Galana's. Third big year.

[Soukous]

Nice Osprey. Looks like you got pretty close too.

[PeterHG]

Beautiful Red-necked Pharalope. Divers with throats in various colours, Corncrakes, an admirable collection!

[Towlersonsafari]

Wonderful  @Galana that was the osprey nest I was thinking about-It does give great views! Morvern was great ta apart from a somewhat  traumatic  boat ride with fine walks Golden Eagles and a regular pine marten 

[Galana]

@Towlersonsafari

Pleased you got your Pine Marten and enjoyed Morvern. The boat ride sounds fun.

 

The last lap for me.

On our way down from Scotland we decided to take two nights in Forest of Bowland so of course a visit to Leighton Moss would surely give me a guaranteed Nuthatch on the feeders. Maybe also a Bittern and some Bearded Reedlings. The guarantees were not in writing!

But.......to while away some time watching Marsh Harriers and Black-headed Gulls I thought to practice more "Spray and Pray" on feeding Swifts.

Well the reeds are in focus..

174. SC029. Eurasian (Common) Swift. Leighton Moss.

 

Then after a scan I felt there was something odd about a couple of Black-headed Gulls and took a hard look.

Extreme range so a bit of an EBC but that is no Black-headed Gull.

Fired off a few more and I was correct when it stopped preening...

Compare my bird with a real BH Gull (with brown head) on the right.

 

Bingo.

175. SC030. Mediterranean Gull. Really pleased with that one.

 

Finally whilst there was but a brief appearance of  a Nuthatch at one feeder I only caught the tail of it and even I won't use it.

But one bird came that I could count..

and it posed nicely so I could get sharper photos.

176. SC031. Marsh Tit, unless anyone disagrees, So whilst I dipped on the guaranteed Nuthatch I got some compensation.

 

And that wraps up my trip. I got my trip target of 30 by a small margin even though I missed out on several I had almost banked on. (Never been to Loch Ruthven and not seen Slavonian Grebes for instance.) and 176 inches me along and whilst I am well behind I have done this within Europe.

But I do have some plane tickets for Namibia next week and whilst my companion is not a birder (yet!!) I am sure I will trip over a few birds on my travels in Kunene and Etosha. A Cinderella Waxbill would be nice.

 

[xelas]

8 hours ago, Galana said:

So whilst I dipped on the guaranteed Nuthatch I got some compensation.

 

Do not despair, a couple of Nuthatches are waiting for you in Ljubljana  (not to mention the stack of cold Laško ).

[TonyQ]

A great bounty for this trip. Have an excellent time in Namibia

[Galana]

2 hours ago, xelas said:

Do not despair, a couple of Nuthatches are waiting for you in Ljubljana  (not to mention the stack of cold Laško ).

Thank you for the reminder. I had an excellent afternoon in the castle grounds on my first visit. Redstarts, Treecreepers and of course Nuthatches. Looking forward to a repeat of what SLO has to offer a wandering Manxman.

 

10 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

Have an excellent time in Namibia

Thanks. Whilst I have driven the planned area on previous trips the will be much new ground to cover in 'training' my erstwhile and very brave companion to drive with one eye on the road and the other one for birds! In return I shall no doubt acquire some latent social and camping skills.

[Kitsafari]

i've never heard of a  corncrake so you had me googling. 

Wonderful haul from your Scotland trip - and great shots of the osprey and marsh tit!

 

Have a great and productive trip to Namibia!

[PeterHG]

Ah Namibia, with Kunene and Etosha! Have a wonderful trip there.

[lmSA84]

What a trip! I’ve yet to see a bunch of those! Have a great trip to Namibia

[xelas]

SLO has to offer a wandering Manxman. -> do you have an EU issued driving license?

[Galana]

Thanks for all the good wishes

6 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

i've never heard of a  corncrake

Well hearing about them is better than hearing them. Unless a fan of course.

