Sri Lanka - Day Three - journey to Nuraya Elya

Getting up around 6 with the intention of birding round the grounds was sidetracked by the stunning number of birds in the tree outside our accommodation. Between 20 and 30 Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot were feeding on the flowers with Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Flower Pecker, Golden-fronted and Jerdon's Leaf-bird, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Dull Blue FlycatcherBrown Flycatcher and Flame Minivet. Although some of the birds drifted away we were kept entranced until breakfast.

We left around 9.30 and set off for Nuwara Elya with a brief stop at the swinging bridge for Stork-billed Kingfisher which obligingly flew down the river and Crested Serpent Eagle flying over. We had another short stop at a bridge in the hope of dwarf Kingfisher but no luck. We did see 2 electric green damselflies and a Black Eagle drifted over our heads.

We stopped for a view across to Devon Waterfall and then a stop for a cup of tea at the St. Clair's Waterfall where they have a nice new viewpoint platform, museum and tea room. This is real tea country with every available slope terraced and groups dotted around picking the leaves.

We settled into our new hotel, had a light lunch and then set off to a spot with a path behind an old shed leading to a potato farm. It was a bit of a slippery scramble down to a bridge and then a short walk along the path looking and listening. A couple of Spurfowl flew across the track and then a steep scramble up the hillside and standing very quietly as a mixed flock came by included Dull-blue Flycatcher, Yellow-eared Bulbul. The track was fairly busy with orkers coming and going but everyone was very friendly. 

A wait for the Whistling Thrush resulted in hearing it call all the way down the valley, passing right under our feet, and catching sight of some movement but frustratingly no proper views.



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Sri Lanka-Day Two

A 5.45 start for a short drive to a private garden where we had good views in the early light of Indian Pitta as well as Spot-winged Thrush. Grey Hornbills and Palm squirrels visited the bird table for rice. We returned to the lodge for breakfast before driving down the road to the swinging bridge leading across the river to the forest.

We walked through the village and up to the Visitors Centre before carrying on up into the forest, along the stony trails looking for birds and butterflies. We




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Sri Lanka - Day One

After a rather stressful journey into Heathrow because of a jack-knifed lorry on the M25 and booking in with 5 minutes to spare we made it onto our Qatar Airways A380 for Doha. With only an hour's transfer it would be a bit tight but we managed to get a lift with an electric buggy and were soon on our next plane to Colombo. None of us had ever spent so little time in airports on any trip.
We landed in Colombo at 8.15 and, after sorting out a small problem with one of the visas we collected our luggage and were soon out and meeting up with our guide Samon. Loading everything into the big yellow van we set off for Kithulgala.
A short roadside stop and we were looking across a rice paddy being harvested. There were Ashy Wood swallows, Sri Lanka Swallows and Barn swallows hawking and resting on the wires, the field was full of Cattle Egrets with an Intermediate flying in and a Pond Heron fishing in the small stream. A Crested Serpent Eagle flew overhead.

Arriving at the Rest House we settled in, had lunch and then spent some time round the grounds trying to learn some of the more common birds like Asian Koel and Jerdon's Leaf-bird. 

We also saw a Land Monitor and Green Garden Lizard before meeting up with Samon and driving up into the hills where we found a variety of birds including Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, and some saw Purple Leaf Monkey before returning to the Rest House for dinner in the restaurant by the open doors 100 yards from the river Kelani.

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Meadows and caves.

6/8/14 Early am for sm mammals in fields nr Joszefo. Tawny owl in chimney, green toad in in garden. Carpathian river snail.

Szinpetri church - gt horseshoe, med, Geoffroy's. - lighting project.

