Hong Kong Part 1

Our family holiday this year involved staying in Kowloon Hong Kong for 2 days, travelling to Phuket for 8 nights then back to Hong Kong Island for 3 nights.

Birding in Hong Kong is really just municipal parks with the exception of Mai Po Wetland Reserve which i will deal with in part 2.

I have dealt with the beginning and the end in this part as birding in parks is pretty limited.

I had chosen a Kowloon hotel which was next to Kowloon Park and my birding for the first 2 days was limited to this.

I only birded between 7am and 8.30am both mornings and the most common birds were Tree Sparrows, Chinese Bulbuls and Crested Bulbuls.

There was a small lake in the grounds which gave me nothing first morning but gave Chinese Pond Heron, Black Crowned Night Heron and White Wagtail the second morning.

Circling above were Black Eared Kite which are a subspecies of Black Kite recently split.

The foliage was quite dense and a number of times I saw shadows and silhouettes but identifying was difficult.

This is also the time of day when the elderly Cantonese do their Tai Chi so there were large numbers of people near all paths and trees.

A viewpoint allowed me views of a female Koel which is a quite impressive cuckoo type bird. The male eluded me which is predominantly black but the female is heavily barred brown.

I also spotted a bird high in the trees which turned out to be a Black Necked Starling.

Just as the UK, escaped birds have gone on to establish breeding populations and in Kowloon Park this is true of the Rose Ringed Parakeets.

Other birds seen but not photographed in Kowloon were Silky Starling, Little Egret, Jungle Crow and Spotted Dove.

Jumping to the end of our trip the equivalent park in Hong Kong Island is simply called Hong Kong Park.

It is sandwiched amongst the skyscrapers and is very pretty.

Birding here was probably better but I only had one 90 minute session in the 3 days.

Their resident and breeding immigrant is the Yellow Crested Cockatoo which were heard and seen flying but the photo below is the only one I saw land!

For me most of the birds were similar to Kowloon though I suspect that given more time there would be more species. Hong Kong Birdwatching Society hold regular walks around the park but sadly they did not coincide with my dates.

However, three other birds were added. The first two were common in Magpie Robin and Black Faced Laughing Thrush.

However, the best bird of my park visits was a Crested Goshawk which was seen at first light, I was caught in two minds how to take the photo as the bird allowed me to get close but, it was first light and in thick foliage. I did not want to scare it by using flash but also desperately wanted to get an image.

My conscience got the better of me and the photo below was the best I could get as I did not use flash but have lightened it up as best I could..

My final day (and the day we were leaving!) was at Mai Po and I will cover this in a separate blog.

Another great day in Norfolk

Jono picked me up at 5.30 but we had to make a stop at the garage in Ely.

Jono was being interviewed on 3 Counties Radio and had a prearranged call at 6.30.

After giving them the lowdown on interesting facts about Little Hadham and a coffee we were back on our way.

Titchwell was first port of call and although the predicted fog was absent, light values were generally poor. This was a feature of the day making photos poor.

Sea watching gave Red Throated Divers but I noticed another diver with a thicker neck. Jono gave me first lifer of the day in Great Northern Diver! On the beach there were the usual waders including decent numbers of Grey Plover and fly past Knot.

On our way back from the beach we had a flyover Whooper Swan and a super male Pintail before settling down at the Parinder Hide.

Generally large numbers of waders and ducks though nothing particularly outstanding so it was back to the VC for a coffee.

On our way back we met another birder who mentioned that a flock of Twite were at Thornham.

After coffee we decided to give it a go. No sooner had we parked the car when Jono noticed a number flying. However, a decent group of 10 sat in a distant tree. Not great views but another lifer for me nevertheless!

Onwards towards Holkham Gap but we stopped at Burnham Overy when we saw some parked cars and group of birders. A Rough Legged Buzzard was in a very distant tree but the third lifer of the day for me. Jono also found a Great White Egret in the reeds though equally distant. My record shot could be anything and photographically, this summed up the day!

As the Surf Scoter was last seen miles away at Holkham meaning a 6 mile round trip walk we opted to go to Sheringham where a birder had seen a Black Redstart in a garden at a block of flats on the seafront.

After scanning this unlikely area I saw our young Black Redstart flitting across the roof tops.

No decent photos again but a welcome year lister.

