Mexico, The Yucatan, Day 1 - Cozumel Island, 13 February 2020

I should begin with Day 0 really - we landed at Cancun in the late afternoon and caught the ADO bus south to Playa del Carmen. En-route Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Great-tailed Grackles and a fly-over Peregrine ensured I didn't start off with a complete blank!

A very nice 'street food' burritto in Playa del Carmen that night and a good nights sleep had us dragging our luggage down to the ferry in fine fettle. A ridiculously expensive Starbucks later we were on the ferry heading to Cozumel. Laughing Gulls, Turnstones and Sanderling were common around the ferry terminal together with our first Brown Pelicans and a single Snowy Egret

We picked up our VW Beetle hire car from Isis Rent-a-car in town and headed to our accommodation to drop our bags. We had some difficulty finding it but that at least gave me some nice views of Green-breasted Mango, my first tick! Initially it all looked OK with the host making us a coffee but things got much worse from there. The gardens held the first endemic - Cozumel Emerald plus Bananaquit, Magnolia Warbler and Yellow-faced Grassquit. and After that we headed around the corner to an area of abandoned housing in the forest that is included in most itineraries and started birding proper. Early afternoon wasn't the best time of the day to start birding and things were predictably quiet but I did score with island endemic no.2 - Cozumel Vireo plus Tawny-crowned Greenlet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 2 Black Catbirds, Summer Tanager, Ovenbird and American Redstart.

Bananaquit

Magnolia Warbler

 Yellow-faced Grassquit

We then opted to take the beetle around the island headung south and then up the east coast. We stopped at a beach shack for a couple of beers where a Yellow-throated Warbler visited us underneath our straw beach umbrella! We also saw Magnificent Frigatebird and Palm Warbler.

Back at our accom I did a short late afternoon walk scoring with Yucatan Woodpecker, White-crowned Pigeon, Cozumel Emerald, Grey Catbird and American Redstart.

American Black Vulture

Magnificent Frigatebird

Palm Warbler

Yucatan Woodpecker

Green-breasted Mango

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

     White-crowned Pigeon

  

Mexico, The Yucatan - Introduction and Logistics

The Yucatan Peninsular actually contains 3 states - Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche. It had long been a destination on my 'to do' list so with Belinda in agreement we booked a leisurely 3 week trip to include birding by also more 'normal' tourist activities.

Flights
We booked direct flights with British Airways from Gatwick to Cancun for GBP696 per person via the eBookers website. Being a popular tourist destination Cancun has a variety of flight options.

Accomodation
All of this was booked in advance on Airbnb except one place near Calakmul which we used booking.com for. This worked very well with us having problems finding just one place (incidently the worst place we stayed which was on Cozumel) and one other not having our booking requiring me to 'prove' I'd booked and paid! (the place at Chichen Itza)
The places we stayed in varied greatly and naturally some were better than others.

• Guesthouse in Playa del Carmen - a convenient quick overnighter before catching the ferry to Cozumel, very friendly and welcoming host)
•  Eco Retreat, Cozumel - the worst place we stayed in. A strange yoga type place where despite good initial impressions we felt very unwelcome. The host wouldn't give us wifi details, spent more time telling us what we weren't allowed to do and no facilities whatsoever. Avoid.
•  Casa Mango, Macario Gomez - a lovely eco lodge with just 4 'units' of which one (ours) was on stilts. The Italian owner was very helpful and cooks some great Italian dishes. Highly recommended. 
• Privada los Sauces, Fellipe Carrillo Puerto - a rather luxurious if a little naff villa we had to ourselves on the very edge of town. Well kept gardens with a private pool and the ability to self cater. Ideal for me birding the Vigia Chico road while Belinda relaxed here. The gardener let us in and didn't have a key so I had to drive him across town to get one! Recommended
• Rancho San Fernando, Bacalar - right on the lakeshore of Lake Bacalar but with very small water frontage. OK but not as good as the online picures suggest.
• Cabanas Calakmul - in the small rural village of Nuev and only 2km away from the entrance gate to Calakmul. Very rustic and basic but very friendly and helpful guy who ran the small restaurant with help from his wife and 2 young daughters. Highly recommended
• Hotel Puerto Seyba, Seybaplaya - modern, large but empty and souless place with no facilities except a pool and wifi. 2 rooms occupied in a big hotel probably means this place won't last long. Acceptable for a quick overnighter and luckily a good restaurant close by.
• Hacienda Uzmal - large impersonal place trying to be posh but failing. OK for a quick stay and close to Uxmal ruins.
• Macanche B&B, Izamal - lovely place with green grounds in the middle of the gorgeous 'yellow' ton of Izamal. Friendly host and nice breakfast. Highly recommended.
• Hotel Villas Arqueologicas, Chichen Itza - pretty bad with small rooms, awful service and a member of staff knocking on our door demanding payment for a meal there and then. Avoid
• Hotel Punta Ponto, Rio Lagartos - very reasonably priced small hotel on the seafront. Nice hosts, very welcoming and friendly. And bonus hummingbird feeders featuring Mexican Sheartails almost constantly! Highly recommended
• Hacienda Kaan Ac near Valladolid - a stunning palatial castle with great history, rooms, pool and gardens. And we had it all to ourselves! A really fitting place to stay on our last night. Highly recommended.

