Sudden enthusiasm

I just remembered that I took a camera to The Gambia earlier this year and so had a trawl through my photos. None are amazing, I seem to have been far better at taking photos of birds 10 years ago than I am now, but at least they are photos. Recent trip reports have proved a lot harder to generate in the absence of photos of any of the birds I am writing about, however for the first time in an age I actually have some material to work with. Then I remembered that I often struggle for any contextual shots on birding trips, I simply forget to take any. Imagine my surprise when I looked back on my phone and found loads of photos of landscapes, people, food, small panthers.... I even snuck one of the border crossing between The Gambia and Senegal which wasn't strictly allowed but as you will see later it's not exactly a high-security operation.

So it seems that actually The Gambia and Senegal will be a pleasure to write up. There will be a wealth of material to pick and choose from, and knowing this has caused my enthusiasm to suddenly return. There is also the small matter of round numbers of course. Earlier this year it looked like I would struggle to get to 50 posts, with something like 28 by the end of June. Whether this caused a resurgence or not I have no idea, but, oh what's that word? Oh yes, enthusiasm. It could have manifested itself as "Oh sod it", but it didn't and instead in July I hammered out Colombia in short order, followed quickly by Ohio, various posts about cats, binoculars and gardening, and now at the beginning of October the output sits at 70 and there is still enthusiasm for writing. Anyway, here's a taster I just found, a Red-throated Bee-eater from a quarry near Janjanbureh.