Adventures around the garden 1. 

Throughout time, I will regularly post on my website via this blog what species and varieties of plants, flowers, insects, butterflies, birds as well as other animals that visit the garden or nearby on an irregular basis In short the gardens in Sri Lanka are different from most European gardens, for the simple reason, that in the past the land has been used for vegetables and other necessities of life such as spices and plants for medicinal purposes as well as fruit-producing trees, only people with a large plot of land and a lot of money have taken English gardens as an example in time. 

It is not easy to maintain a garden properly, usually it is too dry or too wet, so specific plants and flowers naturally do well, some do not make it. From a photographic perspective, there is actually something going on every day, birds as in the rest of the world start early with busy activities collecting seeds or insects depending on the species. In recent times, I have been keeping track of how many species we got to visit here both migrants and permanent residents, the number is now 54. 

 All the pictures I have taken so far is just when observing in free space, no hide or other camouflage material or anything is used by me. I usually work with the OM 1 or E-M 1 MarkIII and the MZuiko 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS and the 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro with the M.ZUIKO Digital 2X teleconverter MC-20. 

This was a little update from my side. 

Common Kukri snake:

The Common Banded Kukri Snake (𝘖𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘴/අරණි දත්කැටියා) also known as the Banded Kukri is a non venomous species of snake found in Sri Lanka.

Tawny Coster butterfly:

Tawny Coster  is a butterfly lives in all regions of Sri lanka and India. Even though the Tawny Coaster is a  slow moving butterfly, It is ignored by most of the predators like birds. Reason for that is it’s ability of secreting a smelly and unpleasant liquid for predators when threatened.

Rat snake:

The Oriental ratsnake (Ptyas mucosa) is a common non-venomous species of  colubrid snake  found in South and Southeast Asia. It is the second largest snake in Sri Lanka, after the Indian rock python. Rat snakes are diurnal, semi-arboreal and fast-moving. They eat a variety of prey and are frequently found in urban areas where rodents thrive.

Tickell’s blue fly-catcher:

Tickell’s blue fly-catcher (Cyornis tickelliae ) is a small  passerine bird in the flycatcher family. This is an insectivorous species which breeds in tropical Asia, from the Indian Subcontinent eastwards to Bangladesh and western Myanmar. The Indochinese blue flycatcher was formerly considered conspecific. They are blue on the upperparts and the throat and breast are rufous. They are found in dense scrub to forest habitats.

The name commemorates the British ornithologist Samuel Tickell who collected in India and Burma.