17 Feb 18 - Colombia: Colombian Solid Gold

After an overnight flight from Heathrow, Brian Field & I arrived into Bogota just as it was getting light. Having collected the bags & cleared passport control, we were pleased to get to the arrivals area & find somebody waiting for us to take us to the hotel. I hadn't slept for more than an hour or two on the plane, so was looking forward to some sleep. But about three hours after closing my eyes, the alarm was going off to wake up again, having left just had enough time to race down for the complimentary breakfast. Whilst enjoying breakfast, I had time to consider the early starts & insufficient sleep that were going to be a feature for the next few weeks. Therefore, I might as well get used to it straight away. At least I would be feeling tired by mid evening when an early night would be helpful. The next item on the plan was to change some money & head down to the city centre. We had the rest of the day to ourselves, before we had to meet the rest of the Birdquest group for dinner. Brian had said there was an excellent gold museum in Bogota, the Museo del Oro & he thought it would be worth a visit. After a fifteen minute taxi ride, we were dropped at the museum. It looked like a dull office block, but with few windows. Perhaps not surprising giving the amount of gold inside the building. Apparently, it houses over 34,000 separate gold items. The museum was dedicated to the history of pre-Colombian gold by the many different indigenous cultures and regions within the modern Colombia. Many of the items dated from a few hundred years BC to about 1000 AD. The quality of the workmanship was impressive & seemed comparable to similar gold jewellery and objects I've seen at the British museum or on archaeological programs on TV from the UK & Europe. The Colombian items were largely pure gold, whereas similar aged items from the UK were often gold with inlaid precious stones. In hindsight, I didn't photograph as many of the labels as I should have done & so the captions are not as detailed as I would now have liked.

This was probably a ceremonial gold breast band

This looks like a gold breast band to indicate the owner's importance: Note, the Monkey imagery. A lot of the items featured wildlife in the designs

This was from the Yotoco-Malagana culture close to the modern city of Cali: It dates from 200 BC to 1300 AD (or in Spanish 200 AC to 1300 DC)

I really like these fine figures

Looks like a shark symbol

There aren't many people who get to go fishing with gold hooks

Gold Lizard pendant: Although it looks like a crocodile, the translation confirms it is a Lizard pendant dated to 970 AD

This is a Guan pendant dated to 240 BC & it was part of a burial item

In addition to over 34,000 gold items, the museum is home to over 20,000 bone & stone items

Frigatebird pendants

Burial goods

The burial practices in some parts of South America were very different to Europe with people buried sitting up: This individual must have been found in a very arid location given the excellent preservation

Colibri or Hummingbird: I saw 64 species of Hummingbird including 23 Ticks in Colombia

This item is believed to have been on the end of a cane or stick & dates to 490 AD

I'm assuming this was an elaborate headdress with a religious or ceremonial use

Gold band

Gold pins

Gold figurine: This is thought to be an important female chieftain. Chieftains and shamans performed important rituals to ensure that life would continue normally. This is from Quimbaya and dates from 500 BC to 700 AD. It is close to the Hotel Themales del Ruiz where we stayed a week later

Will this be the next dancing craze: This Jaguar breastplate was made between 1 and 700 AD

Golden earrings

One of the earrings

Conch shell: Conch shells were often of great value to pre-Colombian Andean cultures as they would have had to have been traded over hundreds of miles to get into Andes. This one was covered in gold leaf as well

We declined a chance of a photo with this local

Or a photo with these ladies

After leaving the gold museum, we had a wander around the centre in search of a cafe.

This cafe had been well decorated: The coffee & cake were equally well made

Old church: This looks like it was one of the early Spanish churches in Bogota

Modern Bogota

It was now late afternoon & time to get a taxi back to the hotel & sort our gear out for the morning. We were due to meet the rest of the Birdquest group & leader Janos Olah that evening for dinner in the hotel. All the group had arrived during the day, apart from one of the American Birders, Doug, who wasn't due in to Bogota till the early hours of the following morning. He made it in time for the 04:30 meeting the following morning for our departure in search of some real Colibri & lots of other goodies. At least we were staying in the same hotel for the next couple of nights so didn't have to worry about packing the bags.

