April 2018

April is the most active month for local bird photography as it is the peak of the nesting season. I took advantage of this with a trip to Fraser’s Hill. Otherwise the month produced some indifferent and changeable weather and Malaysia gears up for another general election.

As Fraser’s Hill was the main feature for me I will start with that and those colourful birds that inhabit the forest.

Fraser’s Hill was one of 4 hill stations (Bukit Tinggi and Genting Highlands were not original hill stations) were established as cooler locations within Malaysia. 

The location is one of Malaysia’s few pristine forests, with a high level of diversity and was first recognized by botanist H.N Ridley in 1897. Fraser’s Hill derives its name from Louis James Fraser, a solitary Scottish pioneer, who set up a tin-ore trading post in the 1890s. The British army had not explored the Titiwangsa Range, so Fraser recruited guides and coolies for an expedition to the upper ridges, prospecting for gold and other valuable metals. He found rich tin deposits and recruited Chinese workers to open a mine. A steep track was constructed for mules to transport the ore to Raub…the nearest town. Fraser operated a gambling and opium den at the workers camp, through which he profited again from the wages paid to his workers. Fraser disappeared without trace some 25 years later. In 1922 a hill station was open for visitors and consisted of 9 bungalows, 4 houses for ex-service-men, 3 private homes, a country club a golf course, water supply and a post office.

The 1970s saw a burst of development with building and another golf course (now overgrown) Faced with growing evidence to the environmental damage at the large hill resort of Cameron Highlands the Pahang state government in 2010 ruled out any further development of virgin forest at Fraser’s Hill.

Fraser’s Hill includes 7 peaks with altitudes between 1,220 and 1,524 meters above sea level. Year-round temperatures are between 17-25 degrees C (as opposed to the temperatures in Penang of 26-35 degrees C).

The thing I like most about the forest is that there are 100s of shades of green.

Over the years the fortunes of Fraser’s Hill seemed to wax and wane. Other locations have become more popular and it appears now the hill station is in an extended state of decline. 

The image below is the Olde Smokehouse that started life as a red-cross station for soldiers on medical leave, Now a supposed up-market hotel it needs painting the plant boxes are non-functional and the service is poor.

In recent times I have stayed at Stephen’s Place. This is an extended BnB operated by Stephen Hogg and his Malay wife, Salmiah, and their two sons.  Stephen has extensive knowledge of nature photography …having run a related business in Borneo for many years. Their bungalow was bequeathed by the late Lady McNeice as a haven for nature lovers. There are 4 double rooms, excellent meals and the noises of nature that have fairly recently included a tiger roaring.

I love the natural forest but am sad at the decay of the infrastructure. This place could become a world-renowned nature destination.

Three of us stayed for 4 nights in mid-April. There was Colin from Singapore who also has been with me twice in trips to Australia. Mike from our quiz team in Penang accompanied me on the road journey south….about a 4.5 hour trip. He does yoga and it is useful when doing the 'reclining otter' pose to get the best angle on a Broadbill nest.

We had a mixed bag shoot as the rain held off for the three full days we were there. Some targets failed to show up but other times were punctuated by a lot of shutter clicking as a star bird posed for us. Mist may be the elixir of life to the rainforest but it can be awkward as it descends just when a cooperative subject is around. 

Stephen is studying local moths and had two moth traps set up at night. Light of certain wavelengths is shone onto specialised white sheets. Each morning there is a great variety of insects still parked on the sheets; Huge cicadas, rhinoceros beetles that could overturn cars, many different shaped moths and a few other insect species. 

Several moths stood out but one of the most unusual was a Brahmin moth….which had an amazing collection of lines and designs. When checking it on Google I found that its caterpillar is bordering on the weird and somewhat scary.

Bats, birds and squirrels spend several hours after first light harvesting the overnight bounty.

Not a very big squirrel but a huge cicada

A Brown Wood Owl also made a visit during the night to sample the smorgasbord.

The bird targets fall into several categories;

The colourful

Red-headed Trogon (male)

Silver-eared Mesias

Fire-tufted Barbet

Green Magpie

Long-tailed broadbill aka Elvis

The Flycatchers

Buff-breasted Babbler

Female Mugimaki Flycatcher

Niltava (male)

Rufous-browed Flycatcher

The House Birds

Blue-winged Minla

Female Magpie Robin

Racquet-tailed Drongo (has lost its racquets)

I was surprised one day when I opened the boot of the car and found a tiny bat with ginger hair hanging from my bag. It was a Bicoloured Roundleaf bat....he did not hang around for me to take a photo so I went to the internet for an image and a map of their distribution..

Back home I had earlier checked out the temple Bee-eaters. Quite a few of them were feeding nests …smug in their polystyrene pipes.

A three-image sequence of incoming cargo

Things were not so busy at Penanti…..made odoriferous by a dead and bloated cow near the nests. I was disappointed also to see that dogs had excavated a kingfisher nest that the adults had just started to feed. Such is nature.

Other locations in the area can be good or not so good on each visit. A recent visit to Air Hitam Dalam had me surrounded by the local monkey troop. 

I did get one of my targets....a Mangrove Blue Flycatcher......the flycatcher theme continues.

While watching monkey business a fellow shooter told me of a nesting Black-winged Kite situated on the other side of Penang Island. Black-winged Kites are a small to medium-sized raptor that would prey on rodents and small reptiles. They characteristically hover over fields and road-edges.
Armed with the GPS coordinates i wound over the hill and found the nest. It was in the middle of three coconut palms.....ideal for an evening shoot. I was there in the morning and was prepared to stay but read the signs very quickly. There were three developed chicks in the nest and the parents were refusing to feed them. They wanted the chicks to fledge. Two in particular were warming up their wings and looked ready to go. One suddenly flew off but circled around and landed on the back of the tree. It is good to see the successful raising of chicks.

An adult Black-winged Kite

Two of the chicks...the one with widespread wings flew off moments later. The  nest is seen under the chick

Back home Helen is busy with her many activities. She and a few mates spent a day over the border in Thailand a few weekends ago.

We have had a better month with the pub quiz with a record of  2^nd, 1^st,1^st and 4th. We were down to four in the last effort but managed a share of the 1000 MYR jackpot.  Liz likes collecting the vodka but is a teetotaller (mostly), although you would not think so in the first of the following images.

Not a lot of activity on the house sale front…about one inspection per week. The AirBnB is even less active for some strange reason.

Across the waters Dani completed the Brighton marathon is 4.05 hours and said it felt like someone was playing the piano, badly, on her quads for several nights in the following week.

In the last Saturday of April Dani collected an MA(Cantab) degree. After three years from graduating Cambridge award this degree without any further study or exams. Cantab is short for Cantabrigia which was the Latin word for Cambridge. The picture below looks rather similar to those taken three years ago.

Nikki is staying with Gary and Di in Masterton while doing a stint in medicine at the local hospital.

Debbie sent the most recent school photo of Phoebe.....growing all the time.

We have an upcoming election on the 9th of May that should be interesting. There are three main coalitions. The past prime minister Mahathir has re-entered politics against the ruling party (the scales) and his new party has joined the coalition (the eye). The White circle is a fundamental Muslim coalition.