Galana's fourth effort. "Never mind the quality feel the width".

[Soukous]

I must confess I've never thought of travelling across Scotland by ferry. 

[xelas]

26 minutes ago, Soukous said:

I must confess I've never thought of travelling across Scotland by ferry. 

 

if you have never used ferries to move around Scotland then you have missed some seriously beautiful places! And great drives.

[Galana]

35 minutes ago, Soukous said:

I must confess I've never thought of travelling across Scotland by ferry. 

Point taken. Calmac could have phrased that better for you Sassenachs but we know what they mean. You would have a job getting to Mull without crossing a wee bit of Scotland by one Ferry, if not two.

Next year book an Island Hopscotch and see even more.

[Soukous]

Is the IOM part of Scotland? if not, how come I'm a Sassenach and you're not? 

[Galana]

5 hours ago, Soukous said:

if not, how come I'm a Sassenach and you're not?

Cos we are fellow Gaels. I believe the Celtic Welsh use a different word for the "English". Sounds like Custard.

[Soukous]

1 minute ago, Galana said:

I believe the Celtic Welsh use a different word for the "English". Sounds like Custard.

 

everything sounds different in Welsh. I'm sure it just means 'good bloke' 

[Galana]

On another note with temps in the low 60's I donned a disguise and sneaked out for a couple of hours. Not for a Ring Ousel in Gloucester I hasten to add.

One 'product improvement' for #16

 and one new and yet to be numbered.

I got the idea from a  ceramc wall hanging I quite liked.

 

[janzin]

Good thing you didn't go for that Ouzel as the police dispersed the twitchers  

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-52047532

 

And no, I'm NOT getting sucking into reading the BY threads but just happened to notice your comment in my "new since last visit" stream. No, no no

 

 

[Galana]

Further resistance is futile!

[Dave Williams]

1) No you can't roll over your BY in to 2021.... you are already miles ahead anyway

2) The Hare is laughing his socks off at this unforeseen advantage 

3) I guess loosing money that you would have spent anyway isn't the end of the world. I had transferred all my expected spend for South Africa when I saw the rate looked favourable at 19 ZAR to the £. it's now over 21! As long as they don't put the prices up it makes no difference to me, we'll get there one day! On the plus side we are not spending very much at the moment as we are locked down!

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Dave Williams said:

2) The Hare is laughing his socks off at this unforeseen advantage 

 The speed at which he is doing his report anyone would think he had morphed into a Tortoise and joined you!

Heaven alone knows when he will get around to his BY.

 

Meanwhile back to reality...

The second coat of paint on the bathroom ceiling is drying nicely. One more should do it before I move on to the main bedroom. I thought I had ended my DIY days but my usual decorator is self isolating from 'non essential' work. I tried to use that excuse myself but SWAMBO is having none of it. "If a drop of paint is non essential the same will apply to a drop of Tullamore Dew!" I never knew she could be so cruel!

 

So onwards and upwards .....

Here are the remaining  nine to get back to my ten a day..

Reminder. We are up at Emmy's own "Broadbill Forest Camp" near Ruhija in the Bwindi Impenetrable.

Broadbill Forest Camp. I will leave the details to @xelas's Trip Report.

 

Meet the neighbours. Rwenzori Three-horned Chameleon share the camp grounds.

 

252. Variable Sunbird.

 

253. Black-headed Waxbill. Dodgy and shy but showing the darker colours that distinguish it from Black-crowned Waxbill posted at #120 (and repeated below..)

for information purposes only...

 

 

254. Slender-billed Starling.

 

255. Handsome Francolin. And a lot more handsome than its picture in Fanshawe's.

 

256. Olive (Rameron) Pigeon.

 

257. White-tailed Ant-Thrush. In case you may ask, the White-tail is only obvious in flight.

 

258. Grey-throated Flycatcher.

 

259. Cassin's Grey Flycatcher. Two for the price of one undipped me from missing them in Kibale. Almost guaranteed at both sites.

 

260. African Shrike-flycatcher. I was really pleased when I spotted this bird and stopped the car. Not often seen.

 

Now to check the paintwork. It needs four hours to dry. So glad I bought the slower drying Matt vinyl by 'mistake'!

Edited March 27, 2020 by Galana
amended text.

[Dave Williams]

Keeping my paint drying for  wet day if you understand my meaning.

[Galana]

Well that's another coat on the ceiling left to dry so "Back to Bwindi. Hmmm! Catchy title for another time.

 

The 'neck' is a connecting parcel of land linking two sectors of Bwindi Impenetrable on the road between Buhoma and Ruhija. It is quite bird rich and contains a small river crossing.

Sadly our/my plan to bird at "The neck" on the way to Ruhija was washed out by rain but we did return another day with a packed lunch so all was not lost.

