Puerto Madryn.

 Following the night at Buenos Aires, we flew down to Puerto Madryn where we had 3 nights before the cruise started.

After a comfortable night, the lady that owned the apartment we were staying in, drove us out to Punta Loma, a nature reserve that had a beach with a colony of South American Sea Lions. We had decided we would walk back from there, but as she drove us out to the site, it seemed a heck of a walk back. However, we did it, despite it taking around 7 hours!!

Around the bay where the Sea Lions were, there were some lovely views, birds and the odd animal around. These included Chimango Caracara, Rock Shags, Giant Petrels, Lizards, Rufous-collared Sparrow and several unidentified birds.

American Sea Lions at Punta Loma.

The weather was very warm on the walk, and of course, because we were on a trip to Antarctica, we hadn't actually packed much for hot weather. However, we just about got away with our clothing.

As we did the slow walk back we were surprised how many Rufous-collared Sparrows there were. A delightful species.

Rufous-collared Sparrow.

We also saw a small group of Long-tailed Meadowlark. The males of which were very attractive.

Long-tailed Meadowlark.

We also saw several butterflies, but these kept on just flying by. All we could see was that they were orange in colour. However, eventually we found a couple that were nectaring on some vegetation at the back of the beach, and they turned out to be American Painted Lady, or that is what we thought, until my friend Dave Harris told me that he thought it was actually a Western Painted Lady, which having looked on line, this is what the butterfly appears to be. So, many thanks to Dave for the correction!! We also saw a couple of whites that were probably all Phulia mercedis. Finally a small female blue butterfly was seen egg laying. As yet I still haven't managed to identify this butterfly. I didn't take the macro gear on the trip, so was only able to photograph the butterflies with the zoom lens , which wasn't really ideal. I'm pleased to say that Dave Harris has sent me an id on the blue butterfly now. It's a Strymon nivea. Many thanks to Dave for his detective work. 

Western Painted Lady.

Phulia mercedis.

Female Strymon nivea.

Once back to the apartment, we were both too tired to go out for a meal, so we made do with a takeaway pizza. After we watched an amazing storm arrive, which flooded the roads outside. Almost a monsoon!!

The following day we spent some time on the beach, photographing a few birds there. Once again, it was a hot day, and a heat haze on the beach made photography difficult. Lots of Southern Plover and a really nice Black-necked Stilt were feeding on the sand.

Black-necked Stilt.

We then decided to head along the beach and have lunch in one of the beach restaurants. One of the most memorable moments then happened as we were munching away on our pasta, when Lisa spotted a whale out in the bay. We saw it breach 3 times before the tail fluke showed as it dived. It was not even that far out in the bay. It was a Southern Right Whale, and despite continuing to watch for the following walk along the beach, we didn't see it again.

Southern Right Whale in the bay. (A good view must have been had from the small boat)!!

The walk along the beach was excellent with some great views of  Chilean Flamingo's, Magellanic Oystercatchers, a Great Kiskadee and a couple of flocks of Baird's Sandpiper.

Chilean Flamingo's.

Magellanic Oystercatcher.

Great Kiskadee.

Baird's Sandpiper.

We had also had the welcome sight by now of our home for the next 3 weeks, as the ship had turned up, and was moored on the pier. The following day we would be going aboard.

Before then though, we had one final morning in Puerto Madryn. Lisa fancied trying a small park a few blocks in from where we were staying. While here I just chilled out for a while whilst she walked around photographing some of the birds. After a while we both got quite hot, so we headed back to the beach, and headed to the same beach restaurant where we had seen the whale the day before. Needless to say, no whales were seen this time. We had by then though seen a delightful Austral negrito, a small bird similar in behaviour to a Wheatear. This bird was feeding near the top of the beach, and gave us some great views.

Austral negrito.

Time soon ticked away to 4 o'clock, the time to embark on the ship. An extremely warm and friendly welcome from both crew and fellow passengers, and we very soon had set sail out of the bay, heading for the Falkland Islands.

The M/V Plancius. Our home for the next 20 days.

20 Days to look forward to!!

Buenos Aires.

