More patch Whinchats

The perfect number of Whinchats to have on the patch is one. A Whinchat, rather than Whinchats. One Whinchat is often fairly cocky, quite brazen sometimes. Several Whinchats stir themselves up into a apoplexy of intense fear, feeding off each other, and thus whilst it might be pleasing to the urban patch-worker that there are multiples of this smart little bird - and indeed I was pleased, for as many as six graced Wanstead Flats this morning - for the urban patch-worker who carries a camera with the intention of committing Whinchats into a pleasing series of zeroes and ones, any more than one is a complete disaster, as the moment one sees you even a hundred paces away, all of them fuck off into the middle distance.

Thus were two hours wasted this morning in a pleasant if frustrating attempt to outsmart these little corkers. It didn't work, or at least not very well. Six soon turned into two that I managed to follow around reliably, but they had been very well trained in how to look out for each other, to the point that I wondered if they had known each other before meeting on Wanstead Flats. They appeared at times to share a single mind, disappearing with perfect synchronisation, popping up again exquisitely. It would make a fine Olympic sport in a parallel universe. Here's the best of what I managed before I gave up and went to Suffolk to dip a Wryneck and successfully twitch a Lesser Grey Shrike - this latter also kept an impressive distance between it and the assembled watchers. Maybe it had just eaten a Whinchat?

Fear of Flying Buzzards

You will not be surprised to hear that flying holds no fear for me. It did, once upon a time, shortly after September 2001. I think I went to the US and the Caymans in 2002, but then I didn't get in another airplane for about five years. Oh how things have changed....this year any fear I may have had has gone out of the window, and I am on about a flight a week, having discovered that a) the world is a very small place, b) the birds are better almost everywhere else and c) and anyway, it isn't all about birds. The pace slows down for the rest of this year, a family holiday and a couple of bird trips, but it's just so easy if you can be bothered to get up off your arse, do some research and work out the logistics. And whilst it isn't free, it certainly isn't as expensive as you might think. 

In fact I would say that I positively like flying, the opportunities it brings are superb. For instance listing. If, for example, I were a really geeky kind of guy, I could tell you that this year I've flown on one Boeing 737, one Boeing 757, one Airbus A321, two Embraer 145s, two Boeing 747s, two Airbus A380s, two Boeing 767s, four Embraer 190s, six Airbus A319s, and ten Airbus A320s. If I were exceptionally sad, I could tell you that the same planes that took me to Iceland and on one of my trips to Morocco also brought me back again, and that the same plane that returned me from Helsinki also took Bradders and I to Copenhagen 26 days later.Obviously there is no way that I would ever actually know that information though, and anyone that says that plane spotting and twitching are basically the same hobby is massively wide of the mark.

This weekend I have not taken to the skies, and instead looked up at them. Those that are thinking the perimeter fence at Heathrow should be ashamed of themselves, as I have been birding in Wanstead. As per the title of this blog. Despite my jests yesterday of not knowing how to find the Flats, I had no trouble at all in locating the migrant trap that is Long Wood. It also traps other things, of which there was a small amount this morning, but with Tony I felt completely safe and he only tried to hold my hand once. We were joined by Dan, Bob, Tim and gangsta Nick (his cap was on backwards, that qualifies surely?). It was slow to start, but kicked off once it warmed up, with my personal tally being a Redstart, a Garden Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, three Yellow Wagtails, three Spotted Flycatcher and four Whinchat, as well as innumerable Phylloscs and Blackcaps. Not a bad haul all things considered, and with the Med Gull the other day, and Dan's Red-Crested Pochard (a type of Wader) on Heronry, I am back on the tick trail. OK so I missed the action last weekend due to being in Brussels and on the Isle of Wight, but I have rebounded strongly from the dual disappointment of missing out on what sounded like a great session, and also from missing the 12 Bee-eaters by a few days. As my son now reminds me daily, he's seen seven in the UK (the kids spent a fortnight on the Island with relatives, I was doing the pickup), and I've only seen one. Ah, but have you seen Blue-cheeked?! Ha! No you haven't, but your sisters have! Now go and tidy your room.

