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Tiger count rises in Dudwa.

The last census, held in 2010, had indicated about 80 tigers in the core area of the reserve — which includes the Kishenpur Wildlife Sanctuary and parts of the Dudhwa National Park. As many as 112 tigers were counted last time in the entire range that included Katarniaghat, Kishenpur, Pilibhit, North and South Kheri along with the core area of Dudhwa.  http://bit.ly/1m4qvQt ...

Puffins on Skomer Island in Wales

Puffins on Skomer Island in Wales

Last week I travelled to Pembrokeshire, Wales, for two days of photography on Skomer with its amazing Puffin colony.  I was informed that there are about 18,000 pairs of these characterful birds on the island plus around 300,000 Manx Shearwaters.  The Shearwaters arrive when it is dark in an effort to avoid predation by the voracious gulls who also inhabit the island. The Puffins are very active at this time of the year attempting to bring in sand-eels from the sea to feed their chic ...

Hungary-The Plains of Hortobágy

Hungary-The Plains of Hortobágy

This week I enjoyed a five day trip to eastern Hungary to photograph some of the bird species found in the region. From a hide, one of the most interesting birds that I recorded was the Red-footed Falcon.  It was a pleasure to view the birds as they visited the nesting site with mice and grasshoppers to feed their young.  The slate grey male falcon returned with prey to pass to the female; she in turn appeared to be 'stripping' off either the coat of a mouse or wings from a g ...

Tigers thrown off of truck during police chase in Central Vietnam

Police in the north-central province of Nghe An on Friday handed over two Indochinese tigers, which were thrown off a truck on a national highway during a police chase, to a wildlife rescue center. At around 8:30 p.m. traffic police signaled to stop the truck on the National Highway 1A’s section through Quynh Luu District for inspection as they found it “suspicious.” A team of police officers chased after the truck. The officers picked up the two animals, which wer ...

Return to Ranthambhore

Return to Ranthambhore

During May/June of 2014 I returned to Ranthambhore. Whenever I enter the park, I always hope to see 'Machali' arguably the most well known tiger in India. I was not to be disappointed - on the third day she appeared in Kachida Valley from her forest cover to visit a water hole.  Now, at almost seventeen years old, I thought she looked remarkably well even though she has lost her four canine teeth! After qu ...

Ranthambhore today

Ranthambhore today

On a visit to the park this morning I patiently waited until in the distance and through the forest cover I could see this tigress moving in my direction to a water hole on the opposite side of the track. She is known as Noor or T.39 and is a most beautiful tigress with two small cubs in her care.  ...

Tigress relaxing at a cool water hole

Tigress relaxing at a cool water hole

Yesterday at Ranthambhore I took this photgraph of tigress T.39 also known as Noor while she was taking a resbite from the heat of the day by cooling herself at a water hole during a break from her cubs that were nearby.  More updates from my time in the park to follow.   ...

My return to Ranthambhore during late April and early May 2014

My return to Ranthambhore during late April and early May 2014

Once again this year I have returned to Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve as I was aware that cubs had recently been born to two tigress' in the main tourist zones.  Too date I have not seen the cubs but I have enjoyed excellent sighting of some of the other tigers in the park. The photograph in this blog is of a young male tiger on the point of dispersal and born to the late tigressT.17 who was also known as Sundari. More reports from Ranthambhore to follow. ...

Machali

Machali

I took this photograph of Ranthambhore's well known tigress, 'Machali', during my visit to the tiger reserve in April 2014. This famous tigress is approaching her seventeenth birthday!  Quite an achievement for a tiger living in the wild!  Up until recently an exception had been made for Machali to receive food supplimented to her occasional ungulate kills. However, I am told that this practice is now to be halted due to a recent court order.  It is not for me to arg ...

Tiger family under severe threat posed by illegal sand mining.

The Katlabodi tigress was rescued by forest officials from a well in Bandhara, 40km from Nagpur, on February 7, 2011 and was released back in the wild in eight days after treatment. The tigress delivered three cubs in 2012 and these sub-adults cubs have become residents of Kalmeshwar range. See link below to read the story in the Economic Times.       ...

How Panna got its stripes back

Ultimately, she proves she’s no coward. T6, the newest tiger in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve, walks out slowly and majestically makes her way into the jungle. Her every step forward is a step ahead for the Reserve’s tiger relocation programme, a project that has found great (and rare) success in increasing the big cat’s population in the Reserve.  See link below to read the story in the Hindustan Times. http://bit.ly/1kMY ...

The Sunderbans and Kaziranga February/March 2014

The Sunderbans and Kaziranga February/March 2014

My journey to the tiger reserves in the Sunderbans and Kaziranga began when I arrived in Delhi on 16 February and then departed for Bharatpur to visit the bird sanctuary of Keoladeo National Park.  Having spent 2 days photographing the magnificent variety of birdlife there, my onward journey took me to Kolkata where I explored the city. The Sunderbans was my next destination for five days.  Meandering along the numerous waterways of the area, I photographed birdlife and mammals livin ...

Tigers bring money to Tadoba buffer villages

Excellent news from Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve with large sums of money raised from tourism being distributed to the villages in the buffer zone of the tiger reserve. In my opinion this is a superb way forward in gaining the goodwill from local people of living in such close proximty of the 'big cats'. The policy of distibuting funds to villagers should also help with local people 'blowing the whistle' on any poachers entering the tiger reserve. Well done Tadoba. See link bel ...