottle of wine instead) we did not get out of the car for the next three and a half hours. This was at the large man-made lake called Zhinvali Reservoir about half-way between Tbilisi and the mountains. We could not really access the lake itself, but a quick 20 minutes in the surrounding woodland netted that most-wanted of all Georgian birds, the ultra-rare Robin. Beating this by a whisker into bird of the day was a stunning male Semi-collared Flycatcher. Blue Tit and Coal Tit were also new for the trip, the latter being the only ones we saw all week. A further much briefer stop added Grey Wagtail and Crag Martin.

Then it was back into the car for the final schlep up to Stepantsminda. As the road began to climb it began to deteriorate. To begin with we could dodge the potholes, but as the road got narrower and busier this became much harder. This road is one the main land routes into Russia, and constant convoys of Russian and other HGVs have really chewed up the road. At one stage, close to the top, we got stuck in a covered section of the road for about half an hour. Within this tunnel of sorts the road surface has been completely washed away, and the holes are now so deep that the trucks can only pass through the middle lest they tip into the sides. The numbers of trucks were insane, this is how global isolation and sanctions are circumvented. In an interesting geopolitical aside China is drilling a huge road though the mountains which will render this particular mountain pass obsolete. There a bridges and a lengthy tunnel, and the whole project is being undertaken with Chinese machinery and Chinese manpower. Every now and again, in particular at each end of the tunnel, but also in the valley of Stepantsminda itself, we would come across large pre-fabricated building which served as the dormitory for the workers. The trucks were Chinese, the excavators Chinese, all the signage Chinese, the workers we saw Chinese. This is the soft power of Mr Xi at work, and I expect Mr Putin isn't hugely upset about this particular project, a nice highway leading down into central Asia and the EU borders. Fascinating stuff. 

We stopped at the Gudauri Panorama to stretch our legs, turn small patches of snow yellow, and to see what was going on. Initially we were captivated by numerous Water Pipit on the tundra-like grass, but above our heads was where the real action was. In the skies, heading north through this gap in the peaks were hundreds of Honey Buzzards. We were at 2,200m and they were much higher and going higher still. Initially they kettled to gain more height, and then gradually peeled off to make the crossing. In the distance we could see another huge kettle of birds, completely extraordinary. A single Red-billed Chough was seen, and we disturbed a migrant Common Snipe in the long grass. As we went over the very highest point a short distance further on we noted quite a few Northern Wheatear in the snow - more migration in action.

Stepanstminda Rubbish Creek

At about half past five in the afternnoon we rolled into the outskirts of Stepantsminda. We had some gen that one of our top trip targets had been seen at a popular fly-tipping area. Birding takes you to all the best places. It's so well known for being good for birds whilst being highly grim that it has it's own eBird pin called Stepantsminda Rubbish Creek. We could not wait! It was indeed as disgusting as the name suggested, with building waste and all sorts of other crap piled in heaps down a rough track and around a parking area. A miserable-looking horse was tethered next to a truck from Kazakhstan, and behind some kind of café/change-your-Rubles-here shack lay a small stagnant pool with heaps of bricks, iron latticework and smashed tiles sliding into it. And a bit of electrical waste. Truly lovely. But what followed was an hour of simply excellent birding, as can often be the case in what to humans looks awful. We found the bird we were looking for quite quickly, White-winged Redstart (once known as Güldenstädt's Redstart). It is a little confusing as the local Common Redstart here, Ehrenberg's Redstart, also has white wing patchs, but the ones on Güldenstädt's are a lot larger. The bird itself is a size larger, a really chunky Redstart well suited to living at altitude. At this time of year they would be expected to be higher up, but apparently some bad weather earlier that day had forced them down into the village. The weather was still dark and gloomy with very light rain still falling, but we soon got a distant but still satisfying scope view in the extensive Blackthorn scrub towards the river before it flipped down and was lost to view. As we wandered around this post-apocalyptic war zone of a site we then found a much closer bird behind the shack. Remarkably there were four birds in this small area, all calling their heads off above a small flooded area. Sensationally good-looking birds! Also here, low to the water, were some Warblers. At the time we felt very strongly, or at least I did, that one of these was a Moustached Warbler, with a massively-flared white super and with a deeper clipped call, but the only photos any of us got were all of the same buffy Sedge Warbler, which was probably the only bird that ever paused long enough or came close enough. This is an instance where images were actively unhelpful. We also encountered our first Mountain Chiffchaffs here, another lifer if not a particularly exciting one, and Purple Heron and Black Kite both flew by as the day drew to a close.

