Oman 2025 part 2
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Oman 2025
Asian Green Bee-eater
Spotted Sandpiper
1/5/2025 A quick trip to Grafham Water for a summer plumaged Spotted Sandpiper.
Booted Eagle
31/1/2025 trip to Cornwall for the Booted Eagle that is being seen around Marazion Marsh near Penzance. Eventually showed well in the sun in the late afternoon.
Galapagos 2024. Part 4
9/1/2024
We had travelled overnight to the island of Espanola. Started the day by looking out for Waved Albatrosses which are not very common at this time of the year, luckily managed to spot one from the deck even if it was a bit distant. Nearly all of the worlds population of this albatross nest on Espanola.
Waved Albatross
We then went on a zodiac ride along the coast but we were not allowed to land at this site and many others due to the spread of bird flu.
Blue-footed Booby
Galapagos Hawk
Nazca Booby
In the afternoon we moved to Bahia Gardner on Espanola and went to a fantastic beach.
Espanola Mockingbird
American Oystercatcher
Grey Warbler-Finch
10/1/2024
In the morning we were anchored off Isla Eden on the west coast of Santa Cruz. We went for a zodiac ride around the coast and then out in the glass bottom boat.
Brown Pelican
In the afternoon we relocated to another island called North Seymour for what was going to be our last expedition trip. This island had many breeding birds including Frigatebirds and Boobies.
Great Frigatebird
Swallow-tailed Gull
Last night on Santa Cruz II
11/1/2024
Just enough time in the morning to have a last look from deck and then we were taken ashore to Baltra Island and the airport. A flight to Guayaquil and then the long flight to Amsterdam before another flight to London. The journey home the worst part of any holiday!!
Brown Noddy
There was quite a large army presence at Guayaquil airport.
Galapagos 2024. Part 2
5/2/2024
Very soon after arriving on Baltra island we were taken to Santa Cruz II, the ship that was going to be our home for the next 6 days.
It was not long before we were on our first expedition on the zodiacs to explore the coastline.
Blue-footed Booby
Brown Noddy
Juvenile Swallow-tailed Gull
6/2/2024
Overnight the boat had sailed to the island of St Cristobal. Our first trip out was in the zodiac along the coastline and later we landed on a beach and were able to walk along the shoreline.
Yellow Warbler
Wandering Tattler
Medium Ground-Finch
Small Ground-Finch
In the afternoon we went ashore and visited a breeding centre for tortoises in the highlands. We only saw captive tortoises here. We saw several San Cristobal Mockingbirds.
San Cristobal Mockingbird
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
7/1/2024
Another day, another island. Today we are visiting the island of Santa Fe.
Santa Fe Land Iguana
Galapagos Mockingbird
Galapagos Flycatcher
Common Cactus-Finch
Galapagos 2024 – Part 1
A great trip to these amazing islands with my brother. We flew to Quito the capital of Ecuador via Amsterdam. We stayed three nights in Quito before flying onto the Galápagos Islands. We had a cultural tour of Quito one day and were quite surprised to be accompanied by two armed police officers for most of the day. The following day we went to the Cotopaxi reserve on a nature tour. We later found out that the security in Ecuador had become a bit of a problem and a curfew was brought into place whilst we were there. Luckily it did not really affect us whilst we were in Galapagos and it was only noticeable when we were in the airport on the way home, when we noticed a strong army presence and police offers with guns!
Some of the sights in Quito:
The following day was a trip to Cotopaxi Nature Reserve with a quick stop at a local market at Sangolqui.
Great Thrush
Andean Gull
Andean Lapwing
Blue-and-yellow Tanager
Our third day and we were on our way to the Galápagos Islands. We had to fly from Quito to Guayaquil and then onto the islands. We landed on Baltra Island and we were soon seeing some of the fantastic wildlife much of which is endemic to these islands. Before we had left the airport we had already seen Galapagos Dove, several Darwins finches and Iguanas.
Galapagos Dove
Tenerife 2023
Tenerife Blue Chaffinch
Atlantic Canary
Berthelot’s Pipit
Laurel Pigeon
Collared Dove
Little Crake 7/11/2023
News of a Little Crake at Linford Lakes NR, Milton Keynes this morning. Non permit holders were to be allowed access after 9am. There was also an Arctic Tern at Willen Lake so I went there first and Linford Lakes was only 10 minutes away. My first visit to Linford Lakes was a successful one, after waiting about an hour the Little Crake showed very well.
Ecuador – Part 4
8/2/2023
We started the day at the fantastic Refugio de Paz de la Aves. The day started at dawn at an Andean Cock of the Rock lek and then continued with views of 5 Antpitta species plus roosting Lyre-tailed Nightjar. The ant pittas we saw were Giant, Ochre-breasted, Moustached, Yellow-breasted and Chestnut-crowned. Other good birds here were Guayaquil Woodpecker, Orange-breasted Fruiteater and various other hummingbirds and flycatchers.
Chestnut-crowned Antpitta
Moustached Antpitta
Golden-headed Quetzal
We then drove to Bellavista Lodge for a late lunch. Unfortunately it never stopped raining whilst we were here, but we did manage to walk one of the trails before the rain became much heavier. It looked a really interesting reserve but we had to leave the next morning before it got light. The hummingbirds here were very tame and we even saw a Kinkajou!
View from my room
9/2/2023
Our final day and an early start to drive to Sura Loma where we hoped to see the Sword-billed Hummingbird. Apparently the only bird to have a longer bill than its body!
Sword-billed Hummingbird
Equatorial Antpitta
Tyrian Metaltail
Barred Fruiteater
Chestnut-naped Antpitta
White-throated Screech-owl
And then after a lunch at this wonderful reserve it was time to leave for the airport and our journey back home….
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