Chris Lansdell's Birding & Nature Diary

The other Fauna of The Gambia

Whilst my main focus of attention on our week in the Gambia back in January was birds we did manage a few other goodies from the mammal and reptile worlds. Several Nile Crocodiles were seen at Tendaba, Farasutu Forest and Abuko NR while one Dwarf Crocodile in creeks on the north side of the Gambia River opposite Tendaba was very welcome. Nile Monitors were also common on the coast with several in the creeks around our hotel. Belinda in particular wanted to see Chimpanzee and Hippopotamus and a boat trip on the river to target these species was a great success with great views of both as well as a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the river there.
Primates in general are the easiest mammals to connect with. Green Vervet Monkey and Western Red Colobus Monkey are common in wooded habitat near the coast (e.g. Abuko NR) whilst we also managed Patas Monkey further inland. On the way back from our trip up country we had the memorable sight of a troop of c40 Guinea Baboons cross the main road. Gambian Sun-squirrel was also seen and photographed at Farasutu Forest and we were treated to the huge Gambian Fruit Bat swooping over our hotel pool one night!

Chimpanzee

Chimpanzees

Hippopotamus

Nile Crocodile

Western Red Colobus Monkey

Gambian Sun-squirrel

Guinea Baboons

Weybourne and Felbrigg, 18 March 2015

Weybourne was my chosen destination today. With it's long-staying bits and bobs it seemed the obvious choice. Things didn't look good early doors as nobody had seen and and it took me some while to locate Lapland Buntings. But eventually I got onto a nice male which was joined by 4 other female types. The endless field scanning had revealed dozens of Skylarks, c30 Linnets and a couple of Yellowhammers. Just as I was leaving to walk back towards the coastguards cottages I then picked up 3 Snow Buntings.

After a walk to the beach carpark and then to the village shop for lunch I ambled back along the clifftop and after checking every gull all morning the Iceland Gull flew close right past me by the cottages and settled distantly in a field. 8 Stock Doves in the fields and a Barn Owl earlier in the morning were the only other things that bothered the scorers before I picked up a lovely male Northern Wheatear just west of the beach carpark. My first of the spring and my second earliest ever date.

Iceland Gull, Weybourne (phone-scoped record shot!)

Northern Wheatear, Weybourne Hope

RBA was then announcing a male Black Redstart on the top of Felbrigg Hall so that was my 2nd port of call and I quickly found it, singing away in it's grand surroundings! A Common Buzzard circled over to finish things off.

Black Redstart, Felbrigg Hall

Common Buzzard, Felbrigg Hall

Lowestoft area, 11 March 2015

What I love about my job is being my own boss so when I finish a job early I can go birding!

Today was one of those days so after finishing up I headed for Lowestoft. The Glaucous Gull last seen on 8th was unsurprisingly not to be found in the Claremont Pier area so I busied myself photographing the Kittiwakes that now nest on the pier. An adult Mediterranean Gull was a nice bonus. On through the traffic to Ness Point and I was quickly watching 13 Purple Sandpipers and as ever they allowed me to get nice and close. I think 13 is a record count for me here.

Despite a look North Denes had no migrants or anything else so I opted for a drive to Kessingland for a mooch around the sewage works. 2 Chiffchaffs were my first of the year whilst the filter beds had a single Grey Wagtail amongst the numerous Pied Wagtails and a male Reed Bunting also feeding on the beds.

Back in urban Oulton Broad the wintering Common Sandpiper was still present in Mutford Lock and quickly found. A good job as I'd ditched my van in the pay and display and gambled on not buying a ticket!

Kittiwake, Claremont Pier

Purple Sandpiper, Ness Point

Purple Sandpipers, Ness Point

Reed Bunting, Kessingland Sewage Works

Common Sandpiper, Mutford Lock

Lynford Arboretum/Santon Downham/Grimes Graves etc 9 &10 March 2015

After finishing off some work first thing on 9th a quick trip over to the Brecks for the rest of the day seemed in order.

Santon Downham however was a waste of time, searching for the Great Grey Shrike by the river east of the church proved a fruitless exercise and in a couple of hours all I managed were a Kingfisher, Nuthatches, Great Spotted and Green Woodeckers, Marsh Tits, 2 Bullfinches, a dodgy Canada x Greylag Goose hybrid and 3 Roe Deer. Yes, it really was that bad!

