22 September 2009  - One doesn't always get to make amends for a previous missed opportunity. However on 22nd September, not 3km from where I saw my first ever Palmnut Vulture, I got the chance to take a few shots of another (maybe even the same) Palmut Vulture soaring low overhead as I made my way up the slopes of a mountain not too far from N'Zerekore in Guinea. That first time, 7 weeks previously, I did not have a camera with me!!!! This time though, out came the camera in record time - but I needn't have worried as the vulture made several circuits before moving on (check the STOP PRESS! or Guinea gallery for one of the images).

Neil

21-31 August 2009  - during a break in my Guinea work schedule I managed to return to South Africa and get in a short break to the Escarpment area of Mpumalanga (Crystal Springs) and both the southern and northern parts of the Kruger National Park.

Guinea, July 2009:  

I will be working in this West African country for a while so watch the Guinea gallery section as I get a great opportunity to see this greatly under-birded part of West Africa.

June 2009   during the second half of June I visited a variety of birding localities in England, from the exotic and indigenous waterfowl of the London Wetland Centre and Richmond Park, to the aviary and falconry display birds at Leeds Castle in Kent, and two RSPB reserves in the shadows of nuclear power stations at Dungeness, Kent and Minsmere, Suffolk.

29 March 2009   I arrived at Marievale just after 7am this morning - my first visit there this year (must get out more!) - to find a mist still lifting, exceptionally high water levels and impregnable reed stands 3m high, so was not expecting a great morning. However, what was lacking in quantity and variety was certainly made up for in quality.