‘THE JEWEL HUNTER’ ARRIVES

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 08:11:56 +0100

The British Bird Fair- a jumbled mass of twenty-five thousand excitable birders wedged together in a series of outsize marquees in the middle of the English countryside, all talking at the same time, trading stories of birds missed, twitches completed, listing milestones achieved. Bliss.

And in the midst of it all, some nut-job in a Jewel Hunter promo t-shirt trying to explain above the uproar why he quit his job to go and live the dream and see all the world’s pittas. That’ll be me then.

This year’s BF weather was rather more changeable than in recent years, the wind whipping pulses of rain into the tents one minute, the humidity sapping exhibitors’ energy the next. The fertile plains of Rutland had turned into a quagmire of Glastonbury proportions by the Saturday evening, but it failed to dampen the enthusiasm of those present. Certainly I had a blast, doing a lecture in Marquee #1 on the Friday (116 pictures in 21 minutes...shurely shome mishtake?) which drew a satisfyingly loud chorus of oohs and aahs as each new pitta image flicked onto the mega-screen. I ran from one booth to the next doing book signings on the hour every hour, and generally made an exhibition of myself.

It was great to meet so many people face to face who I had communicated with during last year, including a number of the folk I spent time with in the field. Livingstone and Gerald T. had flown in from Uganda, and I was able to present them with a copy of the book by way of thanks for their help in finding Green-breasted Pitta last year. (See http://www.pittasworld.com/Site/Jewelthrush_Diaries_Blog/Entries/2009/8/3_IN_SEARCH_OF_THE_GREEN-BREASTED_PITTA.html) I bumped into Billy Rodger who had left me notes in Zambia, and Richard and Sarah Thomas who were so helpful in so many ways during the mission. And Bob, Graham and Kit (collectively with yours truly ‘The Gang of Four’) who had stormed Sabah last summer all dropped by to say ‘hi’ and to pick up their copies of the book.

Oh yes, that’s right, I’m such a disorganized capitalist that I nearly forgot to mention it: The book is out. You can buy it now. It is real and I have held it in my hand. And if you’ll allow me a moment of self-indulgent, parental pride, it’s a thing of beauty, thanks to the efforts of the genius publishing team at WILDGuides. Proof of its can’t-put-it-down-ness* can hopefully be glimpsed in this shot of a gripped, next-gen. pitta maniac:

Note the look of intense concentration on this reader’s face, a sure sign that the narrative is weaving its spell. Or possibly that we should have chosen a bigger font size.

The Jewel Hunter comes with a promise too; if you don’t laugh out loud before the end, you get your money back. To pay by paypal and buy it direct from this site, click here to get your copy:

http://www.pittasworld.com/Site/Buy_The_Jewel_Hunter_Book.html

Alternatively you can buy it from the wonderful WILDGuides team:

http://www.wildguides.co.uk

* Just the kind of erudtion one would expect from a published author

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Sun, 1 Aug 2010 11:40:49 +0100

One problem with last year’s pitta mission is that of necessity it involved a number of flights to the more remote pitta locations. Since the evidence for climate change remains incontrovertible, (the odd ill-advised research e-mail notwithstanding,) I’m aware that I need to do everything possible to mitigate the considerable carbon footprint generated last year.

I did use rickshaws/boats/Shanks’s Pony wherever possible last year, but I have also taken steps to offset the carbon emissions involved where e.g. air travel was unavoidable. I’ve also tried to raise awareness of the plight of many of the scarcer species of bird I saw last year, and to raise funds to help the latter. So...

• Thanks to sponsorship by the good folks at Tricor PLC www.tricor.com the entire pitta mission/Jewel Hunter project is now carbon neutral.
• My publisher WILDGuides www.wildguides.co.uk only use Greenpeace-approved FSC certified paper which carries the FSC logo. All such paper is natural, renewable and recyclable and is made from wood grown in sustainable forests.
• Perhaps most importantly, a percentage of the profits from each copy of ‘The Jewel Hunter’ will go to BirdLife International www.birdlife.org to help with their fantastic work saving the planet’s most endangered species.

So now you can enjoy the pitta adventure with a clear conscience...

THE JEWEL HUNTER APPROACHES...

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:24:08 +0100

Ladeez and Gennelmen...