More amazement was to come later in the day, when an excited Nick phoned me to say that he had 20+ Buzzards in the air together over the Park, and some of them looked different. I was poorly placed being in Ilford on a party run, and without binoculars, but I managed to get back to Wanstead in time to commando roll out of the car near the golf course and see an astonishing 23 Buzzards flying vaguely north and then kettling above Wanstead village. It was like Falsterbo all over again. Unfortunately I only saw them with the naked eye, but if somebody tells me that there was a Honey in there, it would of course be on my list quicker than immediately. When I got back to the house yet another one flew over. If I were a massive retard, I could tell you that in all the years I've lived in Wanstead I've seen 45 Buzzards, so a further 24 is an increase of over 50%. I also saw one of the Embraers heading off from City. It was a 190, which is slightly longer than a 170. 

Falsterbo Trip Report - day 4

Day 4
The final day - another lightning trip, I like these. We elected not to go down to Nabben and instead checked out the sheltered side of the Obs compound, which in this instance was the eastern side. As this was with the rising sun, it was warm and pleasant. Note that you are on a fairway at this point, so it is best that if you want to check it out you do so early morning before the golfers turn up. That said, we didn't do this and a hugely polite man walked the length of the fairway to explain to us what to do if we heard "Fore" shouted loudly. Most impressively dealt with, in the UK we would have just been yelled at I expect, such are tolerance levels these days. But I digress, the birds were great. We had previously seen Pied and Spot Fly in here, as well as Redstart and Garden Warbler, but we really wanted Icky. This took a while, but eventually we had blinding views, and whilst searching another dodgy Osprey Buzzard flew over - this is where my photos came from. To be fair, when we got flummoxed and outdone by the first one, I did say it didn't feel like an Osprey, even if it looked like one. I think we saw four in this plumage, so if you think that on some days you can get over 1000 birds, the locals will see perhaps a dozen a day, so it really isn't an uncommon plumage variation. Indeed it's illustrated in the Collins. Including this bird, another 16 flew over, as well as an impressive 240+ Crossbill, typically in groups of 20-30. We actually recorded a much higher count that the chaps at Nabben on this day, mainly because the birds seemed to come across the Golf Course, over the Obs garden, and directly out towards Denmark. Birds this small could easily be missed at the far end.

We then walked north to Flommen to check out the reedbed. This was mainly in a pathetic attempt to get Reed Warbler onto the trip list, and as such was a great success with three birds found in very breezy weather. Little else though. Retrieving the galactic hyper-cruiser Nissan, we drove a short distance up the coast to Lilla Hamars (1 on map below), a small spit of land only a bit north east of the Falsterbo Canal. I have never seen so many Wagtails in my entire life, mainly all in a single field with livestock, it was quite sensational. Many Whinchat here also, quite a few waders, and then on an outlying island, a pair of Sea-eagles terrifying the local Greylag population. 

A spot of forest birding at Yddingesjön proved fairly unproductive, and with the plane looming we went out to Klagshamn (2 on map above), just below the Malmö bridge - another spit of land. This was a bit of dump to look at, but we secured some valuable birds for the list including a couple LBB Gull in the quarry and a Merg in the bay, and then Bearded Tit, Reed Bunting and Water Rail in the small reedbed south of the stables. Here another another bird tower afforded great views back towards Falsterbo, and allowed us to peer into corners of the reeds which would otherwise have been obscured. A few more HBs streamed through, and Bradders strung a Merlin to get us to 134. 135 when you count my Two-barred Crossbills!

Klagshamn. 4 - Quarry, 5 - nice sheltered glades, 6- Reed Bed, 7 - Bird Tower.

Another gnashing of teeth, wailing etc as we crossed back into Denmark. Hard to bear.

