Catching up

Apologies for the December hiatus, I have been extraordinarily busy with various things, not least two trips up to Scotland, a short trip to Spain, and then all of the various social events that happen in December and that you have to show your face at. Mercifully the work calendar is now finally beginning to calm down - people seem to lose the urge at around this time of year and meetings are quietly cancelled as they slip away. And the potential trip to the USA isn't happening either which is rather a relief. Anyway it has been rather frenetic and I have to say I am hoping for a bit of peace and quiet over the next few days in which to catch up with real life. And blogging.

In fact I already started, and if you have been paying attention you will have seen that a series of posts about a trip I made to Singapore in June have made an appearance. I wrote them all in one go, good news actually as I hadn't written a full sentence since the beginning of the month and was slightly concerned I might not be able to. In the event it came out in one huge splurge and I was able to then line up four or five posts of the usual sort to auto-publish every day up until the end of this week or so. The next challenge is Brazil, an entirely different undertaking from a guided trip to the Pantanal in July. I would really like to get this done before the year is out, but I don't actually have any time off other than the bank holidays so it may not be possible. Allegedly my family would like to spend time with me, no idea why. Let's see.

I have not seen any more birds in Wanstead since I last wrote about that here, and it is looking quite likely that I will finish the year on 117. I've tried a couple of times for the pesky Barn Owl currently in residence on Wanstead Flats, but it gets dark so early that I am normally still in meetings at the ideal time of day, and then I am typically busy or not here at weekends. Nick sees it what seems like all the time which is rather frustrating, but then he keeps pretty much the same schedule as an Owl these days so perhaps it is not that surprising. At least I saw the Otter, I still can't quite believe that. As my calendar becomes more forgiving I'll try again, see if I can squeeze it in before the year is out. It would be only my second ever so I am quite keen to move it from its current italics status. And that's basically it.

In unrelated news here is an American Wigeon from a recent trip to Fife. It was on a small loch that also hosted a Lesser Scaup for a nice Yank double. As you can see my digiscoping skills continue to defy belief. How does he do it I hear you ask? Well, it's a secret.

Singapore - June 2024 - Trip List

As usual here is a list of the species seen, and for the more interesting ones the place where I saw it. A proper eBird trip list is here. In summary I had a great time and came back totally shattered, always the sign of a good trip. Despite all the greenery, finding birds in Singapore can actually be quite hard, and photography can be even harder, especially in the forests. But I tried! I came away pretty pleased with the birds I'd seen, but slightly disappointed I hadn't managed to break 100 species which I always thing of as the bare minimum for a weekend away, especially a long weekend. I also discovered that my days of lugging around a heavy DSLR were numbered, and if you have been following this blog you will know that I did indeed get rid of it all and switch to mirrorless a couple of months ago. I am itching to get back with this new lighter setup, but there are plenty of other places I want to visit as well so let's see what pans out.

Singapore - June 2024 - Day 3 - Jurong Lake Gardens, Dairy Farm Nature Park, and finally Wood-Owls!

I slept in a bit later than I had wanted to, I think just incredibly tired from having walked 18 miles the previous day. This is not what my body is used to, especially with a heavy load, 30 degree heat and 95% humidity. Nonetheless I was birding Jurong Lake Gardens before 8am. The area was thronging with morning commuters, this is a big residential area with a lot of people heading to work. Just outside Lakeside station I found an orange juice machine which for a nominal sum produced me a cup of freshly-squeezed orange juice. As a drank the first I commanded it to make me second, wonderful!