So, it was on to Lynford Arboretum where thankfully the day took an upward turn. The feeders under avenue of trees beside the main arboretum had a constant stream of birds including 2 Bramblings amongst the numerous Chaffinches, a few Siskins, Nuthatch,Yellowhammer, Marsh Tits and Coal Tits. After a little while 2 Hawfinches also put in an appearance although they never came close. c4 Hawfinches were later seen in adjacent fir trees. The wind was blowing down at the paddocks so little was doing there except a few more Siskins in the alders by the bridge and a Little Grebe on the lake.

Acting on a tip off from Mick Saunt I called in at Grimes Graves on the way back through and sure enough the Great Grey Shrike was on the clearfell there. It wouldn't let me close at all but I was treated to some nice views including some hovering feeding action. Common Buzzard was the only other thing of note there.

With the excellent weather forecast I was back in the Brecks on the morning of 10th and hiking out into territory I'd not been to for years. The walk produced plenty of singing Woodlarks and Coal Tits and a solitary fly-over Crossbill before I found a clearing with a good vista. Spending the rest of the morning here was very productive for raptors with 3 Red Kites over, c12 Common Buzzards (many in display), the dodgy Red-tailed Hawk that's been in the area for years and then the target - a superb Goshawk. Add in a plethora of Siskins and 3 Bullfinches and it all added up to a bit of a clean-up!

Canada x Greylag Goose, Santon Downham

Roe Deer, Santon Downham

Hawfinch, Lynford Arboretum

Nuthatch, Lynford Arboretum

Siskin, Lynford Arboretum

Coal Tit, Lynford Arboretum

Yellowhammer, Lynford Arboretum

Marsh Tit, Lynford Arboretum

Great Grey Shrike, Grimes Graves

Breydon Water, Norfolk, 25 February 2015

I spent a few hours (and walked a few miles!) at Breydon in the spring-like waether today and managed to winkle out a few goodies.
A Barn Owl near Bungay on the way started things off.
Despite a good long look with Peter Allard and another birder we failed to find the Richard's Pipits along the south wall although I did hear one very promising sounding call. A Peregrine flew over just as I arrived at the site near the windpump, 3 Stonechats, 1 Reed Bunting and then a nice male Bearded Tit showed nicely and a Cetti's Warbler was singing by the pumping station. The most noteworthy waders were an impressive c500 Avocets amongst even bigger numbers of Redshank, c30 Black-tailed Godwits and loads of Dunlin. On the walk back a Sparrowhawk was flushed from a bush and then 2 lovely Short-eared Owls sat staring at me in the horse paddock. No camera so the ropey shot below is phone-scoped.

Short-eared Owl, Breydon

Round on the north side a group of c12 Twite were showing nicely on the saltings by the Asda carpark and with time to spare I opted for a hike along the north wall. 2 Common Buzzards were displaying, c2000 Pink-footed Geese grazing plus a big flock of Golden Plovers, the usual waders and a single Little Egret but no sign of Rough-legged Buzzard. Driving home along the A47 however I finally caught up with Rough-legged Buzzard as one flew low over the road right in front of me c1 mile east of Stracey Arms. 2 more Short-eared Owls were quartering a field and a Marsh Harrier circled making it a great way to end the day.

A Murmation of Starlings, Norwich, 17 February 2015

This Starling murmation has been a nightly event for weeks in central Norwich so I thought it high time I went and had a look. From the top floor of the multi storey at the top of St Stephen's Street about 3000 birds put on quite a show! For anyone thinking of going the show currently starts at about 17.00, entry is free!
A nice Red Fox by the A140 near Newton Flotman on the way home and 2 Common Buzzards at Bodney.

White-winged gull fail! Livermere Heath, Suffolk, 16 February 2014

I decided to nip out this afternoon for the Glaucous and Iceland Gulls just west of Honington at Livermere Heath. Not a heath in the true sense of the word - just extensive pig fields! I gave it a couple of hours scanning and re-scanning the thousands of gulls but couldn't find either! I did pick up 2 nice adult Caspian Gulls and an adult Yellow-legged Gull though so it wasn't all in vain. Little else of note there except large numbers of the more common gulls and a scattering of Stock Doves in the pig fields.

Yesterday a long country walk around Flordon and Hapton gave me a displaying pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers going nuts (!), Nuthatch, Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk and 2 Snipe flushed from marshy ground in the Tas Valley.

It's all go!