Sedge Warbler

Red-backed Shrike

White-winged Redstart

White-winged Redstart

That evening we had the best dinner yet in a guesthouse that does not advertise and only operates by word of mouth. Shelduck Birding Tours - it's who you know. Georgian dumplings, khinkali, are a thing of wonder, possibly one of the best things I have ever eaten. Rob's mate Alex dropped in at some point to discuss the birding plans for the next day. The weather was set to be good after a number of difficult days, and he would meet us on the slopes of Mt Kuro the following morning if he could manage it. Snowcocks were keenly awaited by the Snowcocks...

White-winged Redstart

Georgia - May 2026 - Day 2 - The Steppe

After an excellent sleep to make up for the loss of the previous night we drove the short distance back towards David Gareji Monastery, an impressive structure built into the escarpement and looking over Azerbaijan. I wonder if the monks use eBird?. A small shallow lake just before we got there held a pair of Great Reed Warbler, regular Reed Warbler and two Sedge Warbler, and on the other side of the road were both Tawny Pipit and Calandra Lark. What a place! The Monastery itself was closed at this early hour - good news for birders. The Pied Wheatear was still on the roof of one of the buildings, and we scoped a Blue Rock Thrush higher up. The real prize here for birders who have not been this far east before, me included, was Green Warbler, and we were able to pick out a couple of vocal birds on the hillside below the walls. There was also an extremely friendly Western Rock Nuthatch on the Monastery itself. Bee-eaters swooped below us, the first Griffon Vultures appeared in the sky, and as we walked back along the road towards the gorge we picked out Rosefinch and several Black-headed Bunting.

Green Warbler

Western Rock Nuthatch

The wind was much reduced thankfully, and as we picked our way down it was apparent that we could hear a lot more than yesterday. As we descended a call we did not recognise turned out to be Egyptian Vulture. Continuing down we found Eastern Orphean Warbler close to the track, and once down at the stream also the Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin that Rob needed for his country list but had missed yesterday. As we searched along the stream and the vegetation up the slope on the eastern side we could hear various Warblers chattering. Barred Warbler was a surprise, perhaps it should not have been, but the real target was soon found - Menetries's Warbler. These stayed quite high up but we eventually got clinching views of this species - a two tick morning for most of us, and three for some. 

David Gareji Gorge

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Menetries's Warbler

We returned to the accomodation to find a magnificent Georgian breakfast laid out with a view of rolling green hills and pasture. I failed to take a photograph of it but trust me when I say that the spread was sensational. The tomatoes were just wonderful, but apparently a shadow of their late summer potential. I made sure to eat a lot as Shelduck Nature Tours does not stop for lunch! As we stuffed our faces we could hear Calandra Lark drifting over the hillside. 

We now had a long drive towards the true Steppe, but there were points of interest along the way. At Udabno Salt Lakes we found a male Garganey, Common Shelduck and a Lapwing, alond with Wood Sandpiper and Black-winged Stilt, and on the hillside above a squabbling mob of Griffon and Black Vulture ripped the last of some unfortunate carcass apart. As we decended into Sataple we struggled with the ID of Levant Sparrowhawk and Lesser Spotted Eagle, and then at a spot that Rob near close to the Iori River we found our one and only Turtle Dove of the trip - even out here in this unspoiled habitat they are few and far between - the perils of migration over countless guns.

