guyznewz: 2016: January to April, part one

2016 started for us with fireworks at Straits Quay and some of the normal resolutions that are hard to fulfil. The next few weeks did not go well after a broken tooth needed a crown and some favourite photographic sites were found to have disappeared and some items were stolen from my car.

Towards the end of February we had friends from Australia stay with us. They were taken to some favoured photographic locations and some sites in George Town. Thaipusam was the usual colourful spectacular while our first trip to the fishermen’s whispering auction was a colourful first for us.

Fraser’s Hill was a mixture of inclement weather interspersed with a few good photographic opportunities.

In January there are usually 30-40 Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters nesting at Penanti but this year, for some unexplained reason, I saw only 5 to 6 at any one time. There is always an overlap with the breeding cycles of the Chestnut-headed and Blue-throated Bee-eaters and although numbers were reduced I managed one interaction shot as they jostled for nesting sites or perching space.

The reliable White-throated Kingfisher pair that I have previously photographed was once again present and successfully went through a breeding cycle…raising three chicks....catching insects, lizards and frogs to feed the growing chicks.

The chicks continue to be fed by the parents after they have fledged and seem happy and healthy (chick is on the right below...and warm light is early hours)

Elsewhere at the same location Red-wattled Lapwings incubated their eggs blatantly in the open. They have to contend with aggressive kingfishers and the omnipresence wild dog population who seem to like stirring them up. The newly hatched chicks are soon secreted in the trees but are vulnerable before they can be hidden. The adults will run decoy or plainly attack any perceived dangers.

We continued to run the house under AirBnB and have had a good flow of visitors…although there always appears to be a downturn following Chinese New Year. The local economy is not good as the oil prices remain low and the Chinese economy has problems.

Helen continues teaching English to mainly Japanese woman and we both enjoy the weekly pub quiz at Healy Mac’s, the local Irish Pub.

We both enjoy the walk along the seafront at various times and have had quite a lot of entertainment from the Smooth-coated Otter family that dens in the rocks.

On the photographic front I have had two images shortlisted for the BBC Wildlife Competition (now run by Natural History Museum). I am not holding my breath but you have to be in to win.

In early April Dani stayed with us with a friend from University who was on a much longer trip. It is always good to have our daughters at home and Coco recognized a friend from 2 years previously and scratched on her door for a cuddle each morning. Dani is enjoying her job in promoting sports for an NGO based outside Cambridge. She enjoyed showing her friend Lorna around parts of New Zealand and around Penang.

We later spent several days with Nikki at the family reunion in Masterton and that was a good time as well. Nikki is currently doing her medical training in various locations around Wellington. She stays with her Aunt Alison in Lower Hutt. Needless to say we are proud of both our daughters.

The local weather has been very dry and very hot in the first four months of 2016. I have thrown quite a lot of water at the garden to keep it from withering. Unfortunately some water found its way down the inside of the house, The shut-off mechanism to the internal water tank failed and water escaped into a second floor wardrobe. I was only due to vigilant friends and a local superman handyperson that more damage did not occur…….we were in New Zealand at the time.