India day 6 - No- one told the birds we were coming

One thing to remember is that the wildlife doesn't know you're coming. An early start, Masala chai and biscuits and we headed for a site for Grey Hypocolious, although no-one had seen any yet this year, the rains had been late and the bushes were only just flowering, no berries for them to feed on. We arrived and walked out across some fields of castor to the favoured spot, but although we gave it over an hour, no luck. We did see at least 2 Marshall's Iora which was a bonus, plus lots of larks, bulbuls, common babbler and grey fronted prinia.
We then headed for an area of dried lake bed and volcanic mounds to look for Red-tailed wheatear, which was found just as we were about to start breakfast. Also floating past was a Montague's Harrier. After breakfast, with chai, we drove round the grasslands seeing Grey Frankolin, lots of common cranes, curlew and larks before returning via a small water trough overflow. Along the bank was a lovely Bluethroat and dropping down to drink were Chestnut-shouldered Petronias. A stop and walk through the scrub and over some volcanic mounds and we were shown an Eagle Owl resting in the shade of a tree. We spent a little time watching and photographing it before heading back to the car.
As we headed back for lunch the guide got a call to say there was a Caracal taken into care, would we like to see it, YES! The poor thing had been in an accident and they were going to help it recover before releasing it back into the wild, sad to see it in a cage but beautiful.






Lunch at the Lodge.
Afternoon return for bustards but again no luck, trying to find 1 of only 15 birds in this vast expanse is very difficult but we gave it a try. We also saw Stolicza's ... Hundreds of larks, stonechat, finishing up with nearly 30 Montague and Pallid Harriers swooping around us as they went to roost in the grasslands.


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India day 5 Lala bustard sanctuary and Fort Mahdev

Chai at 6.15 and we were ready for our 6.30 start to the Lala bustard sanctuary with a focus on seeing Great Indian Bustard. Our first stop was at a high concrete tower where we scanned across the grasslands but only saw a harrier, some wild boar and hundreds of larks. We moved on, stopping for Red-fronted Prinia, Grey-necked Bunting and Grey Francolin before turning off onto a sandy track. We spent some time searching , asking a ranger in a very smart uniform for info and and stopping for a packed breakfast of bread, cheese, banana crisps and chai but no luck. We did see 2 very smart Yellow-wattled Lapwing and thousand more short-toed larks, a Steppe Grey Shrike and Montague's Harrier among other things.
We drove on to another part of the reserve, several miles away and were beginning to slowly search this area when a man came across the grasslands on his bike. It seems he had seen 2 bustards a little way away. We jumped back into the car and followed him but by now the bustards were out of sight. We stood around while the man and his mate searched but again no luck. We did have lots of birds and a few butterflies to look at so we were happy.
After this we returned to the lodge for lunch.
The afternoon safari was to a different area and we were soon watching Marshall's Iora, White-bellied Minivet, Yellow-eyed Babbler and Common Bushrike through the acacia and cacti scrub before we headed further for White-napped tit which we eventually saw. An unexpected sight was a nightjar sitting in the middle of the road.
We arrived back for a cup,of chai, a shower and dinner.


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Drive to CEDO camp, Bhuj

Following breakfast at the civilised time of 7.30 we set off on the long drive to CEDO camp for the next leg of our journey. We kept ourselves amused looking out for birds on the wires and a stop for some Indian Coursers, which Lokash spotted as we drove past. We had another stop at a brilliant lake with lots of duck, cormorant, flamingo and a group of fishing pelicans. On the other side there were hundreds of small waders which included Dublin, marsh sandpiper and many others, but they were difficult to see.
We also took the opportunity to soak the local way of life and the driving attitudes and practices!
We arrived at CEDO at about 5.00, a little later than expected so no birding there and a quick re-arrangement of the itinerary while we sat and had a very relaxing cold drink before taking the time for a nice hot shower and a very good local meal eaten the Indian way, putting the soya balls and vegetable curry on the stainless steel tray with the rice and chapattis and putting yoghurt and lentils in a small bowl. No knives and forks, just a spoon or using the chapattis to collect mouthfuls of food.
An early night in readiness of an early start.


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India day 3 Wild Ass Sanctuary, cats and foxes

Another 7.00 breakfast before setting out on a drive mirth to a different part of the wild ass sanctuary. We entered the sanctuary over a bridge that was being remarried and came out on a track just before the bridge, an insight into road works in India. We drove down the narrow road and tracks onto the lake bed, which is an amazing huge landscape which goes for miles with acacia thorn bushes and scrub dotted about. At this time of year there is still water in a shallow lake with thousands of water birds on it. Later on the water dries up and the birds move to (lake from yesterday) but the asses manage to survive through the year.
On the lake were thousands of flamingo, both lesser and greater, avocet, great white pelican, spoonbill plus ducks and Imperial, Spotted and Indian spotted eagles standing around on the waters edge. When these took off and floated across the water there was a mass panic flight with an amazing noise.
We spent the rest of the morning visiting different areas of the lake, soaking up the atmosphere and the thousands of birds before returning for a late lunch, no swim today.
The afternoon drive was a return to the first area of the betts where we drove around the scrubby areas looking for desert fox. A rapid stop and reverse and the guide had spotted a Syke's nightjar roosting under an acacia bush, a phenomenal spot. As we jolted around among the thorn bushes we flushed lots of greater shirt-toed larks, a few quail and some chestnut sandgrouse, but the highlight was a quick turn by the driver a call if cat, cat and crouched on the ground was a Jungle Cat which crouched in a hollow of the ground before skulking off into the bushes.
We bumped around more bushes, past a fox den, before the driver spotted a Desert fox trotting across a patch of open ground, we watched it running between bushes and then followed it, spotting it through the gaps before it ran into the distance.
As we were watching the fox the guide told us that there was a desert fox calling so we drove in that direction, with a short diversion to look at 4 McQueen's bustards before the driver and guide spotted a head sticking out from behind a small bush, Indian Fox, much smaller that Desert fox with big ears and a very grey colour with black tip,to the tail. Again we followed it as it trotted away through the bushes, finding it behind us, calling before it or disappeared back into the bushes.
The driver connected up the spot lamp to the battery and as we returned another Indian fox was picked up on eye shine, followed by a Jungle cat with a young one and a flying nightjar species. We were a very happy group as we returned for dinner which was enlivened by a local nature watching group deciding on an impromptu dance session to the rhythmic drumming of a local drummer.
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India day 2 Rann Riders

