December 22nd.
Back to Scotland, no more temperatures constantly between 28 and 30 degrees C and blue skies. Still a couple of days back at work before the xmas break was hardly onerous. I got to go down to Dumfries and Galloway for a couple of days. I'm still getting to know this part of Scotland, but it's rapidly becoming one of my favourites, nice variety of habitats and interesting birds. I had the opportunity to call in at Ken Dee marshes and the Threave Estate reserve. No sign of the Greenland Whitefronts at either location, but they do have a habit of completely disappearing off the radar at times. Things I did see included close views of Willow Tit, Nuthatch, single ringtail Hen Harrier, numerous Red Kite, while wildfowl included 45 Whoopers and 850 Pinkies at Threave.

Caribbean Cruise 26/11/2012-17/12/2012

While not strictly a birding holiday ,with our itinerary depending for the most part on the tours run by P and O, I didn't do too badly. The total trip list of 82 species included 35 lifers. One of the highlights was arranging an independent bird guide on St Lucia. We managed 4 of the 5 St Lucian endemics, our tight schedule didn't allow time to go further into the forest interior for the Parrot, but thats a reason to go back one day.

St Lucia Oriole -this species is rapidly declining as a result of  being paristised by shiny cowbird along with habitat loss.

St Lucia Peewee- this delightful flycatcher was very tame.

St Lucia Black Finch-the female showed better than the male.

St Lucia Warbler- this handsome dendroica didn't stay still for the camera.