Trip List
Mute Swan - huge numbers around the coast between Malmö and Falsterbo
Greylag Goose - ditto, as well as Vombsanger.
Canada Goose
Barnacle Goose - on sheltered side of Varanger pensinsula
Shelduck
Mallard
Gadwall - many in the car...thankfully a proper flock at Krankesjön
Pintail - in the lagoon at Nabben
Shoveler
Wigeon
Teal
Garganey - single birds in two locations
Tufted Duck
Eider - small numbers off Nabben and elsewhere
Common Scoter - off Nabben occasionally
Goldeneye - Nabben
Red-breasted Merganser - Klagshamn
Pheasant - hyper-rare until we found a field of 50....
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Red-necked Grebe - 2 family groups south of Börringe
Cormorant - gazillions off Nabben
Grey Heron
White Stork - a migrating bird from Nabben, and 8 ringed birds near Vombsjön
White-tailed Eagle - numerous in the interior, a family near Skanorsljung
Osprey - common migrant (!)
Red Kite - numerous at Börringe
Black Kite - 1 Börringe, 1 Skanorsljung
Marsh Harrier
Montagu's Harrier - 1 at Skanorsljung
Pallid Harrier - 1 near Borringe
Common Buzzard - rare
Honey Buzzard - dirt bird, approx 350 seen
Sparrowhawk - constant migrant at Nabben
Goshawk - Börringe
Kestrel
Hobby - 3 near Trelleborg
Merlin (ahem)
Water Rail - said to be numerous in the reeds at Flommen. 2 at Klagshamn
Coot
Crane - 300+ at Vombsanger
Oystercatcher
Avocet
Ringed Plover
Grey Plover
Golden Plover
Lapwing
Knot
Turnstone - rare, only 2 seen
Dunlin
Curlew Sandpiper - always a few present in any Dunlin flock
Broad-billed Sandpiper - east of Skanors revlar
Temminck's Stint - near Börringe
Wood Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Redshank
Spotted Redshank
Greenshank
Bar-tailed Godwit
Curlew
Whimbrel
Snipe
Ruff
Arctic Skua - 3 off Nabben
Black-headed Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull - Klagshamn
Little Tern - Nabben and near harbour
Sandwich Tern - Nabben
Common Tern
Arctic Tern
Caspian Tern - 14 at Krankesjön
Black Tern - Nabben lagoon, and interior lakes
Rock Dove
Stock Dove - rare, be sure to check all those flocks of Woodies carefully!
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Swift - constant passage
Kingfisher - Vombsjön and Krankesjön
Great Spotted Woodpecker - near Börringe
Skylark
Sand Martin
House Martin
Swallow
Meadow Pipit - rare, but some at Lilla Hamars
Tree Pipit
White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Robin - 1 seen in four days!
Redstart
Wheatear
Whinchat
Song Thrush - 1 in Falsterbo Park
Mistle Thrush - 1 at Obs
Blackbird - uncommon
Garden Warbler
Blackcap
Whitethroat
Reed Warbler - Flommen
Icterine Warbler - Obs
Willow Warbler - most common Warbler
Chiffchaff
Goldcrest
Spotted Flycatcher
Pied Flycatcher - fairly common, especially in Falsterbo Park
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Blue Tit
Crested Tit -- woods south of Vombsjön
Marsh Tit
Bearded Tit - reedbed at Klagsham
Wren
Nuthatch
Treecreeper
Red-backed Shrike - Falsterbo Park
Magpie
Nutcracker - 2 at Obs
Jackdaw
Rook
Hooded Crow
Raven - around Börringe
Starling
House Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Crossbill
(Two-barred Crossbill)
Reed Bunting
Yellowhammer

No trip report would be complete......