16 Feb 18 - The Start Of The South American Adventure

Back to early Feb 18, I left the UK for the start of three months travelling in Colombia and Chile, followed by the Atlantic Odyssey & West African Pelagic back from Ushuaia to Holland. The first part of the trip was a Birdquest tour to Colombia with my good mate, the late Brian Field, who sadly & unexpectedly died a few months later. Although I've travelled widely abroad, virtually all my trips have been travelling with mates or sometimes on my own on self-organised trips. I've done three trips on expedition ships which are obviously organised tours, but they are to places that obviously can't been reached by other means. The only organised tour I've booked on up to this point was a week's trip to Turkey in 2015. That was initially arranged by one of my mates, Nigel Jones & several friends were booked on the trip, before it was handed back to Birdwatch magazine to fill the remaining spaces. This was a trip I could easily have self-organised, but given Nigel had already sorted quite a bit of the organisation, I was happy to go along for the plans, rather than sort something out myself.

Horned Lark: There have only been a couple of previous accepted records of the Northern American subspecies of Shorelark (Horned Lark) in the UK. Subsequent DNA analysis has confirmed this is one of the North American subspecies, hoyti, praticola or nominate alpestris, from the Arctic coast of North America or Canada

Back to Colombia, the previous summer, Brian had mentioned he was booked on the Birdquest tour to Northern Colombia. I have wanted to visit Colombia for a number of years since it's settled down. It was a country I wasn't confident I wanted to do on my own & I've half-looked for mates who might be interested in teaming up. But as a number of friends had already visited on organised trips, it wasn't looking hopeful for a self-organised trip. Even then, other independent Birders who have visited in recent years have still ended up with self-organised trips using local Birding tour companies to get around & provide guides, so will have paid a hefty price for their trips. By autumn 17, it was looking like my work was going to dry up later that year, so I decided to join Brian on the tour as the start of a longer time abroad. I wasn't overly sure I wanted to go on an organised tour, but figured I might have a long wait before I could find some mates who wanted to go. At least, I would know Brian & he said Janos Olah who was leading the tour was an excellent leader & good company.

Horned Lark: I've heard there are suggestions that the Shorelark complex (which the Yanks insist on called Horned Lark), is in flux at the moment with the potential for future splits. Being a Brit, I stick to Shorelarks for the species name, but will use Horned Lark for the North American subspecies

Brian & I decided to fly out early compared to the rest of the group so that we would have a day in Bogota to rest before the trip got going. Kindly, Brian agreed to pick me up on his way from West Cornwall to Heathrow. It was a mid morning & early pickup, considering the flight wasn't until the mid evening, but we wanted to do some Birding en route. Back in Nov 17, a Horned Lark had turned up at Staines Reservoir just outside Heathrow, having previous been seen & kept quite at one of the other local reservoirs. I saw it a few days after it moved to Staines Reservoir, where it could be seen from a public path. But it was too far for any worthwhile photos. Brian left it for longer before he made the journey, by which time it had disappeared. In the end, it did reappear & settle down for the winter at Staines Reservoir, but Brian didn't make the effort again. Given we were going to pass within a mile or two of the site, it was worth another look. We arrived in the early afternoon & Brian headed off to look for it, while I stayed to keep an eye on the car & bags. Normally, I would have been happy to leave the car locked up, but with everything for a three months trip in the car, I wasn't going to take that risk. Within an hour later Brian reappeared, having had good views & with directions on where to look for it. Fortunately, it was feeding on the bank of the main causeway & only twenty metres from the path. My camera was ready & I headed off for the ten minute walk.

Horned Lark: Whether this eventually gets split only time will tell, but I suspect it may be a long wait. At least it does, I won't have to make a long journey for the next one. The two previous records have been on Scilly & South Uist, but I don't believe either have been accepted. With the DNA evidence this record should at least get accepted and may help a review of the previous records

Horned Lark

The trip was off to a good, but cold, start. But cold was something I was going to get use to in Colombia on a number of days & was warmly kitted out for. We checked in with plenty of time for some food before the flight to Bogota.

