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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. Jos Stratford

    Italia Exotica, 29 March-3 April.

    With tickets to a concert in Milan dictating the timing and the season being decidedly not optimal for Alpine butterflies nor for birding in general, I scratched my head a little for what to do in Italy for a few days. And then an idea appeared - an attempt to see all of the established exotics...
  2. Jos Stratford

    Ham Wall Starling roost - information?

    Hi, Thinking about a trip to the UK specifically to see the big Starling roost at Hamwall. Anybody know the current status of the roost this year? I see there is a hotline phone number, but that would be an international call, so is there a website that also gives details of best...
  3. Jos Stratford

    Attack on tourists in Ugandan national park

    Unusual for Uganda, but in Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of the main birding areas in this fantastic African country: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67142166
  4. Jos Stratford

    BUTTERFLIES OF MOROCCO, JUNE-JULY 2023

    In light of the earthquake in Morocco, it with sadness that I begin this trip report - many of the excellent localities that I visited, particularly in the Imlil and Asni areas, are at the very epicentre of this quake and the villages I visited have been totally destroyed. Undoubtedly some of...
  5. Jos Stratford

    On Cloud Nine, Pussycat comes avisiting

    Tracks in the winter snow, a kill some months back, so set up a camera on this little bridge I built a couple of years ago. Red Fox, Badger, Otter, Beaver, Raccoon Dog, Roe Deer, Brown Hare, Yellow-necked Mouse all past the camera in the last two weeks. But this evening, the big one ...
  6. Jos Stratford

    Saudi Arabia, Birds and Butterflies.

    Arabian Odyssey. 26 March - 8 April 2023. Introduction Restricted range endemics, a flavour of the Afrotropics, superb Palaearctic migrants, Crab Plovers et al on tropical beaches …this is the avian melting pot of south-west Saudi Arabia, truly a destination second to none. In my early...
  7. Jos Stratford

    Rick Young harness supplier in EU?

    Importing from the UK or US is a bit of a pain with customs declarations and duties, so quick request if anybody knows any dealers for the Rick Young binocular harness within the European Union? Many thanks
  8. Jos Stratford

    White-tailed Eagle vs Red Fox, Battle Days

    With something approaching spring, an early return of White-tailed Eagles to my land in the last couple of weeks. However, with all lakes still totally frozen, food is going to be a challenge ...cue some pretty impressive observations: Part 1 19 February. Didn't need to get out of bed for...
  9. Jos Stratford

    Butterflies of the Canary Islands, 2022-2023

    Unfinished business. Despite the success of a multi-island butterfly/birding trip the previous winter that had notched up almost all the available endemic butterflies and birds, a couple of little niggles left a feeling of job not quite done - primary among them that I had only managed views of...
  10. Jos Stratford

    Butterflies of Armenia, June-July 2022

    INTRODUCTION Inspired by a trip report on BirdForum and following on from several birding trips to the neighbouring states of Georgia, Turkey and Iran, it was time to visit Armenia. The focus this time however was butterflies - in the varied habitats of the high Caucasian mountains, expanses...
  11. Jos Stratford

    A Day on a Bench

    Mini competition across Lithuania, choose a tower or platform, sit on it from 5 am till 1 pm, record how many species of birds in the allotted time. Seemed a good opportunity to do a 'big day' on my land, something I had never done before. Mulled whether to do it from my tower overlooking my...
  12. Jos Stratford

    Birds and Butterflies of Cyprus & Crete, April 2022.

    Having seen all but two of Europe's fifteen swallowtails, festoons and apollos, the primary goal of this trip was to find one of these remaining two, namely Cretan Festoon. With no convenient flights from Lithuania directly to Crete however, I decided to travel via Cyprus - this not only...
  13. Jos Stratford

    Flock to Marion, South Africa and the Southern Oceans, January-February 2022.

