January 17, 2016

This was our best day yet despite being on the road for 5 hours we managed to see more birds than on any other day so far……………………..

January 16, 2016

Our earliest start yet! The day began as we all scrambled into the bus at 5am for the 90 minute journey to Horton’s Plain national park.

January 15, 2016

Another pre-dawn start, John and I met with Jith and our driver at 5:45am, the girls Dawn and Gill stayed in bed, how wise!

January 14, 2016

Our last morning at Kithulgala was a very good one, it was also a very early start! We met Jith our guide outside the hotel at 05:45 in the dark, he wanted us to be in the field before light to give us a much better chance of seeing the ‘0wlet’.

January 12, 2016

Our first full day was packed full of new birds and we saw 12 of the 33 endemic species, a great start to the holiday……..

January 11, 2016

This was the first day of a two week recce trip to Sri Lanka, it was a nice change to arrive in warm dry weather having been used to cold wet weather in the UK.........

January 5, 2016

I joined a couple of friends and spent a morning on the 'levels' hoping to see a few of the unusual species that are spending the winter there. A Dusky Warbler was the main target but Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, Bearded Tit, Eurasian Bittern, Lesser Redpoll, Siberian Chiffchaff and Firecrest are just a few of the other targets.........

January 3, 2016

Another dreadful morning of wind and rain, but it did clear up around 2pm so I went for another look for the local 'rarity' YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER.

January 1, 2016

The year started with a beautiful and most colourful sunrise, it then clouded over and deteriorated until the wind and rain became unbearable at 1pm. So I gave up birding.....................

December 31, 2015

My last blog of 2015 - the end of another fascinating and bird-filled year. I ended the year with a national rarity seen in Yeovil this morning............................