27 Dec 17 - A New View Of My Favourite Castle

As I've driven home every evening over the last few weeks, I've seen this stunning view of Corfe Castle. On several occasions, I planned to take the camera out to take some photos, but had forgotten by the time I had eaten or found it had started raining. But I finally remembered.

Corfe Castle: Taken from the field to the North of the castle

I've driven past Corfe Castle for the majority of the weekdays for over 20 years now & it still hasn't lost its appeal to me. With the current lighting up of castle in the early evening, the National Trust are doing are great job of promoting it. I am assuming that the lights will be turned off in the New Year, but I am enjoying it for now.

25 Dec 17 - Happy Christmas

Well it's traditional in the UK to send Robins on Christmas cards, so feel I had better follow suit & pop a Robin on the blog.

New Zealand South Island Robin: This has been split in 2019 from the North Island populations. Motarua Island, Marlborough Sound (Dec 2001)

This is a true forest Robin & while it looks like a black version of my garden Robins, is not related to them (it is a member of the Australasian Robin family). I only ran into them on a couple of occasions on this trip and on both occasions they were seen on islands: Tiritiri Matangi off Auckland & Motarua Island at the top of South Island. They are full of character and very tame. I found that if I stayed still after tuning over a bit of the path, then will quickly come down to look for food right next to you. Far tamer than my garden Robins. Guess it's a species that has suffered a major population crash after the original European settlers introduced over 50 species of mammals, of which about 30 are still present in the country. However, the Kiwis are leading the world in removing these unwanted predators. They have now started on clearance projects in parts of the mainland. So hopefully this will allow some of the native birds to be introduced from these island refuges back into larger mainland sites.

25 Oct 17 - It Would Have Been Rude To Say No

I had a phone call from my mate Marcus Lawson who lives in Poole asking whether I wanted to pop in & see him and meet his new house guest: a Crimson Speckled. Marcus had found it whilst out walking in Dorset that day. This is a rare migrant to Dorset & a cracking Moth, so it would have been rude to say no. Unfortunately, I didn't have a decent camera with me, so I had to make do with this poor quality Iphone photo. The house lights don't help the colour tones.

Crimson Speckled: Dorset. It seemed quite a dull specimen compared to an individual I photographed in Turkey & one found at Portland Bill the following day

Marcus will be releasing the Crimson Speckled in the same location he found it.

Crimson Speckled: This was the one photographed on the beach at Manvagat, Turkey (28 June 15)

21 Oct 17 - The Fine Art Of Chimping

I got introduced to the fine art of Chimping, about the time I got my first Canon camera. It sounds an abusive term (& sadly there are some abusive alternatives), but the Urban Dictionary describes the photographic use of the phrase as "What one does after taking a picture with a digital camera and looking at the result: derived from the words they speak when chimping: Ooo-oo-oo!".

Peter Moore Chimping (over Sabine's Gull photos): Cogden Beach (4 Nov 2013)

My own attempts at Chimping are more varied. If I've just taken some photos & the Bird is still present, I will probably have a quick look to see if I need to improve on the camera settings. If the Bird has gone, then there is little point.

