A Virtual tour of Sri Lanka

Since Jan 2014 I have visited the superb island of Sri Lanka on 10 separate occasions and every time have found time for some wildlife watching. In 2017 I helped establish a Learning Centre near Galle in the South West of the island so spend time there organising, planning and leading sessions for the students that attend free of charge. The centre is set up to help children from disadvantaged families learn English to help them improve their job prospects. We take children from the age of 6 up to 18 and are now beginning to see the first cohort now getting jobs in tourism, insurance and technology. I was last there in Jan/Feb of this year where we had youngsters attending the centre every day. I borrowed good friend of many years, Anoma Alagiyawadu's scooter so managed to get out to watch the birds inland. On my last full day we took ourselves up to a rain forest for birds and butterflies, where I got eaten by leeches!

These are the wildlife photos I have managed to get on all my travels, including trips to many of the National Reserves. All of them are completely in the wild apart from the turtles which were kept at a sustainable conservation minded turtle hatchery.

We had planned to return in November, but that is yet to be confirmed and I will be hoping that a tour I am leading for naturalists at the end of January 2021 will still be taking place. 

If anyone would like details of this fantastic destination then please do contact me. If you are planning on a holiday there anytime, again, let me know as I am able to organise transport, hotel suggestions and arrange for Anoma to be your guide. He is the leading authority on whale migration south of the island. The best place to encounter blue whales. 

Click on the photos to enlarge and then just scroll through. I have only added captions to a couple but if you would like to know more, let me know.

Birds:

Mammals

Reptiles and Amphibians

Insects

Turtle Hatchery

My wife Wendy meets her first turtle

Working at MindGarden Learning Centre

Making kites

Presentation day

March 2019. Many of these students now in good employment

My last day after 11 days teaching these wonderful people

Replanting a rainforest near Galle

Anoma, Wendy, Anusha and myself out for a meal in Galle March 2019

Tour

Local walk 6: West from Tescos to Bury Green.

Time for another walk description. This is a lovely walk that I have completed many times over the years and usually plenty to see and find.

Distance: 5 miles maximum. No inclines and certainly no mud at present. I have pointed out alternative directions for those with scooters.

Parking at Tesco car park and take the path on to the roundabout at the start of Dukes Ride. After passing the letter box, turn right into Knight's Close and then bear left where there is a footpath between houses. Turn right on to a footpath covered in wood chip that comes to the bypass. Directly opposite is the footpath you need.
Walking along here, Great Plantings Wood on your right and open fields on you left there will be chances to see great and blue tits, yellowhammers in the hedgerow and the chance of a Great spotted woodpecker or Green woodpecker calling in the wood. Lots of good flowers along this path, especially Greater stitchwort with its 8 white petals fused into four groups. Also, red and white campion and at the moment, Briar and Dog rose in bloom, too. Beautiful flowers of pinks and whites.

This path drops down through a hedge. On you right, a farm track leading back to the A120 but you need to turn left into an open ride with a high hedge on the left and, after a few yards, East Wood on your right. This grassy ride is great for butterflies: Red admiral, Meadow brown, Peacock, Small tortoiseshell as well as Large and Small white. Also, lookout for Common blue that will be on the wing shortly. Walking through the long grass means you will inadvertently flush small micro moths and Dark bush crickets.
At the end of the wood (not the ride) is a track on your right that moves you to the other side of the hedge. From here, with the pylons on your right, follow straight on for half a mile before you come to a concrete bridge. Turn right just before this and head into Stocking Wood. A fantastic habitat and one of the best sites in the area for the more unusual butterflies such as Silver Washed Fritillary, Purple hairstreak and White letter hairstreak. These will be flying late June through to early August. Check the stream on your left as you wander through the wood.

Upon exiting the wood, turn left, over the steam and then immediately right towards a few houses. This path, adjacent to the stream, has a high row of trees in the edge and finally ends with some towering willow trees. You will arrive at a crossroads of paths. Turn right up a track and past Lower Farm where the lane becomes tarmacked. Here there is a pond, past a house called Tomways and on to the Green. Here, on your left a huge horse chestnut tree and nearby, a bench for a break and a snack.

When completed your refreshments, walk straight in front of you along the green, passing a pond and telephone box, left and right, respectively. Soon after a thatched cottage on your right the road forks. Take the left hand lane and almost immediately there will be a footpath with a wooden bridge over a ditch. (For those with mobility scooters I recommend just carrying on along the lane, called Millfield Lane bearing sharp right after the wood on your left. Here there will be a banner saying Silver Leys polo club 

Back on the footpath you will pass through a couple of gates in horse fields before coming to a wider track. Either: a.) carry on up the track until you come to a concrete track, or b. Enter Millennium Wood through an old wooden kissing gate on your right just after you have passed a garden (also on the right).  This is the 3.75 acre wood that I manage. Take the straight path up into the wood, passing a picnic bench and pond before emerging, by the entrance sign and turn right back on to Millfield Lane where you turn left.