Montagu's Harrier

Siberian Stonechat

At the start of the long entrance road to the Chachuna Managed Reserve we stopped for a short break. Siberian Stonechat was found here and a Red-rumped Swallow zipped past with commoner Barn Swallow. A Pair of Montagu's Harrier cruised the edge of a field up towards the lake, and as we bounced our way along the track we picked up Isabelline Wheatear, loads of Black-headed Bunting, Roller, Golden Oriole and much more. The habitat became more and more open, more and more impressive as we picked our way south towards Azerbaijan along a track that became ever more haphazard. Short-toed Eagle was seen, and both Woodchat and Lesser Grey Shrike.

Ugh

Rufius-tailed Scrub Robin

We were aiming for a spot some distance away and beyond a large reservoir that was good for Turkestan Short-toed Lark, a tick for most of the Snowcocks. I'd seen them in central Turkey a few years back but was keen to see another. Here the landscape was truly amazing, photographs can't really do these kinds of wide open spaces justice. The Lark proved very hard to pin down amongst many more Greater Short-toed Lark, and for a period was totally forgotten as a stonking male Finsch's Wheatear very briefly appeared from nowhere before flying over the gorge and disappearing over the lip. I made a special winter trip to Cyprus for this bird before seeing more in the mountains of Eastern Turkey whilst looking for Caspian Snowock, but this was still a massive highlight. I cannot begin to describe the monochromatic purity of this bird, it is simply outstandingly beautiful, in a class all of its own. There were also many Isabelline Wheatear here, and three Pied Wheatear that were very nice in their own right but looked a little plain next to the Finsch's. Black Francolin was seen in the hazy distance, and more were calling from somewhere in a distant gully - apparently this is their real habitat, and birds I've seen previously in Cyprus and Hawaii don't count. Or rather they do but they have now been usurped in the eBird standings by these Georgian ones. Lesser Kestrel flew over we found a Chukar checking us out from a small cave in the side of a gorge. I have not enjoyed a birding session like this for a good while, just in awe of where we were. Birding is a great hobby just because of where it takes you. I'd have been fine seeing nothing from this particular place.

Chukar

Spur-thighed Tortoise

What a place!

We returned the way we had come, seeing much the same in beautiful light. A family party of Lesser Kestrel were hanging out on the dam tower of the Dali reservoir, and I picked out a distant Kingfisher. Rob had booked the Savanna Guest House in the village of Khornabuji, pretty much where you regain the tarmac. As we supped a reflective beer on the terrace a Scops Owl started to call, closing what had been a brilliant day.

Georgia - May 2026 - Day 1 - Arrival, birding around Tbilisi, and Jandari Lake

The Snowcocks arrived in Tbilisi at around 5am. I suprised myself by getting more sleep than I thought I would, but it was a brutal flight on a short-haul aircraft with seats that are wafer thin and barely recline. Convenient flight times, you don't waste any time, but an unpleasant experience to say the least. The other Snowcocks hadn't fared as well as I had. Scattered around the plane, James had been smothered by an extremely large passenger that took more than their fair share of seating arrangements, Bob had kept himself and whoever was next to him awake by talking to them all night as his is way, and Tony had virtually no sleep either that I can recall.

Rob however was fresh as a daisy having had a good night's kip in the close by Ibis Hotel. As we waited half-dead on the pavement outside arrivals he bounded up looking very chipper indeed and led us back to the hotel where we dumped our stuff in his car and went for breakfast. Here Rob handed out our glossy printed checklists, issued us with branded caps and T shirts, and discussed dietary requirements and allergies. Not really. Although it was a running joke throughout the trip and he is genuinely excellent at organising stuff, Rob wasn't actually an official guide. He is just our mate and we were going on a birding trip together. That he had planned for us....

