Lazy Sunday afternoon.....

The rice paddy at Wat Norng Blah Lai with the crags of Khao Yoi in the distance

Petchaburi Province

14.11.10

I returned to Wat Norng Blah Lai Sunday afternoon and had an idyllic couple of hours doing very little other than sitting on the edge of the rice paddy in a vain hope that some eagles might drop down for a late afternoon rest ..... as they did last year! Alas no such luck today. On arrival two aerial greater spotted eagles were very interested in me and there was an "encounter" on the rice paddy between a female pied harrier and a male  eastern harrier. I am not going to publish any photographs but I got some shots of the pied harrier in flight at a distance and I am very encouraged by the results. Simply getting some shots of the bird was a big step forward and from this I learned a little about what to do in future, like wait and wait some more! Also shutter speed was showing 1/250 and 1/500 of a second so no need to worry about blurring!

Here is a picture of the rice paddy with the crags of Khao Yoi in the distance. A beautiful Sunday afternoon, temperature in the high 20ºCs, a gentle, balmy breeze, the only downside being the proximity to the highway and the noise from the traffic. I was listening to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 online this afternoon and I jolted when I heard the temperature in Glasgow was -4ºC. I am not sure I could survive that for very long!

The Khao Yoi area is where it all started almost two years ago, heading down what we call "Drongo Lane" and the joy of seeing the drongos, green bee-eaters, chinese pond herons, the excitement at seeing white-throated and collared kingfishers and not knowing the difference between a cattle egret and a little egret..... We didn't know at that time that we were so close to such an important spot for aquila eagles. I'll come back here early December for another look.