If you chose to go straight on, turn right on to the concrete track, walk over a cattle grid and then another some 200 yards further along and join Millfield Lane on a corner where there will be a Silver Leys Polo club banner.
Carry on along the tarmac lane, past Millfield Cottage on your left. This is the only house along this part of the lane. Almost directly opposite, on your right is a footpath. Take this and follow it all along until you come out opposite Attwell Farm in Green Street. Here, take a right to a junction by the village noticeboard and cross over to take the footpath that will bring you back to East Wood and the ride where the butterflies should be. Retrace your steps back to Tesco. Note: if on a mobility scooter ignore the footpath opposite the cottage and just carry on along Millfield Lane until you come to a lane on your right after 800 yards or so. Take this and it will rejoin the route at Attwell Farmhouse in Green Street.

This sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. All footpaths are well marked and in good condition so you can't go too far wrong at any point (unless you take the wrong turning!) I, as always, advise an Ordnance Survey map Sheet 194 Explorer series. Sheet 167 Landranger series.

As always, comments, improvements, corrections and photos most welcome.

White letter hairstreak

Silver washed fritillary

Local Walk 5: Thorley Church, Spellbrook, Stort navigation, Thorley Wash, Thorley Church

Thanks to Cat Quigley for further details that I have now added in red.

Have now come full circle with a 2nd walk that begins and concludes at St James the Great church at Thorley. Here, ample parking with no height restrictions.

There are a series of stiles on this route, so not a good one for mobility scooters
Some great views and a variety of habitats so a good walk for all things natural.

Having had a look around the cemetery and pond for birds take the gate out of the graveyard behind the church and take the path south, passing plenty of engineering works. Path here is flat and even and, presently, very dry. From this vantage point you can see all the way over to Church Langley and the obvious water tower. The path crosses a field before dropping down to a hedgerow which you go through and turn left. Here you will have seen the fishing lake, where there is a small bridge which you use after which you turn left.Along the path here, the familiar call of skylarks rising from the ground based nests. In the hedgerows, smaller birds including the yellowhammer and, possibly, bull finches. A private fishing lake is on you right but the path carries on in to a long and narrow field. There is a mini stile into this fieldLovely habitat for wild plants and also plenty of dead wood. Take time to peel off some bark for beetles and bugs. Roll a smaller log over to see what is living underneath. On a warm still day there will be several species of butterfly. Check the heads of the cow parsleys for pollen feeding beetles. Some can be very colourful like the thick thighed beetle (Oedemera nobilis) and the Yellow and Black Longhorn beetle with very extended antennae. There is a small stream on the left, so check for moorhen, pied wagtails whilst if there are horses in the field on the far side, maybe yellow wagtails.
You come to a high stile, and then a gate that you have to climb over.This is someone's garden but IS a public footpathThe path goes around the back of some cottages and emerges on to Spellbrook Lane West. A narrow lane so do take care along here where you have turned left, downhill and pass Hayters lawn mower factory. This will bring you out on to the A1184 (Stortford/Sawbridgeworth Road.)
Cross with care and take Spellbrook Lane East past the Three Horseshoes pub, over the railway line and pick up the footpath on the left at the lockgates. Check here for the resident grey wagtail, the male having a bright yellow breast at present. A well plumaged bird indeed.
The towpath is narrow here, so do look ahead and make every effort to permit people to pass safely. It may mean heading backwards to find a good spot. Along the towpath here, on your right is a swampy habitat. Great for tits, finches, tree creepers and woodpeckers. On the other side of the river is an overflow area with a weir. Often wagtails can be found here. Keep looking ahead for a fly by kingfisher and sometimes cormorants can be seen roosting in a tree near the lock gates.
 Soon, you will arrive at a red brick bridge on your left. Cross over and take the path directly in front that runs across the southern end of Thorley Wash reserve. Either side is sedge type habitat with wild flowers and ditches with occasional hawthorn scrub. So many birds here: whitethroat, reed warbler, sedge warbler, reed bunting and for the very lucky, a cuckoo (2 present at the moment but now late in the year for the males to be calling) or the strange "reeling" call of the grasshopper warbler. This is a repetitive noise that indeed sounds like a grasshopper. It will invariably be calling from the low vegetation and is rarely seen.
Check the ditches for water vole; plenty are present but you may just hear the plop as one sees you first and jumps into the water. Either side of this path is fenced off for good reason, the ground is very boggy to please don't climb over a fence to get a better look at anything. There is also a fallow deer, often on the left hand side before the bridge over the real River Stort that leads immediately to the footpath level crossing where there are stiles.
On the other side of the train track is a great warbler habitat, plenty of bramble.Listen for the scratchy call of the whitethroat which often perch on the top, singing their scratchy song before flying up, still in full voice and then gliding back down into the cover of the bramble.
This path emerges back on the A1184 opposite a large house (Thorley Wash Grange or similar?) and the footpath is up the drive on the right before entering a field and a slight incline. Plenty of earth works along here. Check the bank for linnets and other seed eating finches before you arrive at the lane that takes you back to the church.

