Sri Lanka Part IV - Finale

 The 4th and final part of our 'Teardrop Tour' started weeks before even departing and those precious moments reading up on what might be in store. On the down side there were the Tamil Tigers of the north-east of the country trying to forge a seperate state by violent means, but we were not destined to get anywhere near to them. On the other hand the day that captured my imagination most was that set aside for a visit to

SIGIRIYA ROCK
an ancient Fortress in the northern District of Matale with much of the hoped for adventure incuding what may be discovered en-route! No need for long or drawn out explaination for as Rod Stewart clearly pointed out

Every Picture Tells a Story

Transport at the ready and highly likely chances of both Wildlife and Ways of Life let the Gig Begin!

BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE

a brief stop at an

ELEPHANT SACTUARY
and a few

WATER BUFFALO
with attendant
CATTLE EGRET

FIREWOOD GATHERER
has a different connotation in South America as there is a Bird of the same name found there!

Far more impressive than the Mind's Eye has it, along with the added bonus of

CHANGEABLE HAWK-EAGLE
in the gardens and the whole thing far more imressive at

CLOSER QUARTERS

and at a lower level

"and they're climbing a Stairway to Heaven" - Led Zeppelin

GREATER FLAMEBACK

with just a rusty handrail

and an equally corroded Iron Wall the
Health & Safety Executive
would have had a Field Day up there

ORIENTAL MAGPIE ROBIN

but what a vista!
and what a find when spotting a Bird of Prey on the rails below.
Anxious to inform our Guide and the rest of the party of what was likely to be the Peregrine Falcon look-alike

SHAHEEN
Predeep Jane our leader considered it highly improbable as a scarce spieces there, but that is what it was!!

Wall to Wall Deities

with most

huge, but we should have posted a human there for size comparison,

and not to leave out the

Wall Art
while back at Sea-Level and among the Settling Ponds

GREATER SANDPLOVER

LESSER ADJUTANT

MARSH SANDPIPER

and

GREAT THICK-KNEE

LIKE ALL GOOD THINGS
while on my mind was
Where to Go Next??

Garden - Groundhogs

 With a few outstanding domestics to attend to in our charabanc home it was thought that in combination a day in the garden might prove profitable? Not a great start as all the colour had been taken out of what f.f.y. Moths there were but as we know, they all count towards the annual total.

POPLAR GREY

a not dissimilar

FROSTED GREEN
and to keep up the trend

BROWN RUSTIC
and for no other reason than to add a little colour one of 2

CREAM-SPOT TIGER's
While my only achievement at school (that proves a good memory) was the School Leavers Certificate in Gardening, we are not even going to pretend we have any idea as to the name of the

following botanicals

My garden is all overgrown, and the weeds are creepin' up on my home.

 Grass has grown over two foot high, and the trees are blockin' out the sky.

they sure look in good shape.

 French windows won't open anymore, from the moss that's grown outside the door.

 A hundred birds are nestin' in the trees, looks like a wildlife sanctuary!

As ever at this time of year no shortage of

ROOKs

with more nests, and hopefully by definition, more youg that we have ener recorded here before,
difficult to say but maybe as many as 50 nests??

Another Fine Specimen

 But I'm not gonna cut a single blade of grass,

 my garden will look just like the distant past.

and after a number of attempts we finally managed to capture the extrodinary livery of this

Unidentified Aircraft
with seemingly no identification letters or numbers?
No need for Moth Traps mid-afternoon as this f.f.y.

YELLOW SHELL
landed right before us, netted and committedto the Canon followed by a number of unidentified

Before the days of agricultural land,

before the time when pebbles turned to sand.

DAMSELFLY's
all in a teneral state, that is to say recently emerged and not showing their true colouration yet.

Another beautiful bush without referance as to

 SPECIES

When I leave this house I'm gonna stay,

 

I'm forsakin' my comforts to live another way.

 but that is when we took up station within the homestead to watch the antics

of our local

HOUSE SPARROWs

feeding their young with Damselflies in full

To get my clothes from heaps, my food from bins.

My water from ponds and have tramps for my friends.

colour, maybe not fond of those that are not 'fully ripe'?

MALE

JUVENILE

having just been fed

but hoping for more.

While not even on our radar we appreciate a
Beautiful Beast
when we see one, the property of one of the Builders.

Very fortunate to have enjoyed a pint or 3 occassionally with Founder, Vocalist and Lead Guitarist Tony (T.S.) McPhee (the T. S. part standing for Top Strat, as in Stratocaster Guitar, 'no arguement there'), Peter Cruickshank - Bass and Ken Pustienik drums mainly in Finn's Blues Pub - Weymouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdI2aRDEBZ4

 from the album

New Kid in Town - The Eagles Part III

 Not in correct chronological order, but who's counting, as we venture into the final phase of 

The Trillogy

 eventually getting back to Dave and the Moths with a decent haul and

Josh & Sophie (centre)

WHITE ERMINE
attempting to keep up the numbers, while f.f.y.'s. included

GRASS WAVE

BARRED RED

PINION STREAKED SNOUT

one of my personal favourites the minute

ROSY MARBLED

along with

BIRD'S WING
and

PEPPERED MOTHs
keeping up with the Jones's
A DECENT and WELCOME CATCH
"Some Might Say - Oasis"
Good for Dave as he gave me a say in spotting firstly a single

First for the Year

SHELDUCK

followed by a second which do occassionally nest here but not knowingly in recent years
Here's Hoping

and a 3rd

SAND LIZARD 

over the past 10 days.

FOXGLOVE

are blooming while

FUNNEL SPIDERs
start the annual hunt with another visitation by the

ever welcome

ENGLISH WHITE

Cattle Brigade

and as for the
PUFFBALLS
it was out with the Old and

in with the New while both

SMALL COPPER
and

SMALL HEATH
were again on the wing and at distance a couple, or maybe 3,

RAVEN
the image having been plucked from the archive.
Casting Your Minds Back
over the last 3 Posts, quite a journey for just a single day!