Sm mammals, striped wd mouse, cm wdmouse, old laundry, pip in the bat box, yang salamanders in stream, 2 springs, from different levels. Cowheats. Beautiful demoiselles

Hilltop watch point. 400 mts. Flower filled meadow. Mealeagers blue, silv stud, preying mantis, broomrape. Field co wheat, swallow and scarce tail

Up into the hills for Brandt bat. Stop at Szelcebuszta hostel climb into attic for 2 Serotine, 30-35 lesser horseshoe, 5 greater horseshoe 2 edible dormouse, jersey tiger, fallow deer

Lunch stop. Szalamandra lodge. Attic with 90/100 lose hs. Vole, large copper high brown frit sc swltail

Old military base , Dormouse box checking 50 boxes, 1 hazel nest, 1 edible nest, 4 copper u/w, 1 wasp nest (border and geocache) duke of burgundy. Plus butterflies.

Cave. At Bodvarako amazing. White storks, grey herons.

Back for dinner - long wait.

Evening mist netting at water mill Szinpetri. 51 Noctule, 1 pip, 1 Whiskered, 1 schreibers. Tree frog calling



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Day in Slovakia

In the morning we checked the small mammal traps with 1 wild field mouse and 2 striped field mice. We saw middle spotted woodpecker around Jasavo and we also saw Wild boar and roe deer.
We visited a bat roost in an Orthodox Church where there greater and lesser mouse eared bats as well as 20/30 Geoffray's bats. The church interior was richly decorated with ceiling and wall paintings.
On the drive to Slovakia we stopped at the border which runs down the middle of the road. The border apparently divided up the old hungary meaning that most of the towns are Hungarian speaking, rather than Slovakian. Scanning round w saw 3 Buzzards and an Eastern Imperial Eagle.
A stop along the road at a natural 'rock garden' with house leek, yellow leek, eastern short-tailed blue, Wood White, Small White and Map.
We went for a Walk in the Szadeloi gorge with great views of Dipper and Asarabacca along the stream and Lesser Purple Emperor and White admirals in the car park. Half way up the gorge is a limestone peak known as the Tooth because of it's shape.
After lunch we drove up to Straseena where we checked the shutters in several house for roosting bats. Eventually we were very lucky to find Northern bat and Particoloured bat behind some upper floor shutters. There was also Mountain Pansy and a pink along the edge of Lake Dedinky.
We ate dinner in Rozsnyo which has a lovely medieval square before driving along the edge of a stream to set up the mist nets. Very quickly we were catching Noctules with Serotine, Schrieber's and 1 Grey Long-eared bats.





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Hortobagy and on to a Forest School Centre

The plan was to check some dormouse boxes before breakfast but it was raining when we got up so we postponed to later. Following another lovely breakfast we packed the van and set off up the hill to the laundry again. We walked the small canal looking for salamanders. Sandor found the first one and after that there were several sitting on the stones and even on the top of the wall. We saw 7 in all. There was a Pipistrelle in the bat roost box and then we set off in the opposite direction along a footpath. Sandor climbed up the bank and checked about 10 boxes but there were nothing there. We walked back down to the hotel as Sandor drive round to pick up a forgotten bottle of wine.
We set off South towards Hortobagy stopping at a derelict building in a small wood where there was a significant roost of Mediterranean Horseshoe bats. The building is in a very dangerous state and badly needs some money spent on it just to protect the bat colony.
In the fields we found an Oberthur's skipper, browns, and some flowers before re-boarding the van for the drive to Hotobagy with a quick stop in Milosvic to get my sandal stuck and my bag handle sewn up.
We arrived at the landing stage at about 6.00 and met the captain of a small, very comfortable motor boat with padded cushions and a carpet. He took us out for a ride through the river


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Churches and Church attics.

A quick walk round, breakfast and then off to an old church Blopotravia, within the National Park with Peter, a friend of Sandor's, who works in the national park. The key was huge and the inside of the church was very simple with a blue ceiling painted with stars and just a pulpit, no altar.



We climbed the wooden stairs into the roof space where there were several Mediterranean Horseshoe bats.
On to another church at Banhorvati with smaller, darker spaces which was quite cosy.
A third church at Nekezseny held a mound of poo which Sandor and friends remove about every 2 years.



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