A really good wander. Well worth checking out.

Linnet

Sedge warbler. Note white eye stripe.

Male reed bunting with easy to spot black head and bib

Whitethroat: grey head, chestnut brown wings, white throat.

Local walk 4 Start and finish at Wickham Hall

Click on map to enlarge and maybe print.

A good wander this one with the opportunity of finding plenty of nature. For those with mobility scooters the first part is perfectly acceptable along concrete roads and then just a case of how far you can go before the ground becomes too uneven.

Map: For this one I advise OS Explorer Sheet 195, Braintree and Saffron Walden.

Parking: Wickham Hall. This is accessed by following the signs through Stortford Fields new estate. Please note there are paths around the hall that are private and are marked as such.

Leave the car park and walk towards the 3 large drying barns. Check around here for finches (chaffinch, goldfinch as well as yellowhammers in the adjacent hedgerow) Turn right at the barns and follow the track until you come to a junction. Wickham Hall is on you right as you walk along here. At the junction turn right and wander along by a newly planted vineyard with a new building on the corner. Here, turn left and you will, after a few hundred yards come to a house where the path veers right . Here it is grassy, wide and fairly even. The path from here to Walnut tree cottages is full of interesting trees and wild flowers. Take time to look to the right where you may get a glimpse of the lake. This has no access but with binoculars you maybe able to spot several wild fowl species as well as Canada geese and even a mute swan.

At Walnut tree cottages there is a footpath on your right which passes Calfsfield Spring and soon arrives at another concrete track. This is used by occasional traffic accessing the businesses and the farm so do take care. Check the ivy here for a wide variety of insects, particularly Eurpoean hornet and several bee species.  Wild flowers can be abundant along here.
Once on the concrete track turn right back towards Wickham Hall. The track winds a little before eventually coming to a junction, left towards the A120 bypass and right towards a phone mast and the hall. Turn right and you will end up back at the path by the house and vineyard.

A pleasant and a non taxing walk. Do let me know how you get on, especially if on a mobility scooter. I cannot guarantee the path from Walnut tree cottages to Calfsfield Spring will be accessible but the rest should be fine.

green alkanet

Certain sites around the town are, I suspect well known but if anyone needs a guide to:
Birchanger Woods
River Stort Grange Paddocks
Southern Country Park
Thorley Wash Reserve
Tow path of Stort Navigation.
then do let me know and I can suggest a route with parking facilities etc. It maybe you are new to the area or have only recently decided to wander a little further.
For example, did you know there was a car park at the end of Cannons Mill Lane entering from Rye Street? This can be found after the last building on the right along Rye Street if you were heading out of town. Drive to the end where there is a pedestrian level crossing. The other side of Cannons Mill Lane brings you out on to Stansted Road near the Shell petrol station and an easy wander to Birchanger Woods.
 From the car park you can walk towards Bat Willow Hurst Country park by the Mountbatten Curry house or follow the river to the swimming pool. No charge for parking here and, as far as I recall, no height restriction. Also, a few picnic benches scattered around.

As always, corrections and comments most welcome when you do any of the walks and always happy to see photos.

Red campion

Forget-me-Not

Germander speedwell

Local Walk 3 Little Hadham area

Having mentioned walks to the south and east of the town, time for one from the west. Yesterday I put up this link to walks around the Hadhams and I had several comments about changes on these, so just to clarify.
The Hertfordshire Way section from Hadham Hall to Wickham Hall is closed due to the construction of the bypass.  A new temporary path has been put in place right next to the roundabout construction on the A120 some 200 yards from the "Tesco roundabout." This takes you through fields and to Hadham Hall, passing Connect scaffolding base.