Falsterbo Trip Report - day 3

Day 3
Once again we departed Trelleborg at around 0600, arriving at Nabben (about a 15 minute walk from the small car park) for around 0700, and once again there were a number of the local crew already present and in full-on click counter mode. I am sure they were pleased to see us, with our Honey Ospreys and so on. As with previous days there were Tree Pipits going over all the time, and plenty of Yellow Wags - these two species are easily the most numerous of birds, and makes the handful I get in Wanstead annually seem rather pathetic. We received the happy news that there were two Nutcracker in the Obs garden, and sure enough they soon came up out of the pines having a think about migration - climbing up and up and up, with Jay-like wingbeats - before deciding they didn't like the idea of migration involving a sea crossing and diving vertically back into the plantation. So, we've now seen an explanation for why we don't get many Nutcrackers in the UK. Amazingly these are only the second and third birds I've ever seen, following a single bird in Finland last year.

More of the same basically, including a group of Crossbill that the local birders insisted had at least two Two-barred in. I saw the flock, but Bradders says I can't them, though whether this is because he didn't even see the flock I cannot possibly say. Counts from this morning session included 52 Honey Buzzard, two Osprey, 4 Marsh Harrier, 27 Sparrowhawk, 74 Crossbill, the two Nutcracker, and our first Whinchats, perching up on the wild roses. We also regained a modicum of credibility by showing off our Pallid Harrier photos. Shame we said it was a Kestrel. 

White Wagtail with Falsterbo accoutrement

At around 11am we left Nabben, and after a brief poke around the Obs, where we added our first Linnet, Goldfinch, Whitethoat and Spotted Flycatcher, hit Falsterbo Park (6 on this map), in the hope that a change in habitat would see our trip list increase. This it did immediately, with Goldcrests, Coal Tits, a Song Thrush and a Red-backed Shrike. It was a relief to finally get some shelter from the unrelenting wind that was making small birding so difficult, and in the sheltered glades we found stacks of birds such as Pied Flycatchers in groups of six or more. All this while Honey Buzzards and Ospreys continued to pass overhead.

Back at the heath at Skanorsljung, Black Kite was another highlight, and in only a further half hour we racked-up another 57 Honey Buzzard, 4 Osprey, an adult WT Eagle, eight Sprawk and a Marsh Harrier. For those paying attention this meant that our count of Honeys for the trip was now at 313, though this pales in comparison to those sitting all day at Nabben, where the final counts for this day (Aug 24th) alone were close to 700. Still, 313 Honey Buzzards is many multiples of what I have previously seen, and the views have been mostly phenomenal - to see birds coming in a long line, like planes Heathrow, is mind-bending. Occasionally they stop and start circling, leading to games to see how many you can get in one scope view etc. This was a particular facet of the trip, with not only amazing quantities, but birds seen extremely well. I may never go birding in the UK again. Mind you I say that most every time I come back from a foreign trip. And then I go abroad again, so it could be true!

1-4 Borringe area as described in day 2, 5-9 Vombsjön area

In the afternoon we once again headed into Skåne, this time heading for a lake called Vombsjön (8), and some nearby meadowland, Vombsanger (6). More staggering birding, with thousands of real Greylag Geese in the fields, and 300+ Common Crane. My keen eyes (ahem) also picked up two Caspian Tern heading east, probably commuting between Krankesjön (9) and Vombsjön, though when we explored the latter we could not find them. We did however add Arctic Tern, Black Tern, and our first Kingfisher and Yellowhammer as we explored the eastern side, with the woods below the lake (7) holding Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Marsh Tit and others.

Moving west to Krankesjön to outrun a particularly vicious storm (one of many that we managed to dodge), we hit upon the birding moment of the trip, or mine at least. A pair of adult Sea Eagles were hunting on the northern side of the lake (viewed from the east side, where there are some hides and a bird tower). It missed whatever it was going for and so sat up in a tree for a moment. The next thing I knew, it was flying straight down the barrel of my scope, huge wingbeats with the bird completely in profile. Wonderful light, it was like being in a wildlife documentary as it flew towards us. At the last minute, getting bigger and bigger, it peeled off left, and legs and talons extended, glided to the surface, coming up with a huge huge fish, hooked on one claw. This it then dropped with an almighty splash, and did not bother coming back for it, choosing instead to go and land on the small islands that had until recently been occupied by stupendous Caspian Terns. Did I mention there were 14? No? Well, the Eagle experience pretty much outclassed everything else there, including a fabulous group of these monster Terns. We had watched them fishing too, none of the elegant dipping of marsh Terns, none of the precision dives of Arctic Tern. Think instead bellyflop - a huge splash and then back up. More Humpback Whale than bird. I've twitched a bird in Norfolk, and seen birds in Finland, but nothing like this - it was wonderful, a true wildlife spectacle. Krankesjön was teeming with birds - another Kingfisher, another Garganey. Four Ospreys at the far end, our first Gadwall, birds galore, and possibly one of the best place we visited on the trip. Oh, and 200+ Coot as well. What's not to love? And as we drove back, some White Stork from the reintroduction project.

