Poor Bill Oddie!

I watched the Real Marigold Hotel episode 2 with low expectations, which it rose to meet.  Poor Bill Oddie a lifelong bird watcher and wildlife expert was driven off into the Western Ghats to watch birds. I hope he saw more than were shown on the film: a kingfisher and a coulcoul.
Watching birds is one of the great pleasures of a lazy hour in the sun. From the jetty of the Ayurveda centre shown on the film I have seen bee eaters, several types of kingfisher, coulcouls, whiskered terns, herons, egrets, three sorts of cormorant, ducks and the inevitable crows, and a dolphin, which I am assured is not a bird..
Half an hour at breakfast in he mountains yielded bulbuls, babblers, magpie robins, flower-peckers, parakeets, shrike and many others I could't identify. A short walk bagged me a hornbill. Check out the endemic species here.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/1204640@N25/pool/

All of this is, of course, in detail in my book.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Muziris-Through-History-South-ebook/dp/B00KVIL8DO

for which this is a shameless puff. On my last visit things had changed a lot. There were far fewer birds, probably fallen victim to the great economic miracle of India with its development and pollution. I am sure poor Bill Oddie could have managed more than a kingfisher and a coulcoul, though.

Check out the Real Marigold Hotel

I am a sucker for any television programme about India. The current BBC offering of the second series of the Real Marigold Hotel sends "celebrities" to see if they would enjoy retirement in India. This series is set in Fort Kochi and the oldies are put up in a five-star hotel close to the Parade Ground. Who wouldn't like retirement in a five-start hotel! The real price would be a bit beyond my budget.

However, it is all good fun and it is good to see the familiar places through the eyes of a heavily-edited television lens.

Check it out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fpbkd