Birding...at last

Good morning folks,

I am not long back from birding this morning, although quiet, it was worth getting up at 5am!!! Before I go into all that, the last week has been mind-numbingly repetitive. Work, gym, home, glass of vino, pass out comatose in bed, wake up, work, gym, home, glass of vino...you get the idea. We're very busy at work which is great and the days are flying by. Went for a few beers after the gym last night with the lads but headed home early (midnight) to get some sleep. Couldn't believe it when the alarm went off but I managed to haul my ass out of the scratcher and got myself to the train station in one piece.

I headed out to Ebie which is near the Yodogawa River, the site only 30 minutes by train from home, if even that. It has 3 man-made "islands" which were put there for waders and such, it's pitiful but it works somewhat. This part of the river is tidal so when I got there, the tide was fully in (just my luck) but I hung out there for a few hours until I couldn't stand the heat much longer, which was at about 9am. Honestly, 30 degrees at 9am is not pleasant plus the added bonus of high humidity and you get the idea.

It's a noisy spot, right by a main road, loads of bridges carrying automobiles and trains. There are some homeless people living down by the river, and this set up was by far the "nicest". They had their own garden which had everything from aubergines, peas, carrots, fruit, and potatos. The homeless probelm in Japan is quite serious and there are little enclaves of, what are essentially, shantytowns dotted throughout, mainly in parks and under bridges. It's a side of Japan that one doesn't hear about. A universal solution it seems to deal with the problem...pretend it isn't there. This collective were fishing and some of the locals joined them for conversation and tea...quite civilised really.

Not much planned this weekend. I am going to sleep 'til I sleep tomorrow and get food for the week...the usual Sunday affair. I saw a watermelon for sale in a fruit shop last weekend that cost over 90yoyos (13000 yen)!!!! I shit you not...90 euro for a watermelon, and I mean a regular sized, green watermelon. I'll take a photo if I see this again...no wonder it's the second most expensive city on the planet!!!

ok then, I'm off to hit the shower. There should be some photos of this morning's adventure on the photopage shortly. Oh yeah, a singer/songwriter chap by the name of Sufjan Stevens (album called Illinoise) is well worth checking out.

Bye for now

BIRDING NOTE: Whimberl, Kentish Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler, Common Sandpiper, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Striated Heron, Chinese Egret (!!), Black-tailed Gull, Kingfisher and Temminck's Cormorant were of note this morning. Very quiet.