Fast track to Saturday: it was blowing a gale (Storm Brian to be exact) and regular heavy showers were promised. The second best place I could think of being (first involved a lie in) was the Middlebere hide as the tide was rising soon after dawn. So it was an early start to get to the hide for dawn. Good job I did get there that early as the tide was further in than predicted due to the effect of the wind & the low pressure. It ended up with the highest Spring tide I've seen at Middlebere in 20 years of watching the site. There was just enough time for a quick scan of the Waders before they disappeared into the marsh to roost. The highlight was clearly the Stilt Sandpiper, but also 17 Avocet, 3 Grey Plovers, 28 Lapwings, a Curlew Sandpiper, 5 Knot, 3 Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, 65+ Dunlins, & 605 Blackwits. There was a good scattering of Teal & a few Wigeon. Normally, once the tide is up, then Middlebere quietens down an hour or so after the channel is covered in water. But due to the extreme tide, the Waders were constantly moving as each of their regular roost spots flooded. Heavy showers came & went, as did brief patches of sun. With the strong winds & rain, I couldn't think of anywhere else to go & didn't feel tempted into a Studland seawatch, so I stayed put. A couple of Marsh Harriers appeared, followed by a Peregrine to stir the Waders & Wildfowl up. Then there was a shout from Mark Wright or Aidan Brown who were also in the hide of a close Sparrowhawk. I looked out & seeing it was close to the hide, I grabbed the camera rather than the bins & fired off a couple of shots from the front window, followed by a few more from the side window. I noted it was a large female Sparrowhawk, but otherwise didn't get a lot on it as the camera looked out of focus. It was quite distant when I put the camera down & as it had gone & the view through the viewfinder hadn't looked impressive or in focus, I failed to do any Chimping. I just assumed the photos were probably rubbish as I the camera wasn't set up for flying Birds. Moving on to that evening, another photographer, Simon, posted an email saying he had seen a Goshawk an hour after I left (after 8 hours in the hide that didn't seem fair especially as reliable records in Poole Harbour are rare). Later that evening, I had a twitter message from Mark to say our Sparrowhawk had been a Goshawk. Went to check the camera, only to find it was still in the car & it was hammering down with rain again. When I looked at the camera the following morning, then I was shocked with my photos: not only was it a Goshawk, but a bloody obvious Juv & a couple of presentable photos. Assuming it must have been a male given its size.

Goshawk: The large teardrop spots on the breast makes it a juv. Based on the large Sparrowhawk feel, it must have been a male

Goshawk: blatantly obvious as a Goshawk had I bothered Chimping

Goshawk: Later in the afternoon, I realised my camera eyepiece viewfinder was out of focus which is why I had been struggling to focus all day

Goshawk: The best photo of it flying off over the marsh. Note the bulging secondaries, narrow primaries & long barred tail

This is only my second Poole Harbour Goshawk. The previous one was also a Juv Male which was seen with sometimes local Purbeck Birder (when not living in France), Steve Morrison, on 22 March 15. It bombed the South Haven reedbed & pool, circled once more around the area, before departing for Poole over the harbour mouth.

2 Sep 17 - History Flies Over Brownsea

A Baird's Sandpiper was found on 1 Sep 17. This was a first record for Poole Harbour & only the fourth Dorset record. I managed to get out of work early & get a boat over in the late afternoon, but there was no sign of the Baird's Sandpiper. The following morning, I decided to try Ballard Down as Brownsea has a track record of Waders moving on fairly quickly. Fortunately, my mate Peter Moore had more faith & headed over to have a look at Brownsea. Peter gave me a ring late morning to say the Baird's Sandpiper was still present. I had to give it another go, as it was a Dorset & Poole Harbour Tick. It was good to see it, although too far for either of us to get any worthwhile photos. But as always Brownsea was well worth a visit & I really should make more of an effort to visit regularly. It was day three of the Bournemouth Air Show & so it wasn't too surprising to see a few military airplanes flying over Poole from the Brownsea hides. This is the Sally-B, an American World War II Flying Fortress. It is the only airworthy Flying Fortress left in Europe & is part of the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. It is painted up to resemble the Memphis Belle & was one of five Flying Fortresses used in the 1990 film Memphis Belle.

The Sally-B Flying Fortress

The Sally-B Flying Fortress

Soon after a Bristol Blenheim flew over towards Bournemouth beach. She is also based at Duxford. The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber that was built in the early 1930s & became the backbone of the British Light Bomber force from the start of World War II. Bristol Blenheims were used ina variety of day time & night time roles. This particular plane was used as a display aircraft until it was severely damaged in 2003. It changed ownership & was rebuilt which included replacing the nose of the plane. The replacement nose came from a Mark I Blenheim which had been converted into a unique car in the 1950s, before being mothballed. Once the plane was made airworthy again, it was repainted in the flying colours for the original plane that the nose was on. This was YP-Q which fought through the Battle of Britain as a night fighter.

Bristol Blenheim Mark I YP-Q

Getting back to the Birds I was meant to be looking at. There was a relatively close Common Sandpiper feeding along the edge of one of the Tern islands.

Common Sandpiper