Travel/Car Hire
Initially we took an ADO bus from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen which was modern, efficient and reasonably priced.

The ferry to Cozumel is also very easy, running on the hour, every hour with 2 almost identical companies with identical timetables!

Car hire on Cozumel for 2 days was a nightmare because the only car they had available was a soft top 1970s VW Beetle. Really challenging to drive and no ability to lock anything inside. This was pre-booked with a local company called Isis who I wouldn't recommend!

Back on the mainland we had a nice very new Nissan X-trail from Alamo. This was luxury compared to what we'd had on Cozumel. We picked it up in Playa del Carmen and returned it to Cancun Airport (at extra cost naturally).

I used my faithful Maps.me app to navigate to all the birding sites, accomodations etc     

Costs
Beware - Cozumel is very expensive! Luckily things got cheaper on the mainland and even more so away from tourist hotspots. Nothing is free in Mexico though so be prepared to dip into your wallet regularly. The thing that shocked us most was the entrance fees to the Mayan archaelogical sites. To get into the popular ones like Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Tulum etc you are talking 497 pesos per person which equates to about GBP23! Another fiver to park and it really starts to rack up. Chichen Itza is one place we felt we couldn't not visit but as well as the very steep entry fees there were mega crowds and hundreds of stalls selling tat inside the archaeological site which ruins it completely. With hindsight we wouldn't have bothered.

Birding Literature
The area isn't covered well by field guides - I found the free Merlin Bird id app (it has a Yucatan pack to download) far more useful. Trip reports on Cloudbirders were very useful in planning. I also took the rather outdated Field Checklist of Birds of Mexico and Central America (Van Perlo) but hardly used it.
I also managed to get hold of a copy of Where to Watch Birds in Mexico. Despite it being many years old most of the sites are still valid. Do NOT try the track opposite the Hacienda Uxmal gardens at Uxmal which is in the book - it is gated and I went through a barbed wire fence only to get caught on my way out with 7 security guards eventually letting me go but they were not happy!    

Itinerary
We did a clockwise trip around the peninsular after an initial 2 days on Cozumel. The sites visited in chronological order were:

• Cozumel - Abandoned housing grid south of town, sewage treatment works road north of town and area around our accom
• Coba ruins
• Macario Gomez - area around Casa Mango
• Laguna Ocom
• Vigia Chico Road, Fellipe Carrillo Puerto
• Laguna Bacalar
• Eco Tucan, Bacalar
• Nuevo Conhuas near Calakmul
• Calakmul ruins
• Hormiguero ruins
• Gulf coast, Isla Aguada to Sebaplaya
• Uxmal area
• Chichen Itza area
• Rio Lagartos area including San Salvador Track
• Xoxen Track (SE of Valladolid)  

      

Local Flora, early February 2020

With my walking regime in full flow I have been tramping the lanes around Pulham Market, Pulham St Mary and Harleston. Looking carefully at the verges has revealed a surprising number of early wildflowers in bloom. The list so far is Winter Helliotrope, Winter Aconite, Red Dead Nettle, White Dead Nettle, Shepherds Purse, Primrose, Yarrow, Snowdrop, Common Field Speedwell, Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Dandelion, Daisy, Ivy-leaved Toadflax and Groundsel.

And today (6th) I added Sweet Violet, Dogs Mercury and Spring Snowflake. The latter no doubt a garden escape 

Birds have been rather thin on the ground but a female Bullfinch in the garden on 2nd was a new one for the garden and on 1st one of the Norwich Peregrines was very vocal as it flew around the cathedral spire.

