Before I left the Uk I had been constantly researching the weather for this part of the world which is subject to heavy rains during the monsoon.  It seemed to be saying that I could expect very wet conditions on most days while I was here, with the odd day dry.  This turned out to be absolute bunkum as it's been dry, dry and dry with no hint of the forecast rain showers and thunderstorms. What is more, Ravi my friend and host here told me that the rain was finished now and it would be fine and dry. I wonder why the met office and the Sri Lankan equivalent don't just ask a local rather than consult their multi million pound computers?

I have had a quiet day today….still feeling exhausted with my heavy cold.  I stayed around the house at first trying to photograph the Indian roller in flight which is going to be some kind of great shot when it comes off……(latest see below)  The two Rollers in the garden have their favourite perches and I have already seen that one, the female usually, lands on a concrete post which she flies to from a higher perch some distance away.  I set the camera up and  focused on the post waiting for her to fly down.  She didn't do it this morning for me but I am certain…..100%…. that she will, and I know I wont need to wait too long. Later I went on the motor bike to an area of waste land very close by that is destined to be a new housing development but they haven't done anything with it yet. I have always found this a great place for birds and butterflies. I photographed several species of butterfly having made a decision before I arrived to take more photos of them  and other insects while I am here. I had a small macro lens on the camera which was doing a good job when close by quite a commotion suddenly kicked off. I investigated and saw that it was a Tailor Bird and a Loten's Sunbird having quite a dispute over something, probably a nest. It went on and on and all I had to capture the event was the small lens. I did manage some photographs but without the big lens any photos weren't as good as they would have been, that's Murphy's law right there. From there I returned home to get the 300 lens and went over to the Ranwelli Hotel which markets itself as an eco hotel. I knew that they have some interpretive boards and I wanted to name my Butterflies which I did, (see below), I had a stroll through their mangrove board walk…..their sole attempt to create an eco theme. Its tourism after all, the land has been taken for the building of a massive hotel very close to a river and mangrove, ruined basically and then a board walk has been put through in an attempt to justify it and appease the eco-warriors. But better than nothing at all I suppose. I had a nice encounter with a pair of Giant Squirrel that are as big as a small monkey and quite colourful as well. I have seen them on all my trips to Sri Lanka. As I sat here in my room writing the blog Ravi knocked to tell me that there was a pair of Coucal in the adjoining garden. They were purposefully walking through the grass and weeds very slowly and looking for insects and small lizards. I have seen three different species of coucal on my travels in Asia, Africa and Australia and they all look very similar and seem to behave in the same way.  It looked as they were a true male and female pair, one had a bright red eye and the other was black.

Unfortunately, not as vibrant as it could be, there was a bonfire nearby!