August

I took a quiet month to rest and prepare for the new service year (I just went on studies). It really wasn't as hot as I was expecting and although we've had a lot of rain and it's very disruptive, especially with transport, it really hasn't been as bad as we feared. The rain meant the birds can move away from the River and it seemed most of them headed for my garden.  I wasn't able to photograph all of them (I've identified 30 species in my garden alone!!) but here are some of them.  The glass on top of the compound wall irritated me at first but now I see the benefit of it (apart from deterring burglars of course).  The bottles hold rainwater and also make good places for insects to hide so the birds are always poking around them. 

Black Capped Babbler

Red Billed Hornbill

Brown Babbler

Red Cheeked Cordon Bleu, not a great photo but they don't usually come this close so I was lucky to get it

Vulture interested in the goat our neighbours were killing

Lavender Waxbill

Long Tailed Glossy Starlings

Senegal Coucal

White Billed Buffalo Weaver nests, the birds (see below) are only the size of British Blackbirds, or a little smaller, yet they build these HUGE nests

White Billed Buffalo Weaver - only the breeding males have white bills

Pied Crow

Shikra

This beautiful Shikra stayed most of the day in our garden eating termites.

Village Weaver

Wood Hoopoe

Yellow Crowned Gonolek