Today, I had an email from David Harvey, farmer at Wickham Hall and in this he mentioned that he is having issues with people thinking they can wander wherever they like, over crop fields, into private woods etc. Consequently, he has closed of entrances to the woods. I am sure no one on here would be responsible for trespassing upon private land but do bear in mind, footpaths are well sign posted. If there is no sign post on a farm track it invariably means it is not public. I was also chatting with a local farmer in Little Hadham and he too, is having issues with people thinking a hayfield is an open grassy space for play and picnics. Please do stick to the footpaths as I am sure we all do. Thank you.
An ordnance survey map, or a copy on your phone will help. Sheet 194 in the Explorer series covers the area West, North and South of the town. Always worth taking when on a wander. The map at the top is also prinatable. Just click on it to enlarge, save and print. Alternatively, save the link below on to your phone.

Walk today is a circular wander from Little Hadham village hall. Park in the village hall car park where there is also a children's play ground and benches for a picnic. Turn left on to the road leading to the Nags Head pub, passing the old telephone box where there is a book exchange system. Do pop in to see if there is anything you like and next time, drop a few unwanted books off here.
Opposite the pub is a narrow footbridge and a kissing gate, so not good for scooters, I'm afraid. (However, if you carry on over the bridge there is, at present, an open gate on to the field but this may get closed at anytime, so perhaps checking in the car before setting off. Alternatively park opposite the pub to see if the gate is open.)
Once over the River Ash take the left hand path that goes diagonally over the field to an open gate by Bluebell Wood. Good flowers here at present. The path goes up a slight incline before bearing left along a ridge between 2 fields. Great views over the Ash Valley. Eventually you'll come to a hedge and the path follows this all the way to the back of the primary school whereupon it bears right towards Fiddlers Croft House and the farm near the A120. Usually alpacas in the fields here where you turn right. Red kites and buzzards are frequently seen here as well as possible kestrel or a circling sparrowhawk.
Follow the path up on to a large open field, Silver Leys polo club. The actual path, whilst not well marked out, follows the hedge line on your right. Good plants grow along here.
At the end of the field there is a track by a five bar gate and some posts that polo ponies are tied to. Turn right down Hoecroft Lane. Here there are a few pools under trees where you may see newts. This track, an official green lane, is full of wildlife: woodpeckers, treecreepers, long tailed tits, nuthatches, chiffchaffs, great tits, chaffinches, bullfinches etc. Also lots of plant species. After half a mile or so there is a footpath on the right opposite a bench. This goes across a crop field, the path is clear to see and then turns left to bring you back down to the pub. In a dip just before the final field where you can see the pub is a magnificent oak. I have aged this to be somewhere around 500 years old. If only it could tell us all it has seen in those years!


As always, do take photos and forward them to me to include and please let me know if there are errors so I can correct my detail.
https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/media-library/documents/environment-and-planning/countryside-management-service/walking-and-cycling-routes/little-hadham-walking-map.pdf

Also note, the tea rooms marked at Church End is no longer there and neither is Victoria's Vintage outlet.

Red kite

Kestrel, the only bird of prey that hovers for more than a few seconds

Red legged partridge

Britain's smallest bird. Goldcrest.

Local Walk 2: Flitch Way with an extension to Stansted airport lagoons

Female blackcap, male shows, not surprisingly, a black cap!

This is a really good walk for those with mobility issues as the Flitch Way follows the old Stortford to Dunmow railway line. Also, the track is wide enough for safe passing. The only issue is actually gaining access to the track, up an incline, but if memory serves me correctly, there is a handrail.

Directions and Parking:
Head to the M11 roundabout and take the old road as if driving to Hatfield Forest. There is a petrol station on the left after 100 yards or so. Directly opposite is a junction. Turn right here and in front of you is an old railway bridge. Here is a layby that can take 3 - 4 cars. Park here and the path up to the railway line is right by the bridge. Turn right once on the flat.

Walking along here is great for insects and warblers. There will be whitethroat with their scratchy warble and blackcap, with their tick call and their more musical tunes, sung repeatedly but they stop once they see you. With patience they can be seen as they will emerge on to an open branch. Whitethroats in particular like bramble bushes, a chestnut brown bird with obvious white throat on the male and grey head. The males have a distinctive territorial flight pattern. They will fly up over their bush, often singing before a gliding spiral flight back to the bush with wings held above the horizontal.
I have heard that there is a nightingale singing along here, but unaware of precise site. Listen for the long song pattern, normally delivered from deep in vegetation. Amazing array of fast and fluent notes with repetitive clicks and ticking.
One other bird to listen out for is the local raven. Their call a very deep and loud Cronk type sound. Often delivered twice but sometimes repeated more often. Huge crow type bird, if seen look for the diamond shaped tail.