Anyway, we had some coffee and discussed the day ahead whilst excitedly adding House Sparrow to our first eBird checklist. We were going to start at Ponichala Forest reserve outside the city, and then make our way to the Svanetti Tower and Kumisi Reservoir. In the afternoon we would head east towards Jandari Lake which borders Azerbaijan. I was particularly excited about this as I was hoping to be able to get a new eBird country from across the divide. Despite the fact that Georgia itself was new....

Soviet era concrete wreckage was everywhere. Independence was in 1991.

Breakfast over and it was time to go. Members of the team who had eaten a slice of khachapuri were helped to their feet and carried to the car. Before we even made it that far we noted Red-backed Shrike and Hoopoe in the car park! First stop Ponichala Reserve, a forested area just outside of Tbilisi that also has some reedbeds and small lakes as an introduction to Georgian birding. Woodpeckers everywhere, Rollers and Bee-eaters, Golden Orioles and Honey Buzzards moving west overhead. Through the woods and to the reedbed our first Pygmy Cormorants, Black-crowned Night Heron, Cuckoo, Marsh Warbler and Great Reed Warbler, and double figures of Nightingale singing from cover. As introductions go this was pretty good but it was to get better and better.

Svanetti Tower

Slightly further west down an unpaved track and we stopped at Svanetti Tower on te way to Kumisi Reservoir Here there were breeding Rock Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow and Isabelline Wheatear, and on every wire there seemed to be a Roller or a Lesser Grey Shrike. White Stork in the field and Corn Buntings singing all along the way. At Kumisi we mainly birded from just beyond the railway bridge as this is a good vantage point. We had a pale morph Booted Eagle here, Osprey over the lake, and a kettle of Vultures had both Black and Griffon. Armenian Gull, Gull-billed Tern and White-winged Black Tern were over the lake, and our first Levant Sparrowhawk went over. Even more Shrikes, even more Crested Larks and Bee-eaters, Raven, Hoopoe and a pair of Black Stork. Wowsers, this was going to be some trip!

Crester Lark

Isabelline Wheatear

Lesser Grey Shrike

As we left the area at around midday we stopped at a small flash to add some waders to the trip list - Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, over 20 Wood Sandpiper, Ruff and Temminck's Stint, with close to 50 Cattle Egret and various hirundines over the water. 

Now we were headed east towards Jandari Lake. Rob stopped at an unassuming bend on the road - he'd been here a couple of days previously and found Penduline Tit and Eastern Olivaceous Warbler here. Sure enough both were still present, our list was going great guns. Further on, at the lake itself, quit busy with fishermen and families on a Sunday afternoon, we had a huge group of distant Terns, likely WWBT, a group of 20 Glossy Ibis, 40+ Wood Sandpiper, Little Tern, loads of Pygmy Cormorant and a couple of Caspian Gull as well as Armenian. There were Rooks everywhere, including on the opposite side of the lake....in Azerbaijan. On they went! Mission accomplished! Around here we also had the first of many Black-headed Bunting, quite stunning birds.

Penduline Tit

Being a Shepherd is still a career in Georgia

By now it was mid afternoon. We headed away from the lake to take the track to the north that led to David Gareji Monastery. This is another top birding area on all itinerarys to this area. The road takes you into the hills above, and at some stages you are right on the Azerbaijain border, as evidenced by the regular patrols and watchtowers. Here we added Calandra Lark, Tawny Pipit, Short-toed Lark and Long-legged Buzzard in beautiful scenery, rolling hills and colourful geological deposits.

Gareji Dunes

We just had time to bird the gorge below the monastery before dusk, adding Eastern Orphean Warbler on the track down, more Lesser Grey Shrike, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, several Black-headed Bunting and a pair of Pied Wheater. It was quite windy however, and we couldn't find many of the Warblers we had been looking for. Retracing our steps we climbed out of the gorge and headed to the neaby village of Udabno where were staying for the night at the Oasis Club, we would return early in the morning for another go. We had a couple of celebratory beers and some delicious kebabs as we looked out across the Steppe. What a start!

