Sure turned out to be a good choice to decide on a flight via London - with three precious daylight hours spare between my flight from Vilnius and my outbound to Delhi, it gave me just enough chance to get my first eastern bird of the trip - the Rainham Sociable Plover!
Now what ever happened to British twitching? Being necessarily short of time, I had expected to turn up, find the assembled scopes and get told 'there it is'! Hmm, nothing like that - after legging it through customs at Stansted, racing round the M25, parking up by the burger stand just up from the reserve, made a brisk stroll up to the seawall to find not a single other birder there! Plenty of Lapwings though, in fact more than plenty - all over the foreshore and a good few round the pool too. Started the search and after an hour, with not the slight flash of that distinctive wing pattern, I began to think it was not going to be. Sent a message to Mr H to ask if the pagers were saying anything, but then almost like a miracle, just as the afternoon sun came out, suddenly I picked it up! A flock of Lapwings had got into the air, I had scoped through and now it was right in the middle of my scope – flew straight towards me, almost overhead, then circled back to land by the pool. On the ground a mere blob in the distance, but what a bird in the air! Waited some time and was treated to it again in the air, but by now the sun was setting and it was time to head off.
First stop, Bharatpur
After a night in South Wales, was up early for the zoom down the motorway for my flight from Heathrow. Departed the cool gloomy London at midday and arrived in the warm airs of Delhi at 2.00 a.m. local time. Not wishing to hit the hellhole that is Delhi, jumped straight in a taxi, went to sleep on the backseat and some hours later woke to the wonders of Bharatpur! The birding was about to begin!
Though sense would say a sleep was in order, Keoladeo National Park was just a five minute walk away …so off I went. Not long after, a first Spotted Owlet was peering down at me, sharing a tree with Black-rumped Flamebacks, Rufous Treepie and few other stonky colourful bids – a good start. Following a good monsoon, the park is enjoying plentiful waters, so it is close to its best again this year. Hundreds of pairs of Painted Storks drap the branches of submerged trees, a goos scattering of Openbill Storks too. Add the thousands of cormorants (Great, Indian and Little) and hundreds of various herons and egrets, not to forget the flocks of Spoonbills and Glossy Ibis and the hordes of palearctic ducks and geese, and you begin to get the picture of what I was seeing. One bit sad to see moment, a turtle grabbed a Coot by its leg and over the course of almost twenty minutes slowly pulled the bird under, the Coot fighting the whole time - have to admit, I did contempate wading out and saving it, but I guess its just the course of nature ...besides it was quite far out and not sure how deep, plus maybe I would become the first case where a pissed off turtle took a fancy to my toes
Though I was now getting decidedly sleepy, I decided to take a mid-afternoon wander round to a marsh I knew from a prior trip. Got there and took a quick nap under a tree, opening my eyes every few moments to enjoy the White-tailed Lapwings prancing about, a nice pair of Sarus Cranes with two chicks in tow and also a couple of pairs of mighty Black-necked Storks. Raptors were ever present and on this first day, in no particular order, included several Greater Spotted Eagles, Indian Lesser Spotted Eagle, Booted Eagle, Bonelli’s Eagle and ‘lesser’ raptors such as Black-shouldered Kite Marsh Harrier. Finished off by taking a wander to the Ranbund – plenty here, including two races of Citrine Wagtail, a Striated Heron, a flock of Yellow-footed Green Pigeons and yet more nesting Painted Storks. Wildfowl in big abundance too - Bar-headed Geese do look smart in focks of their hundreds.
By now the need for sleep was catching up with me, so staggering off, past a bunch of Jackals and two Wild Boars arguing over a dead cow, I finally returned to the hotel and hit the pillow!
Next day was even better – but that is to come