Pink-necked Green-Pigeon

Jurong Lake Gardens had been recommended to me by Mick, but of course he had been here in November and it was now June and so various birds simply weren't present. Nonetheless I had an enjoyable birding session here until late morning and finding all sorts of new birds for the trip. I started at the floating garden at the top end and walked down alongside the lake to the grasslands area. Highlights were Little Bronze Cuckoo, Plaintive Cuckoo, Asian Koel, Black-crowned Night Heron, Crested Goshawk, a group of Swinhoe's White-eye and some Common Iora. I had been hoping for Crakes in the grasslands but apparently you need rain, after which they emerge and run around where you can see them.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Crested Goshawk

Late morning I headed back to the Central Catchment Area and walked up the gentle track to the Dairy Farm Nature Park. I'd found this area on eBird whilst looking for targets, which included two species of Leafbird and general good forest birding. This area is on the north side of Bukit Timah, and indeed you can walk via the Dairy Farm Hut up a much steeper track to the summit and then down the other side to the Hindhede Trail. The whole of Singapore seems to be like this, a huge city but with lots of corridors and you whilst you'd have to cross a few main roads you could spend an entire day in the forest moving along well-maintained trails from one area to another.

The area was pretty busy with walkers and with school groups, but I was amazed to actually find both Greater Green Leafbird and Blue-winged Leafbird feeding in the same fruiting tree along the Wallace Trail, and then along the main track both Short-tailed Babbler and Abbot's Babbler. In breaks in the canopy I could see a pair of Changeable Hawk-Eagle high above Bukit Timah. 

Black-naped Oriole

Greater Green Leafbird

Blue-winged Leafbird

Abbot's Babbler

Time was now running out. It was 1pm and my flight out was at 10.30pm. I still hadn't managed to see the Spotted Wood-Owls, and rather than dip at Pasir Ris again I decided to try a new spot on the other side of the Central Catchment Area, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. I jumped in a cab at the bottom of Dairy Park and was soon at the correct spot - as with all Owls in Singapore their presence is given away by photographers. Sure enough two adults and a fat fluffy youngster were sat way up in the trees above a car park. Finally! I took a few photos but mostly admired them through bins, wonderful views in the canopy. I then enjoyed a spot of lunch before walking west through the park along the stream, disturbing a Purple Heron as I did so, to catch a bus to the Singapore Botanic Garden for one final wander. 

Spotted Wood-Owl

This time I entered at the top, and walked down to the bottom, concentrating most of my efforts around Pulai Marsh and the Bambusetum side to the west of Swan Lake. No outstanding birds, but I did get great views of a White-throated Kingfisher in the woodlands reminding me that some of these species are not tied to water in the slightest. My main target here, Stork-billed Kingfisher, remains most-wanted! A reason to return.

SBG

White-collared Kingfisher

Malaysian Pied-Fantail

Spotted Dove

And that was it. It was 5pm and not much light remained. I also needed to get back to my hotel to pick up my small suitcase and pack up, after which I headed to the airport for a much-needed shower and some very cold drinks, this time of an alcoholic nature! And then a very long flight back home - I think I slept nearly the entire way!

Singapore - June 2024 - Day 2 - Central Catchment Area, Botanic Gardens and Marina Bay

I got out of a bus in the dark somewhere along Upper Thomson Road. My destination was the Jelutong Tower above MacRitchie Reservoir, in the lower part of the Central Catchment Area, Singapore's largest green space and a critical part of the island. There is no quick way to get to the tower, and my choice of starting point was driven by where I could get public transport to. A 40 minute walk beckoned, which in fact turned out to be a one hour walk as I took a wrong turn about half way and started heading up towards Upper Peirce Reservoir before realising my mistake at the bottom of a long slope that I had to then climb back up.

The view south from the Jelutong Tower.

