See you in two weeks!!

Hi guys!

I'm going to Japan today, well, if you are reading this post on 26/7/2012. So don't expect any posts or replies from me until 10/8/2012.

Got to go, bye!

Japan!! now that sounds a cracking holiday, hope you have a nice time HK

WOW !!! Japan,

Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid the olympics, !!!  LOL,

have a great time.

Crikey, that sounds like a really special holiday. Hope you get some good bird shots. Have a great trip.

Thanks guys! LOL sugar! It turns out that I can contact you from Japan, it's a bit of a strange computer, so I can't post any photos until I get back on 10/8/2012.

The time and date above this post is wrong because I'm 8 hours ahead of BST! I got on the plane from Heathrow  at 10:00pm, which was an hour late (there was a delay) and landed in Seoul, South Korea at about 5-ish (Korea time.) After that, I hopped onto a small plane to Hiroshima airport, travelled a bit by taxi and Bullet train and then got to my destination. An area called Okayama Prefecture on Honshu island, Japan's largest island (the big one in the middle.) I got to the place where I was staying (confidential) at about 11:15pm 27/7/2012 (Japan time.)

I'll keep you guys filled in with what I get up to during my trip.

28/7/2012

I didn't get to sleep until about 3 in the morning last night, mainly because of the heat. In a Japanese summer, it stays hot and humid all day, all night. At just gone midnight last night, my thermometer read 29c! Midday today was 34c, which is hot enough without the extraordinary humidity. It's so sticky, it's unbelievable.

Talk to you lot soon,

HK.

Hi HK that sounds a bit too hot and humid for my liking lol.

Hope you get to see plenty of wildlife, have you taken a camera?

Glad you made it safely, HK. Sounds like a long arduous journey though. Keep us posted.

Thanks guys!

I have taken a few pics but I mostly saw stuff while I didn't have a camera. The bugs are horrible, especially the mosquitos. I've got a swollen hand and plenty of bites on my arms and legs. I wouldn't recommend Japan for a "summer holiday!" I got woken up early this morning by the racket of cicadas, I'm starting not to enjoy it as much as I'd hoped! I have seen plenty of; spiders, ravens, feral pigeons and tree sparrows. I also saw a strange thrush-like bird, it was bluish-grey with brown cheek markings. Somebody told me what it was called in Japanese, but I've got no idea how to translate it to english.

See you soon,

HK.

Sorry to hear about the problems but I'm sure before long the best bits will override the bad ones once the aches and pains are gone.

Cheers Robert!

29/7/2012

Today was awesome! I went to Setonaikai bay and beach today. There was only a couple of tiny tracks that led to it. The tracks cut into the forest, which was a great opportunity for me to see wildlife. The cicadas still sung louder than ever, but I could still here other animals over their racket. I heard the soft twittering of swallows and martins above, that you get back in the UK. I also heard the sound of grasshoppers and crickets and I almost got to touch a big cricket. But it was when I was actually on the beach, when my special birding day really kicked off. On the minute of my arrival, I went over to a far side of the beach and heard a scream. It was... ...my first ever White Tailed Eagle!! Fortunately, I have a pic to show you (even though I can't get it up with this computer), unfortunately, I never got to see it catch anything. But then, my day started to brighten up again, with the arrival of some juvenile Crested Serpent Eagles, I only got a naff shot of one of them, but I'll show you anyway! (In 1 1/2 weeks.)

See you all soon!

HK.

Fantastic, it will be worth feeding the mozzies LOL

Thanks JudiM!

30/7/2012

Didn't see many birds today, unfortunately. Saw a couple of tree sparrows and feral pigeons, but nothing else. The most impressive wildlife I saw today, came in the form of insects. I saw a huge yellow and black striped buttertfly and some very interesting sheild/stink bugs. There were two speices on the tree that I found them on. There was an enormous black one with orange-yellow marks on it, and there were a few smaller bluish ones with black and orange nobbles on them.

A very colour-coordinated day!

See you later,

HK.

Hi guys,

31/7/2012

Today, I didn't see much wildlife again, the only birds I saw were some tame Tree Sparrows and city Pigeons while eating my brunch. I will see lots of birds tommorow, because I am going to a nature reserve in the moutains in the Kurashki prefecture. I am hoping to see a Kingfisher or an unlikely Osprey.

Very excited about tommorow! See you all soon,

HK.

Wow what a wonderful holiday, certainly lots of different things to see, very exciting, I am sure you will enjoy the nature reserve, sounds brilliant :)