The Lion, the twitch and the war robe !

And so the Magnificent Seven and their birding machines entered into Gir National park, Gujarat India to look for that elusive mammal, Asiatic Lion. There are only 400 or so left in the wild and roughly 360 in Gir NP. This is very much like your African safari parks though in this case the Lions won't eat you, they're just big tabbies waiting for a ball of wool and a some attention.
As can be seen from the sign above, there are very strict rules in the park including synchronised moving with guide and no blowing your horn...............ah peace and quiet on an Indian road, bliss ! I do sometimes wonder whether blowing your horn is one of the major tests and requires regular use in order to pass your driving test in India?

Anyway, there we were happily watching a Mottled Wood Owl when hot gen came through via Intel or Vodafone on Tabby Line that Lions had been spotted just down the road. Warm up the motor and the twitch was on, hopefully with good gen and very unlike surges at UK twitches for say Radde's Warbler, Troglodytes, troglodytes, Zitting Cisticola, Phylloscopus collybita, or possibly at a push Slender-billed Curlew, Numenius.........

Sure enough there they were two splendid Lions on show and very photogenic with the park guards just out of picture (I told you they were friendly) here kitty kitty

Magnificent and a fine specimen

Mega, note the small human bone in the foreground and discarded lens cap

Gir is generally quiet though unless you're lucky and spot a Leopard or ..........Leopard. Bird wise it can be hard work though the next few pix show what you could have had. Above, Spotted Owlet, common and the guides know the daytime roosts

Mottled Wood Owl, a huge Owl that was a well deserved tick and not a single torch battery in sight, that's my kind of Owling!

Yellow-footed green Pigeon, very smart

Changeable Hawk Eagle, close to the track and photographed like everything else from the jeep

Tickell's Blue Fly, common but very nice indeed.

Indian Thick knee, a 'split' from Eurasian Stone Curlew. And so ended a great trip to Gir with the Lions, the twitch and the war robes of the residents in the park that apparently are of African decent and years ago set sail from African and make landfall on the coast they believed to be Africa as they saw Lions in the forests, little did they know it was India? I believed the story !!

Furry frenzy at Velavadar

Following on from the birding bonanza at LRK we headed off to Velavadar which became a name difficult to remember initially, a bit like Marcapomacocha, Itatiaia, or even Llanfair PG in Wales! but we found the word rolled off the tongue like that ridiculous Muppets song of our youth!

We arrived early afternoon at the Blackbuck reserve and sure enough there they were in profusion Blackbuck, a handsome chap with his mates. This extensive grassland refuge is an important sanctuary and worthy of a brief stop for the hooves, other furries and the 'famous' Harrier roost where it's possible to notch up Hen (Northern), Pallid, Montagu's and Eastern Marsh as the birds fly in from miles around, the roost sometimes getting into the 100's.

One of the other specialities, Harriers aside is Striped Hyena where the rangers often know of an active den that with luck can allow you to observe this cracking canid from a reasonable range. This individual was by the den and watched a wild boar walk on by.

Jungle Cat, the most frequently observed feline, this one was snoozing by the roadside until we unintentionally disturbed it from it's slumber.

Male Montagu's Harrier, almost as good as at Elmley alongside the Blackbuck, Hyena, pack of Wolves, Pallid's galore, Drongos' Syke's Warbler and Sibe Chats.............never has the car park at Elmley been so full (Gordon I'm sure would be ready with his donation tin and anti hallucination pills).

What a bird!

Black Drongo, Nil by mouth (it appears to have lost most of it's bill but I bet that tongue could still nobble up an insect or two?)

Syke's Warbler...................really !

Little Rann of Kutch

The Little Rann of Kutch is one of those places you have to visit, to witness the sheer numbers and variety of birds, from wildfowl to Larks, it is an excellent place to explore worthy of more than the 2 days we spent. There is the opportunity to see rare birds like, Stoliczka's Bushchat, Dalmatian Pelican, Macqueen's Bustard, and if time allows Sociable Lapwing. The one drawback is the dust and the early morning temperatures as you head into the deserts, hence the photo above.
It is an important refuge for Indian Donkey, or Asiatic Wild Ass as it should be called. You won't see anyone taking a ride on these boys or having a photo taken with your kiss me quick hat on. They really are an impressive equid, majestic, proud, ideally adapted to running across the wide open plains of the Kutch but potentially a pit fall lies with the very sharp and thorny acacia like brush if you get caught short !!! 'when you've got to go you've got to go' such is the power of digital cameras you don't appreciate what you're photographing until you review your piccies later one!

Hee hahh

Shrek is a great film, for some reason this photo reminded me of Donkey with one of his nervous twitches

The vast open plains and desert like habitat are ideal places to look for raptors sitting around scanning for prey or resting whilst on migration. This Steppe Eagle was the only bird apparent in this square kilometre

The big surprise of the visit, Stoliczka's Bushchat a very rare Chat that is threatened with habitat destruction and a bird we felt we could easily miss by not going to Desert National Park. This mostly terrestrial Chat put on a great show with it's puff and roll actions as it moved across the ground

One of the two species of Courser possible, the three C's, Cream coloured Courser ' pride of Hadleigh 84' and a much sought after bird in the UK. One of these in Kent or indeed anywhere on the UK mainland would be very welcome especially without a blob of mud attached to it's bill and wandering around near a tip!