The tower is enormous, several storeys high and thus at or above the canopy, and commands fabulous views over the forest. You feel a million miles away from the vast city in the distance. I had missed first light by about a quarter of an hour, but the birding was still fabulous, helped in no small part by a couple of young Singaporean birders who knew what they were doing. Remarkably neither had binoculars but both sported lovely light-weight mirrorless cameras with telephoto lenses. Very envious.... Most of their birding was done by ear, with the occasional look at a dot on the back of the camera to check if they weren't sure. This is how birding happens in Singapore, there are probably fewer than ten pairs of binoculars in the entire city but well over a trillion zoom lenses. I was happy to join in the fun, and although we had to rapidly descend the tower a couple of times to dodge some intense downpours I probably spent at least three and half hours observing up there. The full list is here, and perhaps I stayed too long as it only has 26 species, but what I did see was very good indeed. Violet Cuckoo was perhaps the highlight, but we also had flybys from Banded Bay Cuckoo, Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo and Grey-rumped Treeswift. In the trees around the tower itself were Dark-necked Tailorbird, Cream-vented, Olive-winged and Red-eyed Bulbul, Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Asian Fairy-bluebird and Blue-winged Leafbird. Blue-rumped Parrots perched in semi-distant palms, Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrots and Pink-necked Green-Pigeons seemed constantly on the move. The majority of these birds were new for me so it had been a very profitable morning.

Asian Fairy-bluebird - male

Asian Fairy-bluebird- female

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

Violet Cuckoo

Blue-rumped Parrot

I reluctantly dragged myself away late morning, retracting my steps east to the Country Club. Along the way I got soaked to the skin, caught in heavy rain with no nearby huts in which to shelter. I dried off a bit near at Windsor Nature Park, and then walked the Venus Loop a couple of times. It was very hot. The best birds here were a pair of Crimson Sunbird and my first Common Hill Myna, their bizarre calls drawing me in from quite some distance having no idea at first what on earth they could be. 

Colugo

Mid afternoon I was back in town at the Botanic Garden, a simply lovely spot whether for birds or not. As you know I enjoy tropical plants as much as I enjoy birds, and after a late lunch at the Green Pavilion I had a high-interest botanical amble from the Tanglin Gate at the bottom to the Cluny Park Gate at the top. I didn't see as many birds as I was hoping, but a pair of Lesser Whistling Ducks on the Eco Lake were a surprise as well as a world lifer, a Pied Imperial-Pigeon flew over at some point which was also new, and a Brahminy Kite was perched in a tree alongside Symphony Lake. 

Looking west from Marina East Drive

I just about had time to nip up to Pasir Ris to dip the Spotted Wood-Owls again before finishing the day at Marina Bay East. As time was running out I took a Grab taxi to the top of Marina East Drive and then walked out to the Barrage. On one side there is an uninteresting golf course, but to the east of the road is some excellent wetland habitat and I was able to stock up on Masked Lapwing, Little Egret, Medium Egret and Grey Heron. Best of all an Asian Openbill had taken up residence some time before and was still out on the marsh. As dusk fell and I approached the MCE Ventilation Building I caught some movement above me. Yes! A Large-tailed Nightjar was hunting from a lamp post. Very difficult to see as it sat directly above the light, but there was no doubt about it when it started calling.

Masked Lapwing

Asian Openbill

I spent a bit of time mucking about with a long-exposure shot of the Marina Bay Sands from the bottom of the Barrage, and then crossed over and into the Gardens by the Bay. Fully dark by now this was full of people here to enjoy the light show from the Supertree Grove. I enjoyed it too as I hobbled along now somewhere north of 35k steps for the day. I found my way to the excellent and enormous food court underneath the Marina Bay Sands complex and had Dim Sum for dinner before catching a bus back to Lavender. What a day! Only 52 species but some high quality and 15 world ticks.

Marina Bay Sands from the Barrage

Singapore - June 2024 - Day 1 - Lorung Halus to Pasir Ris, and Buffy Fish-Owl

After a refreshing sleep in my box I woke up nice and early and caught the MTR up to Punggol. The LTR loops were unfortunately closed this weekend but there were replacement bus services and upon enquiring about where I wanted to go I was ushered to the correct line and shortly thereafter was sat on a bus heading just a short distance east towards Riviera. The sun had only just risen and my destination was the Lor Halus Wetland. The bus dropped me off about ten minutes walk away from the Lor Halus Red Bridge, and so just after 7am I had started birding.

