Inman Valley

We spent the long weekend relaxing in an isolated cottage overlooking the Inman Valley on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

We had a few birdy visitors to the garden, including a very inquisitive Little Wattlebird which spent most of it's time in the Banksia(?) next to our veranda.

There were many Superb Fairywrens, but unfortunately the males are in eclipse plumage with only the blue tail giving a hint at what's to come.

Each afternoon, the lawn played host to a flock of 6 Red-browed Finches

On Sunday we went to Carrickalinga, hoping to find a Hooded Plover or two, but no joy.  We did watch this Black-shouldered Kite looking for lunch, and a Masked Lapwing on the roadside verge.

We had been seeing lots of Adelaide Rosellas, and on the last morning one came to the feeder.  A cracking male of the fleurieuensis sub-species.

London Heathrow

I recently had to make a quick trip back to the UK for a family funeral, and on my way back I had a few hours to kill, so I watched the planes arriving at Heathrow.  As a kid I used to spend almost every weekend at Heathrow watching the planes so it a real trip down memory lane.  Following 9/11. security has increased so much that there are hardly any places  you can stop near the airport and I ended watching from a small residential street close to the end of Runway 27L. 

Heathrow is the main base for British Airways, and their planes made up the majority of arrivals.  They included planes of all sizes, from the small Airbus A319, through the A320, Boeing 777, Boeing 787 to the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet.

 

There are planes from all over the world arriving at Heathrow's 5 terminals. European airlines included Lufthansa, flying their newest addition the Airbus A320 Neo, Swiss using a Bombardier CS100, and Finnair flying an Airbus A350.

South African Airways Airbus A330 and Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350 represented Africa.

Qatar and Air India with an Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 respectively from Asia,

and  Delta airlines with their Boeing 767, American Airlines Boeing 777 and Air Canada with a Boeing 737 Max representing the Americas.