Bird-watching in the garden is one of the most fun things to do when you have free time. Here in this garden there is no need for a hide, the birds come reasonably close, sometimes staying still. It is a pleasure to see how the behaviour is of some of the birds are. Some are quiet, others are nervous and skittish. Still others again are shy and stay low near the tea bushes and some hide in them. The Red Vented Bulbul is a pushy bird and does not tolerate any other bird around and when these are cranky they harass the other birds and chase them out of the garden. Then the Babbler, this species looks a lot like humans, and is good at making messes and not cleaning up. The Junglefowl the National bird here digs all over the garden in search of food. The migrant the Pita, is the most nervous of the bunch, smelling danger it scurries away into the undergrowth. It is a beautiful species to see and a welcome guest every year. The Minivet is also a popular bird in the garden, always looking for grubs and insects, this bird has a beautiful colouring. The male is orange/black and the ladies are dressed in yellow/black.
The birds in the garden always come in waves, when the Babblers come there are always other species that accompany them , like the aforementioned Red Vented Bulbul, Myna’s and Scimitar Babbler, this species mainly eats larvae, caterpillars and other insects. One of the most beautiful birds to come into garden is the Indian Paradise flycatcher, this is a graceful bird and as the name says always in diving flight grabbing its prey. Watching all this activity, you soon forget about time.
The garden here does not have the four seasons as in Europe, though it is clear that there are two seasons for the trees and certainly the plants. At this time of writing, it is November and you can clearly see that there are fewer flowers in the shrubs and plants, which also means fewer butterflies and insects. The equipment used is the OM-1.1 with the razor sharp M.Zuiko 300mm and sometimes the teleconverter TC 1.4 for the smaller bird species. All hand held without a tripod, so that you are more flexible. 

• After a long time it was time to visit the Horton Plains National Park. The weather looked good after all. As the crow flies we live about 20 km away from the entrance of the park. To be honest I don’t go there enough, but that’s another story. We drive via Boralanda to Ohiya and there the road climbs up to about 2100m altitude. Clouds get stuck on the mountains that dominate the landscape, we end up in it, it also brings rain. After a steep climb we arrive at the Main Gate and pay the entrance fee. It is drizzling and the clouds hang low so that the view is limited, it gives a spooky atmosphere to the whole. We drive slowly further passing the Staff bungalows, here we are still in a section with trees and large rhododendrons that bloom with red flowers. The question that comes to my mind how do they get here, I can’t tell. Slowly it changes into grassland, these are inhabited by the illustrious Leopard and the Sambar deer. It happens more and more often that you can see the leopard, as long as you come early. A little later we see the sambars grazing in the grasslands. The rain becomes heavier, a little later we arrive at the Park office. There they check the bags and backpacks for plastic bags, which are prohibited in the park. From there we can choose from two walking routes, the circular route of about 8.5 km or to the mountain top Kirigalpotta which is 7 km away from the park office. Please note that the opening hours of the park are 6 am in the morning to 6 pm in the evening. There are also possibilities to camp but that is limited. We choose the classic circular route. We walk anti-clockwise towards Bakers fall in the drizzle we climb the first paved hill and the path becomes a bit narrower and rougher, good walking shoes are required. The hills are mainly covered with grasses and rhododendrons, also various types of ferns and small wild flowers can be admired. Actually the idea today was to photograph birds, but they hide well. The species were limited today to the cinerous tit and pied buschat and jungle fowl, the lizards were also hard to find, eventually we saw the black cheeked lizard and that is endemic to Horton Plains. We descend to Bakers fall, no one to be seen, normally it is quite busy here, not this morning, it is of course because of the drizzle. I like it this way and to be honest the scene today is special. Low hanging clouds give a different atmosphere here than a clear blue sky, it is also a lot more interesting photographically I think, it gives atmosphere. After a little hour we continue the route towards World’s end, it goes downhill and on the view there is something clear here, the drizzle has stopped for a while. We pass some hikers, who ask if it is still far to the waterfall. In the meantime we enjoy the views. It is very quiet, no birds or animals to be seen here, we walk briskly, the drizzle is back unfortunately. We walk over a small bridge with clear water, sometimes you can see trout swimming here. In the distance we see Belihul Oya river making its way through the hilly landscape. Clouds hang against the mountains here. The view is quite limited on this part of the path. We take some pictures of the wild flowers and ferns. A few minutes walk we arrive at World’s end, this part is the most visited place in the park, it is a kind of plateau that ends with a steep wall, with a great view of the surroundings it looks a bit like a field with broccoli. In clear weather you can see the lakes in the Udawalawe national park in the distance and a little closer the water reservoir Samanalawewa near the town of Belihuloya. Beautiful view. From here the tour continues to Little World’s end. The path further that leads towards the Park office, here is a difficult part of the path very slippery over fantastically beautiful colored stones. A pair of Blackbirds are looking for food and the path continues towards a section with more trees to come out again on the overgrown grassy hills a little later. In clear weather you can see Adam’s peak in the distance, unfortunately not today the view is limited with the low hanging clouds. Our walk ends at the park office, there is also a small museum and shop with useful information, you can also ask questions about the flora and fauna to the park officers, who answer them in all friendliness. A little restaurant with some items is also nearby, also ice cream and limited soft drinks are available. On busy days there are some Sambar deers around to for begging food, they get used to this behaviour. 

