Wednesday, 15th March – Oued Jenna to Leglat Derraman

With a beautiful sunrise to wake us we were up in the morning by 6.45, dressed and ready for breakfast of fried eggs in half a round bread with tea or coffee.

We spread out and wandered round the oued with several family parties of babblers which were very mobile but giving good views.

Among the acacias there were quite a few Crimson Speckled Moths feeding on the flowers and trundling around were lots of these black dung beetles, leaving interesting trails in the sand.

There were a few pairs of Southern Grey Shrikes, a Woodchat Shrike and lots of warblers moving through the Acacias, including Melodious, Sardinian, Subalpine and Chiffchaff. A Black Kite and Marsh Harrier worked their way north and there were Swallows and Red-rumped Swallows flying through. We scanned several flocks of desert sparrows and eventually three Golden Sudan Sparrows were found in a flock feeding further down th eoued in a flowering bush. By the time we got half way there they had flown. Luckily, they had come our way and we found them in another flowering bush just in front of us. They didn’t stay long before heading off north. We had passed a similar flowering bush so we retraced our steps back and found the flock with a male and two female Golden Sparrows among the Desert Sparrows but photos were almost impossible.

As we retutned to the dismantled camp a flock of goats wandered trhough the acaias with an attendant goatherd on a donkey, a dog and a young camel.

We then headed out along the road to an area for Dunn’s Lark. It was very hot as we spread out and searched among the tussocky grass. We found Black-crowned Finch Larks, Bar-tailed larks, Hoopoe Lark and, eventually, a very sandy bird that we thought was a Dunn’s Lark. The bird was very pale and not as marked as we expected so we were not sure that was what we had found. Lunch was a very nice lentil and veg stew served under an acacia tree. While we were resting, a Northern Wheatear flew across onto some low bushes.

We had a lovely lunch of bean stew under an acacia tree and the obligatory Sahrawi tea, which takes about 10 minutes of constant pouring to produce the required froth on top of the glass. While our meals were cooked on a gas stove the tea was always made in a special pot cooked on a charcoal fire made in a depression in the sand, which was then stamped out and covered over.

We drove across the desert to the road and headed towards Assouria where there was a water tank and water refill station with a puddle and some flowing water. Unfortunately, there were some lorries there, filling up, so Mohammed left us to spend some time in an acacia thicket across the road. It was very hot and we spent a bit of time resting in the shade. A small flock of Bee-eaters flew around for a while, giving great views and there were lots of desert sparrows. We decided to walk back across the road to tank where we sat in the shade, watching the many flocks of desert sparrows coming in to drink at the pools. One flock flew up into a small bush which contained a Sudan Golden Sparrow. They flew away but then returned later to settle briefly in the bush. Obviously breeding in the area was a White-crowned Wheatear which approached quite closely as it flew onto the buildings and foraged around the rough ground.

We then drove across the road and out into the desert to another ancient site with a monolith and some 3,000-year-old graves, some of which had been grave-robbed. The monolith had some carvings on it but they were difficult to see as, apparently, the camels use it to scratch against. Mohamed suddenly drove left and we could see a large monitor lizard, with a small lizard in its mouth running at high speed across the desert. We managed to follow it for a while but it disappeared behind a bush – oddly, in front of the bush was a small monitor lizard which we managed to photograph. We then returned to the Dunn’s lark area and spread out to search again, with another bird being found. The better light showed up the streaky back and confirmed that the bird this morning had been a Dunn’s Lark.

Among the grass tussocks were several holes which were home to large, Spiny-tailed lizards. These were very wary and disappeared before you could get very close. There were also ant colonies and lots of small holes, usually at the bottom of a bush, probably homes for Jerboa and Gerbil.

We then drove on to a new camp site in a large, rock bound wadi, possibley called Oued Janiaa, with a cold-water shower system consisting of a plastic 5 litre can with a hole in the side filled up with water drawn up from the well.

Camp was set up very quickly and food was soon on the go. We explored around the camp site before settling down to eat. Before we had finished the driver and guide had settled down and were asleep. We did a bit of exploring in the dark and found another Desert Hedgehog which dived into a bush and then rolled up into a ball. One of the reasons for some of the mammals being more difficult was because of the full moon.

 We tried for Pharaoh’s Eagle Owl and Egyptian Nightjar but no luck so we turned in.
Click here for our route.