March has been a very busy month for us.
Helen certainly has a full program with teaching, keeping fit and social
activities with friends. The photographic taskmasters and my two students have kept me busy with a
trip to Fraser’s Hill and to Langkawi with Helen and several friends and their
wives (this will be in a separate blog).
Dani will soon be in the run down the
straight in her degree. She is busy also training for the London Marathon and
has run a couple of good half marathons as part of her training.
Recently Dani's notoriety caught up with her. An author in Singapore is writing a book about peoples favourite trees in the republic. He wanted to track Dani down to interview her about her efforts to save the Banyan tree in the grounds of Tanglin school.
Note; A portion of the tree was saved and planted elsewhere in the school at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars.
Nikki
continues her work and play in Okinawa.
We had some improved performances in the
pub quiz recently with a first, second and third in the last three weeks. We
have also shared in the Jackpot twice and now have a healthy kitty as a consequence.
I went on my annual trip to Fraser’s Hill
at the beginning of the month. This cool, hilltop haven for birds and other
wildlife has been decaying somewhat over recent years and I was pleased to see
a nature photographer and his wife have taken over one of the large houses and
converted it into a B and B. I stayed with them and really enjoyed it. The
meals were excellent and there was some cooperation with the wildlife in the
vicinity. A crew from the BBC was there one night filming spiders and snakes.
On other photographic fronts it seemed like
a month of midwifery. At Penanti two pairs of Kingfishers fledged a bunch of
chicks between them. This species of Kingfisher are quite common in Malaysia
and Singapore but they are not easy to approach. I have had one friendly pair
who have given me great shooting opportunities in the last 4 seasons. They have
merited a blog dedicated to them. http://malaysianwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-favourite-couple-pair-of-white.html
Elsewhere I followed the growth of a
Coppersmith Barbet chick. The parents regularly stuffed it with berries and
carried away copious amounts of poo. A dead chick was also removed well away
from the nest to avoid detection by predators. The nesting hole was in an old
tree about 10minutes from home behind the Gleneagles Hospital. I have also
written a separate blog on this project. http://malaysianwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2015/03/coppersmith-barbets-raising-young.html
I had another trip during the month, which
lasted one day. We had to renew papers for the MM2H visa we are on and this
involved going to KL for the day. I caught an early plane and returned around 5
pm. It was an uneventful trip other than a taxi driver who had as many
connected neurons as the average frog butt has feathers. My only souvenir of
the day was a picture of a chopper motorcycle donated to Malaysia by the
American family who make custom choppers on TV.
Internationally the main impactful event
for March was the passing of Lee Kuan Yew. He may have been unbending on
certain issues but his clear vision and able assistants lead to a spectacular
rise for a tiny island state that has no natural resources and no farms. It is
particularly interesting being able to see how Singapore and Malaysia have
tackled similar problems since their split almost 50 years ago. Helen and I
have experienced both countries collectively for almost half of their struggle
and development period following British rule. Whatever your viewpoint our family has been influenced by the modern state of Singapore and indirectly by its founding father. I know he was directly involved in getting IMCB started.
I followed the Cricket World Cup with
interest. It was available on local TV for a rather exorbitant fee so I
contented myself watching the semi-finals ate the Irish pub at Straits Quay. It
was a pity the final was not in NZ as that would have levelled the playing field
somewhat. The Black Caps certainly acquitted themselves with honour before and
during the final.
As mentioned we enjoyed some time at the Berjaya resort on Langkawi Island. We had a choice of a water proximity chalet or one in the forest. We chose the latter and were entertained by the passing wildlife.
Finally I was happy to receive notification earlier in the week that three of my images had been shortlisted for the BBC Wildlife Photography competition. I submitted 30 and there must have been tens of thousands to sort out. This is done by a number of judges and the listed jury will sort it from here. You always hope but it is a numbers game. Two of the images were taken in Queensland last year and third one is my Bee-eaters. Who would have thought I would be represented by a bird with a ballpoint pen.