All late into the evening and from the first hint of dawn the males call. Crek creck, Crek crek. It is where their Scientific name came from.   "Crex crex"  Not good for insomnia sufferers. Its other name is Landrail as it is a relative of the equally secretive Water Rail. They used to be very common throughout UK but suffered badly from a change in farming practices.

It does not call in Africa and is thus even harder to find there. I have seen only one in all my travels.

 

@xelas

EU? Who they?

This has got me around Africa, North America and even Europe when needed. SLO twice already.

I will be just fine and not Fined.

 

[Zim Girl]

22 hours ago, Galana said:

 

176. SC031. Marsh Tit, unless anyone disagrees, So whilst I dipped on the guaranteed Nuthatch I got some compensation.

 

Definitely Marsh Tit, they don’t have Willow tit there. Shame you missed the Nuthatch, they are usually a regular sighting.

Have a great time in Namibia.

[Galana]

29 minutes ago, Zim Girl said:

Shame you missed the Nuthatch,

Thanks. I know. I was relying on them.

Here is my sole EBC and even I won't stoop to using it.

You can see the tail protruding on the right.

AND There were some Bar-tailed Godwit's from the Eric Morecambe hide but again there must be limits.....even for me!

[Galana]

The Leopard in Winter!

So I will cut out the domestic bit other than to say I 'volunteered' to ride shotgun for a 'web friend' from Toronto who needed a friend to travel NW Namibia. After getting the call I got the OK from Lady Galana and then the air tickets.

FlyMayBe and KLM transported me from home on 25th/26th in reasonable discomfort and deposited me here at some lodge called Abracadabra or something like that for a well earned snooze to await D this morning. 27th. TIA and there is already an upcock with my lift having gone straight to the airport and not picking me.

SO. I will take the chance with the lodge's Iffy Wiffy to start the list as I was busy last afternoon and being a new location every photo can go on the list as it would cause a mega commotion if what I have seen was found in Europe.

So without more ado here is the first afternoons haul:-

177. Grey Lourie.

178. Blacksmith Lapwing. Windhoek.

179. Ring-necked Dove (African Turtle Dove) Windhoek.

180. Laughing Dove.

181. Yellow Canary. Windhoek.

 

 

182. Fortk-tailed Drongo.  Windhoek.

 

183. Black-throated Canary. Yellow-rumped SeedEater

 

184. Cape Glossy Starling. Whoops there is another photo but it won't load.

 

185. African Red-eyed Bulbul. Windhoek.

 

 

186. Rattling Cisticola.

187. Groundscraper Thrush. Windhoek,

 

 

188. Red-billed Francolin.

 

Everbody's favourite..

189. Lilac-breasted Roller. Windhoek

That will do for now as there are three more but the car is here.

See you later perhaps. Wiffy depending.

 

[xelas]

Ahhh, @Galana in Namibia! What a surprise (not to me anyway but the story is short and sad on my side ). I can see you have started very excited, enough to forget to name 188. Red-billed Spurfowl .

Keep them coming, wiffy will be iffy but here you will have a patient audience.

[PeterHG]

Good to see the first familiar Namibia birds appearing. Enjoy the trip and I'm looking forward to the next bunch!

[pedro maia]

Enjoy the trip, last year I had to cancel my Namibia vacations but I´ll go there sometime (I hope).

[lmSA84]

Good luck! Looking forward to see what you get

[TonyQ]

You didn’t waste any time!

A great start

[michael-ibk]

Enjoy Namibia Fred! What´s the temperature there? Cannot be much hotter than Europe right now...

[pedro maia]

3 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Enjoy Namibia Fred! What´s the temperature there? Cannot be much hotter than Europe right now...

 

Here it’s fine, 26º in Lisbon .

[michael-ibk]

Better than our 38 indeed! 

[Soukous]

 

crikey, only just landed and already cranking them out - despite the 'iffy wiffy'

[Soukous]

 

18 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Enjoy Namibia Fred! What´s the temperature there? Cannot be much hotter than Europe right now...

 

Hotter than Norfolk for sure. We managed 16 degrees yesterday. Heat wave my ar*e