It was hard work, much harder than I anticipated, especially carrying a rucksack weighing about 8kg containing my camera and all the supplies I would need for the day. But I persevered, starting off at the small series of ponds and deliberate scrubby areas with paths around them trying to find birds. I ended up doing a full circuit as it wasn't clear how to access the central part of the reserve, and in a couple of hours and over a couple of miles notched up something like 30 species - a decent start. The best bird here were Oriental Pied Hornbill, Coppersmith Barbet, Pied Triller, Brown-throated, Copper-throated and Ornate Sunbirds, Ashy Tailorbird and a White-throated Kingfisher. As with the start of most trips photography was inordinately difficult and I failed miserably to get anything decent of anything.

Javan Myna

Copper-throated Sunbird

Oriental Pied Hornbill

 

Ashy Tailorbird

Golden-backed Weaver

I then walked the Pasir Ris Farmway Park Connector (catchy!) from Lorung Halus to Pasir Ris, essentially walking east for about two miles through what was supposed to be farmland but appeared to be mostly one vast building site and was unfortunately rather bird-free as a result. I found some Pink-necked Green Pigeon along here, and my first Blue-throated Bee-eater, but it was actually rather a slog along an unshaded path busy with cyclists and runners, with a backdrop of JCBs and bulldozers and in increasingly warm conditions. I was pleased to finally reach the tree cover of Pasir Risk Park, and when I sat down on a bench above my head were a pair of noisy Collared Kingfishers. 

Blue-throated Bee-eater

I had a nice break and a bite to eat under one of the numerous shelters here, and also found a water fountain to refill my bottle - the mark of a great city. I also purchased my first of many fruit and ice-based concoctions which proved so so delicious and sustaining over my trip.  As I sipped it I clocked a Black-naped Tern flying offshore between Pasir Ris and the island of Pulau Ubin. I had a poke around the various car parks looking up into the trees for the Spotted Wood-Owls that everybody seemed to see here but drew a blank, and so continued my walk east to the mangrove boardwalk. It was now about 1pm and the rumbles of thunder that had been distant in the morning were seemingly now rather closer. Ambling down one section of the boardwalk the trees suddenly began to wave and within a few seconds a deluge had started. Fortunately I was very close to a shelter and did not have to run very far. I joined a couple intent on taking as many romantic selfies as possible, and soon there were quite a few of us under the corrugated roof as the rain pelted down. The selfies stopped. Lightning was frequent and at times simultaneous with the thunder and I felt rather exposed under this small tin roof. I can't remember how long I had to stay there, but I'd imagine it was probably 45 minutes or more before the rain finally let up and I was able to continue to the small pond where I hoped to find Sunda Scops Owl in the Pandanus.

On the way to the pond there was a Painted Stork along the Sungei Tampines, and a Common Flameback was seen at the pond itself. Of these Owls there was also no sign, albeit that it is acknowledged that they are very difficult to see. Not helping was a renewed amount of water in the air, not as cataclysmic as earlier but still with a good capacity to soak, and so I cut my losses and walked to Pasir Ris MRT where I had a late lunch in a shopping centre and another fruity drink.

From here I then caught a bus to Selatar which dropped me off a short walk away from the Hampstead Wetlands Park. This involved walking up Piccadilly, past Maida Vale and Lambeth Walk, before walking along Mornington Crescent and finally crossing Oxford Street and walking down Baker Street to Hampstead Gardens! If you don't believe me look it up! Once there it was clear I was in the right spot for the Buffy Fish-Owls. It was a hive of photographic activity, with loads of people with enormous cameras camped out by the side of small pond. They were clearly here for the long haul, with seats, camp tables and all sorts. I joined the throng for a while but soon gave up and went birding instead. This was pretty good with four Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, another Oriental Pied Hornbill, a flyover Grey-headed Fish-Eagle that paused for a moment, some Long-tailed Parakeet, and a pair of Straw-headed Bulbul that I knew were around here but that I hadn't genuinely expected to find. A properly rare bird these days due to the songbird trade.

