Tanzania here we come!

Well the blog is now behaving but I dont have time to catch up on the comings and goings I have missed here!

We are off on the holidays.

This time is does not matter whether my piccies are in focus or not as I am taking a photographer with me!LOL! Pat will be the official photographer and I will have to be the id expert( even funnier!) well I will do my best and any birds I cant id - I will at least hopefully have a photo of them! So friends in SA may have a better chance of id than me!

We are travelling with Roy's Safaris as it is a Tanzanian Company with an ecological and educational outlook. They have been great as far as catering to our wishes so far.

Along the way we hope to see Tree climbing Lions in Lake Manyara NP , then there is the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater and then its Pemba Island. I am not going to say what is/are on my target list but will be keeping a diary and list as I go!

The photos are c/o google!

Lesser White Fronted Goose in UK accepted

Bill Baston's image of the superb Roller in Suffolk!
now for an armchair tick!

Well its happened this wild bird we saw in December 2010 has been accepted by the powers that be!

I mentally had it on my UK lifer list at 395 - and during 2011 I have since seen 4 new UK lifers including two Lifers.
This is where counting birds gets complicated - yes I saw the bird - will it be accepted?
Atleast with all these birds I am fairly sure they will be but the Goose? That was somewhat of a concern....it arrived with other wildbirds and left with them but was it a wild bird!
Fortunately for me ....it has!

So the next UK lifer will be 400 for me, interesting - not because I will be awaiting a certificate signed by anyone but just because I have reached a significant milestone!

More importantly for me will be what will it be? Where will it be and will it be me that finds it?

Last year I thought the milestone would most likely be reached on Shetland in the autumn 2011 - but it might just occur before the end of September!
Excitement builds!
Now to see an LEO for a year tick!

The everlasting catching up!

Chris Bonds photo taken on the day I saw this bird. From the great to the tiny!



Terry Laws beautiful capture of a Dainty Damelsfly on the Isle of Sheppey. I am seeking permission to use this image.
June has been busy!
But I was able to do some birding!
The Roller was the first to make me drop the emails and work and go and see it .
Suffolk not being that far away and it would be a uk lifer!

Then it was to catch up with Honey Buzzard/Puffin great! So glad they were in the same area of the Country!

Norfolk has been callng for a while and those Golden beauties were an increased desire with a Pec Sand and a Red footed falcon in the County - I do like Norfolk!

In between a Squacco appeared at Dungeness!

All good but the problem of the Robin oop north when i was unwell was a downer!
And as to the birds in Aberdeenshire -thats when i wished I wasn't on the Council! Retired I may be but with those responsibilities impossible to get away!