So off we go without more ado. Warning! May contain nuts or the odd EBC.

 

Also contains an occasional lapse into sharper focus. Sorry about that but I just cannot help it.

261. Mountain Wagtail.

 

262. Grey Cuckoo-shrike. Damn that twig!!

 

263. Olive Woodpecker.

 

264. Narina Trogon.

 

265. Waller's Starling.

 

266. Regal Sunbird.

 

267. White-starred Robin. Much better!!

 

268. Auger Buzzard.

 

269. Common Kestrel.

 

270. Grey Crowned Crane. In focus so the often misplaced bloody hyphen is invisible.

Uganda's National bird so worth three shots.

 

Back soon.

 

[Soukous]

Fred, you E BC skills are a masterclass we can learn from  so the occasional lapse into focus is forgiven. 

You won't be surprised to learn (nor, I hope offended) that I'm waiting for Alex's BY postings (by that I of course mean Alex posting Zvezda's photos) to see what some of these birds actually look like 

The suspense is killing me. 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Soukous

[xelas]

17 minutes ago, Soukous said:

The suspense is killing me. 

 

Before allowing your blood pressure to get too high, you can see many of Uganda's birds in our joint trip report!

[kittykat23uk]

3 hours ago, Soukous said:

Fred, you E BC skills are a masterclass we can learn from  so the occasional lapse into focus is forgiven. 

You won't be surprised to learn (nor, I hope offended) that I'm waiting for Alex's BY postings (by that I of course mean Alex posting Zvezda's photos) to see what some of these birds actually look like 

The suspense is killing me. 

😂😂😂😂😂 I did try to persuade Fred to clean his lens once in a while.... Although the zoom on that thing is quite impressive.. 

[Galana]

6 hours ago, Soukous said:

You won't be surprised to learn (nor, I hope offended) that I'm waiting for Alex's BY postings (by that I of course mean Alex posting Zvezda's photos) to see what some of these birds actually look like 

Martin. So am I!

 

3 hours ago, kittykat23uk said:

I did try to persuade Fred to clean his lens once in a while.

I thought you just told me to spit on my camera cos you were jealous!

 

Fact is that whilst at Chimpanzee Guest House last time the much abused camera dropped face down on the floor cracking the protecting UV filter and jamming the ring. I got out the broken glass reasonable well but the Filter ring had jammed and could not be removed. At home I even tried to hacksaw it out to no avail. This situation prevailed throughout 2019.

But strangely on this last trip the offending ring suddenly became free half way through the tour. Maybe it was the vibration in the car or maybe I dropped it again and freed the distorted ring?

So on my return home I blew the weekly pension cheque on a new ring and FILTER which at least will protect the lens a bit more.

I have tried it out but I won't let it spoil my EBCs too much.

 

[Soukous]

11 hours ago, Galana said:

the much abused camera dropped face down on the floor cracking the protecting UV filter and jamming the ring. I got out the broken glass reasonable well but the Filter ring had jammed and could not be removed. At home I even tried to hacksaw it out to no avail. This situation prevailed throughout 2019.

 

There would be some people who might see this as a sign to upgrade their equipment 

[Soukous]

11 hours ago, Galana said:

Martin. So am I!

 

 

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

There would be some people who might see this as a sign to upgrade their equipment 

Good luck to them.

I do some simple logic.....

1. New Camera - £500?

or

2. Rtn fare to Africa - £500.

Choose only one!

 

Hacksaw blade 50p.  New filter and ring £24. Bit of spit on Handkerchief - no charge!

No contest!

Kerching!

[Galana]

I have been given the day off from decorating (SWAMBO is all heart really ) so I am a little early to offer up the usual 10.

Here we go...

271. Yellow-backed Weaver.

 

272. African Stonechat.

 

273. Common Fiscal.

 

274. Mountain Buzzard. Drying out from recent rain.

 

275 .  Mountain Yellow Warbler.

 

276. Archer's Robin-Chat.

 

277. Stuhlmanni's (Rwenzori Double-collared) Sunbird. (Race  graueri)

 

278. Collared Apalis. Eventually got the little bleeder to come out.

 

279. Ayres's Hawk-Eagle. I think unless Jo/Alex have a better one. Location, location, location.

 

280. Yellow Bishop.

 

 

[xelas]

@Galana, this is our best try 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by xelas

[Dave Williams]

The Crane shots are fabulous, I do wonder if you expect too much of the camera's zoom capabilities sometimes!! The Nikon P100 or is it 1000 is supposedly superb for a bridge camera. Your cancelled trip to the Hebrides should cover it!

[michael-ibk]

Time to subtract your "Ayre´s", Fred.

[xelas]

12 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

Time to subtract your "Ayre´s", Fred.

 

Boooo