Kingfisher Collection

Kingfishers are rare in the UK – I only saw my first Kingfisher back in the UK last summer.

Here in Tanzania they are much more common. Last week I saw a Woodland Kingfisher – thus completing the set of all those which can be seen in this part of Tanzania. All of these have been seen in our garden, apart from the Giant Kingfisher (seen in Kigoma) but resident here. However, not all of the photos were taken in the garden.

So here is the collection…..

Woodland Kingfisher

Grey-headed Kingfisher

Pygmy Kingfisher

Malachite Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher

Purple Patches

All along our journey from Mwanza to the Usambara Mountains -the landscape remained arid and dusty; yellows and browns the predominant palette. However breaking up the colourscheme throughout, the Jacaranda trees providing eye catching purple patches across the plains, mountains and valleys of Northern Tanzania. In the Usambara they flower against a greener landscape. They herald the yet unseen rains and will continue to flower until Christmas before returning to their usual green for another year.

Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O (of Life)

We are approaching the end of the dry season here and have the odd storm – but water still remains scarce away from the Lake. This summer we have had constructed a bird bath, comprising a wheel hub, pole and some metal prongs it resembles a hat stand but the bin lid sitting upon the prongs reveals it’s true purpose. It took several weeks to attract it’s first customers but is now in use by birds of all sizes including the Yellow-billed Black Kites which swoop in for a drink.

Other birds include house sparrows, yellow-vented bulbuls, african thrushes and red-billed fire finches, a grey-headed kingfisher- all seeking H2O

Beautiful Bougainvillea

The rains are imminent – in fact three storms have come and gone – nothing on the scale that is to come, but a sign things are changing.

Even so the ground remains parched and yellow, dusty and dry – the exception being the Bougainvillea which is in bloom at this time and throughout the dryest time of the year and provides a welcome splash of colour to the garden.

 

Familiar Haunts: Swanholme & Hartsholme

Our time in England has been a time of reminiscing, firstly back in MK and now in Lincoln. These two places where I lived for 38 years in total, so familiar. As well as visiting old friends it has been a chance to revisit places – familiar haunts.

Swanholme & Hartsholme Lakes

Right on our doorstep in Lincoln is an area of woodland and gravel pit reservoirs.

Familiar Haunts: Whisby Nature Reserve

Our time in England has been a time of reminiscing, firstly back in MK and now in Lincoln. These two places where I lived for 38 years in total, so familiar. As well as visiting old friends it has been a chance to revisit places – familiar haunts.

Whisby Nature Reserve

An opportunity to catch up with family and visit Whisby Nature Reserve. A wetland reserve on the edge of Lincoln.

 

My First Kingfisher

Throughout our time in Tanzania we have seen hundreds of kingfishers Pied Kingfishers, Grey- Headed Kingfishers, Malachite Kingfishers even a Giant Kingfisher. 

However in Britain I have never seen a (Common) Kingfisher. For years I have looked along river banks hoping to spot that flash of blue and orange, but never a glimpse of this shy bird.

Until today that is… 🙂

It started at 5:30 – I’ve not been sleeping well having pulled a muscle in my shoulder. The sun was shining brightly which for me is taking along time to get used to (having lived with a constant 12 hour day these past two years). So I got up and dressed and headed out with my camera to get some early morning shots of Emberton Park – our home for the week. I headed for the lake and made for the bird hide. As I went I wondered whether it might be possible to see a kingfisher – but I had been to many such lakes and rivers over the years and never even seen flicker. 

I am a Christian  and as I walked I shot up an arrow prayer asking if just once I might be lucky. I don’t believe in a slot-machine God who does things to order, but I do believe in a God who cares and answers our prayers though not always in the way we expect – in the big things and in the little. This was most definitely in the little category. 

I sat there waiting patiently in the early morning light. Self doubt saying to me give up you’ve tried and failed many times, a little voice countering and saying be patient – twenty minutes and movement across my eyeline – in the light it was more black than anything but I followed it and carefully moved to the other side of the hide – there it was on a branch – fleetingly and before my camera could capture it, gone. 

My first kingfisher – amazed and thankful I nonetheless decided to wait on the little voice saying be patient. 

Ten minutes on and two flashes of blue zooming across the lake – still no picture.   I shot another prayer just asking for an opportunity to capture the bird. I positioned my camera towards the branches of a submerged bush and waited. Then finally a squeaky call and another bird flew into view. I got off two shots.  

I didn’t get a perfectly posed bird on a branch but God had answered again. He had answered in abundance but not the way I expected. I had seen no less than four kingfishers, having never seen a UK bird before. He will answer in the little things and in the big – if we ask and if we are patient and if we expect the unexpected.

I’ll Miss…. The Birdlife

Term’s over, school’s out and soon we’ll be out of Africa.

