Nuwara Eliya

7 March 2020

Next on the itinerary was the highland town of Nuwara Eliya and from there a trip to the Horton Plains National Park.

The main birding location in Nuwara Eliya is the somewhat unlikely Victoria Park a location that is known to contain a number of scarce species like the Kashmir Flycatcher and even the very skulky endemic Scaly Thrush.  Unfortunately we found the Park a none too pleasant place to bird as the park is surrounded by what must be the most polluted river/stream in the whole of Sri Lanka.  In general we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of litter in Sri Lanka, however, for some reason that cannot be said for Nuwara Eliya and its environs, so frankly we did not enjoy our stay there and would not hurry back.

We did manage to see the Kashmir Flycatcher and a number of other target species although the views were generally not good other than the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch which was the only species that yielded decent images.