28th February - Colombo to Udawalawa, Sri Lanka

We were off on our travels once again, this year a little later in the winter to miss the gloom.  We returned to the island of Sri Lanka, we have visited before but have concentrated on the south coastal area.  This trip we were adventuring a little further, heading inland to some of the other wonderful national parks they have in this lovely country.  Having spent holidays in India and enjoyed the madness that exists there I always look on Sri Lanka as an "India Lite"

Rather than fly direct we opted this time to travel with Emirates through Dubai, something that comes back to bite us early in the holiday.  But for now we arrived in the afternoon of the 27th and endured some horrific traffic on our way to our first hotel on the coast just south of Colombo.  We were only staying the one night, but had time in the morning to take in the beach front and warm sunshine, something that has been in short supply here in the United Kingdom so far this year.

The hotel was an old colonial house left over from the British rule and still retains a lot of the colonial history.

It was a four hour drive from the hotel to Uda Walawa, initially quite fast on an expressway, but then on single roads inland north a lot more interesting as it wound its way through the towns and villages.

We were staying two nights in Kalu's Hideaway.  Set in five acres of beautiful gardens surrounded by shrubs and forest, the hotel neighbours the impressive Udawalawa Reservoir, and just ten minutes away from the gates of the Udawalawa National Park, the hotel is owned by the famous Sri Lankan Cricketer Mr. Romesh Kaluwitharana who was part of the Sri Lankan World Cup winning team in 2014  Kalu turned hotelier after his retirement from cricket.  And there are photographs and momentos around the hotel.

We had a top floor room that looked out over the tree tops of the jungle that stretched out towards the Udawalawa National Park.

After we were settled in the room I decided to spend some time around the gardens.  But first I spent sometime on the balcony.  There were plenty of birds in the tree tops and my first encounter was with a White-throated Kingfisher.

Rose-ringed Parakeets flew back and forth calling as they did so, while this Green Imperial Pigeon was a welcome sight, a lot better than out native Wood Pigeons here.

There was a butterfly garden in the grounds and there were some beautiful butterflies around the flowers.

A large butterfly about the size of a Swallowtail, the Common Crow, it doesn't look much in flight but does look good when settled.

Then a Common Tiger, similar in size and colour to a Monarch.

A Smaller butterfly and comparatively common, the Common Four Ring, which has five rings, but there you go!

This Blue Tiger was absolutely stunning.

The gardens lead down to a river and there was quite a bit of wildlife along the banks.  The Red-wattled Lapwing, a wader that turned out to be almost everywhere and had a rather annoying call.

Another bird that turned out to be almost everywhere we went was the Indian Pond Heron.  It doesn't look much here but when in flight shows off it's brilliant white wings.  A little smaller than a Squacco Heron which it could be confused with, but they are not found here.

Where there is water there were dragonflies.  This looks like a species of Darter but I haven't been able to get a definite identification.

On the other side of the river was a group of tall trees and there was some loud calls coming from within.  The Merlin app identified the calls as belonging to the Malabar Pied Hornbill and I managed to find them in the centre of the tree.

Smaller birds around the shrubs, some of which I had seen before, Red-vented Bulbul and these Purple-rumped Sunbirds, their song very similar to that of the Dunnock.

The Sunbirds were nesting in the shrubs, avery intricate nest made of woven grasses and domed like that of a Long-tailed Tit.

A White-rumped Munia appeared in the same bush as the Sunbird.

Walking up the stairs to the room I came face to face with the male Purple-rumped Sunbird at the top of the trees.

Back on the balcony a Shikra flew over, similar in size and behaviour to a Sparrowhawk, its presence set of the alarm calls of the surround birds.

Sunset comes at the same time every day here in the tropics, at about 18:20, before hand the House Swifts were teasing me in trying to get some photographs, this was the best I could manage

The sun dropped amongst the clouds sending a red orange glow across the clouds.

It was time for dinner, but when we returned to the room it was to the news that the Americans and Israelis had commenced bombing Iran, the problem though was that Iran was retaliating by bombing US friendly Gulf States, one of which was UAE and the air space and airports around the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain was closed.  This meant if this continued, we would not be able to return home though Dubai with Emirates.  For now all we could do was speculate, check the internet and worry.  We told ourselves we have to enjoy the holiday, but it wasn't easy.  Tomorrow though were off into the Udawalawa National Park and an early start

24th February - Titchfield Haven Canal Path and Reserve, Hampshire

The weekend saw some welcome weather on the Saturday and today was also forecast to be spring like.  It wa a bit misty as I drove south, I was meeting Ian at Bridge Street car Park and we were going to have some time along the northern part of the Canal Path.  First though we checked the paddock area to the north if Bridge Street.  It was still flooded in places and the canal had burst its bank by the church and water was pouring in.  There wasn't any bird life of note though so we turned back and headed south toward the Bridge Street Floods.

