Shepreth L-moor

First visit for ages. Went with Sam. A single Buzzard and 31 Lapwings were seen.

Fowlmere

A couple of Red Admirals and a Turtle Dove was a about it.

Wind was impressive though; c.25mph, SW; Hurricane Katia.

Tree Sparrow

A Tree Sparrow in Foxton along Fowlmere road with around thirty House Sparrows was a village tick.

Pec’ Sand’

A Pectoral Sandpiper at Wilstone. First for many years and a county tick. Mad drive, making it just before nightfall. A couple of Dunlin and six Ringed Plover also noted.

Fowlmere

First visit to Fowlmere since arriving home. No Cheetahs, or Lions, or Turacos. An incredibly strong Westerly wind though, the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

Swallow x c.50
House Martin x c.50
Kinfisher x 2

Wood Pigeon

Landed at Norwich airport. First bird back in the country was a Woodpigeon. Probably not the same one we saw as the last bird before leaving.

Tarangire

The last day. As usual we were out before dawn, but this time on a long drive (just under two hours) to Tarangire. A lovely park, visited mainly for birds, though this didn’t stop us seeing the usual array of mammals including, surprisingly, another Leopard and more Lions. The non-birders also managed to add a Leopard Tortoise and a Monitor Lizard to their lists. We didn’t really target anything, just drove around in our usual manner, seeing what there was to be seen.

  

The park was very birdy, and a good number of new birds were added to the trip-list, including a few new ones for me…

Great White Pelican
Intermediate Egret
Hamerkop
African Openbill
Saddle-billed Stork
Brown Snake-Eagle
Namaqua Dove
Yellow-collared Lovebird
Mottled Spinetail
Malachite Kingfisher
D'Arnaud's Barbet
Mosque Swallow
African Penduline-Tit
Grey-crested Helmetshrike
Ashy Starling
Steel-blue Whydah
Pin-tailed Whydah

 
 
 

Later than we should have been we made a made dash to the airport for our evening flight. We seemed to hit the Arusha rush-hour which delayed us more and then came very close to a having crash which Abdul very skilfully avoided. With time running out, and the light fading fast, we made a stop for our last tick; something that we'd obviously missed on our night-time arrival: Kilimanjaro. A fitting end to a wonderful trip.

Edit (17/11/2011): Monitor Lizard was Nile Monitor Lizard.