NOEL ELLIS' GOOGLE BLOG

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   27/XI/2025   This morning, I was all set to visit my favourite tree where bird activity is at its peak. Birds are visiting it for its fruit.   Fights ensue, skirmishes follow, chases are done, nasty bites and pecks are tolerated, clashes happen, race to eat as fast and as much continues, and so on happens on one tree.   Overall, it is a battleground for food which is the ‘pipal fig’. A place for the birds to show dominance and claim a branch, to show camaraderie amongst a species, to reach for the sun to fluff up and bask. To sing and chat with each other and to teach a lesson of life to their youngsters.   Further, to be kind to drop a few fruits for all those on the ‘floor’ to enjoy. Finally, to spread the seeds for more such trees to grow once it has passed through their digestive tract and transferred elsewhere. Nature is at its best.   Why I couldn’t go to watch my birdie friends was that a lady came over to appreciate...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   26/XI/2025   This evening, I got a little late to reach the rooftop garden. The main Ibis flock had flown home already. I caught a dove sitting on a roof with the setting sun in the background.   Adeniums had been drenched with water one last time this month before the ‘inch’ towards dormancy. For the next ten days, they shall not be watered though many of them are flowering. That is what the experts say. By the way this article is not about boxing so read on....   That gave me time to watch our fish in the main holding tank for fish and floating plants. With the immersible heater deployed, they will stay happy all winter.   The tub is teeming with fish of all varieties we have. The breeding pairs have multiplied generously. They say, guppies and mollies eat their newborn. However, if they have plenty to eat, with lots of hiding places, and enough fish food, they leave their babies alone.   Even if there is no extra food, ‘algae’ ...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   24/XI/2025   Mission was half done yesterday when I missed photographing the peafowl. However, it was a great learning experience when I met a tribal herdsman who was a security guard at the riverfront gate. He knew how to handle cattle well. I went to accomplish what I couldn’t yesterday.   People ask me how do I find subjects to write everyday. Well, it is a matter of leaving your “comfort zone”. Move around in nature, feel the breeze, smell the flowers, touch a plant, appreciate the greenery, pet a stray dog, cat, or cow. There are many reasons to be happy for no reason at all.   I reached the gate. The guard was not present there. The choice was to go out or stay inside the premises so that birds do not get startled and come to feast on the grain spread for them.   There is this Pipal tree next to the gate. It is laden with fruit. Bird activity was in full swing. I saw many bulbuls picking on its frui...

  Poinsettia collection in the Ellis' Garden 💖Dil Khush ❤

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   20/XI/2025   Today, Mr Murphy must have been busy with someone else. So, I could photograph flora and fauna I missed out on earlier. I thanked him and prayed if he could stay away from me a little longer.   It started off last evening. A moth called the “Geometer Moth” popped out of the plants and came and sat on the back of my palm. Probably, its colour matched my skin and it was a good camouflage for it.  A little ticklish when it moved but I enjoyed its company. It just refused to leave. It sat all the while I watered the pots and even took a photo of an passing aeroplane single handed lest I disturbed the moth.   Yesterday was also plant hunting day. I and a common gardening friend went winter flower shopping. Though a little early in the season, I found the most sought after plant for Christmas called “Poinsettia” in one nursery. I got hold of seven different colours. The entrance to the home now looks s...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   19/XI/2025   I was thinking of my fish as to how they would go through in winter. As the temperatures drop, fish become sluggish. They tend to eat less and stop procreating. It is tough for them.   With numerous waterlily tubs teeming with fish, it becomes difficult to place each tub in sunlight. Water in the desert, if kept in the open, freezes in winters. Many fish will die, one has to accept.   To give the majority a chance to survive, we have put “immersible water heaters” in some tubs. The thermostat is set at 28°C, which is ideal for guppies & mollies to thrive in.   Most of them were shifted into these “pre-heated” tanks. They would enjoy the winter in a quilt. Our “Anti Malaria” squad is safe. I expect the rest to adapt in winters, like they did in summers with 50°C plus.   There is never a dull moment with fish. Cats are on the prowl and they sometimes like to paw into the fish tanks. They ...

  LT COL NOEL ELLIS   18/XI/2025   Hummingbird-Hummingbird everywhere and not one to photograph to take. It is just like saying water-water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Let me explain…..   It has been four years since we moved into our home. Birds and butterflies of all kinds frequent our garden. They sing, chirp and flutter the whole day, entertaining us with their chirps, whistles, tweets, coos, woos, songs and dance.   One bird which has fascinated us so much that we fell in love with her. Her call is a real tweet. Tweets on twitter derived that name from the melodious chirp this girl makes.   We started a small garden as a hobby, but with construction and movement of so many people in and around the house, birds got disturbed and moved away, without us realising it. Once things settled, they returned to see how ‘their’ home had shaped up.   Initially, we didn’t know how to welcome them. Winters turned to summer, w...

    LT COL NOEL ELLIS   15/XI/2025   My battalion is celebrating its 44th raising day today in the icy heights of Ladakh in the Northern sector. A Mechanised battalion with BMPs and what have you, in the icy cold weather which would soon be a frozen frontier soon. Hats off brothers.   I wish them the very best, not only to the serving but to the veterans and all those who were ever associated and affiliated to the Battalion since its raising in 1982.    I too was a part of that journey and a very memorable one at that. By the way it is the same place, probably under the same formation I had served in on deputation way back in the year 1990-91.   Being from an extreme OG unit, with SOPs and drills for even keeping a paper weight. We used to believe in rehearsals, practice, and repeat. The final act had to be executed with precision and timing. It didn’t matter if it took sleepless nights to achieve it.   Yours truly was deeply involved with bo...