January 2018

 The new year was ushered in by the normal impressive fireworks at Straits Quay. As a retail outlet it struggles, mostly by poor management, but it’s fireworks display is easily the best in Penang…with standing room at a premium.

Unfortunately the wet weather continued and it looked like we were missing another dry season. As I write this a good week into February the welcome dry weather is back with us. Humidity is less than 50%.....like living in the Mediterranean.

The wet weather curtailed my photographic endeavours. I checked out the Bee-eaters at Penanti and found it extremely quiet. My friendly Kingfisher from the last six seasons is also absent. Their life span is around 6 years so he might have gone to the big perch in the sky.

I visited the Kek Lok Si temple to see how the Chestnut Bee-eater colony was doing there. They are thriving with at least 80 birds there with plenty of action…hunting, romancing and sorting out accommodation. My illustration indicates how this species adapts to nesting in drainage pipes instead of digging metre-long tunnels in dirt mounds. Currently the Bee-eaters mix with colourful Lanterns for Chinese New Year.

The diagrams below summarise what the temple Bee-eaters are doing. The first diagram shows the 'native' nesting situation....a metre-long tunnel with an egg-chamber. The next diagram shows the drainage pipes...which are the ideal diameter. The Bee-eaters excavate the egg chamber at the end of the pipes to give them a predator-free permanent maternity home.

As well as my trip to the Bee-eaters I had a morning at Air Hitam Danum....a previous haunt I had not visited for a good 6 months after it was damaged in a storm. It turned our to be a cuckoo morning with shots of an Indian Cuckoo and a Green-billed Malkoha.

This small nature park was repaired after the last 'problem' and the elevated walkway was complete again. Not long after this though another tree fell down and obliterated the toilet block.

As I have done in previous years I entered around 20 pictures in the yearly and prestigious BBC Wildlife Photography competition....in various categories. I have one image short-listed for further consideration.......and you guessed which one.

The pub quiz remains our weekly neuronal exercise. We have been on the winning podium several times. Our team had 7 members when only 6 are allowed which meant one had to stand down each week. When it was my turn we formed an impromptu team and duly beat  my usual team. There was one set of questions that pertained to slogans used to advertise various alcoholic drinks…..one of the team members was an ex-publican, which helped our cause substantially.

Liz, our resident teetotaller, collects the vodka

Our scratch team collects the vodka

Nikki and Neal returned from Los Angeles and will go their separate ways on the 19^th February. They wanted to see Thaipusam…which they duly did….although jet-lagged. I have photographically covered the Thaipusam festival for the last 4 years…so I gave it a rest this year.  Nikki enjoyed he stint with cosmetic surgeons. She was looking forward to speaking English after Malaysia but was assigned to an Egyptian doctor and his Arabic-speaking staff. She was treated very well by them.

Our big news is that we have put the house on the market. By all accounts we can’t really expect a sale in the next two years. The ‘rules’ are totally different in our situation. First of all you are competing with other houses of the same design. We are also catering for the higher end of the market which consists almost exclusively of wealthy local Chinese. They base their wish list on area and price with scant regard to ‘improvements’. We have not currently worked out what agents do for their money.

At the moment the garden has a number of birds tweeting, gathering nectar and getting material for their nests. The birdbath is doing a good trade and we have regular bathers cooling off.........always good to see. 

The crow is still around. Most days he calls in at least once per day. There has not been a day where he has not come in. I leave some mixed raisins in a container outside for a dietary difference from buffalo mince.

Helen and I have enjoyed various programs on Netflix; ‘The Crown’, ‘The Good Wife’ and ‘House of Cards’. We have recently purchased DVDs showing a number of the Oscar nominations. I personally liked 'Darkest Hour' and I think Gary Oldman, who played Churchill must be in line for an Oscar.

With Chinese New Year approaching.....it is my year...the year of the Dog...we wish you all the best with health and family.

December 2017

I was not going to write a December blog as some of the month was already covered in the 2017 summary blog. Enough has happened not to have a gap in the records.

Nikki duly completed her 6 weeks medical stint here and by all accounts enjoyed it. She said the staff were really getting to know her when her time finished. Her mentor is perhaps the only foreign surgeon in Malaysia….certainly Penang……. so a white woman with the same ambition is indeed a rarity. Neal arrived and he and Nikki with Helen’s guidance saw a bit of Penang they hadn’t seen before. We went out for several memorable meals and each member of the household had several nights of preparing food for the others. Nikki and especially Neal put in a great shift preparing the Christmas dinner…of course with Helen highly involved. John and Baby and Mike joined us for Christmas dinner. On another night, we enjoyed dinner and different beers at a pop-up restaurant in George Town that was held in and old saw-mill. You can see from the picture the Mike gets highly involved in the tasting process. On Christmas morning we had, what has now become a tradition…. Pesto Pancakes with cream cheese and smoked salmon. ….with Prosecco…the current trendy drink. A nice trend too.

Coincidently Nikki enjoyed "The Long White Cloud'......hops from New Zealand and blended in Scotland.

Nikki and Neal are now in Los Angeles, staying with Neal’s relatives while Nikki prepares for another 6 week medical stint. It was great having Nikki home for so long and they are booked to return on their way back to New Zealand and Okinawa.

The weather has been a bit better over the last month….I even got out for a couple of shoots. My favourite Penanti seems to be only a shadow of its former self. The motocross riders have abandoned it. I did have a bit more luck at Byram in the lee of the state rubbish dump.

Black-capped Kingfisher

Pied Stilt

Sunda Woodpecker (very small)

Blue-tailed Bee-eater.... leaning into the wind

Courting Dollarbirds

White-throated Kingfisher

Greater Coucal

On the photo competition front it was the month for the entries to the BBC Wildlife Competition and the ANZANG one also. The latter being confined subject wise to pics taken in NZ, Oz and PNG. My best shot in both competitions would be the Brolga displaying. I have included the smoking Kingfisher is an applied section in the BBC.

I did not figure in the major prize list in the Comedy Wildlife competition. I have no issues with the winner but the organization was indeed very poor. The following images are the top 3 and my favourite.....if sex is a comedy act.

The crow is getting more independent. Some days I do not see it until nearly 2pm. I do see him at least once per day. I read where imprinted crows are not very successful in adapting to the ‘wild’. I would dispute this as my boy has twice beaten off larger crows in defending his food. I get the odd bite and boy he packs a punch. Raising him has been a novel experience and I have enjoyed it…even when he removes pegs from the washing and raids the kitchen. We hired a Uber car to go the pop-up restaurant and we left with a crow standing on the roof of the car…..but not for long. I now feed him cubes of pork (which is cheap) and I leave raisins out for him, which he enjoys.

The lawn had to be semi-replanted and it seems to be OK for now albeit a bit patchy where the old meets the new. I also append another shot of our orchid…..taken with a video camera.

We are about to dump our cable company after upgrading the internet speed. I have been spending some time this week looking for on-line providers of rugby, lawn bowling and sometimes cricket. We are enjoying some shows on Netflix….especially ‘The Crown”.

Helen and I with you all...a happy and healthy 2018