Grey-headed Fish-Eagle

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker

Straw-headed Bulbul

Buffy Fish-Owl

Finally a shout, and an enormous Owl glided in from a hidden location and into a tree above the photographers. Cue a cacaphony of motor drives and excited chatter to which the Owl paid no heed whatsoever. It poked around in the nest tree for a while, and then flew off again. My work here was done! I packed up and caught a bus on the main road back down to Bugis, about an hour in air-conditioned comfort back to the City. It had been a hard day - 13 miles walked for only 45 species seen, but it had been an exhilarating one as well, and I still had two days. A quick bite to eat and another cooling drink and I was done.

Singapore - June 2024 - Logistics and Itinerary

 

Logistics

• A three day solo trip to Singapore in early June. I'd last visited in 2019 and thoroughly enjoyed myself over a three day trip, so this time booked an extra day (note that a full day is spent getting there so it is really a four day trip - two days annual leave required). It's an easy city to navigate, is completely safe, and has far more birds than you might expect for a megalopolis  - the island is extraordinarily verdant and I enjoyed the plants as much as the birds.
• Flights: British Airways from Heathrow on Friday night after work which arrived in Singapore on Saturday at around 6pm, too late for any meaningful birding. I used air miles as well as some kind of BA voucher to get there and so just paid the taxes which meant I could travel rather comfortably. I returned on Tuesday evening and as you gain time in this direction I arrived in time for work on Wednesday morning. Yay!
• Transport:  As you would expect public transport in Singapore is top notch so I purchased a three day Singapore Tourist Pass for about £17. These are only available at larger MRT stations -  I bought mine at the the airport, there is a kiosk at the far end of Changi MRT. This grants you full passage on all buses, tubes and light rail and I used it extensively. As it was a three day pass I also bought a single ticket to get me into the city centre that first evening. For some places that were a little out of the way I used Grab a handful of time, the Singapore equivalent of Uber. 
• Accomodation: I booked a room the size of a shoe box at a budget hotel called the NuVe Urbane near Lavendar/Bugis. This was ideally located for me to get everywhere I wanted to go, and seeing as I spent virtually no time there, it made sense for it to be at the lower end of the scale.
• Literature/Resources: As ever I used eBird for up-front planning, identifying target birds and sites, and as I'd been before I knew I also wanted to revisit a few places. Mick also gave me a few tips of places he'd found good in late 2023.
• Food - Street food and food courts are alive and well in Singapore. I also had lots and lots of cold fruit-based drinks.

On this trip I went to eveywhere marked with a red dot.

Itinerary

• Day 0 - Evening arrival into Changi, no birding. Just a quick meal and then bed.
• Day 1 - Early start at Lorung Halus Wetlands, and I then walked all the way from there to Pasir Ris Park where I spent most of the afternoon, including about an hour sheltering from some incredible rain on the mangrove boardwalk. In the late afternoon I went to Hampstead Wetlands Park which is a well-known site for Buffy Fish-Owl.
• Day 2 - An even earlier start to be at the Jelutong Bird Tower in the Central Catchment Area as soon as possible after first light. This is a 40 minute walk from the nearest road hence the very early start. All morning in this area and then a quick walk around Windsor Nature Park which is back towards the Country Club entrance. Afternoon spent at the wonderful Singapore Botanic Gardens before going back to Pasir Ris to try for the Spotted Wood-Owls again. Evening at Marina Bay East and the Gardens by the Bay. 39k steps with a heavy camera nearly killed me.
• Day 3 - Final day! Started at Jurong Lake Gardens before heading to Dairy Farm Nature Park late morning. Mid afternoon stop at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park for Spotted Wood-Owl again, this time with success! Then another tour around the Botanic Garden before heading back to my hotel to pack my bag and head to the airport.

And in non-bird news....

From time to time I have been known to write about things that are not birds on this blog. Sometimes I even get told off for doing so. Well, get a load of this!

Yes that is what you think it is, but it probably isn't where you think it is. You are probably thinking Shetland, or Fife, or Norfolk, or Devon, or...... The very last place you would probably guess is ON MY PATCH IN WANSTEAD. I can scarely believe it, but this Otter was on the River Roding here in Wanstead just yesterday.

