A 1600 rupee round trip by TukTuk ( that's around £7.50) will take you to a wide choice of hotels and restaurants but the reason we wanted to go was to look at the shops ( well, Claire did) and to look at the Fish Market (I did!)
What likes to eat fish? Well, besides me, a whole host of birds of course!
The beach is lined with Little Egrets. Flying overhead a mixture of Terns. Mostly Whiskered but it was the only place I noticed Gull-billed Tern too.
Better still, my only Pallas Gull of the trip as well.Well no it turns out, my initial ID is wrong. My only Brown-headed Gull of the trip now.
Having only taken my short 70-200mm lens I wasn't too bothered about staying for long although photo opportunities are plentiful with the right gear. Even with a short lens you can still capture some fairly large in the frame images like this Little Egret.
Anyway, I decided that I couldn't subject Claire to any more hanging around and after relieving her of the self appointed guide who was showing her the fish curing and drying we headed off to the nearest shopping to buy some spices.
Negombo is OK but not somewhere I would want to stay too long.
During our stay at Waikkal I did consider other options too. A day trip to Chillaw to the reservoir or tank as they are known in Sri Lanka. I had had some good results there on my first visit however, I felt that it was a waste of money as I had a week lined up where I would see everything that I could see there anyway. The other big temptation was a combined trip to go Dolphin watching at Kalpytia followed by a half day to Willpattu N.P. I have done the Dolphin watching trip 4 times and 3 were outstanding. The fourth was very poor indeed. Wilpattu had nothing to offer that Yala hasn't got and in fact the viewing isn't nearly as good there as it's highly wooded unlike the more open spaces in Yala. I asked about a taxi but the overall cost of the day, in excess of £180, made it prohibitively expensive for what I was likely to gain.
Instead I wandered the local beach at Waikkal!
The mixed Sand Plover and Sanderling flock was still there as per last time. They were to be found either on the beach
or roosting on the sea defence rocks.
However they were constantly being flushed from one place to another by fishermen on the rocks and joggers and walkers on the beach.
Photographing flocks in flight is very challenging to me as so many birds are out of focus due to the distance between the front and back of the flock, still makes for fun trying.
Trying to make the birds a bit bigger in the picture is equally difficult for the same reason. Tips on how to improve would be gratefully received!
As well as the wader flock there was also a small flock of mixed terns. Mainly Lesser Crested there were also a single Greater Crested,Caspian and Little Tern together what I think are one or two Common Tern too.
The Terns were even more flighty than the Plovers.
and chances to work my way closer were usually ruined by someone else's approach. I did get one or two shots though.
Disturbance wasn't just down to humans though, equally responsible were the large flock of House Crow which seem to have taken the beach as their territory.They appear to leave the small waders alone but would see off the Terns if they didn't like the spot where they had settled.
They must of been considering seeing me off too, starting by claiming my sandals!
The beach was a disappointment really. Getting there meant catching the raft ferry provided by and then walking through the grounds of the Ranwelli Hotel, somewhere I am familiar with as we stayed there on our first visit. I always tipped the ferryman which was more than most guests did so he didn't object and I walked past security unchallenged but I didn't feel comfortable doing so. Approaching the beach without going through the hotel is totally impractical from where we were staying.
After three trips I decided that was enough. Many of the species I had seen on previous visits were not there it seemed. Gone were the Bee-eaters,Rollers,Swallows, Cattle Egrets and Lapwings although the Common Mynah were still patrolling the hotel grounds.
and the delightful White-breasted Waterhens were still to be found in the marshy area behind the beach.
One evening I went for a walk along the local roads to see if I could find anywhere that might produce something interesting and at the same time seek out someone I knew to be staying locally too. I didn't find the place he was staying but I did find some superb views of Indian Thick-knee. The next evening I went back again, this time with Claire but again without my camera gear.Sure enough the birds were still there and looking magnificent in the evening sun. The following morning I set off with all my camera gear which weighs a fair bit. It was a longish walk, 2 kms, and in the heat of the rising sun, not very comfortable. By the time I got to the spot the Thick-knee had retreated to cover and there was no way they were going to come out!
A pair of Red-wattled Lapwing were more obliging.
On the way back I spotted one or two species on the overhead wires.Scaly-breasted Munia had been seen in the Villa's garden on our last visit but not this time. I grabbed a shot in case it was my only sighting.
I'm not a great fan of birds on the wire ( although the Leonard Cohen song is a favourite!) so instead I just ticked off a few more garden birds to pass the time.
Ring-necked Parakeet
and the ever present Yellow-billed Babblers
I wasn't in the least bit disappointed. I had always known that I probably wouldn't get to do too much in the first week. It was really more about letting Claire enjoy her style of holiday and some well deserved R&R.
My time would come later, we just needed to sort those railway tickets !
T.B.C.
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