Georgia - May 2026 - Logistics and Itinerary

Eastern Georgia, 17th - 21st May 2026

A Team Wanstead tour, our first since Poland in 2018 and long overdue. Me, Bob, Tony, James and Rob. Georgia as in the Caucasus, not Atlanta Georgia. We had been talking about this on and off for a good long while, mostly focused on an autumn raptor-watching trip to Batumi as this is place that Rob has been to many times, even leading [genuine] tours on occasion. When we learned that he was planning a three week spring visit to cement his place in Georgian eBird folklore we decided it would be only right that we come too. We couldn't manage three weeks, but we successfully inserted ourselves into the middle of his trip. RockJumper eat your heart out, those old-timers have nothing on us! To his credit he took it very well, rising to the occasion even. He swapped his cheapo car from the first part of his trip for a much-needed 4x4, picking us up from the airport after our exhausting flight and taking us straight for breakfast. He planned the whole itinerary, booked all the accomodation, ordered everything, organised to meet his mate Alex from Birding Caucasus in the mountains to help with the tricky species, did all the driving, and took us to all of the good sites in the east of the country for birds he had previously scoped out. And to think we didn't even give him a tip....

It was a superb trip that was supremely well-organised. What a country, the scenery is magnificent. It is the furthest east in Europe (well, Europe-ish) that I had ever been and the quality of the habitat and the birding is quite sensational. It is essentially Eastern Europe but on steroids, which I guess being in the Russian sphere of influence is entirely logical. In just five days we somehow managed to fit in the Greater Caucasus to the north of Tbilisi as well as birding sites on the Azerbaijan border to the south east. The top target for all of us was of course Caucasian Snowcock, but each of us had a list of varying length of species that we needed. I'd birded Central Turkey before but nonetheless there were around ten things that I'd not seen

Logistics

• A five day trip in mid May with Team Wanstead The Snowcocks organised by Shelduck Nature Tours.

• Flights: Direct flight from London Heathrow to Tbilisi with British Airways, a thoroughly miserable experience but quite convenient in so far as it left late in the evening and flew through the night on the outbound. The inbound flight left at 7am and landed at 10am. This is a five+ hour flight on a short-haul aircraft, I was able to bag the exit row but nonetheless this is not fun in any way.

• Car Hire: The tour leader rented a Toyota Landcruiser 4x4 which we all contributed to. In Georgia you need a 4x4 just for the pot holes.....
• Driving: Very few roads in Georgia should be thought of as actual roads. The road up to Stepantsminda in particular was in abominable condition, and Georgian driving is cavalier at best. The combination of a permanently deteriorated surface and a maniacal desire to overtake no matter what means that driving here is an acquired taste. Luckily Rob did it all.
• Weather: We really lucked out where it mattered most which was in the mountains. The day before we arrived it had been wet and cold with poor visibility. The following day we spent looking for Snowcock was perfect, and in fact the previous poor weather assisted with some of the birds that had clearly descended. In the Steppe to the east the weather was glorious.
• Accommodation: Basic but spot on accomodation everywhere we went, good value and the food was excellent.
• Food: A real eye opener, I might go back for the food alone. Fantastic vegetables and salads, and some wonderful specialities. I can skip the Khachapuri (heavy cheese-laded bread that renders one immobile for a period of time) but the Khinkali dumplings were a thing of beauty. 
• Optics: I took my scope as well as a camera. Having two scopes between five was really benficial.

• Literature: eBird! And Rob!

Day 1 – After landing at 5am we had breakfast at an airport hotel, picking up Hoopoe and Red-backed Shrike in the car park. We then birded Ponichala on the outskirts of Tbilisi before heading to Kumisi Reservoir and then east to Jandari Lake and the Azerbaijan border. Overnight near David Gareji Monastery. 

