Hornbills are large, impressive birds with some serious adornments to their thick decurved bills. There are eight species of hornbill in Borneo and the blurb of travel websites and brochures teasingly speculate that you might stand a chance of seeing them all. It’s good PR, but my friends, we know its not that easy. Nothing relating to nature ever is. However, whilst sweating around the Rainforest Discovery Centre at Sepilok for 3 hours or more at the beginning of the Bornean leg of this epic trek clockwise around the globe, we did find a solitary Black Hornbill croaking away at the top of a t ..read more

In the grounds of Tabin Wildlife Lodge, in fact dominating the entrance to the communal dining area, is a fruit laden tree. It is positively alive with wildlife of all kinds. This morning at 6am (we’re getting used to these early starts), twenty Rhinoceros Hornbills were feasting on the bounty, flipping the small red fruits into the air to deftly catch them with their enormously impressive bill. Around them a horde of bulbuls and bluebirds fed, gulping down the acorn sized fruit whole. A gibbon swung by, to secure his breakfast, and a black squirrel scurries up and down the branches to pick th ..read more

It’s a strange fact that there are parallels all around the world. In a past life when I worked at Ranworth in the midst of Broadland, I could look out on usually murky water and watch the swallows hawk insects for their young, swirling round twittering pleasantly as they did so. Here I am 15 years later looking out over the murky water of the Kinabatangan river in Borneo watching Pacific Swallows do just the same. They even look similar, sans tail streamers, and twitter happily in much the same way as do our prized spring visitors. What chiefly differentiates these scenes is the heat, here it ..read more

The loose target for Sri Lanka as far as bird sightings go, was a trio of Bee-eaters and Indian Roller. We got two bee-eaters, but the third, the Blue-tailed, have migrated north to breed so could not be seen. No matter, since two out of three ain’t bad (that would make a good song title). This left the problem of the Indian Roller, where sadly my research proved to be somewhat less that thorough. I thought they were common around Yala, but the look on the face of the local guide when I set him this challenge dented my confidence. It seems they are quite difficult to locate and although word s ..read more

‘STOP!’ A necessarily shouted command to our driver who is only able to hear us through a small window in the back of his cab. We come to a halt and there perched on a small twig a mere 3 yards away is a gorgeous little bee-eater, an Asian Green Bee-eater in fact. Small yet perfectly formed with its stunning, almost fluorescent, greens and blues reflecting the rays of a late afternoon sun that glints from its fiery red eye. The golden hour showing the rainbow coloured gem to perfection. That intimate acquaintance with a small, sleek bird is why we are here, at least it’s one of the prime reaso ..read more

Everywhere you go on this small island there are noddies, no little car, tinkling bell or Big Ears  though. These noddies are a form of tern that squawk at you from their intricately woven nests as you pass beneath, fly directly toward you and jink to one side within inches of your face, gather on the grass or white sandy beach in mixed groups and shuffle to one side as you gingerly step around them, or sit nonchalantly on fenceposts, steps, rooftops and branches totally oblivious to your presence. One decided to sit on our verandah within a couple of feet of us where it proceeding to pr ..read more

While in Africa last year, a chance remark by a fellow photographer, something along the lines of ‘have you ever been to Bird Island?’, to which I answered in the negative, planted a seed. Bird Island, hmmm must be called that for a reason. A little research revealed that indeed the island is aptly named. It is the northernmost speck of land in the Seychelles archipeligo, only about a mile long and half a mile wide. Now having the status of a conservation zone it is managed for the wildlife with visitor numbers strictly controlled. Happily, I can confirm it does just what it says on the tin, I ..read more

Completing our trilogy of reports from Mexico - Mountains and Mangroves. Towards the end of our Mexico adventure, we were each asked in turn to name our most memorable sighting for the trip. Without hesitation I named Vermillion Flycatcher as my choice, which given we had just recently been watching hump back whales, dolphins, monarch butterflies etc, may have seemed an off the wall selection; but there is history. A decade ago when undertaking the first of our long distant explorations, we found ourselves hiking around the rim of Volcan Sierra Negra on Isobela, an island of the Galápagos arch ..read more

We continue our Naturetrek holiday. After the cool mountain air where we saw the monarch butterflies overwintering, we flew west to Puerto Vallarta, a complete contrast, to enjoy a couple of days marine wildlife watching around the shallow bay. Join us as we head out into the blue waters under cloudless skies to see dolphins, turtles and mating humpback whales: Mexico – Whales Ahoy! As I write, I’m sitting on the veranda of our hotel room a stones throw from the marina of Puerto Vallarta here on the west coast of Mexico. It is a playground for North Americans, the flags fluttering in the gent ..read more

We have just returned from an amazing trip to Mexico, a holiday arranged with Naturetrek ostensibly to experience the wonders of the monarch butterflies overwintering in the oyamel pine clad mountains to the southwest of Mexico city, but there were many other delights to savour which I will write about soon. For the present, I bid you welcome to the first of my blogs from Mexico – The Butterfly Effect. The horse took one look at who it had to carry up the hill, snorted in derision, weighed up its chances of bolting but eventually accepted its fate. The overweight Brit clumsily clambered aboard ..read more