Tick Tick Tick
Monday 18th December
Well after deciding to have an early start we got up at 5.30 am although I have to say I didnt sleep too well a) because of the whole spider incident and b) a storm had started at about midnight and was still going on. It took almost an hour to get light but I didnt want to endanger us at snake hunting time.
Silvyia gave me the permits today and it states Im head of investigation and also ¨belong¨to Leeds Castle which did make me chuckle. I felt I needed the fleeces that say ¨Leeds Castle Maidstone Kent¨or a Paddington bear label, or maybe a stamp somewhere stating property of Leeds Castle after reading the document (No offence meant VW)
So off we went and I actually got to christen the waterproofs. After an hour of waiting in the citrus area we walked a bit further to Carlos and Silviyas house where they usually raid the Advocado tree in the morning. Not today though.
So we had coffee cheese and bread with Carlos before trudging back to the cabin. As we got closer we heard a Toco and then saw it as it took off from a tree outside the cabin. We managed to track it for 10 minutes and then heard another 2 all 3 birds vocalised to each other then one went closely followed by the other2. At this point we lost them but saw them fly downwards. Unknown to us at the time Carlos was down where there were and watched them playing and beak jousting for a good 15minutes at which point we had just put the kettle on and then heard them back outside. So the kettle went off boots back on and we were off properly chasing Toucans. We managed to get quite close to where they were vocalising but then we lost them.
We headed back to camp and then spent the next 15minutes killing ticks. I hate British ticks but L American ones look worse. They are very flat and crab,scorpion looking. They still give a satisfying click when you get the buggers though. This left me feeling incredibly riffy all day and felt like a cat or dog with fleas scratching every 2 minutes.
We then went back to the orchard nothing, back to the cabin and just about to eat and they started shouting again, just as we got outside they went!