Trip List: 124

Falsterbo Trip Report - days 1 and 2

 

Wow. Wow wow wow! A couple of weekends ago, the one with the August Bank Holiday in it, I went to Falsterbo to "experience migration". Well, what an experience! Thousands of birds, heaps of raptors, lots of Very. Serious. Birders. Also quite a lot of wind, a modicum of apocalyptic rain, and small quantities of unregulated watered-down lager.

Logistics

• A four day trip in late August (22nd - 25th) to take advantage of the UK Bank Holiday, with Bradders (and Snuffi).
• Birded primarily the Falsterbo peninsula, but also several trips into the interior of the bird-rich Skåne area, which we birded various parts of every afternoon of each full day there.
• British Airways flight to Copenhagen from Heathrow departed 0700 on Friday morning, arriving at around 0930, cost around £150. However this price was somewhat undone by the Copehagen to Malmö bridge costing an eye-watering  £37 each way. Had we known this we may have looked harder for flights to Malmö. Then again, it may have all come out in the wash. And anyway, I get avios points....
• Copenhagen to Falstebo is about an hour in the car.
• Denmark has Kroners. Sweden has a different kind of Kroners. Neither use the Euro. Booooo.
• Car hire via Avis was a very nice but overly smart Nissan Qashqai. If only it could identify birds, but it did most other things. Around £140 for the four days.
• Accommodation was booked for three nights at the Pensionet Maglarp just outside Trelleborg, where a basic twin room set us back £120 each. It had wifi. Oh, and a fridge for the cooling of top-quality beverages. This was about a 20 minute drive from Falsterbo.
• Research consisted of a conversation or two with Steve Grimwade from Swallow Birding, who runs tours there, and the perusal of two locally-produced books on Faslterbo, and then the wider Skåne area,
• The Qashqai had a sat-nav, so we used that. And a large hadron collider.
• Dinner every night at the Casablanca grill in Trelleborg. Amazingly good basic food, obscene quantities, and not overly pricey either. Trelleborg, in common with other freight port towns, was a bit of a dump (sorry residents), so options were fairly limited.
• The real birders are at Nabben for 0530 every day. We are weaklings however, and tended to pitch up about 0700. We probably missed about ten trillion Tree Pipits, but made up for it by seeing another ten trillion.

Day 1
Very early flight from LHR necessitating leaving a silly O'Clock from Wanstead. Breakfast in the/a BA lounge whilst poring over literature, and then an uneventful flight (the best kind) over to Copenhagen where we picked up the car without fuss. It then took the rest of the day to work out the handbrake. Seriously Nissan, if it ain't broke.... Weeping as we crossed the bridge whilst throwing Euros out of the window, we arrived at Falsterbo at more-or-less raptor O'Clock, and after securing the requisite amount of junk food, immediately started sky-watching at Skanorsljung, a heathland area (see map location #4) where you can watch raptors coming in from the east. This area covers almost the entire width of the pensinsula at this point, and the birds can come in on any line, though with a south-westerly wind blowing, we found that they tracked more along the road than the southern side.

