We're in

Well after what can only be described as a few days where the stress levels went off the scale we finally got in. Yesterday the rain cleared and I went for a walk up the hill. A nice selection of goodies. A Barking deer was foraging just off the main road - I had been told they were present but did not expect to see one first time out. Unfortunately it was too deep in the trees to take any photographs and it soon sensed my presence and crashed away. Then a smart, freshly painted Pallas's leaf warbler, Phylloscopus proregulus, followed by a female Red-flanked bluetail, Tarsiger cyanurus. This bird appears to be settled in this location as I have seen it here before. A Dusky warbler, Phylloscopus fuscatus, took me by surprise, although I don't know why. Its habitat is described in Viney, Phillipps and Lam as bushes, reeds, mangroves and open country but not woodland.

The bird shown above is the Black-throated laughingthrush, Garrulax chinensis. The light was going quickly when I took these and I was lucky I was using the 40D with an on-body flash (the pro model 1D mk III does not possess such a luxury). I pushed the ISO up to 800 then 1600 and got a couple of usable shots.

A few swifts flew overhead, very high. I always associate these with summer but these must be resident. The very short tail fork suggests these were House swifts, Apus nipalensis. A Large-billed crow, Corvus macrorhyncus, buzzed me a few times, unusually low overhead. As I descended I saw little more but today in the garden opposite I saw what I at first thought was going to be the common blackbird again, Turdus merula. A splash of flank colour immediately corrected this impression and the lightly speckled throat and pale underparts with a brown back made this a Pale thrush, Turdus pallidus. Aren't the latin names wonderful - what you see is what you get most of the time.

A couple of other species are obviously common here - Black-collared starling, Sturnus nigricollis, and Yellow-bellied prinia, Prinia flaviventris. Just listen for the cat like mewing.

The other photo I posted because I like it. No other reason. So the walk soothed the nerves a little and temporarily only. I seem to move house every 5 years. I aim to make it at least 10 this time. I can't take the strain. Technology is great. I am sitting on the terrace using my new Macbook Pro with WiFi but getting all the stuff to work has been challenging to say the least. The words "plug and play" ought to be banned under the Sale of Goods Act. No such thing. Two more days then back to work and so far no holiday despite being off for 15 days. All I wanted for Christmas was a smooth move (was the Sade?) but Santa missed me off the list. Bah. Humbug!

Happy new year to anybody who can be fagged to read this.