Glasgow's Wilds Milder!

Apologies for the lack of updates but we have been on a trip 'down under' where temperatures regularly were in the 30s - Celsius - albeit it was also quite windy.

In Auckland we were disappointed when our planned trip to Tiritiri Matangi was cancelled due to poor weather. However, we managed to visit Tawharanui, courtesy of 'Habitat Tours' (www.habitattours.co.nz) and had a great time with sightings of Takahe, Red-breasted Dotterel, Morepork, New Zealand Kaka, Tui, New Zealand Bellbird, Saddleback and New Zealand Robin being some of the highlights .....

Saddleback

 

From Auckland we sailed around New Zealand to Perth in Western Australia calling in at various ports and encountering a wide range of bird species including penguins and albatrosses. Check out this Yellow-eyed Penguin photographed at an inspiring conservation project near Dunedin (www.penguinplace.co.nz)

 

Yellow-eyed Penguin

 

Our favourite excursion on the Australian part of our cruise was led by Echidna Walkabout Tours of Melbourne resulting in sightings of wild Koalas, eastern Grey Kangaroos and Emus. Although my favourites were this pair of Tawny Frogmouth ..

 

Pair of Tawny Frogmouth

 

Our holiday finished in Perth, WA where we had booked a day's birding with Peter Taylor

of Birding South West http://www.birdingsw.com.au/

Yet more life ticks followed, thanks Peter, with this Western Yellow Robin proving to be the most accommodating ...

Western Yellow Robin

 

I am still suffering a bit from jet-lag and trying to work my way through the thousands of images and video clips taken on this trip of a life-time, so I'll finish now, but can promise that normal service will resume shortly!