We started seeing (and hearing) birds almost immediately. The most striking difference to Wanstead was the almost continual calls of Yellow Wagtail and to a lesser extent, Tree Pipit. In the next hour we recorded 46 Honey Buzzard, including a flock of 23, 4 Osprey, 2 Marsh Harrier, an immature Sea Eagle, and a Common Buzzard. The Honey Buzzard tap seemed to be switched off after an hour, so we busied ourselves exploring the Falsterbo area, including checking out the Observatory garden around the lighthouse (2), Flommen (2-3), and then the area to the north of Falsterbo harbour at Hamnvagen (5). Walking north from here along a narrow strip of land with sea one side and pools the other took us too a very productive mudflats area with loads of waders, including several Curlew Sandpipers and a Broad-billed Sandpiper, a bird I've yet to see in the UK. As a result of this we ended the day on 70 species, pretty good going when you consider we didn't really hit Falsterbo until midday.

Checked into the Pensiongat Maglarp in the early evening, and then sourced dinner in Trelleborg. I cannot remember what I had was I called, but it involved a massive amount of grilled pork, peppers, and chips, washed down with a Falcon lager. On the way back we discover the uncomfortable fact the purchase of alcohol  in Sweden is limited by the State to certain State-controlled shops, and that any beer found in supermarkets is essentially piss in a can. We asked the checkout assistant why this was the case, and where all the vodka was. "Because zis is Sveden" came the honest answer. We never did find the monopoly shop, too busy birding.

Day 2

An early start and out to the point at Nabben (1), the site of all the major counts. This is staffed by very high quality and serious birders all day long. Note to self; do not string Long-tailed Skuas, especially if they are waders. One young chap was pretty friendly, and a Danish guy was fairly chilled, but on the whole it's a fairly intense business. Stonking birding though, with HBs and Sprawks going past at eye level, and the Golf Course littered with Wagtails. You leave your car outside the car park at the Golf Club, near a small hillock (also used for raptor watching, but nowhere near as good as 1 or 4), and then walk along the west side of the fairways until you reach the end. It is obvious where to stand - near the birders who will already be there. 

In common with the rest of our time here, it was intensely windy, which limited our ability to hear many birds, Crossbills, Tree Pipits and Yellow Wagtails being the exception. Once again Honey Buzzards were the star of the show, with 121 counted including a spiralling kettle of 21 birds with a White Stork for company. Also 10 Osprey, a pale Honey Buzzard that looked remarkably like an Osprey (more negative BPs for the english contingent), Black Tern, and 60+ Crossbill. Back at Skanorsljung (4) at around midday, we added a further 36 Honey Buzzard and an ultra-rare Montagu's Harrier.

Only one of these is an Osprey....

Bored of the passage of HBs, we decided to head inland to a place called Börringe, just south of Malmö airport. We struck gold straight away by finding a shallow lake with 9 Red-necked Grebe (count 'em!), a Temminck's Stint, a Garganey and some Spotted Redshank. Pleased with this jam, we stopped off at a nearby Fågeltorn (bird tower) between the lakes of Borringesjön and Havgardsjön, and continued the raptor spectacle with at least four Sea-Eagle, double figures of Red Kite, 6 Osprey through, and various Marsh Harriers. If the Grebes had been gold, what came next was platinum. Driving the connecting road south of  Havgardsjön, a male Harrier glided across the road. With commendable speed Bradders halted the car, and we piled out. He grabbed a scope, I grabbed a camera so as to be able to record it - a 3rd year Pallid Harrier. Amazing stuff, at this point our 11th raptor of the trip. Amazingly I managed some record shots that told you all you wanted to know, and so we carried on in high spirits to Börringe itself, where we added Black Kite, and soon afterwards, Goshawk.

A fabulous end to the day, and our count now stood at 103. Blackbird was the final bird, as rare, seemingly, as Pallid and Monty's.

Hundreds and Thousands

I spent the Bank Holiday weekend at Falsterbo in Sweden. The local birders would have said it was quiet. I say it was epic - quantity, quality, outstanding views. Bradders and I racked up over 130 species in three and half days, and birded the Skane area about as hard as we could. A full and detailed trip will follow when I can find the time to make the effort that a decent document requires, however for now here is a quick run down of some of the more frequently encountered birds.

