I has had a holiday :)

I've had a nice week in the sun with my family, trying to catch up on a ridiculous amount of sleep, and generally try to relax after the crappyness of last year. Yes that is a word.

Specifically, I spent the last week in Taba Heights, Egypt. It's very nice, as long as you are happy not doing too much, which seemed to fit our needs. Would have liked to have seen the pyramids etc and the nile but it's a long way from Taba, so will have to add that to the long list of hypothetical holidays I'd like to have...


All very nice, but I'm sure you're wondering WHAT BIRDS DID I SEE? Well, there is a severe lack of vegetation of any kind, so the place was hardly abundant with a variety of birds, but the palm trees etc around where we stayed ensured an impressive population of sparrows, some house crows, white spectacled bulbuls, one very pretty dark blue sunbird, and some really cute laughing doves.


I want some of these, they do laugh (sounds like a chuckle), they like to eat chips and they're pocket sized. What's not to like?




Of course, the birds weren't really the main attraction, as it turns out the Red Sea is pretty much full of fish, and our hotel was right on top of a coral reef. We went out on a boat trip one day to go snorkeling (with an underwater camera- try to contain your excitement for a later post), but did a fair bit from the beach, and saw quite a lot just by walking along the jetty on calm days. Here are a few attempts at capturing the scene...

octopus

butterfly fish of some kind, I'm not sure which as there are loads.

cornetfish, and a marbled parrotfish I think. These are both pretty big, hard to tell though from this...

The dreaded lion fish, one of which caught me by surprise. As one of the most venomous fish, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with one...

All in all I had a nice holiday, and will try to be a bit more descriptive once I've got the underwater pics. Some more local trips are pending...

Of mulled wine, dinosaurs and traffic jams...

This is a bit if a disjointed blog post, so I've attempted to pull it together with a title. I don't think it worked but oh well :)

This weekend I went to Tollesbury with the boy, and despite only being a short walk we saw quite a lot. There were ridiculous numbers of waders flying past in huge flocks (for essex at least), including dunlin, knot, golden plover, grey plover, ringed plover, curlew, oystercatchers.. probably many more I can't remember. We got there pretty much at high tide (more by luck and by careful planning), so we were hoping for some interesting seabirds and weren't disappointed. I found myself a pair of scoter (read: two black blobs which vaguely resembled cold looking ducks- tick) and a diver which I'm assured is a great northern diver. It certainly had a stripey rump and a big head, so I'm happy with that. A seal popped up and had a good look at us looking at him. Of course I didn't have my camera, but didn't worry as the boy captured the moment with yet another stunning display of professional-standard photography.
For a much more in depth and useful summary, you might want to check his blog instead :)

Sunday was spent trying to find a decent German christmas market in London with a uni friend of mine who spent a year in Germany. The market on the Southbank was pretty poor, and the one in Hyde Park was even worse, unless you want a funfair and then it's good. A cup of mulled wine, some caramelised almonds and some overpriced chips later, and we found outselves in Kensington with more time on our hands than we expected. What else is in Kensington? Dinosaurs of course.





Love the use of shadows by the way. Oooooh scary teeeeeth.....

What? They're related to birds at least, and you can't really resist popping in when you're walking right past the building. We went into the new Darwin wing too, with the Cocoon. Very impressive and good use of interactive interpretation, but possibly a bit too gimmicky and not enough good old fashioned labels for my liking. Still, worth a look round if you have a spare half hour or so. As I was being a tourist for the day, we also had a wander round the foodhall in Harrods, which is always good to see how the other half live. They have GIANT fruit there.

Today was spent much in the same way as the last few weeks- trudging to and from work through Regent's Park in the pouring rain. Really, I think it would be nice to have at least a couple of dry, crisp winter days please. At the tail end of my commute home, I was sitting in a traffic jam leading up to my good friend the a128 when a big pale bird with broad wings flew slow and low right past my car. Of course I didn't get a photo as I was being a responsible driver, so you'll have to use your imagination here. I am never that great at identifying birds on my own when I am going out looking for them, so it's particularly unusual for me to find something interesting when I'm not expecting it. So I have to say, I'm quite proud of this one :) A barn owl! (Nearly) In Thurrock! Owls are always great to see, and it's nice to know there's more than I knew about near where I live. That means there's now a tawny owl in my road, at least two little owls at my nan's house, and a barn owl up the road. Roll on the short-eared owls... :)