The track runs parallel to the old A120 with, firstly, fields on your right and then later, Hatfield Forest. Good views of fallow deer can be had in the fields and forest. There is an old station platform at Stane Street where there are gates into the forest, if it is now fully open. Plenty of wildflowers along here, too. Huge amount of buddleia so great for butterflies later in the year, but Greater stitchwort, Red, White and Bladder campion. Cut leaf geraniums, Herb Robert, parsley species all great for bees and pollen feeders.
No need for a map for this one. When you arrive at Stane Street station you can carry on, return along the track,  enter the forest or drop down on to the lane and take a left. You'll come to the main road opposite the Green Man pub.
To extend the walk to find dragon and damselflies visit Stansted Airport Lagoons. To get here cross the road and turn right, passing a few houses and finally a small workshop business. This is the last building on the left. Immediately after this is a footpath that runs along a stream. This is NOT suitable for scooters. You will emerge in a field and after 25 yards or so there is a footbridge on your right over the stream. Cross this, through some trees on a narrow path and this will bring you out on to the lagoons. Please pay heed to the signage about where to go and not walk. The path goes all the way around. In the top right hand corner, near the new A120 is a superb wildflower habitat which holds many butterfly species a little later in the year, but worth checking.

For those who just wish to visit the lagoons, parking is available just before the Green Man pub, on the right where there is a long layby. Park, cross the road and walk past the pub and to the last building.

As always, let me know how you get on so I can make any alterations, plus, happy to receive photos of the habitat, insects or whatever you find.

Have a good walk. Weather looks perfect.

14 spot ladybird, found on nettles

Dark bush cricket, also found on nettles.

Walks around Stortford. Walk 1 from Thorley church

Not to scale, just a rough sketch map.

I have been requested by members of Stortford Nature FB pages to give details of local walks, with comments on parking, disability access and for those with mobility issues. I'll try and post a few a day on here and link to FB. Hope they help. I am doing these from memory, so a local Ordnance Survey map may be advisable. Explorer series, Sheet 194

Parking is fine at Thorley church for all vehicles, St James the Great. The cemetery here is a little wild life haven with several bird species about. Check the cedars and conifers for tiny goldcrests, the pond for moorhen and pied wagtail etc and the fields behind for yellow wagtail
Take the path through to the right of the church and you'll come to a wide concrete track. Turn right and head towards the large black barns. (Moor Hall barns) The verge along here can be good for several species of wild flower: red campion, Greater stitchwort plus, at present, hawthorn blossom. Check latter for insects whilst also looking on the heads of the hedge and cow parsley for pollen eating beetles and bugs. Try for a photo and forward it to me and I can add these to the details of the walk. At the barns there are several paths, one to the right takes you to Southern Country park but today, carry on straight towards the woods about half a mile away. Swallows and house martins may be overhead along with Red kites and Common buzzards. At the wood there is a bit of an issue getting through the gap. There used to be a stile or gate but not sure if this is still there. If access is not possible for mobility scooters etc, turn back and take the path over to Southern Country Park
Once in Matthams Wood there are good stands of wild flowers. Hazel and hornbeam trees here.
The path eventually leaves the wood on to a wide concrete track. Take a left around the wood until you come to a gate and Private signs. Do not enter here, please. Scan the fishing lake, checking the island and the water's edge for Little ringed plovers that have bred here in the past. Usually cormorants here, too.
Retrace your steps back along the track, checking for butterflies, and eventually you'll arrive at Parsonage Lane near a WW2 pill box. Here either turn back for the church or carry on. There is a footpath the other side of the road (on the right) after a few yards that follows the boundary fence of the farm.
Follow this track until you come to a house on a lane, Sacombs Ash.
Follow the lane until you come to a junction. Good grass verge and trees along here so look out for butterflies and dragonflies.
Turn left and walk, carefully along the lane back towards the wood. Turn left at the T junction and pick up the original track into Matthams Wood and head back to the church.

Comments: the first part of this wander is on concrete so suitable for all. The path through the wood, whilst presently dry and flat, can get muddy after rain. Alternatively, drive and park in Parsonage Lane to access the concrete track into Matthams Wood. Park near the pill box but not so the entrance gate to the track is blocked.

Do let me know a.) what you see and b.) if there are issues with access, uneven surfaces that may limit motor scooter accessibility etc.  Hope this helps.

Small tortoiseshell butterfly

Coot