Breakfast at 7.00 for a 7.30 start and we set off for our morning 'safari'. We drove for about an hour, stopping for birds on the way. We had great views of Black-winged kite, Green Pigeon ... Before driving down a lane and out onto the Betts, a huge dried up lake bed with ruts and lines of 'petrified' Footprints across the ground. We spent a lot of time searching for Hoopoe lark but no luck. We did see desert wheatears, pallid harrier and a jungle bush quail. Dotted around the landscape on the 'slightly' raised betts were a few shelters where they were extracting salt. We also saw more Wild Asses. On the way back we saw mongoose and saris crane ....
Returning for lunch and a swim and a walk round the garden before a 3.30 afternoon trip out to a lake area..... We drove through a small village and turned toward the lake down a rutted track. The lake was teeming with birds including G flamingos, cranes,
As we were leaving we drove through a funeral. Procession of women going to wash and then we saw the funeral pyre with the men sitting round.

In the afternoon



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India Day 1 Rann Riders

I will try and keep this up wherever possible, pictures might be a bit later.

9.15 flight from Heathrow with Etihad got us into Ahmedabad at around 3.00 the next morning via a 3 hour stopover at Abu Dhabi. We were met by our guide Lokshan Kumar and after packing ourselves and all our luggage into an MPV we had a reasonably safe drive to Rann Riders where we were met, welcomed shown to our rooms and then met back up for breakfast. There was salad and fruit, toast, 3 different choices of omelette, boiled egg, chickpea mixture and tea and coffee. We had a short time to sort out our bags etc before we met up with Lokash Kumar, our guide for the trip, at 8.30 for a gentle walk around the local area. We started off in the gardens and then walked round an adjacent rough field with .... And then we walked out across the road and along a track beside some damp fields and a lake area. There were lots of birds including ........
We returned to the lodge around 12.00 and after agreeing to meet Lokash at 1.30 we spent some time in the pool while David did a bit of birding and butterflying. Lunch was curried chicken (moderate) lamb chicken (hot) potatoes in herbs, vegetarian vegetable curry and rice, with chocolate and hazelnut mousse type pudding. We agreed to meet up at 3.00pm for a jeep ride into the Wild Ass Park.
We met up with our driver and set off into the Betts around Kari/Jinora. On the way we began to get to know the common local birds but we also saw Sirkeer Malkoha and Black-winged kite. We drove into the Betts along sandy, rutted tracks where we saw Wild Ass, Short-toed larks and an amazing landscape of vast areas of dried up river bed with Acacia scrub belts and clumps. On the 'slightly' raised area there were a few settlements, the people making a living from extracting salt.















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Back Home

After another breakfast of sausage, egg, salad, yoghurt and toast and marmalade we walked back along the track to the public hide where we spent a bit of time.

A Capercallie called from the forest but didn't come out and the Tree Pipits and Rustic Buntings from the early morning had dispersed so we wandered back, loaded up the car and set off back towards Tampere.
 We stopped a couple of times, seeing Hooded Crow, Buzzard and a few gulls, once at an odd sign which turned out to be a forest path to a well which looked reasonably OK apart from some long green algae.

We began looking for accommodation when we were about 2 hours away from Tampere and eventually turned left towards a sign which turned out to be a converted farm building which could hold conferences and up to 70 in the sauna.
It looked deserted but eventually we found the owner and she checked us in. We had to drive about 15 minutes down the road to a restaurant on the edge of the lake where we had a lovely meal, including a very nice glass of Blueberry wine, produced by the restaurant owners from their own fruit. We returned to the hotel for a sauna, with Chris being brave enough to finish off with a cold shower. The electrics in the other room failed and the owner had to come and remove a self-installed lamp before it would come back on, which was a little worrying.

Breakfast was the usual egg, meats, saddle and salads. We had a look around the buildings which were the landladies natal home and chatted to her husband about their plans, which include a trail up the hill opposite with a watch hide form the top. They are renovating this part of the farm and he showed us the locking mechanism, which is 19th century with an enormous key. He was being help up by a 'special bird' that was nesting in the end room.

We walked up the road where there were birds flitting about among the trees, including Willow warblers, tits and a Great spotted Woodpecker before setting off for the airport and home.