Shore walks diary -

Morning walks on 6th, 7th and 8th September 2023 - low tide

Blogger has decided to jumble up the order of the photos, and it really doesnt matter, so 

let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be - I sing, and carry on.

Clean sands near the tide line and no debris of shells at the high tide line.  6th was cloudy and 7th, 8th were sunny.

Virgin Murex shell in solitary splendour

A massive razor clam piece

Vast exposed wet sands at low tide...and less human debris - made for a surprise delight.  

The sands were free of the washed up shells that I usually each comb through on low tide mornings.

The tideline had no shell debris to speak of.

Contrasted to July 2023 - the tideline was like this.

Possibly some long shore current has changed direction?

The bird most adapted to the human "footprint" - the crow -was picking off a net collecting wire and string for nesting material possibly.

There were a few Sunset siliqua shells here and there.

The manner of this shell's presence in solitary splendour gave me the feeling it was possibly dropped by someone.

Near the Valmiki Nagar thickets, the coccinia (kovakai)is flowering.

A mole crab was a surprise discovery.

A house sparrow flitted down to the road near sparrow point.  Long time no see.

This emerald treasure - scarab beetle - beauty lay, quite dead sadly, on the road near the beach.

While the painted grasshopper was on the milkweed, looking well painted and toxic.

A dog was catching up on sleep, (the beach has more than a dozen) in a lovely little burrow he/she had excavated for him or herself.

Water bubbles glinted in the sun, and ghost crabs scuttled around.

The crabs were shy, but I got a good look with my binoculars.

I discovered that this is a variety of hibiscus - Wineleaf Hibiscus - growing wild by the roadside.

I wondered if this was a mangrove root..a Barringtonia from somewhere?

Until next time...

A spring morning in Delhi

 For amma.

Spring in Delhi is a wonderful time.  There was a nip in the air as I went for a morning walk in the Kailash colony area.  

The bottle brush was brilliant red, 

the boughs heavy with flowers.  My mother's garden has this tree as well.

But it was the Bombax - Silk cotton tree - that stole my heart and filled me with amazement and awe.  Nature's Ikebana, effortlessly balanced and poised.

The buttress roots, magnificent

the outstretched branches, graceful

the fallen flowers, poignant

and the blossoms on the tree, just spectacular.

The tree was abuzz with activity - crows, mynas, doves, parakeets, sunbirds, bulbuls, and many bees as well.

Memories of Assam mornings.  Memories of  laburnum yellows in summer.

Hollyocks - from my Delhi childhood

Petunia beds in profusion

Yellow Nasturtium from South America

And was that a Persian Lilac in bloom?

Collared doves going for a walk

A spread of daisies, past their prime, but still so pretty.

The native Curtain Creeper, which we had in our previous garden.

Work travel does bring pleasures and delights.

The Loten's and the Gliricidia

March 4th 2023

Here I am, just returned from Kaziranga and Manas, and writing about Illalur and Madayathur.  Sekar looked disbelieving at my plan to go off on Saturday - weren't the wondrous and spectacular sightings of Assam sufficient - but I felt this tug to see and experience my backyards again, like re-connecting with the familiar, after a trip to the exotic!

And more than the birding, it was the company and the beautful spots - so close to home.  OK not so close, but closer than Assam for sure.

Illalur lake - the last time I was here, the lake was dry and we walked everywhere.

The morning was magical, with the clouds, the sun and the water, and a light mist as well.

This photo by Sagarika was one of several highlights of my morning.  The singing Loten in the flowering Gliricidia.

These beautiful stalks bloom between Feb and April, usually. Photo by Sagarika.

And this wonderful video by Umesh.  (Enjoy it in full screen.)

Some walking up and down the bund and disturbing various men from their morning peaceful open-air defecation later, we thought we saw Pratincoles fly overhead, and we did see blue-tailed bee-eaters swoop and settle on the Milkweed.  

Purple-rumped sunbirds were nesting - rather the female looked like she was dismantling and completely disapproving of the nest, while the male chirped and flew off quite seemingly quite hurt by this.

Sagarika spotted a White-eyed Buzzard on a pole fa-aaaar away, which was nice (yes, she showed all of us too), and then they all saw a Jerdon's Bushlark which I didn't because I guess I was busy and distracted by the little wildflowers on the lake bed.  

Possibly a Bladderwort.  

Dwarf Morning Glory

Some cute looking grasses

Around this time, Gayathree decided that she had to pick some Prickly Pears, and at the end of that she was, well, pricked.  The Cactus did not approve of her actions.

Some friendly FD guards who were on their rounds, stopped to have a chat, and Mr Prakash was happy to see us and the documentation would help towards the bird census of the lake.

He then took us to another lake that I had never been to - what an amazing discovery!

Madayathur lake - with this lone standing Thandri tree (Terminalia bellerica).  What an absolutely delightful surprise.  A large serene lake, with a RF on one side and the village and temple on the other.  

The tree was magnificent and awesome.

There were a few waders at the water's edge - a trio of little ringed plovers, a lone black-winged stilt and a couple of wood sandpipers.  I enjoyed watching the paddy field pipits and the wagtails scurry across the grass.

It was an ideal picnic spot, and we munched on an odd assortment of cake, sandwiches, black grapes and chips.  And believe it or not, Gayathree had a flask of chamomile tea....which I shall not comment upon.  Those who drank it were calmer and those who did not were happier.  

We all bundled in Gayathree's car to return back via Nemmeli, when we saw this temple procession.  From the Thiruporur Murugan temple.

The temple, as we moved away from it. Photo by Umesh

And at Gayathree's stomping grounds - the Nemmeli salt pans - we saw the water had receded, algae had formed, and the curlews were fewer in number.

Illalur lake list

Madayathur lake list

Nemmeli salt pans from the vehicle

As summer rears its head, the remaining winter visitors will leave sooner than later, and we will commune with the resident pelican and storks.

Safe travels, bon voyage and see you next winter, our feathered friends from far and near.
 

What a beauty

 IIC balcony, Delhi

April 9th 2022

Peaceful exhilaration

Today, I visited my mother's garden for a special reason.  The Horse Tail creeper is in bloom and that is an annual event not to be missed, for it is brief, spectacular and never fails to delight me.

For 350 days in the year, the vine is like a dark green curtain, cocooning my parents from the squat cement wall of the neighbours.  And then for a couple of weeks every year, the vine blooms.  And how!

Usually, the two weeks are in January, sometimes even February, but here we are this year, in December, with a poor monsoon, and some clock in the plant has struck the blooming hour.

Porana volubilis, of the Convolvulaceae family - Horse tail creeper in bloom

Do the bees feel the awe and delight that I do, I wondered as I quietly watched them flit from flower to flower. Somewhere, a honeycomb was being filled with sweet nectar from my mother’s garden.

Exuberant bunches, swathes of white, sweet fragrance, the drama of it all.

The softly falling petals. So much beauty. So temporary. So mortal. In a few days, maybe even tomorrow, they will be a memory.

The wild mallow seemed to keep a watch.

Until next season then, I bade goodbye to the blooms.