Even though it’s already a couple of weeks ago, I have to tell you about the hour we spent down on the beach between seven thirty and eight thirty on the morning of June 17th. It was one of those perfect mornings, preceding the only clear warm day we’ve had in ages. The light was gorgeous, the colours clear and crisp and life was truly buzzing all around us…

A Hadada Ibis arrives at the river

As the first rays of sunlight peeked over the Yatta Plateau to the east, the butterflies stirred and before long, there was a frenzy of orange activity around the white flowered plants near the river’s edge. There were two different types of orange butterfly, one of which I have never seen before.

Some of the butterflies have seen better days…this one looks like it’s been through the wars…how does it still fly with its wings in tatters?

With a whirring flurry of wings, the doves came down together to drink and bathe in their dozens, perfectly reflected in the still waters of the river.

I sat still and quiet on a rock quite and just observing them and clicking happily away…

Then the Black-faced Sandgrouse, the most consummate of flyers, arrived right on cue for their early morning drink. They took no heed of us or the doves.

It’s amazing how tame the Sandgrouse were, allowing us to walk up close to them – I guess they come from way inside the National Park, where they rarely (or never) see any human beings and as a result they have never inherited that fear of man which, sadly, so many animals have? It was quite extraordinary. They are such beautiful birds, with their fawn, black and white colouring, their intricately patterned feathers which from afar might look “just brown” but in fact are most delicately patterned. The Sandgrouse spent some time foraging in the newly green grass around the Spur-winged Plovers’ nest but neither seemed bothered by the fact.

Egyptian Geese pair en route back to their nest, somewhere on the Mtito River

And the male returns alone, landing over the top of a plover and a pair of doves

I tried the same thing again the next morning (June 18th – yes, I know, it’s taken me an age to get this posted), but after just ten minutes of sunshine, the sky clouded over and the light turned so dull and grey that I walked back to the house in disgust!

But I did manage to get some interesting shots of these water-walking bugs…can you believe it? There are several different types of insects and spiders which actually walk across the surface of the water. I love the way the water surface curves but does not quite give way beneath their weight…

These two Water Dikkops (aka Thick-knees) also provided a nice photo opportunity, as they dozed at the water’s edge and caught the first (and only) rays of sun for the day…

Back to the plovers for a moment: As of that morning (18th June), the three plover eggs were still there and still all intact…

Our internet has been down for two days, and now is coming on and off sporadically...this is NOT helping with my intention to catch up on a whole range of stories. For the same reason, I apologise for not responding to all the comments you have been leaving...thank you for them all - as soon as our internet becomes stable again, I'll be responding...in the meantime, here's an update or two (if I have time before the internet goes down again (keep your fingers crossed!):

You may remember that we’ve been seeing the Spot-flanked Barbets around and about the place for a while now, usually in the commiphora thicket behind the house, but they’ve always been quite shy. So you can imagine our delight when one of these Barbets turned up on the bird table! They always seem to come when the Bulbuls are there too – it’s as if they feel safe with them around – or perhaps it’s just because they are both fruit-eaters that they end up foraging together…although if I were a Barbet I’d try to get in there before the Bulbuls who are so voracious (below)!

The birds are not the only ones in competition for the fruit – even the bees (or are they big flies?) have taken a liking to mango. Whether the lizards are here for the fruit or merely for the ants which have been attracted to the fruit is hard to tell, but they aren’t shy of the birds.

The Spot-flanked Barbets (above) are also showing a particular penchant for the sanseviera robusta fruit, which are ripe and orange now. I often see them in the sanseviera stand below the kitchen window, plucking off the plump round fruit and swallowing them whole.

There seem to be a lot of White-capped Shrikes around at the moment (above), making their presence felt with their noisy chatter.

A gaggle of Superb Starlings has been in the area too – strangely they have yet to visit the bird table (normally they are among the first to come to bird tables in Kenya, but perhaps they have been put off by the larger and equally boisterous Glossy Starlings, below).

As you can see by the photos above and below, the weather has been grey and cold. When the Helmeted Guineafowl passed by right below the house, it was just my luck that the light was dull, but I’m sure you can see nonetheless that they are quite spectacular, cheerful looking birds.

The Go-Away Birds (below) really seem to have grown accustomed to the house and all its accompanying activity – we see them daily from our balcony. The Black-faced Sandgrouse continue to fly in at 8.30am each morning, come blue skies or grey, to gulp a few quick mouthfuls of water before racing back to the dry hinterland again, completely unconcerned by our presence. The Blue-naped Mousebirds with their appropriately long tails and (believe it or not) blue napes have also been feeding and drinking along the river’s edge recently.

The Hadada Ibis, as it forages along the river’s shore, is followed by a Spur-winged Plover and a couple of opportunistic Pied Wagtails (below), hoping to catch an insect or two disturbed by the larger bird…it’s interesting to see the Plover subdued (for once) and not trying to bully and intimidate the Ibis, as it does with so many other much larger passers-by.

This Grey-headed Kingfisher made me laugh as it watched an eagle fly overhead…obviously it wasn’t too pleased but I’m not quite sure what it hoped to achieve by hunkering down like a stalking cat! In these photos, you can easily see the chestnut belly of the Grey-headed Kingfisher, which distinguishes it from the otherwise similar Brown-hooded Kingfisher, which we also see from time to time here on the property.

The Spotted Morning Warbler (below) is an extraordinary bird, not only for the incredible mud nest (like a little cup, perched atop a branch) which it builds, but for the way it mimics other bird calls. Its repertoire is quite amazing.

Those Fish Eagles are not doing much better with their fishing…As the river level drops, fish are getting trapped in pockets of water, like sitting ducks. The Pied Kingfishers hover and dive all day, picking off the hapless fish. The Fish Eagles however, seem to be eternally unsuccessful…no wonder the young Fish Eagle (middle photo, below), sitting in a tree opposite the house and whining, is making his displeasure heard! As for us, we have been having a great time eagle-watching…I have taken endless photos of these majestic looking creatures diving and swooping for their prey…if you’d like to see them, there’s a wider selection of photos here.