 If someone had suggested in August, that I was about to head off to Antarctica, for a 4 week trip, I would have thought they were mad. Antarctica had never been on my agenda, and not a place I had ever thought of going, despite Matt telling me several times that I should go there. Matt was there in December 2016.

It all started when Lisa, Matt and I took Jean out for her birthday. Matt was telling Lisa that he was shortly going to Madagascar, a trip he should have done in 2020, when it was cancelled due to the covid lockdown. Lisa told Matt that she had booked to go to Antarctica in 2020 and had also had to cancel, and she feared she would now never get there. Later on, when Matt had got home, he found a really good offer for an Antarctica trip through Bird Quest, and run by Oceanwide. Basically the trip was being offered with a 50% discount and was to depart from Puerto Madryn in Argentina in around 6 weeks time. When Matt sent the text with some details I thought it was safe to show Lisa, as there was no way she could take the time off her work. However, when she saw the dates, she realised that 3 of the weeks were her mid term break, so she would only actually lose one working week.

She then tried to convince me to join her. We both very nearly talked each other out of going, but in the end, even I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Flying out to Buenos Aires on an overnight flight on the 13th October, we had one night here before moving on the following day to Puerto Madryn, where we would join the ship for the epic adventure 3 days later. This would give us a chance to look for wildlife, and a chance to relax before we set sail.

Whilst we were in Buenos Aires we did get to a large green park, to look for some Argentina birdlife, before going out for a great meal in the city. The lovely hotel also had a spa that we had the private use of for an hour, so we were well chilled out before heading out to the restaurant, although we did get soaked as it was heavy rain all evening.

Earlier, in the afternoon though, the weather was very pleasant and we did see many lovely birds in the park, although most escaped the camera. Some birds were very approachable and a few pleasing photos were taken.

White-browed Mockingbird.

White-browed Mockingbird.

The spectacular Red-headed Cardinal.

Narrow-billed Woodcreeper.

My next post will be from the short stay in Puerto Madryn.

Pied Wheatear.

 Having just returned from the longest trip I've ever had, I was busy this week recovering and sorting far too many photos. I hadn't been home long when Matt called to say he would be popping round to say hello, as he was currently up Seaford Head watching a female Pied Wheatear!!

This was a bird I had never expected to ever see, but as the light was now failing, and I was too tired to head straight out again, I waited for him at home. In fact I had virtually forgotten about the bird over the next few days, and I assumed it had moved on.

This was not the case, and after going for a few walks locally, which included a surprise sighting of a ringtail Hen Harrier hunting on top of the downland, I had a text on Thursday from Matt asking if I had seen the Wheatear yet. For such a rare bird to be so local, at that point I decided I really should at least go and see it, after all, it was only the 2nd ever record of a Pied Wheatear in Sussex.

I arrived at the site in poor light, but did see the bird reasonably quickly, so at least I could now tell Matt I had seen the bird. After getting home, the light improved enormously, so after lunch I decided to go back to the bird. This time I included a long walk from home to get there, after all, I had put on a bit of excess weight following the trip!!

The problem now was, the sun was in front of where I was watching the bird, which wasn't exactly ideal. It was great though, seeing Paul and Malcolm there, so the time passed by as we waited for the sun to move round a bit. We were also entertained by some Black Redstarts, including one very tame female. A couple of poor shots were taken of the Wheatear, but not quite what I was hoping for.

Female Pied Wheatear.

Female Black Redstart

Black Redstart watching a fly.

The following day, I was meeting up with David, and as he hadn't yet seen the bird, he was keen to go and see it, so yet again, I was back in position hoping to improve on my photos of it. The forecast was for sunshine, but that didn't materialise. Probably though, that helped as it wasn't really bright in front of us. The bird once again showed several times, along with a couple of the Black Redstarts. A few shots were once again taken of both species, but I was still hoping for the Wheatear to show in a better position. Eventually it did, but by then the sun had gone behind thicker clouds and had got very low in the sky. However, there was a marked improvement in the images from the previous day, and I was reasonably happy with the day, spent again in good company, with both David and Gary.

Female Black Redstart.

Female Pied Wheatear.

My following posts will be from my very long trip. It is going to be very difficult choosing which images to post, as there are so many!!