The gear:

OM System OM-1 

12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

7-14mm f/2.8 Pro

40-150mm f/2.8 Pro

300mm f/4 Pro

Leofoto tripod and Olympus photo bag.

To be honest, I started buying photo books made by fellow photographers late. I actually had no idea until I came across Julian Briard on YouTube with his What’s on my bookshelf. I participated as a photographer in the Natural Landscape Photography Awards and ordered book year one. Now I have also year 2 and 3 and these books are very beautiful, well printed and casebound. Now my bookshelf is slowly expanding with several books.

I recently discovered Kozubooks. 

I immediately ordered 4 books there that caught my first attention.  Adam Gibbs known from YouTube, Hans Strand generally known for his aerial photographs and less wellknown Martin Rak. 

The books have the same size 30 x 24 cm, 90 to 120 pages. printed on Fedrigoni Symbol Freelife Satin 170gsm, Thread Sewn and hardcover. 

About the contents of the books of these photographers,  Adam who is not familiar with him and delivers a book Quit Light full of his beloved Vancouver Island hotspots and lesser known places,  now and then we see beautiful shots from other countries such as Greenland , China and Scotland, but these are heavily undernumbered, could have been more, all three photographers also pay attention to the different seasons. 

Adam’s content is beautiful and nicely balanced, I always enjoy following his work. 

Then Hans’ work also shows a great diversity in photography included in the books, from river deltas to more intimate photos of snow and ice, his preference for Iceland and Norway is clearly visible, Hans also traveled to Greenland and Antarctica. The Rio Tinto, the most polluted river in Europe, is also included in with the red color of the pollution. This river can be found in Spain. These are two impressive books by Hans, called Beyond Landscape and Aqua. Beautiful. 

Then for myself the most unknown of these three Martin Rak, this book with the Japanese title Komorebi was the big surprise for me, his Woodlands photography is unearthly without words, if Woodlands photography already seems simple to many people, I can tell you from experience, no, it is not, and it takes a lot of time and devotion to understand nature and transform it into something that grabs you, Martin has succeeded. This beautiful book also contains plenty of work to enjoy and will often be opened like the other three books to browse, wonder and enjoy. 

I recommend everyone to follow this link and see if there is something you like: https://www.kozubooks.com 

Just this for myself because I was late with this publisher, I missed the books by Rachel Talibart and Ben Horne. I think it’s very rare and diffecult to find these books. I am most interested in landscape, woodlands. seascapes, and nature in general. 

Last thing to say if you are interested and need some inspiration order some books because these are printed in low numbers mostly 500 included special and collectors editions with signed and numbered print, don’t wait to long, otherwise you will regret it. In the meantime I preordered now ‘STILLNESS. IN MOTION’ By Sally Mason, and looking forward what the future has to offer. 

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https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/stillness-in-motion-by-sally-mason

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/aqua-by-hans-strand

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/beyond-landscape-by-hans-strand

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/komorebi-by-martinrak

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/quiet-light-by-adam-gibbs-third-edition