MONDAY - LONGHAM (FROZEN) LAKES

 In view of the fact that there had been a most unusual visitor to Longham Lakes on Saturday, an

AVOCET
there was little more than a cursory race around the local patch but realistically not much chance of connecting with the wanderer? No surprises to find both lakes more or less completely frozen over with small numbers of Waterfowl and Gulls such as

WIGEON

GADWALL

BLACK-HEADED GULL

skating on thin ice
along with a small group of

TUFFTED DUCK
on what little open water there was, but still no signs of the Avocet which was the overall result of the visit.
However, that was by no means the end of it as sticking to the central pathway

dividing the 2 lakes and finding a vocal

WATER RAIL
at the same time as encountering a young couple photographing a small bird in the margins. Had we been given 1,000 guesses as to the species we would never have come up with

REDPOLL

in a thousand years.

Not a frequent visitor to the site but having done so since the 70's

we have never heard of let alone seen this species at this site

which as you might imagin put quite a spring into our step!
In line with that there was also a most obliging

ROBIN
and almost overlooking a

LITTLE EGRET

on the 

Main Island
and finally a couple of shots of

both

CETTI'S WARBLER

and

REED BUNTING

MADAGASCAR - Part I

Not at all the usual way of things as in 2010 we set off for 3 weeks in Madagascar but, for the first time and right against the grain, to join up with a formal group and right against our usual moto:-

 No Mate's No Moans! 

The train now standing at platform 9 - Tananariva the Capital
while arriving at dusk our first Bird was a lone

AFRICAN MARSH OWL
(good start)

Getting to Know the Group (yours truely left centre)
then in no particular order the good stuff begins!

BROAD-BILLED ROLLER

Meeting the First of the Locals

COMMON MYNA

DESERT PLANT LIFE
and our first Lemur

HUBBARD'S SPORTIVE

PIED CROW
along with our first avenue of

BAOBAB TREES

CHABURT'S VANGA

BARE HILLSIDES and PADDIES
on other watercourses

likely the bird that most of the party wanted to see

ALLAN'S GALLINULE

Ploughing the Paddies

COQUEREL'S SIFAKA

Village Hardware Store

INDRI

RED-BILLED TEAL

Bringing in the Sheaves - Bringing in the Golden Sheaves

Was That the Dinner Gong?
We'll Leave it There Until Next Week!

FROZEN (Adapted from the Snow Queen)

 The main thrust of yesterday's outing were c3 small birds that should have been consigned to the Year List before now, but nothing can be guarunteed in this game! For the first 2 the small stand of

OAK TREEs

within and adjacent to the the now frozen

NORTHERN HORSE PADOCKs
with the first, a very vocal

NUTHATCH

consigned to the log before even shutting down main engines, while a short time later at the

Sewerage Works first a female and then a male

FIRECREST
were coaxed out of the brambles, while the third hopeful will have to wait for another day.
Within the seemingly even more frozen

Solar Panel Compound
(earth stood hard as iron water like a stone)

just a single
LAPWING

turning our thoughts back to the Spring youngsters

and the final sighting of

3 or 4

MEADOW PIPITs