Bullfinch

Winter Helliotrope

    Shepherds Purse

Norwich, 29 January 2020

A trip into my home city of Norwich today. After chores, shopping and lunch I headed to Hellesdon Road on my way out. In the tall trees between the road and the River Wensum I found a single Ring-necked Parakeet sat silently and unobtrusively. A Little Egret flew along the river and a Stock Dove was also present. As I was leaving 2 more parakeets flew in and one perched a bit lower so I managed a quick pic just before I left. In the city earlier, in Goldring Place just off Dereham Road a patch of Trailing Bellflower on a south-facing wall was actually in bloom. This species, according to Harrap has a Jun to Oct flowering period! Other January flowers included Common Chickweed and Groundsel

Ring-necked Parakeet

Trailing Bellflower

  Common Chickweed

Parklife! 28 January 2020

Today I spent a little bit of time in Christchurch Park in Ipswich. Let's be honest, it's the only place there worth visiting!
In the early morning sun the Tawny Owl that seems to have replaced 'Mabel' in using the same roosting tree/hole was showing very nicely. She has been dubbed Mabel mk2!
Down on Wilderness Pond I found the escaped drake Hooded Merganser (bearing a bright green plastic ring on it's left leg) together with 8 Mandarins (5 males/3 females) but this winter there don't appear to be any Goosanders. A Brown Rat was kicking about and a little later on a Grey Wagtail was at the Waterfront on the opposite side of town.

Tawny Owl

Hooded Merganser

Mandarins

  Brown Rat

A Day for Photographs! 27 January 2020

I had a lovely leisurely day out in NE Suffolk today and for once managed to get half decent photographs of pretty much everything I wanted to see.

I began at Kessingland where, below The Hollies I ventured out onto the wide beach and was halted by a lovely group of 8 Sanderling on the first pool I passed. I didn't want to miss the chance to photograph those as the species has always been one of my favourites. I then walked to the seaward side of the large pool and quickly located the single wintering Shorelark which was my main target. I had it all to myself and managed to get to within just 15 feet of it as it fed completely unconcerned by my presence.

Sanderlings

 Shorelark

 Kessingland North Beach

Then it was on to Ness Point in Lowestoft where 10 Purple Sandpipers were quickly found on the rocks just to the south of the slipway despite it being high tide (which, from experience isn't the best time to look for them!) c30 Turnstones and 2 Robins were also on the rocks and a few Kittiwakes offshore.

 Purple Sandpipers

I finished my day with a detour on the way back and into Norfolk to Hardley Staithe near Loddon. I had Stonechat, c4 Marsh Harriers, 2 Common Buzzards and 2 Chinese Water Deer before I decided to walk the footpath to Street Farm. Here a Chiffchaff was by some farm buildings and 3 Redwings by a paddocks before I walked back. Then my searching paid off as 2 Short-eared Owls flew in and performed superbly around the rough grassy close to the staithe allowing more photographic opportunities.

       Short-eared Owls

Early wildflowers and local bits, 26 January 2020

Due to work and 'fitness' commitments (I'm trying to walk 10,000 steps/5 miled each day!) birding opportunities have been few and far between recently. My walk from home today did give me 2 flocks of Fieldfares (c60 and c230) and a couple of Mistle Thrushes. In keeping with their old English name of Storm Cock I've noticed several while out and about in the last week or two. My walk also gave a nice Blushing Bracket growing on Willow along Boudicca's Way. Other highlights of a week at work with sneaky walks here and there were Marsh Tit near Tivetshall, a male Sparrowhawk briefly on a garden fence while working in Burston and a Grey Wagtail in central Bury St Edmunds. Early wildflowers have included Winter Aconite, Snowdrops, White Dead Nettle, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Primrose and a nice patch of Stinking Hellebore on Wortham Ling.

Blushing Bracket

Winter Aconite

      Stinking Hellebore

The Yucatan Peninsular here we come!

It's now just 3 weeks until Belinda and I head off to Mexico on our latest adventure. I've been doing a little reflecting lately on how lucky we are to be in the position we are where we can do these sort of trips with the regularity we are. One of the benefits of having raised families early and living a fairly frugal lifestyle means we now find that our time is our own and through hard work and careful planning we can do these things.

We are flying in to Cancun and exploring the whole of the Yucatan peninsular which includes the states of Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche. Birding is obviously top of my list but one advantage of this trip is that the Mayan archaelogical sites which interest Belinda are some of the best birding sites too. The food and drink look like they might be rather nice too...! 

The map below shows the rough route we plan to take over the course of a leisurely 3 weeks. 

       

Mycology Workshop, 18 January 2020

The ever helpful guys of the Norfolk Fungus Study Group had arranged a mycology workshop and I was fortunate enough to attend this event today. It was held at Bawdeswell Village Hall and attracted an attendance of c20 people. I found it immensely interesting and a real eye-opener on the use of various techniques to identify fungi. These included the use of chemnicals, microscopy, keys and also useful bits on drying and labelling specimens and recommendations on other resources such as books and the internet. Tony Leech was very helpful giving us newbies and lesson in making slides and using a microscope. We were treated to some amazing microscope views of the spores of Melatiza chateri (a close relative of Orange Cup) which was a new fungus for me.
A huge thanks to Tony, Steve and Yvonne Pinnington, Steve Judd and all the other members who gave us their time and expertise. My credit card may now take a bit of a battering with books and maybe even a microscope!