Although it was a shame about the weather for photos it was a super day and three lifers in such a short space of time is exceptional at this time of year.

A quick detour to Hay Street on the way back and we got distant views of a much more obvious RLB though too far away for photos. The Short Eared Owl which had also been seen did not show so it was back home!

Hong Kong and Thailand next!

Another North Norfolk Cracker!

5 am start and a decent drive took Jono and I to Warham Green where an Isabelline Shrike had been seen for the last few days.

We were not alone and other birders were already in the general vicinity that the bird had been seen. Sadly though, it has moved on so Jono did not get his first lifer ever when being out with me!

We made our way to the beach car park at Cley and to nearly Eye Pool and found the Grey Phalarope.

This tiny little, elegant wader swam in and out of the foliage giving as decent views.  A lifer for me and a year lister for Jono so a much happier duo set off for a deserved coffee at the visitors centre.

Looking at the list of birds that day there had been Little Stints on Simmonds Scrape and Snow Buntings on the beach.

A quick walk to the hides gave a small selection of the usual waders, ducks etc but no Little Stints. A pair of Stonechat never quite stayed close enough to get great photos. A fly by Kingfisher was good to see.

However, a revisit to the beach did give wonderful close up views of a particularly smart looking Snow Bunting and a female Wheatear too..

We then made our way to Wells Wood and walked around the Dell. Apart from a pair of Jays and large numbers of Redwing flying over there was little about.

Reports had come in about a Pallas Warbler at Holkham.

After a quick remortgage to park in Lady Anne Drive we had only gone 150m and a group of birders were scouring the trees. It seemed that the Pallas Warbler was with the Tit flock and had just passed by.

We moved into the trees and had Long Tailed Tit, Coal Tit and Goldcrest before i spotted a Firecrest and Jono spotted a Yellow Browed Warbler.

None lingered long enough to get good views nor did the Pallas reappear so back to the car.

Due to a party that night we had to leave sharpish so decided on a quick half hour at Holme Dunes.

Again, lots of small birds in the trees and had time not restricted us I suspect we could have spent longer here.

Just as we were leaving the reserve I glanced up and a 'blackbird' was sitting on a cable. However, it was not quite right and had a silvery sheen whn it flew. Jono thought it could be my elusive Ring Ouzel (I am yet to get one in the UK) but a 5 minutes look around and we could not relocate it.

Nevertheless a super day again in shirt sleeve weather.

Work trip to Rhodes

I had a hotel inspection in Rhodes and due to Ryanair only flying on a Saturday and Tuesday, had a whole day to myself.

I did research on Fatbirder and the like and identified four likely looking areas to see if i could get some decent birds. Each area could not have been further apart and so I hired a car and circumnavigated the island.

First stop was the Appolika Reservoir which is the only permanent freshwater on the island.

I had expected a selection of common ducks, gulls etc and actually got a lone cormorant!

It had taken an hour of winding roads and 3km of rough track to get here so was a bit peeved to say the least. I did get some Ravens flying, the ubiquitous Hooded Crows, a solitary Willow Warbler and a very elegant soaring bird of prey.

I certainly had not seen one before so ruled out the obvious Kestrel, Peregrine etc but could not identify.

I am hopeless at photographing birds in flight but rattled off a couple of shots and hoped one would be good enough to ID when I got back to the hotel.

I did not have the benefit of looking on a computer and the small size on the back of the camera meant I had to wait until I got home. Even then I still could not pin it down so emailed the photo to Jono.

Unsurprisingly, my font of all knowledge picked it out immediately as a Red Footed Falcon which is a lifer for me so the journey was worthwhile after all.

The only other wildlife was a few Meadow Brown butterflies and this damselfly (I think another for Jono!)

I then made my way to Plimmini which is a small beach with scrub behind at the very south of the island. I could see how good this would be for migrants - sort of Minsmere like without the water!

However, I had obviously missed migration and had nothing other than a large amount of Crested Lark.

Next stop was Garoudis river which gets good reviews. I am sure it would be good if it had any water in it!

The whole area was completely barren and I did not see one bird!

Other birds seen over the three days were Red Rumped Swallows, House Martins, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Jay, Yellow Legged Gull, Buzzard, Kestrel, Blackbird, Starling, Collared Dove and House Sparrows. Very average.

The island is lovely and I am sure if you hit it right with migration it would be better than I experienced.