It has in fact been here for several months but this is the first time I've seen it. I've dipped it a few times, cycling over to the Roding as quickly as I could after a sighting but always missing out. Yesterday Tony (thanks to whom for the picture as typically I was not carrying a camera) and I were birding along the river when I saw something dive distantly upstream. So brief was my view that I could not have said bird or animal, but about a minute later TB saw it, much closer to us this time, and I got on it. Yes! 

We stood as still and quietly on the bank as we could, in disbelief that we had just seen an Otter, and that only a few feet away people were playing golf, and just beyond that the roar of the A406 North Circular road. The river was very full after the recent rain, and it was hard to work out where it might be. A Little Grebe and a Moorhen flying up in panic were the best markers in the end. It surfaced a couple of times, the final time (when this photo was taken) clearly checking us out, and then disappeared. A magical moment and one I had not been at all expecting. Easily the best bird this year.

Mr Grumpy

I had a brief conversation with Mrs L last night about last night's blog post. I recounted the broad theme of historical eBird lists with child participants, and also mentioned how I'd had to reread some of the very old posts from well over ten years ago in order to confirm that kiddo had indeed been present. I also threw in, off hand, that my life had been such fun then, full of happiness and joie de vivre. What had changed, I mused? I cannot remember Mrs L's exact response but it was along the following lines.

Yeah you're a grumpy git now and have been for ages.

There is nothing quite like the marital telling it like it is is there? Not that I expected anything different mind you. It is not as if I am unhappy now, but the point is that I was definitely really happy back then. Back when this blog was actually good I was in a pretty decent place, and this shone through in my writing. Or at least I think it did anyway. 

Mrs L did not offer any pearls as to how this state of mind might be recaptured other than to say that exercise and being outdoors a lot more than I am now would definitely help. She may have a point, but back then I could be outdoors the entire day because I didn't have a job. Now I do, and there's definitely an argument to say that this is a contributing factor to being Mr Grumpy. It's a state of mind I think. In my job I am required to be extremely serious, comport myself with gravitas and a high degree of professionalism, and generally be a no-nonsense semi-autocratic voice of reason. This does not translate well into any definition of fun that I am aware of. My point is you cannot simply shake this off on a Friday night and switch it back on on Monday morning, it just doesn't work like that. The person you are at work, the person you are required to be, inevitably becomes part of you whether you like it or not. I am me at work if that makes any sense, I do not pretend to be anyone else, but the lines between me and me have been irrevocably blurred by so many years of doing what I do. I don't think that was the case in my twenties and thirties, my incredible immaturity managed to seep through regardless, but now, in my forties (just...) and with different levels of responsibilities than earlier in my career it has been edged out and this is who I now am. A shame, but I am not sure there is a great deal I can do about it.

Mr Grumpy is probably here to stay.

I knew it would come in useful one day

Remarkably my son now has an eBird account. I genuinely did not think this would ever happen, I felt sure that all of the birding trips I took him on, starting from when he was about six years old, would put him off for life. Well not for life, but certainly for many years. I am not sure what  exactly changed, but it seems that one of new friends at University is getting into birding and dragging Henry along too. This guy is stunned that somehow Henry knows what he is looking at and what is more can identify some birds on call alone. Now this I did forsee, but not in this context. I thought that he would be walking along one day with some friends and unconsciously point out a Goldfinch or something, whereupon his mates would look at him aghast etc, and he would have to confess it wasn't his fault and so on.

I suppose that in some ways this is the scenario playing out, although without the "oh my God you freak" part. I knew about the little excursions he has been going on, but I did not know about eBird until this weekend when we went on a family trip to the Peak District. The weather was essentially disgusting throughout, but mid morning on Sunday a short respite allowed us to walk to the top of Mam Tor without getting totally soaked. Instead we got soaked walking down again, with lots of slipping over, mud, various minor injuries and a huge amount of water. Drying off in a local cafe I went through the inevitable eBird list I had made, and somehow this led to the monumental news that Henry had an eBird account that he uses for he and his mate to work out where to go locally.