There were thousands of these. Everywhere, all day long.

There were also thousands of these. I see/hear roughly two or three a year in Wanstead.

There were hundreds of these. Not all showed as well as this, but to have flocks of 20+ was not unusual in the slightest.

I saw more of these in a day than I would normally see in a year.

Easily hundreds of these

The slight downside was that it was very windy throughout my stay, which made hearing migrants difficult, and meant that stuff tended to keep low.

Kingbird Highway to Rome via Wanstead

I birded Wanstead on Saturday, although that mightn't be hugely apparent from the title. Autumn has started. I know this as Nick told me, so I came out and had a look. It was great, so good I've been out twice this week. Whinchat, Wheatear, Reed Warbler, Med Gull, Garden Warbler - it has definitely started, and I hope to enjoy more of it. I'm inspired to go birding again, and there is lots planned - and I mean lots. 

Sunday was another early start. 4.15am to be exact. Hard, in other words. Hard to get up, hard to believe I was doing it again. I enjoy it, I tell myself. And I do, but sometimes I enjoy my bed too, and after a wedding reception the prior evening, another three hours would have been spot on. But no, and anyway, I could snooze on the plane, could I not? Well, as it happened, no I couldn't. The reason? Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufmann. Now an established author and highly respected birder in the US, this book details his birding coming of age as he hitched back and forth across the US in the mid seventies, and it's wonderful. I'd read it before of course, but as I cosied up in the lounge with a coffee and several mini pain au chocolats, it was immediately obvious that the sleep wasn't going to happen. Oh well, another shattering weekend.

We landed right on time, but Rome airport was a fiasco. This was no problem, as it gave me more time to read my book, and I closed on about page 150, probably about a third of the way through his "Big Year", leaving him at the Dry Tortugas. Had I been at home it's entirely possible I would have been caught up in the moment and booked a ticket to Arizona there and then, so perhaps it was for the best that I was on the Leonardo Express into Termini, Rome's central railway station. Whilst my french is good, my german passable, and my spanish so-so, my italian is non existent. I'll just wave my hands around, I figured, and mostly it worked. 

I exited onto wide streets, a huge church almost immediately in front of me. And do you know what? I went in it. Yes I, JL, set foot in a church. I actually also briefly set foot in a London church a few weeks ago, but that was just to pick Mrs L up. This church I walked into of my own volition, and I was quite transfixed, for churches in Rome are different somehow. They are grander, more opulent, seeped in age and history. I read not a single information board, it's not my style. I merely wandered, looked and listened. And was largely amazed.

Il Papa had very rudely gone to Korea. Snuffi disappointed.

Shortly after I took this, this guy jumped through a hoop and planted a custard pie in the face of a Carabinieri

The renowned Renaissance sculptor Panasonic

It's a real walking city, and I walked my little legs off. A meandering route via a leisurely lunch, the Pantheon to take photos of people taking photos, various churches, the Castello Sant'Angelo, St Peter's Square, the Gieuseppe Garibali monument, the Tiber, some palace or other, the Forum, the Colosseum.....the list is basically endless and I saw barely a fraction of it. A real walking city, stunning in every respect, I loved every second of my visit and need to go back as soon as possible. Binoculars? Not a chance. 

Spock

Pooped/Poped

How could I resist?

Back in the US, the protagonist had moved on to High Island in Texas. I need to follow him there is essentially my thinking at this point. It's such a good book. Kerouac meets Dylan meets Mark Cocker. It makes you want to travel, it makes you want to go birding, it lights in you the flame of discovery and of adventure. He ate catfood, and spent less than $1000 in the entire year to rack up what was at that time the second highest ABA yearlist ever, possibly even the highest depending on whether Baja is counted or not. I finished it on the return flight and almost want to read it again straight away. But I have plenty of other things on my kindle that I ought to get through. The advantage of so much time commuting and travelling is that I get time to read, one of life's genuine pleasures.

The eternal city