Here there were good numbers of Pintail, more than I can recall at this site and plenty of Wigeon and Teal.  In amongst the Black-tailed Godwits we could only find two of the Glossy Ibis.  There were many noisy Black-headed Gulls on the water, but scanning through them we couldn't find the Little Gull that has been around over the last few days.

From Bridge Street we walked on, a Chiffchaff was singing, the first this year and plenty of Great Tits and Blue Tits in the willows.  Cetti's Warblers were also trying out their explosive song, but were not really too concerned about territory yet.

At last it was possible to see water on the Posbrook Floods after the drought of last year.

One of two Red Kite drifted overhead, coming quite close.

A pair bred close by last year and there has been a pair around with what might be one of last year's young.

There wasn't any sign of the Tufted Ducks and the Ferruginous Duck seen over the weekend, they seem to go missing so quickly.  There were more Black-headed GUlls, but no LIttle Gull.  The duck present were Gadwall Teal, Shoveler and Wigeon.

A little further along from the floods a male Kestrel was hunting the flooded meadow.

A Marsh Harrier drifted north and out of sight and above us Skylark were in full song.  A small flock of Fieldfare were disturbed from the trees on the east side, by the river and flew over us towards Posbrook Farm.

Plenty of Reed Bunting were in song, this one was close to the path.

We walked as far as the thatched cottage, about halfway, then turned back.  The light was better for seeing.  A Song Thrush showed well from the trees as it sang.

At Posbrook once again there were two Green Woodpecker calling and we came across quite a few Nuthatch calling and singing from the tops of the trees.

A male Brimstone flew past us, the first butterfly of the year and like all Brimstone at this time of year it didn't stop.  There was the classic view looking north along the Canal Path of the oak trees at Posbrook.

A Peacock butterfly was flushed as we approached the car park and then flew away over the trees.  Back in the car park it was time for lunch and then we headed off to the reserve.  We started off on the east side where it was quite busy.  A Tawny Owl called from the adjacent gardens and there was a male Blackcap in the bushes.

Of significance was at least two pairs of Firecrest close to the Suffern hide turn.

Just before the Walkway Pond there was another Peacock and this time it settled on a branch for us.  Another first for the year, the first butterfly photograph

We walked to the Knight's Bank hide.  the water levels on the meadow had dropped a lot and as a result there was not the numbers of birds that had been present a week ago.  Canada Geese and a few Greylag and Egyptian were out on the meadow.  A single Curlew and a few Oystercatcher, plus the numerous Lapwing that seemed to constantly fly over the reserve.  

Marsh Harrier and Buzzard hunted over the reeds and the Kestrel pair were around the nest box.  The male showing in the tree to the right hand side of the hide.

We could see plenty of birds over the scrape so we decided to walk around to the west side and the Meon Shore Hide.  Along the way there was a large roost of Sanderling on the Rainbow Bar.

The water levels on the scrape was also falling, the central causeway had appeared so there was now a north and south scrape once again.  One island was visible and a few of the posts and letters were being used as vantage point by the gulls.  Wigeon, Black-tailed Godwits and Lapwing could be seen on the east and west banks.

On the water were Black-headed, Common and Mediterranean Gulls while there was plenty of duck, mostly Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard and Teal, with a few Shelduck.  It was the Teal that were closest to the hide, looking splendid in the afternoon sunshine.

With the water still high it was nice to see a Little Grebe in front of the hide.

Now almost in full breeding plumage.

The drake shoveler were still fighting over the females.  They make a distinctive noise when they take off to fly a short distance to intercept a female or chase off another male.

Shoveler are normally seen filter feeding with their large bill and sometimes they will upend to feed, but today we observed some unusual behaviour, something I haven't seen before, they were diving like a Long-tailed Duck, the wings used to pull them under water.  Here a short video showing this.

The Lapwing were conducting their acrobatic displays over the scrape.

There was a perch in front of the hide that was just showing and this drake Teal used it to settle on and to preen.

A nice close up of the beautiful colours in the head.

The Marsh Harriers were staying well to the back of the scrapes, if they came any closer they would receive a Lapwing escort.  At the moment there isn't the incentive to come any closer, but that will soon change.

The Little Grebe was diving just under the hide and came up with what looks like a small Eel or Elver.  The head was smashed on to the surface of the the water until eventually the grebe was able to swallow it.

Some more video of the Little Grebe dispatching the small eel.

And with that the day came to an end.  Wonderful to have the warm sunshine, great to hear the birds singing and it is always nice to get February butterflies.