The Scarlet pimpernel??

After a trip to the Middle East with the world's worst airline - 7.5 hours of screaming babies (yes, plural) non stop and non sleep to HK - thank you CP - I spent a lazy day pottering about at home and clicking away at whatever visited the garden. Et voila!!

Actually there was a sort of hard work element to this. I went out at 6.15am when it was barely light. I hoped to see some early activity as the birds started to forage for breakfast. The light however was poor and did not improve, unlike the previous day when by 6.45 the sun was beginning to trickle through the dawn. So I climbed up and down the hill, became drenched in sweat and all for no pictures. The noise was there and I realised that cicadas call not only at dusk but also at dawn. The black ones with yellow spots seem to be everywhere. I found one on the balcony later on. It was confused by the glass panels so I lifted it up and allowed it to fly vigorously away, a veritable turbo charged cicada. What a great name for a car! Do you drive a Prius? No, I drive the new Toyota Cicada!! Ah, I wondered what the stridulations were. I though they were the brakes rubbing.

After that I was tired so set up the camera on the balcony and spent the day garden-watching on and off. The neighbours are already used to it. The minivets have been to the garden before but never come close. They sit in a tree on the far side of the communal garden, beyond the pots and veggie patch. Without warning one of the male minivets flitted across and perched atop the tree right opposite the house and almost caught me unprepared. I changed the settings quickly and fired off some nice portraits, pausing only very briefly to make sure the exposure settings were appropriate. If you get it wrong you may never get the chance again. I did miss 3 Hwamei on the path. I had been inside the house and as I came out I silently cursed as 3 beautiful birds flew off to the top of the garden. I was 99% sure they were Hwamei and a check with the binoculars confirmed this. I took a 400mm lens to try and stalk them amongst the empty flower pots but they skittled away under the hedge and out of sight.

The sun was shining by then and the warmth seems to have been a catalyst for the increased activity. It is also approaching the breeding season and I photographed a Red-whiskered bulbul carrying stalks of dead grass for the nest. The swallows still seem to be going in and out of the garage but I can't see a sign of construction. Perhaps they are still prospecting or maybe our activity bothers them more than last year's by the then tenants, S & K.

To close, I can disclose that the spellchecker rejects (maybe quite fairly) "stridulations" and suggests "story telling". So make your own mind up but the minivets are for real and I can think of no bird that creates such an impact as the Scarlet minivet. The colour is so in your face, it just punches you on the nose, demanding that you admire it. Black and red may not be the colours du jour but they put most fashion designers in their place. If you've got it, flaunt it and as red is the colour of my home nation's rugby shirts and the mighty Llanelli were known as the Scarlets (9-3) I hereby deem that the team shall henceforth be known as the Welsh Minivets. Diolch yn fawr.