And so to the title of this blog post. Throughout the childrens' childhoods I maintained a list of the notable birds that they had seen, but not really ever expecting that these would see the light of day. B-o-ring!! Until now. Back home today, I dug them out and sent his to him. There are some absolute gems on there I have to say, and I am sure that he will remember at least some of them. Trumpeter Finch in Norfolk, ooof. Even though this covers 2009 through to about 2014 I have eBird lists for all of them, retrospectively entered during a particularly bloody-minded period I went through a few years ago that coincided with a pandemic that predented me from leaving the house.... Would he like me to share these with him I enquired? Go on then came the reply. I was flabbergasted and delighted in equal measure, and have spent a bit of time working out which eg Hoopoe it was that he saw. This blog has been supremely helpful in this respect as back in the day I used to publish up to the minute views of what I had been up to (rather than half-arsed trip reports nine months in arrears) and in many cases I can line up the eBird list with a post that confirms that he came along. Sorry, what I meant was that I dragged him along against his will, but that now fifteen years later he is pleased that he came. Or at least that he didn't resist. It is also quite interesting to have a read of some of old 'parenting' posts - what a fun time that was. These days fun is in distinctly short supply it seems but back then I was having a whale of a time. I wonder what the difference could be?

Ticking and zooming

It is all rather non-stop at the moment, I am living my best life. My diary between now and Christmas is quite absurd but I think I am up to the challenge. I've not been at home much, work and travel, and also work travel (a rare event) have seen me all over the place. November continues to look rather full and as for December, well good grief, but there are some fun things in there. And lots of social events as well which is nice, too many perhaps, and mostly wine related. I will be exhausted by the time the holidays actually arrive. And there is scope for another emergency trip to the US in there as well although currently this is far from certain.

Despite being all over the place I've suprised myself with a pretty decent Wanstead patch list for 2024. This now stands at 117, the latest being a Red-crested Pochard on Heronry. Classic timing arriving in a cold snap, and also classic timing arriving just as I departed for Germany. But it was a short trip and was still there when I got back so I nipped to see it before heading off to the Peak District. 117 is my fourth highest total ever recorded, and just one more will equal the third highest, so it is all still to play for with just over a month remaining. 

The biggest impediment is simply not being here very much between now and the end of the year. As ever I have slightly over-extended myself, and what seemed like good ideas at the time are now things all else being equal I'd rather not do. But do them I will, I signed up and need to go through with it as originally envisaged. And just like twitching, whilst it seems like a massive drag at the time a couple of days later the stress and hassle is all forgotten and you are glad you've done it. And this will no doubt be the case here as well.

Fife, looking east down the Forth.

Slovenia - May 2024 - A weekend birding break

I spent a weekend in Slovenia in mid-May this year, mainly because I'd never been and so it was a country tick, but also to go birding in southern Europe which I hadn't done for a while. It was a painfully early departure from Heathrow on a Saturday morning but the tube runs all night so it wasn't a problem getting there, it just meant very little sleep. To try and rectify this I slept the whole flight and by 10am I was on the ground and birding, with a Buzzard at Ljubljana airport. The approximate route I drove is below.

I picked up my car and made for the nearest pin, Hrase ponds which is just south of the airport, to stretch my legs and get in the right frame of mind. I didn't go far, just up and down a track on one side of the water. Here there were singing Icterine Warblers, a Red-backed Shrike, Marsh Tit and a Spotted Flycatcher. A positive start.

My next stop was the western part of Ljubljana Marsh, south of the city. Things became distinctly more European here with Golden Orioles and Cuckoos singing, a Hoopoe and three Red-backed Shrikes. Then on the eastern side of this patchwork of fields and ditches I came across both Hobby and Red-footed Falcon, Nightingale, Serin, yet more Icterine Warblers and an excellent dung heap with all three Wagtails and a handful of Tree Sparrow.