Day 2 – Started at the Monastery for Green Warbler and Menetries's Warbler before a long drive east to the Taribana Badlands and stunning Steppe habitats along tracks south of Dedoplistskaro towards Dalis Mta Reservoir and the Chachuna Managed Reserve. Overnight at Khornabuji. 

Day 3 – An early start locally at Kochebi Kake then back for breakdast. A quick stop at Eagle Gorge on the outskirts of town before a long drive back and around Tbilisi and north to Stepantsminda via Zhinvali Reservoir, Gudauri and the Jvari Pass. This is the road to Russia. Just enough time to get in some birding before dusk, with some wonderfully close views of White-winged Redstart. Overnight at a superb guesthouse at Stepantsminda that does not advertise...

Day 4 – All day in the mountains, starting at the base Mt Kuro for Snowcock and then taking in Gergeti Church and the Chkheri River trail, Pansheti Pool and Buckthorn habitat, and the evocatively-named Stepantsminda Rubbish Creek, a popular fly-tipping area. Lots of crap, lots of birds! Loads of birding sites around here, more than you can realistically cover in a day. Night two at the guesthouse.

Day 5 – We spent part of the morning revisiting sites around Stepantsminda and then birded the mountain pass on the way back down to Tbilisi. Thrush Nightingale and Wheatears in the snow, and migrant Honey Buzzards and Bee-eaters overhead. Afternoon giving Kumisi a more thorough look before a final walk at Ponichala. Overnight at the Tbilisi Airport Ibis before the early morning flight back to London.

I can't yet face it

I've got one single eBird record from Wanstead in June. Working from home I noted a Red Kite flying over on the 13th. I did not otherwise trouble the patch. This is normal. At the end of the month I travelled to Brazil for a simply phenomenal trip in the Amazon rainforest near Manaus. I'll get to it. I got back about a week and a half ago and have not yet been able to get out on the patch. It would just depress me. In the Amazon I saw 350+ birds in a week. Many of them were sparkling and electric, bright greens, oranges, reds and blues. In Wanstead......

It's hot, consequently I've spent a great deal of time in the garden when I've not been working. Yesterday this slack attitude paid off when a Hobby flew over the house. A local year tick no less, one that I had not bothered to go and seek out. And now I don't have to. I am wondering what remains as at this rate I'll barely hit 100 and that assumes I get all of the regular autumn migrants that I didn't pick up in spring.

Waders, that's what I need. I need to sacrifice sleep and sit out on the balcony and hope I hear a Green Sandpiper (or better) going over. Is it worth it? Of course it isn't. I increasingly need my sleep, I am an eight hours a night kind of guy. Ideally more if I can squeeze it in. But I may end up with an embarrassingly low year list if this continues. 91 is the current total, the lowest in recent times is 106 and I have to go back to 2008 before I am on anything lower than 100. Time will tell, but at the moment I am below where I was when I staggered to 106 which does not exactly bode well. It is just so boring here, I really envy those people who month in month out continue to gain immense enjoyment from their patch. That's not me, or at least not at the moment. I may yet get there again, in the meantime I suspect those who still do have not been seduced by Brazil and similar locations.

I didn't come on here to write about any of this. Well, maybe the Hobby. I mainly came on to say that after a morning at work and an afternoon helping out a local institution, I came home and smashed out not one but two tax returns. Both! In a single evening. These have been bugging me for ages, until about 6pm this evening today's blog title would have applied to these as well as to patch birding, but shortly after this something kicked in. Something I continue to have little understanding of, but a switch was flicked and I just sat here for a few hours and smashed it out, including the dreaded FBAR which takes ages as you have to state the highest daily balance in any bank account you own, you jointly own, or you have signatory authority over. You can imagine what a royal pita that is but it is now done and I am feeling very good about it. So good that here is a picture of Georgia! Up next!

Gergeti Trinity Church, Stepantsminda.

