On hearing the first ......

Old Fred Delius was a Yorkshire man and there's not many people know that. Unlike his Trueman namesake he didn't play cricket for any country but he wrote a tone poem called On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. Well I heard my first Koel, Eudynamis scolopacea, of Spring on Saturday. It is quite possible they have been calling for a while but I have been in Singapore and Jakarta all week so yesterday was the first time I heard our local alarm clock. When we go to bed we hear the Collared scops owl, Otus lempiji. There is something soothing and reassuring about birds calling and singing, whether it is at dawn or dusk or even during the hours of darkness. The bird below is a male Koel




As I write I can hear the bulbuls chattering and outside the study window a Tree sparrow, Passer montanus, is making a wheezy rasp. A couple of Spotted doves, Streptopelia chinensis, are courting, the male bobbing at the female optimistically. Tonight Mrs. Ha and I are heading off to one of my favourite places, Kenya. Just a short 8 day sprint round Samburu and the Mara, ending up with a dinner with friends in Nairobi. So no posts this week but to finish with a couple of moths from last night.




The first is Marasmia trapezalis, rather early to be on the wing and the second is Herochroma cristata. What wonderfully cryptic colouring. Both braved the 18 degree Celsius temperature and the steady drizzle and I thank them both.