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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
Instead of our usual trip to Egypt in October we decided to go to Mauritius for 2 weeks. This was broken down to a week in the South of the Island at Heritage Awali Golf and Spa Resort in Bel Ombre, 4 days at Aanari Hotel & Spa in Flic en Flac on the West … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Having done the Sani Pass we decided a more leisurely day was needed. Nearby was the Drakensberg Gardens We were informed we could go through their grounds to the campsite at the end and do some walking. Pillar Cave was our choice, so off we set. It was a great walk although we had to … Read more
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 … Read more
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. … Read more
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 … Read more