The furnace

Enjoying the heat? It is at times like this that I would really like to live on the coast, that thought of a mild sea breeze. The house I live in is designed to retain heat in the winter. In summer it sucks in heat, we made sure of this by building a conservatory on the south side. To make doubly certain that it would resemble a furnace on Venus we also did a loft conversion that has glass doors all the way along it. Great. In winter it is delightful. Most recently, in June and July 2026, the temperature has reached 35 degrees indoors, dropping to around 31 degrees as we head for another fitful nights sleep. The only solution is to have the windows and doors open to create some kind of through draught. This works only slightly, an evening temperature of 31 might decline to 26 by the morning. And by morning I mean 4am in the morning, as this is when it gets light and wakes us up. It makes little difference, truncated sleep is at least sleep.

For the first time in my life I find myself wondering if installing air-conditioning this coming winter might not be a worthwhile investment. Obviously it adds to the overall problem but I suspect we're beyond that. It's pretty unbearable in London and we don't have a country pad to escape to. I'd love a Donnafugata.

On the plus side, public transport aside the weather during the daytime is fine, I don't have a particular problem with it. My plants love it, the cycads, aloes and agaves are going great guns. A dasylirion is flowering, the spike about three metres tall so far. I enjoy the early morning watering routine before I go to work. But it is the weekends that are particulaly lovely, I have a garden which has both full sun for succulents and shaded areas for ferns and so on. And people. The garden furniture is in use constantly, the Rosé is in full flow, the brick-built BBQ - now in it's 21st year of operation - continues to get a lot of use, we really foretold the future when we had that put in. 

You will be surprised to hear that I recently went on holiday. When I left we were in the grips of the second heat wave. Lots of things broke down as it was too hot. Trains gave up, in fact it wasn't even possible to get to the terminal I was flying from and I had to take a bus. In Brazil it was hotter still and everything worked just fine. It calmed down a bit when I was away, and then on the day that I came back cranked up again. The start of next week continues to be pretty warm by all accounts, and it is only towards the end of next week that it finally breaks and we get a bit of relief. Dramatic belief I expect. Those nights are pretty exciting too, and for different reasons result in a lack of sleep. This is what we should expect every summer.

I am still building up to writing up Georgia from May. The fact that I now have the Brazilian Amazon stacked up behind is adding to the pressure but I am not caving in just yet. It is there, just below the surface, but there are other things I don't want to do that are also vying for attention. Tax returns, cleaning out cupboards, that kind of thing. Which will win?

Guernsey

In April last year I went to Jersey just to see what it was like. Very nice as it happens. That was just a day trip, an early start, a wander around, and then an afternoon flight back. This year, last month in fact, I went to Guersey for the same reason. I was there for approximately the same amount of time but the flight times required an overnight stay which pushed up the cost a bit, and whereas on Jersey I had walked everywhere as I had no luggage, this time I did need to bring a bit more stuff and so hired a car. And this time my travelling buddy Mick came along as well. He pops up on here all the time as, like me, he thinks travel is great and so is almost always up for a trip. Far more fun than mooching around in London. We have been all over the place over the years, to virtually all continents. South Africa, The Gambia and Senegal, Brazil, Mexico, Hawaii, contintental America, the Middle East, Thailand and of course all over Europe including lots of islands. Guernsey was a first for both of us.

We arrived just after lunch and picked up the car. We paid a nominal amount for fuel up front, barely any of which we used as the island is so tiny, were told that junctions were whoever got there first and that there were no parking charges anywhere on the island. Perfect. Let's go birding.

First stop La Clare Mare on the west side, where there is a hide overlooking a small reed-fringed pool. It was a nice way to get a feel for the kind of birding we would experience, with a handful of Mallard, some Stock Dove, lots of hirundines and a few other bits and pieces. Nothing rare or exciting, no large numbers of anything, but Guernsey isn't about that and we knew before we came that we were unlikely to come away with a massive tally. It was all very pleasant in early May, felt very green and verdant, and indeed everywhere we went there were lovely gardens and frankly enormous greenhouses, greenhouses that put mine here in London to shame. They can also grow Araucaria heterophylla outside (the Norfolk Island Pine) which made me insanely jealous. I suppose it won't be many years until I can too...

