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

Mike's conservatory (1 Viewer)

...it gave me the opportunity to test out my little acrylic 'field painting kit'. It'll take some getting used to but it's going the right way I think.


Mike

Definitely going the right way Mike! And as usual it's a great pleasure to see your field sketches. Hope you entered the SWLA field sketch competition along with some of the other excellent field sketchers here (this doesn't include myself in case that's not self-evident. ;))
 
Some VERY strong drawing here, Mike - more than a few are terrific but a couple are up there with the very best of the genre; the wheatear is perfect . . absolutely perfect, and the kes sketches are bang on. Great stuff.
 
Ha ha! No way would I put my scribbles up against any of the swala lot (and that includes all here). That would be one easy way to make a fool of myself! Thanks for the votes of confidence though.

Mike
 
You can never go wrong with Lapwings and the Common Sandpiper is lovely. One of my favourite waders. I only saw my first few through a scope, so I never realised how small they are until one nearly walked up to me.
 
I've not commented on here for a while and so I find myself on page 2!

So to rectify that I thought it was about time I posted some of this year's Singapore/Indonesia sketches some good, some horribly bad!

White collared kingfisher and Racket (Raquet?) tailed Drongo were the first two birds in the book, sketched on the hill behind the complex where I was staying. A fallen tree attracts all sorts including the ubiquitous Yellow vented bulbul. More White collared kingfisher and a distant Hill Myna, a first for me and the ones that are the familiar cage bird. And finally a rather surprising, metre long Water monitor 10 metres or so up a tree.

Mike
 

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Lineated Barbet which, according to my book, should be a mountain specialist was a regular on the hill. Laced woodpecker hanging and an overhead House swift. Blue tailed bee eaters were also seen regularly, more Lineated Barbet and a Black naped oriole, yet another regular. A trip to Sugei Buloh saw this ruddy awful sketch of a Water monitor moving up a rill and completely ignoring the Little egrets all around him. Despite my total lack of sketching prowess I still felt that the incident was worth a record.

Mike
 

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White collared kingfishers are very common on the hill and elsewhere. They hunt from perches in the trees and dive down to the grass where they catch large insects like huge, black carpenter bees and, more often, Geckos which they can't seem to get enough of. Less often seen are the White throated kingfishers, also Gecko lovers. I watched this individual on the opposite bank of the canal (Sungei Pandan) which runs through the Clementi area. He was quite happy to hang around and even though it is a public place I didn't feel too uncomfortable sketching because, without exception, the locals were a friendly and polite lot. And another Blue throated bee eater.

Mike
 

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As part of our trip we went over to Bintan Island in Indonesia. Last year I had a mental list of birds that I was desperate to see. Way at the top of that list alongside Eagles and others was Stork billed kingfisher. I fulfilled my wish to an extent and did manage to see them but the views were fleeting and/or obscured so I was determined that this time I would do better. Bintan came up trumps for me with a large, ornamental lily pond providing not one, but three Stork bills. I think my sheer excitement may have meant that the first few sketches weren't up to scratch but, as I became surer that the birds wouldn't simply vanish in a hurry, I was able to settle down and commit something slightly better to paper.

Mike
 

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The temperatures were ridiculous and I dripped sweat onto the paper at times, there were plenty of mossies by the water too and I managed to smear some in the sketchbook as well as applying several coats to all my exposed bits!

After a fabulous trip we returned to Singapore and my morning hill trips resumed. Yellow vented bulbuls everywhere and the Blue throated bee eaters were joined by some Blue tailed, another first for me and every bit as wonderful as their Blue throated cousins.

Mike
 

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A day trip to Sungei Buloh (Which means Bamboo river btw) started well with a dollarbird and purple heron, got better with a fishing Striated heron and went up another notch with lots of Mongolian (Lesser Sand) Plovers in amongst heaps and heaps of redshank, Greenshank, Whimbrel and little egret. To cap it all off I watched a Common sandpiper in a tree with a couple of Mangrove tree dwelling crabs for company, not something you see everyday!

Mike
 

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On my way out from the reserve I waited for my lift by a pond and sketched a quick couple of Whire breasted waterhen. Back on the hill the Lineated barbets continued to entertain and the White vented (Javan) mynas made me smile with their silly walks. More captivating, and a little more illusive, was a pair of Sunda pygmy woodpeckers (Brown capped). Like brown versions of lesser spotted woodpeckers I watched them chase each other around.

Mike
 

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My final trip up the hill on the morning of the day we flew back to Blighty yielded these Blue tailed bee eaters and my very last sketch in Singapore which was reserved for a white collared kingfisher which nicely bookended the first (Not scanned because it was in a tiny sketchpad currently elsewhere).

A brilliant trip which gave me many more birds and animals than I was able to sketch. I'll end with the first painting from the trip of a Stork billed kingfisher.

Mike
 

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I just love the Kingfisher fieldwork Woody:t: A stunning bird that you have done it more than justice. Ps dont ever slip to page 2 please:-O
 
Did someone say 'Derry Deluge!'? Sure seems similar. I've been through twice now but still haven't had time to read everything. Suffice it to say that they're all a pleasure to see and show you're obvious enjoyment in sketching what you saw. For some reason I especially like the water hens and surrounding sketches.
 
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