'Chinese' Isabelline Shrike, common and easy to see in most of the area

Desert Wheatear having a munch. Wheatears are common here, mostly Deserts, a cracking bird that brightens up a dull winter dull in the UK

Lesser Flamingos plus a few Greaters are a spectacular sight in their hundreds at the wetlands

Indian Courser............MEGA

Macqueen's Bustard, rare and mega. A tricky bird to see and approach even in the vehicles, but a tiny population here should be seen with local knowledge and a bit of time early in the morning

Mystery bird???

Male Pallid Harrier, Raptors don't get much better than this

Rann Riders at Kutch, a great place to stay, bird, relax, and scoff loads of superb food

The team early am in the desert complete with milk crate?

Rufous-tailed Lark posing for the cameras next to the vehicle, always a great hide

The sweet smell of success

The first proper days birding continued as well as it began following the long overnight train journey. It was a good opportunity to see some birds that are rare visitors to the UK alongside the Indian sub continent species. The common but very smart Ashy Prinia above was enjoying the local delicacy of cattle turd, a feast fit for a King or for building a wall, such is the multi purpose use of this insect attracting nutritious lump. This was indeed be a very rare sight in the UK, but carefully checking those lumps may turn up a rare Wagtail or Pipit?
The star of the show at Mount Abu are the Green things, Munias or Avadavat if you like that fortunately despite being a rare bird nowadays are very easy easy to see in the correct localities at Mt Abu and we enjoyed watching a flock of 30+ birds for over an hour at very close range.

A stunning male RBF, a common species wintering in India and one I've seen many times in Kent though never a male (I was away for the Reculver bird). This species is very common at Mt Abu and easy to see and hear, with many cracking males seen enough to brighten up any day in the UK.

A more typical bird as may be seen closer to home, this is an increasingly rare bird in Kent these days and I've not seen one for over 10 years now!!

A classic Siberian Chiffchaff, 'tristis' that were literally all over the place and many were coming to this stream. A difficult bird to ID in the UK and one that has been the subject of many papers and debates.

Delhi to Mount Abu express

Following on from a great meal in Delhi and having paid our monies to Iqbal it was time to head off to the train station, and hopefully a good nights sleep. The morning had been excellent with a few new birds, some great photos and a taster for our 2 week trip to NW India. The Orange headed Ground Thrush above was a real belter at Okhla, and despite being a 'common' bird this was the first chance I'd had to get some good piccies.

A short taxi ride to the station and back on track so to speak we awaited our train to Abu Road a long overnight journey of some 11 hrs or so. Once we identified the correct train and found our cabins we chained our bags to the beds (can't be too careful.............have you seen Slumdog Millionaire !!!!) and awaited the trains departure. Incredible as it may seem and a lesson to be learnt by British trains we departed exactly on time and soon we were able to savour the delights of rail travel in India, the ambiance of the situation, the sweet smell of curry, and the aroma of the hole in the floor..... bog to you and me ! Anyway, I lost my train of thought there and soon we were served a sumptuous meal 'well food anyway' plus drinks and had a comfortable bed to sleep in listening to the clicking of train tracks and clinking of chains . The hours passed by, and we made a few brief stops in the darkness of night somewhere in India until it was nearing day break and we woke up ready for cation to get off the train 'hopefully' at the correct station. Sure enough, out of the gloom appeared a small sign on the platform, Abu Road and within seconds we were off the train fresh as a poppadom and met by our Nepalese guide for the next 10 days, Ganesh.

Volkert having an early morning cup of chai and train issue company biscuit

Mount Abu.....home of the Green things and a mega place for a day or two birding. We headed off up the hill seeing some cracking stuff, Shikra, Indian Vulture (MEGA), Blue capped Rock Thrush (MEGA MEGA) and a bit of good fortune allowed us to see Indian Scimitar Babbler a new bird and a real cracker at that...look at that bill

Following on from the success of the Scimitar Babbler we headed on further up the hill and sheltered from the sun by a small stream home to loads of species including the hoped for Green things

Slumdog Birders

It's official, I simply am unable to keep up to date with my blog, and compete with the likes of Gavin Haig and James Hunter! My excuses, well there's quite a few :

Firstly I believe it not work as well as do the odd bit of birding

I have a computer that is being very unfriendly at the moment

Talk Talk took over from Tiscali and they are.......................RUBBISH

I keep going out birding locally to count Robins !

Captain Larus keeps finding gulls at the local bottle tip !

last of all, I decided to take up the new sport of loft diving onto the landing floor (not for the faint hearted)

Here's a few shots from a recent trip to India, fully armed with the latest fieldguide we headed off into the field after a full 10 minutes in bed courtesy of a delayed flight and an over keen hotel receptionist and the early morning wake up call ! The picture above illustrates how easy birds should be to ID in India, Simples!!!!

The stunning scenery, the Taj Mabuilding complete with Black Kite and a pair of skiddies (like birding on Thanet)

The sumptuous food of India worth the visit unless of course you don't do curries. A great view, great food and Black Kites by the bucket load


Mount Abu, home of the Avadavat and alcoholic cows!

Indian Winter

I managed to avoid the snow just before Xmas but suffered it the past few weeks in blighty. In the Little Rann of Kutch there was heavy snowfall overnight 'or so it seemed' The above piccie shows the expanses of salt deposits in the deserts

Here's a piccie to brighten up a dull evening, better than the Cornish one (well it's 300 miles from Kent) !!