Western Sahara - Day 5 - Back to Dakhla

This morning we were up again at 6.00 but the Nightjar only sang for about 5 minutes although we found it from eyeshine. It flew off shortly after and started singing from further away but only for a minute or two. We helped pack up our things, had breakfast and went for a short walk looking for Black-crowned Finch-larks and other birds, including a very close group of Fulvous babblers, while camp was packed up.

On our drive back we stopped for a quick picture of Cream-coloured Coursers and a stop at the Prehistoric petroglyph hill for a look at the carvings. While we were there a large flock of Thick-billed larks flew over, dropping down briefly and then flying on towards a distant line of vegetation. Scanning round found a large flock of larks to which it was thought the Thick-billeds had headed so we loaded up and headed in that direction. Half-way across Mohammed spotted two Fennec Foxes peering out of holes in the ground. We stopped but this proved too much for them and they ran off across the desert towards the distant vegetation, only stopping to peer at us from the safety of the bushes. We continued to look for the lark flock finding a large group that included Temmink's Larks, Bar-tailed larks and a Short-toed Lark was photographed, but no Thick-billeds.

A further stop at the same site as last year for Desert Warbler found several Dunn's Larks near th road so we spent a bit of time watchig them before a call from AF had us speeding up the hillside where he had found a single Desert Warbler in almost the exact place we found it last year.

After stopping for some fresh bread and coco cola we stopped at the farm area as last year for lunch. Around the rocky, desert areas there were Temmink's, Bar-tailed, and Crested Larks and a Marsh Harrier glided along the edge of the quarry. There was a garden area showing what was possible with some water, where there was cotton, maize, olives and alfalfa growing among other things. It also hosted White-spotted Bluethroat and lots of Chiffchaffs feeding among the bushes.

After a lovely, hot lunch of lentils and bread we set off back to Mohammed's house for our last two nights. We were treated to a very tasty camel Tagine with rice and before settling down on our various beds, mattresses and cushions.

Western Sahara - Days 3 & 4 - Around Oued Jenna

We spent the next couple of days around the Oued Jenna area looking for various desert birds. We found Cricket Longtails, Dunn’s, Hoopoe and Bar-tailed Larks, Black Crowned Sparrow-lark and a few warblers, including Orphean, Sub-alpine, Sardinian and Spectacled. Some Yellow wagtails dropped in, a local group of Fulvous Babblers kept us entertained around the camp and a very tame Tree Pipit took advantage of our crumbs. Our forth Pharoah’s Eagle Owl leapt from a tree just above our heads and gave good views until it was flushed by a Hoopoe. Passing through we had Swallowss, Red-rumped swallows, House and Sand Martins, Marsh Harrierrs and the last day saw a large group of Black Kites roosting on a nearby hillock waiting for the day to heat up before they were off. We also found several species of lizard, including, Spiny-tailed and Dumeril's Fringe-fingered Lizard, White-spot Gecko **

The first night we walked along the road for about 2 Kms spotlighting as we went. We saw 2 Desert Wild Cats giving good views in the torchlight. On the other two nights we went for a night drive, spotlighting as we went. We managed to find a Melanistic Montague’s Harrier, several Lesser Egyptian Jerboas, a Desert Hedgehog and a Saharan Striped Polecat, but no sign of any Sand Cats.

The first morning we were woken by a call from DW from inside his tent, ‘Nightjar, nightjar’. A scramble to get clothed and out of the tents and we were soon listening for the distinctive ‘Guduc, guduc’. The call stopped  and then came from another direction, we followed the sound but still couldn’t locate it. After about 15 minutes it stopped calling, the sun rose and so we returned to camp to get dressed properly and gather for breakfast. The second two mornings we set our alarms for around 5.45 am, got dressed and out ready to listen for the Nightjar. On cue, around 6.20, the bird started calling from just across the road opposite our camp, we moved to the edge of the road and a spotlight picked out the eyeshine of the bird. After a short while it flew up and across the road before disappearing and not being relocated. We did the same the third morning and this time the bird was located in the same area but it some flew off after only calling for about 5 minutes.

A visit to,the local water pumping station, that had been very good last year, was disappointing as it wasn’t working, although they had built a new one which wasn’t in service yet. There seemed to be a problem with many water pumping stations out of use, necessitating many more water tankers travelling up and down the roads to fill the troughs for the local camel, sheep and goat herds, with a suggestion that the water was getting more difficult due to less rainfall lately. Other birds that we saw were White-crowned Wheatear, Desert Sparrow and Cream-coloured Courser, Bee-eater, Brown-necked Raven, Marsh Harrier
Our last afternoon was spent exploring the Derraman hills where we had Black-crowned Wheatear, Lanner, Martins and another Pharoah's Eagle Owl dozing in a rocky cave.

Western Sahara - Day 2 - Drive to Ouedd Jenna.

As breakfast was not till 8.30 we went out for a walk along the front, hoping to see spotless starling. All we managed was Laughing Dove. 

When we got back the cafe they didn’t seem to be expecting us but eventually it got sorted and we had bread, honey and orange juice. Mohammed arrived to pay and then said they were ready to go. We cleared up, packed up and set off. Stopping for a group of Audouin’s Gulls and Royal Terns, Mohammed got a call about a problem with the last car. He went off, leaving us with terns. The problem turned out to be that they had been stopped for no seatbelts in the back, for which they got a fine of €30. As they didn’t  have enough euros, Mohammed had had to bale them out. 