We had a look at the coast, the tide was out and there was a huge expanse of rocky shore. Waders were thin on the ground, just a few Oystercatchers and six Whimbrel. We drove up to Pleinmont to gain some height and have a look at the sea. I don't think either of us had been expected to see Manx Shearwater from here, but there was a reasonbly sized flock feeding with Gulls some distance out - good that I had brought my scope. We also picked up some Gannet and a single Fulmar. Linnet and a single Whitethroat were in the Gorse, and the cliffs had a large Herring Gull colony.

Some locals we met directed us to Rue Des Bergers NR, another small pool. Here we picked up a few more passerines, including Cetti's Warbler, a Greylag Goose, Moorhen and Coot, but we were beginning to understand that we were not going to be seeing a ton of birds everywhere we went and that it would instead be a series of nice rambles in the sunshine picking up singles here and there.

We turned to eBird for assistance. What had been seen recently? This took us to Le Grand Pré NR, a miniscule reserve where a full circuit took under five minutes! Various good things had been seen here over the past few days but they had all departed. We added Great Tit and a Dunnock I think!

Out on the coast at L'Ancresse we explored another series of bunkers and bits of old concrete. In addition to greenhouses Guernsey seems very keen on bunkers, the result of rapid fortifications by Germany when the islands were occupied during the Second World War. Many of these still exist today. One of them had a Wheatear perched on all these years later. Probably Wheatears perched on these in the 1940s as well. Our first Stonechats were seen here, the habitat looked absolutely perfect for them to be fair, and Whitethroats and Linnets were also here.

At Vale Pond we looked for Cattle Egret without luck, but joy of joys two Barnacle Geese were present. Ahem. We put them on the list with a question mark and the eBird police have not yet been in touch...

At last knockings we went back the where we had started, Clare Mare NR, this time finding a Snipe that had no doubt been there the whole time but only ventured out in the evening. After this we also went back to Pleinmont for the sunset where the Manx Shearwater were still present in the bay and a Marsh Harrier quartered the fields. What with all this birding we arrived in St Peter Port so late that we missed all food options and dinner was a pack of crisps, half a bag of peanuts and a pint. Nice. Hopefully breakfast would be better.

Les Hanois Lighthouse

The next day...

Up early to bird St Saviour Reservoir before said breakfast. This was great, with Firecrest and Short-toed Treecreeper in the mature trees on the western side of the dam. By now and getting a feel for Guernsey birding we were just playing the numbers game, how many species could be get before we had to leave. When we got back to the hotel a couple of hours later there was a Firecrest singing outside it....

After breakfast we followed a lead to some extreme island rarities, Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tit at La Mare nature trail. This is a small woodland nestled between houses and a school, and a short walk netted them both! We were on fire! At nearby Fort Hommet we found Meadow Pipit alongside Wheatear and Stonechat, again favouring WW2 era fortifications. Back at La Clare Mare we found a Sparrowhawk, and scoping out towards L'Ereé Headland found a Peregrine on a rock spire. If you think I am hurrying, I am. We had a flight to catch! 

And so at lunchtime on Sunday we departed having seen a magnificent 61 species. This is comparable to my Jersey list of 53 species. Ie not many. But it was as much about exploring a new place as birding. They're funny places, both remind me strongly of a posh Isle of Wight, but with French names. But they're miles away from being French from what I could see, it was all about pubs, fish and chips, cobbles, neat gardens. Then again the landscape reminded me (unsurprisingly) of Normandy and Brittany, huge expansive beaches, rocky shores, rolling hills sloping up from the shore. Nice place, might go again in winter.