After an immense number of hours hunched over my Mac laptop, and after innumerable high-level meetings with my publisher WILDGuides, ‘The Jewel Hunter’ is finally at the printers. 424 adventure-packed, pitta-filled pages will be available from early September (or late August if you’re planning to attend the Rutland Bird Fair.) For just £17.99 you’ll be able to follow the pitta mission in all its breathless, arcane detail, and drool over eighty full-colour pages, including pictures of the 26 species I managed to photograph last year, none of which have previously been made public, (hint- almost all are better then the also-ran shots I wedged into the blog last year...)

- Enjoy the thrill of the chase as each species falls!
- Gasp as our hero (erm, me) grapples with Asian Sun Bears and dodges deadly pit vipers!
- Swoon (that’s enough- Ed) as the mission is derailed by running out of fuel on a small boat in the middle of the Pacific!
- Scratch your head as you try to figure out who some of the characters are! (One or two names have been changed to protect the innocent. And especially the guilty.)

I’ll be at the Bird Fair August 20th-22nd 2010, so do drop by the WILDGuides booth (Marquee 1, space 44) to say hello and pick up your signed copy. If you can’t make the fair, The Jewel Hunter will be available from this very site (or from www.wildguides.co.uk) Just click the link and all will be revealed...

http://www.pittasworld.com/Site/Buy_The_Jewel_Hunter_Book.html

Meanwhile, if you need a quick pitta fix before the fair, check out the gallery for the latest shots, including an amazing new picture of Eared Pitta taken at Kaeng Krachan, Thailand, and kindly supplied by Peter Ericsson.

The pitta movies page will be back soon by the way, just as soon as I can persuade iWeb version 3.0.1 to allow me to re-publish the files...

BACK FROM BEIJING

Wed, 26 May 2010 16:49:18 +0100

Audio trade shows; if they didn’t exist there would be no reason to invent them...Nonetheless, I have survived another one, this time in Beijing, and can still hear out of both ears. Just.

I did manage a little extra-curricular bird-watching activity as ever, and spent a day touring the reservoirs North of the Chinese capital with Sunbird leader and old friend Paul Holt. Between us we managed to find an extra-limital Red-crested Pochard, an Ibisbill nest, (see picture above, which sneakily was taken in India last year but if you don’t tell no-one will know,) and a pair of Long-billed Plovers amongst other avian gems. Sadly, Beijing’s location in NE China prohibits the possibility of stumbling across any pittas, but a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher did provide a flash of colour. A lone male Pallas’s Reed Bunting reminded me of yet another British vagrant I’d like to discover when we go to Shetland in September.

Whilst I have been pitifully pitta-less for the last two months, others have been more fortunate, and I have added a stunning shot of a Hooded Pitta on the Pitta Photos page, (taken in Thailand by Peter Ericcson to whom thanks are due) I’ve also received some new movies courtesy of the prolific Mike Edgecombe, (to whom more thanks are due.) Sadly however due to updating my site-creation software to iWeb 3.0 which has a few issues I have had to remove the movies page for the time being. I’m working on a solution and hopefully it will reappear soon.

Book news: Following an enquiry which flooded into the pittasworld office last Tuesday, I can confirm that ‘The Jewel Hunter’, (which details all of last year’s exploits in nauseating detail,) is well advanced (after six drafts it better had be) and is currently with the publishers, who are poring over it and circling, ooh, gerunds and non-finite clauses I shouldn’t wonder. And split infinitives to boot no doubt. Photos are currently doing the rounds so that we can chose the very best images of pittas and other orni-celebrities for inclusion in the finished article. The star-studded, no-expense-incurred launch* is set to be at the British Bird Fair in Rutland, UK Aug 20-22. If we get it ready in time that is. No pressure.

* Though sausage rolls are a rumour.

PELENG BUG

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:37:13 +0100

Today’s image shows some kind of invertebrate that I photographed on the island of Peleng, off the east coast of central Sulawesi, Indonesia in September 2009.

It seems to resemble some kind of assassin bug, (note the strange, raised, semi-circular flanges on either side of the body,) but I am no expert on small creeping things that lack feathers.

If anyone can shed any light on the identity I’d appreciate opinions at info@pittasworld.com. Just one of the many mysteries that lurk on Peleng...