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South Africa 2020 – Hluhluwe, Sodwana and Imfolozi

20th January 2020 Well it was time to get out of the UK to escape the dull and dreary weather at this time of year. An early start to catch the 06:10 from Leeds to Schiphol Amsterdam, and then the 10:15 flight to Johannesburg arriving at 22:05 local time. Collected the car after a long…

March 16 2020 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeHluhluwe , Sodwana , South Africa

Processing for Birds – Revised Workflow for Noise Reduction using Neat Image

The preamble If you can’t be bothered with the whys and wherefores then you can click the links below to go to each section. The preambleThe test resultsThe conclusionThe resulting workflow This is a revised description of my noise reduction workflow using NeatImage. Originally I was under the impression that I wasn’t doing any noise…

November 29 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, Lightroom, Photoshop, Post Processing, WildlifeBirds , Neat Image , Noise Reduction , Photoshop , Post Processing

Great Northern Diver in Scarborough Harbour

For a while there have been photos on social media of a Great Northern Diver in Scarborough harbour. These are one of the birds on my wanted list so I decided to go and see if I could see it. Due to other commitments I couldn’t get over there until yesterday, Sunday 24th November 2019,…

November 25 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, BlogGreat Northern Diver , Photography , Scarborough

Birding trip to El Rocio, Spain

It’s April and time for the annual birding trip with Dave, Stephen and Trevor, 3 friends. This year my personal tour operator ( Sandra ) suggested El Rocio in Southern Spain. I had a couple of birds on my wish list, Penduline Tit and Dartford Warbler. Penduline Tit as it would be a new lifer…

April 14 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeBirding , Birds , El Rocio , Spain , Trip Report

South Africa – Didima

Our final destination was Didima Camp in the Didima valley where we hoped to do some walking. The first walk was going to be Rainbow Gorge, but after setting out and getting to the top of the hill we realised that we had already drunk most of the water and with the oppressive heat it…

April 9 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeBirds , Didima , Didima Camp , Ndumeni River , Rainbow Gorge , Walking , Wildlife

South Africa – Underberg and the Sani Pass – part 2

Continuing from South Africa – Underberg and the Sani Pass – part 1 Going through the border control was very easy and everything was sorted by Aldo. I seem to recall he said he’d been through over 400 times and had been stopped and searched once. Going from the relatively rich country of South Africa…

March 19 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeBirds , Lesotho , Sani Pass , South Africa , Wildlife

South Africa – Underberg and the Sani Pass – part 1

After extensive research, Sandra decided to stay in Underberg which gave easy access to the Sani Pass. The Sani Pass starts at 1544m and rises 1332 vertical meters to summit at 2876m. It’s also considered a birding hotspot. Our accommodation was at Panorama Hideaway Underberg, and after a very nice introduction we watched the sunset….

March 17 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeBirds , Lesotho , Sani Pass , South Africa , Underberg , Wildlife

South Africa – Sheffield Beach

One of the things that Sandra likes is snorkelling. Having read up about South Africa she decided she wanted to visit Sheffield Beach area, on the Dolphin Coast, and take a look at the tidal pools. We stayed at Bed and Breakfast by the Sea which had amazing views of the sea from a high…

March 13 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, Underwater, WildlifeBirds , Sheffield Beach , South Africa , Tidal pool , Underwater

South Africa – St. Lucia

Having left Kruger we traveled to Piet Retief and had an overnight stay at Röhrs Farm Guesthouse. This was a fantastic B&B and it’s a shame we didn’t stay longer. Walking around the gardens we managed to see the following. The next morning after a leisurely breakfast it was on to St. Lucia. What an…

March 10 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeBirds , South Africa , St. Lucia , Wildlife

South Africa – Kruger National Park – Lower Sabie

We drove from Oliphants Camp to Lower Sabie which as it’s all within Kruger is actually a game drive. One of our dilemmas for this trip was whether to rent a 4 wheel drive or just an ordinary 2 wheel drive. Having researched it we decide that a normal 2 wheel drive would be ok….

February 27 2019 Kevin Agar

Birds, Blog, WildlifeBirds , Kruger , Lower Sabie , South Africa , Wildlife

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