A little walk in the garden with the camera sometimes brings good satisfaction, one day is not the other. But to my surprise, suddenly there was bird I had not seen in the garden until now. This little bird was a delight to see. The bird’s name is Indian Blue Robin. The Indian Blue Robin is usually a migratory bird, although there are some populations in Myanmar that stay in the same place throughout the year. In summer, it breeds in the forests of the mountainous border region between India and Myanmar and the southern flanks of the Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush, from Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Afghanistan in the west. To winter, the animals migrate to southern India and Sri Lanka.
The other bird is the Indian Pitta, I think it is the same bird that visited last year. The Indian Pitta breeds mainly in the hill country at the foot of the Himalayas of northern Pakistan, India and Nepal and possibly as far east as Sikkim. They also breed in hill country in central India on the edge of the Western Ghats south to Belgaum and Goa. In winter, they migrate to southern areas in India and Sri Lanka. The Indian Pitta is one very nervous bird, both birds can often be found on the ground where they forage for food such as insects and snails, sometimes small lizards. All shots were taken with the OM-1 and MZuiko 100-400mm f5 IS.

Last October 4, we landed at Leh airport, coming from Srinagar, Kashmir. We were very much looking forward to this after the hustle and bustle of Kashmir. The contrast could not be greater between these totally different states in India. The journey we have planned will take 11 days at this altitude, which varies between 3200 and 5600m above sea level. This is my first time visiting Ladakh, am somewhat familiar with the landscapes, nature and the people which is not very different from Tibet, which I visited earlier in my life.
We will therefore also visit the familiar places , on this visit and we start in Leh and the Leh valley, the trip continues to Alchi monastery, then Lamayuru , Sumour, Nubra, Pangong and other famous lakes, drive over high mountain passes, to end in Leh again. What stands out in this kind of country is the silence and vastness, the friendly people, probably in my experience the most friendly and quiet, shy people I have ever met. I won’t go into further detail here in this blog story, that will be for later, you have to make do with the images attached for now, they speak for themselves and give a little idea of what we experienced on this trip.

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.