Painted Storks!!!

Up and out at seven after a good night as the wedding celebrations ceased at 9p.m. The Sikh pedal rickshaw driver was waiting for me across the road beside a fire surrounded by similar men. The Sikhs seem to have a monopoly of the pedal rickshaws in this area. The park entrance was Rs 400 (£4) and was only for one single entrance so I decided to sit it out and stay all day although I had brought in no food. There was a chai seller who also had bottled water available at a distant point in the park and Mr Khan alias Mr Singh gave me one of his chapattis and some daal at lunchtime.

It was very misty as the sun rose and I saw a spotted deer and went down into the bush to get a bit closer. It wasn't until they moved that I could see a group of jackals so well were they blended with the dusty bushes in the mist. So the day progressed as we saw huge nilgae antelope, spotted deer, so many different kinds of water fowl, owls, storks, herons, eagles, falcons, migratory birds, Indian birds, local birds, monitor lizards, wild boar, squirrel, fish and - after my battery had run out - a python curled up in a bush! Mr Khan saw a porcupine quill on the path and gave it to me – but I think he had it in his pocket and thought I needed cheering up! You'll have to look at the photographs to see the variety of birds and beasts I saw. Thinking back on it it was the sounds as well as the sights that thrilled – the honking as the geese took off because of the concerted attack by eagle, kite and hawk – the thrashing of the water as the cormorant fought the fish and tried to turn it around to swallow it – the silence of the monitor lizard as it lay in the sun but was ready to slide quickly into its hole in the termite mound – the murderous yell of the peacock – the sound of the boggy water as the antelope entered and waded away – the kerfuffle as randy coots chased one another - the endless chatter of the Indian tourists which drowned out anything else and scattered the nearest birds... My battery ran out after 9 hours and I called it a day but Mr Khan decided to be very unhappy with my payment which was way more than he'd asked for – a sad way to end the day and our relationship, but it seems it is always the way. If you give a beggar some rupees and it is never enough. Lots more pictures to choose my blip from today