THE FAMILIAR AND THE EXOTIC

For a birdwatcher, one of the great things about going to far away places is the excitement of seeing new and exotic birds, but this is sometimes balanced with the pleasure of coming across familiar birds in unfamiliar surroundings. My wife and I were exercising our lungs in the Himalayas of Nepal recently, and while struggling for breath at nearly 14,000 feet the distinctly recognisable trill of a wren rang out, equally happy in this overwhelmingly beautiful and dramatic landscape as it would be in a garden in Sussex.

Similarly, house sparrows were common as were tree sparrows, while it was interesting to note two species that originated in Asia that have made themselves very comfortable in the UK, the ubiquitous collared dove and the ever increasing rose-ringed parakeet, yet to become established in Sussex but probably will in the near future. An interesting conundrum involved an absolute great tit look-a-like which was in fact a green-backed tit while a rather grey looking tit with similar markings was masquerading under the name of great tit.

Occasional glances to the skies gave us glimpses of familiar raptors and while we were there we saw kestrel, common buzzard, sparrowhawk, peregrine falcon and osprey. Mind you they had to share the space with gems like lammergeier, crested serpent eagle, black eagle, crested goshawk and hundreds of black kites.

Green sandpiper is a bird I associate with winter walks around Henfield when I occasionally disturb one that is feeding along the muddy margins of the River Adur or its tributaries, but in the Royal Chitwan National Park we were on the back of an elephant in sweltering heat somewhere around the mid-thirties centigrade watching the same bird carefully skirting around a twelve-foot crocodile that was basking on a sandbank. The crocodile was actually the gharial, a fish-eating species, so the sandpiper was quite safe!

For those who have trouble with their warblers, then a trip to Nepal will just compound your woes. The Nepalese Field Guide has about 2 pages of warblers that look just like chiffchaffs, and luckily one did oblige by singing so was at least able to identify that one as a proper chiffchaff. I was quite pleased with myself in that I identified a lemom-rumped warbler, but needed the help of a local guide to put names to some of the others.

Of course for us somewhere like Nepal is full of exotic wildlife whereas for the locals they are just part of everyday life, nothing to get excited about really. We caused some mild interest by standing on one of Kathmandu's busiest streets staring into the tops of 3 trees fascinated by hundreds of roosting fruit bats, completely oblivious to the tumult going on beneath them.

Back home again, the wren has been busy in the garden and when I see him it does bring back memories of a wonderful holiday. The Downs may not be quite as dramatic as the Himalayas, but where you are, the pleasure of watching this little bird is just the same.

                                                                 Mike Russell, Sussex Wildlife Trust,