Lake Cerknica

My desination for the evening was Lake Cerknica, about an hour south of Ljubljana. I'd booked a room in the nearby village of Dolenje Jezero and planned to explore both on foot and in the car from there. It is a vast area of reedbeds and shallow water with fantastic birding on offer. I initially walked down the track as it said no cars, but then I noticed that everyone else was driving straight through, so after a while I went back to the village and picked it up and was thus able to go a lot further along the southern side of the lake. The full list is above, but the highlights were a pair of Garganey in flight, a White Stork, a Squacco Heron, nearly 30 Great White Egret and a Marsh Harrier. A scope is essential here as the lake is enormous, and as the sides are mostly reeds the actual water is some distance away. A small squall dropped some hirundines in late on, and about half way along this edge there is a tower hide that affords great views of the lake. The water finally peters out at the village of Gorenje Jezero, and there is more good birding just before here, especially along a causeway that leads to the village. There was a singing Corncrake here, more White Stork, Whinchat, Fieldfare, Reed Bunting and lots of Sedge Warblers.

I was up early the next morning for a repeat, again walking on foot from the village to the start of the lake. The same birds all over again, but no people at all, and this seemed to amplify the Golden Orioles and Cuckoos. The plan today was to head down to the coast via some good birding spots. The first stop was at Krajinkski Park where a well wooded valley held Black Woodpecker and Short-toed Treecreeper amongst other birds, and then I continued to Dolenja Vas a bit further southwest. This was excellent, a grassland valley with steep sides and filled with birds. A Quail sang, and Woodlarks song-flighted over the slopes, meanwhile each bush seemed to have a Red-backed Shrike in it, and both Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer were belting it out.

Marsh Tit

I was at the coast before 10am, birding Skocjanski Marsh. This is a proper nature reserve with trails around the outer edge and various screens and hides. It's pretty popular with non-birders as well, but I didn't mind that and did a complete circuit whilst dodging joggers and pushchairs. I added a ton of new birds for the trip here, Black-winged Stilt, LRP, Redshank, Greenshank, Little Tern, Whiskered Tern and Common Tern. Great Reed Warblers, absent at Cerknica, were all over the place with their outsized grunts and wheezes. 

I went up to the Crnotice Plateau to try for Bobwhite - a naturalised population here - but failed to find any. Sardinian Warbler and a flock of Swift were new for the trip though. I then drove as far east as I could, right to the border with Croatia at Rakitovec, hoping I could sneak another country in. The track was a bit dicey but I made it all the way to the end and then carried on on foot, however the border wasn't accessible so I had to make do with making an eBird list of birds that were clearly over the other side, which included Short-toed Eagle and Griffon Vulture which did the decent thing and sailed over me and into Slovenia. Borders don't apply to birds. There was also a Rock Bunting singing here. Retracing my steps to the plateau I found a vantage point from which to look down at the large quarry at Crni Kal, adding House Martin, Alpine Swift, Linnet, another Rock Bunting, Black Redstart and a Blue Rock Thrush. 

I then went to the Saltpans at Secovlje. Access was a lot harder than I anticipated without actually going in so I contented myself with scoping parts of it, adding Avocet, Shelduck, Spoonbill and Zitting Cisticola. By now approaching 6pm it was time to head back towards the airport. I figured I just had time to take in Lake Bled and Vintgar Gorge to the northwest of Ljubljana, about two hours away. I cannot now remember why I was going there, but there was something good in the gorge that I didn't see as it turned out to be closed by the time I arrived at about 8pm. Lake Bled itself was heaving with people having an evening stroll, and it wasn't remotely possible to even stop the car anywhere to take the same photographs that everyone else takes. Shame.

I ended the weekend on 113 species having had a thoroughly good time. The country is tiny, easily doable in just a weekend, and seems mostly to be used as a corridor by German tourists seeking to skirt around the Alps and access the coast near Trieste or down into Croatia. There is a good variety of habitats and birding stops are not all that far from each other, and I'd definitely recommend it for a spring break.