Days seven to nine- Forests around Kakum NP

 Yellow-headed Picathartes

 Black Bee-eater and White-throated Bee-eater

 Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo (hanging upside down)

 Speckled Tinkerbird

 Pied Hornbill

 Cassin's Spinetail

 Juvenile Red-billed Helmet Shrike



A few pics of some of the forest birds etc over the last few days in the Kakum National Park area.

Days Five and Six- Hans Cottage and environs

 Cattle Egret

 Jacana

 Hooded Vulture

 Pied Hornbill

Village Weaver

Spent the morning taking a few pics around Hans Cottage and in the afternoon went to Brenu Beach.



Day four

 White-throated Bee-eater

 Woodland Kingfisher

 Simple Leaflove

 Village Weaver

 Great White Egret

 Cattle Egret

Nile Crocodile

 

The dodgy knee has been playing up again so I'm preserving strength for the Picathartes mission soon. Spent a bit of time photographing birds around Hans Cottage and went out to Antwickwaa in the afternoon. A few good local birds- trip report to follow. Here's a few snaps from around the hotel (Hans Cottage).

Day Three- Sakumono Lagoon

 Pied Kingfisher

 Senegal Coucal

 Collared Pratincoles

Spotted Flycatcher

 

Spent this day at Sakumono Lagoon before travelling back to Kakum with the group that we met at the airport yesterday evening.

Great to see African and European birds together. 

Day Two- Kakum

Palm Nut Vulture

Black Casqued Hornbill

Blogging out here is a nightmare as the connection is rubbish and it takes ages to up load anything. So here' s a couple of photos from Kakum.

Ghana, Day One, Hans Cottage

 Piping Hornbill

 Yellow-billed Kite

 Orange Weaver (male above, female below)

Crocodile on the footpath ahead (we went back the way we came)

 

First day in Ghana, travelled towards Kakum and on arrival nearby just did a bit of birding around the hotel (Hans Cottage). Up at five tomorrow to head into the reserve. 

Back to Africa

If my visa actually gets here in time I'll be going back to Ghana at the end of this week. I was last there in 1997, working as a geologist (stealth birding) as part of my MSc.  I spent about four months there and had a great time.
Going to re-visit Kakum and the famous canopy walkway (pic above in 1997) so basically pretty excited about it all and seeing how things have changed in a decade and a half.

Yellow Feverish

I'm off to Ghana, West Africa at the end of this week (if my visa gets here). Anyway I've been injected with polio, typhoid, hepatitis and yellow fever a few days ago and now feeling rather feverish and delirious.

So I've been spinning round the obs on my own writing dittys about pelagics and dreaming that Mila Kunis is my nurse (and is currently in the kitchen making me a hot honey and lemon) 

The Pelagic Song (Azores)

The Pelagic Song (UK)

'Can you get me a Jaffa cake too dear'

WASP TRAILER

Here's a trailer for our new video WASP.

Here's a song preview.



A track about the public and nature.

STOP THE INCINERATOR STORM THE COUNCIL MEETING

This is the group that I've just joined!! Oh oh .

And just to reassert my neutrality on everything but the ecological aspects of this application here is the latest statement from Viridor:

http://www.viridor.co.uk/news-blogs/show/kittens-rescued-at-beddington-landfill

Two ticks!

 Bomber! I got one :-)

 December Moth- finally caught one- a first for Beddington

Palpita Vitrealis- another first for Beddington 

 Large Wainscot feeding on Del Monte fruit cocktail juice

 Silver Y hiding on my bins

Autumn street trees- a snap from work this morning

Stonechats Etc

 

 Female Stonechat

 Male Stonechat

 Hawthorn in flower and fruit at same time (no frosts yet so a lot of plants are re-flowering)

Wytch Elm (tree tick) also shown a Buckthorn today- thanks Frankie

Leafhopper- lots of these on the brambles by the hide and a few in the light trap too