Not for ever ….. but for a couple months whilst we return to the UK. Here is a short series on some of the things I’ll miss whilst we’re gone.

It may not be a surprise to those who follow this blog regularly that the birdlife has been a major part of the experience here. You can find out more by clicking on the link below and working forward. A Bird a Day in June

Black-headed Gonolek

Grey-capped Warbler

White Throated Bee-eater

Grey-backed Camaroptera

Spotted Morning Thrush

Variable Sunbird

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu

White Browed Robin Chat (Orange)

House Sparrows

Bronze Mannikin

Red Bishop

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

Little Egret

Hadada Ibes

Scarlet-chested Sunbird

Grey-headed Kingfisher

Spectacled Weaver

African Thrush

Klaas’s Cuckoo

Green-winged Pytillia

Swamp Flycatcher

Mourning Doves

Lilac Breasted Roller

Pied Kingfisher

Purple Grenadier

Red-chested Sunbird

Laughing Dove

Pied Crow

Eastern-grey Plantain Eater

African Paradise Flycatcher

Speckled Pigeon

Dimorphic Egret

Marabou Stork

Speckled Mousebird

Yellow-billed Black Kite

Redbilled Firefinch

 

A Bird A Day (The ones that got away) – Day 35 : House Sparrow

Day 35 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Sadly there weren’t enough days in June – so here are some of the birds which got away. This is an apt one to finish with – a regular visitor we never expected to see here in Tanzania.

House Sparrow

House Sparrows

Other Sparrows

I’ll Miss…. The Weather

Term’s over, school’s out and soon we’ll be out of Africa.

Not for ever ….. but for a couple months whilst we return to the UK. Here is a short series on some of the things I’ll miss whilst we’re gone.

It rarely falls below 20°C here in Mwanza – and generally day-time temperatures hover between 25°C and 30°C – so I’m not looking forward to the ‘cold’ of the British Summer – let alone the rain.

I’m hoping for a heat wave back in Britain – otherwise it’s lots of sweaters and long sleeved tops – something I have hardly ever had to wear here.

We are now firmly in the Dry Season so not looking forward to the wet either.

 

A Bird A Day (The ones that got away) – Day 33 : Pied Crow

Day 33 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Sadly there weren’t enough days in June – so here are some of the birds which got away.

Pied Crow

Pied Crow

I’ll Miss…. The Sounds of Morning

Term’s over, school’s out and soon we’ll be out of Africa.

Not for ever ….. but for a couple months whilst we return to the UK. Here is a short series on some of the things I’ll miss whilst we’re gone.

I love the mornings here – particularly at the weekends – it’s light at 7 or so and the dawn chorus is the first thing to wake us.

Sitting on the verandah, coffee in hand on a warm sunny Saturday hearing the sounds of the garden and the neighbourhood -my favorite time of day.

The Sounds of the Morning

A Bird A Day (The ones that got away) – Day 32 : Speckled Pigeon

Day 32 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Sadly there weren’t enough days in June – so here are some of the birds which got away. This is a recent visitor to our garden but is found widely locally

Speckled Pigeon

Speckled Pigeon

 

African Green Pigeon 

This one is not local but found in along the Indian Ocean coast.

 

A Bird A Day (The ones that got away) – Day 31 : Egret

Day 31 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Sadly there weren’t enough days in June – so here are some of the birds which got away.

Little Egret

Little Egret

Dimorphic Egret

Dimorphic Egret

Weekly Photo Challenge: Floral Partners

A submission to this week’s photo challenge – from a different time and place (UK 2014) – before we came out here to Tanzania – our old English Garden had a floral partners which in May produced the most stunning display of blue and white.

A Bird a Day in June: Day 30 – Bronze Mannikin

Day 30 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Many of these are seen in our garden including this one.

Bronze Mannikin

A Bird a Day in June: Day 29 – Southern Red Bishop

Day 29 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Many of these are seen in our garden – but this one is not but from close by.

Southern Red Bishop

Red Bishop

A Bird a Day in June: Day 28 – Black-backed Puffback

Day 28 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Many of these are seen in our garden including this one.

Black-backed Puffback

A Bird a Day in June: Day 27 -Northern Carmine Bee-eater

Day 27 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Many of these are seen in our garden – but this is the another one from elsewhere in Tanzania and further afield.

Northern Carmine Bee-eater

Other Bee-eaters

White Throated Bee-eater

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater

A Bird a Day in June: Day 26 – Red-billed Firefinch

Day 26 of a series illustrating some of the fantastic birds we see here on Lake Victoria and across Tanzania. Many of these are seen in our garden – this in one of them

Red-billed Firefinch

Red Billed Firefinch

Firefinch (Red)

Red-billed Firefinch

Redbilled Firefinch

Female Red-billed Firefinch

Red-billed Firefinch

Firefinch