Return to The Gambia, Day 8, 29 January 2015 - Casino Cycle Track

Our last day and as we only had a couple of hours available in the morning we opted for a quick walk along the Casino Cycle Track and the pool behind the Badala Park Hotel. Not before I got onto a Western Olivaceous Warbler in mangroves by our room though. A Black Crake ran quickly into cover beside the hotel entrance track while African Palm Swifts were pretty much ever present as usual, Senegal Coucal, Ring-necked Parakeet, 3 Sacred Ibis, 2 Squacco Herons, Black-headed Heron, Great White Egret, Long-tailed Cormorant and Black Heron were all on or around the marshes/paddies. The pond behind the Badala Park enabled me to get a good photo of the uber-common Black Kite and add the last 2 trip ticks - Common Moorhen and Black-tailed Godwit. Into the bargain there were also photographic opportunities for Yellow-billed Shrike, Green Woodhoopoe and African Jacana. Brown Babbler, Black-winged Stilt, Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Piapiac, White-billed Buffalo-weaver, Bronze Mannikin, Speckled Pigeon and Western Grey Plantain-eater were also seen before a ridiculously approachable Whimbrel was photographed on the hotel wall!

So, the trip was over and the fat lady was about to sing. In just 7 days I'd notched up 241 species of which 76 were new world birds for me. That was way beyond my wildest expectations and boosted my world list up well above the 1800 mark.

Black Kite

Piapiac

Yellow-billed Shrike

African Jacana

Green Woodhoopoe

Whimbrel

Return to The Gambia, Day 7, 28 January 2015 - Tujereng Woods & Kotu Creek

Following the traditional poor breakfast at the Palm Beach we met Ebrima at 07.45 for the 25 minute drive south to Tujereng Woods. Turning off the main road by the 'cement for sale' building (see the Gosney guide) we parked up beside the track and began a long morning exploring the area. At first sight it doesn't look anything special with low bushy trees and scattered large flowering silk cotton trees but the birding here was superb. Almost straight away a distant perched up African Golden Oriole was picked out but first up of the target species was Red-winged Warbler which proved to be relatively common here with c8 being seen throughout the morning. In the look stakes my fave bird here was the diminutive Senegal Batis, after a couple of brief views one showed superbly for my camera. The fruiting/flowering trees were a magnet for birds and a pair of White-fronted Black Chats were seen well underneath one of them while watching Splendid Sunbirds, Variable Sunbirds, Yellow-fronted Canarys and Greater Whitethroats in the tree above. A little further on 2 more target birds fell in quick succession - a brief view of a Chestnut-crowned Sparrow-weaver followed by prolonged views of a pair of Brown-backed Woodpeckers. Walking around we picked up plenty of other species too - c3 Scarlet-chested Sunbirds, Beautiful Sunbird, 2 Northern Grey-headed Sparrows, 1 Little Weaver, 2 Vitelline Masked Weavers, 2 Black-crowned Tchagra, Woodchat, 2 Tawny-flanked Prinias, 2 Yellow Wagtails, a fly-over African Spoonbill and a patrolling Beaudouin's Snake Eagle. 3 perched Pied-winged Swallows were very nice but totally eclipsed by a mega White-shouldered Black Tit on the return walk!

Splendid Sunbird

Yellow-fronted Canary

Brown-backed Woodpecker

White-shouldered Black Tit

African Spoonbill

Red-winged Warbler

Woodchat

Beaudouin's Snake Eagle

Senegal Batis

Leaving the woods we had one last stop by the coast road less than a mile away. Parking up and wandering through a gate into an open walled wood an African Green Pigeon perched high above us (tick!) and Ebrima started calling. Very quickly a bird called back and flew in - a lovely Pearl-spotted Owlet! It sat still for some while allowing some great views and photos.

African Green Pigeon

Pearl-spotted Owlet

Back at Kotu Beach we opted for a late afternoon walk to Kotu Bridge. A nice close Black-headed Heron distracted me just outside the hotel gates as we ran the usual gauntlet of would be taxi drivers, guides and peddlers of tat before we got to the bridge. Ebrima was keen to find me what has become my Gambian bogey bird so while Belinda enjoyed green tea with his wife and the other guides we set off in search. c30 White-faced Whistling Ducks and 3 Black-headed Plovers flew over while the creek area held the usual culprits of Pied and Blue-breasted Kingfishers, Grey Plover, Common Redshank, Wire-tailed Swallows, Red-billed Firefinches and Bronze Mannikins before I returned to Belinda and some tea of my own. Quickly though Ebrima shouted from the bridge which had me running (much to the amusement of the other guides!). The bird had been lost by the time I reached the spot but with Ebrima's mate entering the mangroves to flush it out it finally gave itself up - Malachite Kingfisher, at last! Just afterwards 2 Oriole Warblers showed nicely before we headed back to the hotel via some greasy snacks from the lady at the roadside with her wok. Back at Palm Beach we picked up Pink-backed Pelican and 2 Hamerkops.