    With the entire trip planned around a unique voyage into the Southern Oceans, I will also extend my time in South Africa to spend a couple of weeks in the magical Kruger National Park and surrounding areas. Part A. Flock to Marion Flock to Marion, an eight-day pelagic to the wilds of the...
  14. Jos Stratford

    Canary Islands, Plan B in the Era of Omicron

    Perils of Omicron, a flight ban scuppered a planned trip to South Africa on the 11 Dec, so I hastily arranged a Plan B departing a week later for a cultural day in Rome, then a hop to over to the Canaries for three weeks of island hopping with the goals of encountering Gran Canaria Blue...
  15. Jos Stratford

    Story of a Wildlife Pool

    Ever since I excavated two pools 17 years ago, I have gazed down upon them and admired their visitors - White Storks and Great White Egrets plodding the margins to hunt frogs and small fry, Goldeneyes pretty regularly, a Kingfisher on a couple of occasions, Green Sandpipers and Snipe now and...
  16. Jos Stratford

    Butterflies of north-east Spain (Montes Universales & Pyrenees). 4-15 August 2021.

    Butterflies of north-east Spain (Montes Universales & Pyrenees). 4-15 August 2021. Following on from a trip to the Italian Alps a couple of weeks earlier, a shift to the west - ten days in noeth-east Spain. Primarily focussing on the Montes Universales, a range of mountains located between...
  17. Jos Stratford

    Butterflies in the Italian Alps, 8-22 July 2021.

    Following on from a successful trip in August 2019, this two-week trip to the Italian Alps again focussed on butterflies in the dramatic mountain landscapes of the Dolomites. Revisiting excellent sites in Trentino, including Val di Rabbi and Peio, I also added the Lombardy and Veneto regions in...
  18. Jos Stratford

    Year Two, Birding in the Pandemic, Lithuania et al.

    All things considered, from a personal angle, 2020 turned out to be a very good year. Despite restrictions and lockdown, and a desire to isolate as much a possible, opportunites arose that allowed me to spend more time than ever birding and travelling - after a year start in New Zealand and a...
  19. Jos Stratford

    The Great Escape, Namibia.

    Background to Travel. Lithuania was largely spared the spring wave of Coronavirus, case numbers were low and I have to admit the three-month national quarantine was a pleasurable time for me personally, a prolonged period on my land in Labanoras, not exactly a hardship at the height of spring...
  20. Jos Stratford

    Butterflies in the Italian Alps, August 2020.

    From Arctic to Alpine, returning from northern Scandinavia, I arrived back in Lithuania to a country steadily imposing restrictions on travel to more and more countries. Thus, before doors closed to all destinations, I decided it a good idea to squeeze in another trip ...and what better...
  21. Jos Stratford

    Trip into the Uncertainties, Arctic Scandinavia, July 2020.

    On remote mountains far beyond the Arctic Circle, there live a whole bunch of specialised butterflies, species that are, to me, almost mystical. About 16 species in all, the names alone are mouthwatering enough - Arctic Blue, Polar Fritillary, Dewy Ringlet, Norse Grayling and more. However...
  22. Jos Stratford

    New Zealand, the Final Frontier, 2019-2020

    Dedicated to a fellow birder some hundreds of kilometres to my south, hoping this report will bring some light relief :t: Travelling from 14 December 2019 till 13 January 2020, this four-week trip was to one of the last great corners of the world that I had yet to visit! After a brief stop in...
  23. Jos Stratford

    Birding in 2020, Coronavirus et al, an East European View

    Inspired by the thread by 3ItalianBirders and fully expecting a lockdown in Lithuania, with its resultant severe restrictions of movement and thus birding, I have decided to document the evolution of the Coronavirus outbreak from the perspective of a birder living in Lithuania, eastern Europe...
  24. Jos Stratford

    Sardinia and Corsica 2019, Endemic Butterflies et al.

    Taken me an age to actually get this report written and the photographs sorted, but here we go.... Travelling from 4-17 July, this two-week trip focussed on the butterflies of Sardinia and Corsica, particularly the dozen or so endemic species that should be on the wing, including the dramatic...
  25. Jos Stratford

    Butterflies of Israel & the Golan Heights

    Earlier this year, I decided to pay Israel and the Golan Heights a couple of visits, specifically for butterflies - an early spring trip in the hope of Lebanese Festoon and others, plus desert butterflies, then an early summer trip to the higher mountains in the Golan Heights. Obviously a...
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