We then drove on through several check points to the Aswerd road and on to Gleb Jdiane where we were interrupted by a couple of men who brought their land rover to be washed. We did see Chiffchaff, Redstart and Collared Dove as well as some tadpoles and a Frog. There were some small butterflies fluttering around which were identified as Babel Blue. 

We drove on a short way to a new prehistoric carving site. There are supposed to be a dozen animals but we only found an elephant plus some odd symbols which we had fun with suggesting meanings for. We also had Brown-necked raven, Desert Wheatear and Swallows.

We continued on our way to Oued Jenna, stopping at the Oued Aushwits (or so it sounded). On the way we saw Cream coloured Courser, Bar-tailed Desert Lark, Pallid Harrier and Kestrel. We stopped for Temmink's Lark at the entrance to the track and took some photos while we waited for the other two cars to arrive. Eventually, Mohammed turned round and went back to see where they had got to. As the van pulled up by a tree an Eagle Owl launched out of the branches and flew a short distance into the Oued. A quick check and it was another Pharoah's. We spent a bit of time looking for the owl and also saw our first Desert Sparrows and Fulvous Babblers as well as Orphean Warbler, Swallow and chiffchaff. 

We were soon called for lunch which we ate in the shade of the acacias before setting off again for Oued Jenna. There was a moment of excitement as I saw a small cat pop over the bank and lie down in front of a bush. We managed to turn round and see it again before it ran off into the distance. Unfortunately it wasn't seen by everyone. I assumed it was a Desert Cat as it was quite grey and it had run off rapidly but Mohammed seemed to think it was a Sand Cat but I didn't have enough views to identify it. 

On arriving at Oued Jenna we spread out as the camp was set up. In a bush there were at least 40 Sudan Golden Sparrows giving good views but the light was wasn't brilliant for photographs as the sun was setting. 
We sorted out our tents, settled in and then gathered for dinner before taking some time to look at the stars. We did some spotlighting along the road by the camp, finding at least one, if not two, desert cats which gave good views among the bushes. We then walked along the road for a kilometer or two flashing our torches before SC found a Gecko wedged into a crack in a rock. we spent some time coaxing it out before returning and turning in for the night. We also had a Flower Mantis join us for dinner, giving us all a chance to look at it before we put it back in the bushes.

Western Sahara - Day 1. Around Dakhla

We decided to revisit Western Sahara and make another attempt at seeing Sandcat and Golden Nightjar. We booked Rio Escapade and looked into flights. We worked out that the best way was to travel with Royal Air Maroc direct to Dakhla, via Casablanca. The flights were more expensive but worked out much better when we factored in hotel and car costs.
We arrived at 11.00pm on Saturday night and were collected by Mohammed and his two drivers and taken to some apartments for the first two nights.
Sunday morning we were collected and taken to the Samarkand for breakfast before setting off south to visit the fishing village, La Sarga. Unfortunately, the fishermen were in dispute and had set up a demonstration which meant the police wouldn’t let us through. Mohammed turned round and we drove back a short distance before driving round to La Sarga marshes where we walked down the low cliffs and scanned through the thousands of waders feeding through the area. The number of birds was incredible with Dunlin, Sanderling, Greenshank, Redshank, Kentish, Grey and Ringed Plovers, Knot, Whimbrel and Shelduck. In the distance a few Egrets included a Great White. On the sandbar was a large flock of gulls and terns, including a few Caspian Terns so DW and AF walked round while BF and myself waded through the shallow, squishy marsh to the sand bar on the other side.

 A radio message about an owl that had been flushed came through as we walked round but as no further news came we continued to the gulls. Just as we were setting up the scopes we enquired about the owl to discover that it was being watched and it was an Eagle Owl! A very rapid, half mile yomp back across the marsh and we were watching the Owl. Checking the details identified it as a Pharoah’s Eagle Owl!! Something we had been looking for for years. (Unfortunately my battery had dies and DW had left his Battery at the apartments so only bridge camera shots.)The habitat was most unexpected as there were only low cliffs and not much in the way of rocks. Eventually the owl flew further away and we returned to the vans.

With a brief stop back at the apartments to collect batteries we drove across Oyster Farm, passing our first camel herd, where we stopped for lunch. As last year, we had a tomato salad, fresh oysters with lemon followed by baked fish with vegetables. The tide was much further out that last year and Yellow wagtails flew along the beach with Terns flying further out to sea.

We then drove further along the coast and scanned the oyster beds where DW found a Western Reef Heron feeding in a creek. We drove across to check out a gull flock and found a single Royal Tern which was roosting in the sand.

We made our way back to the apartments where we freshened up before heading to the Samarkand for a tasty tagine.

Twitching a Gull

The Ross’s Gull was refound and a phone call from Martin had us booked to go across to Vlissingham to try and see this bird. A minor problem with an alarm meant we were a little late getting to Folkestone but it gave us time to get a bacon muffin and a cup of tea before boarding the train. We followed the Satnav’s directions and parked in a car park near the harbour. A quick scan saw some birders standing on a grass bank so we headed towards them, negotiating the various movable walkways across the  exit channels from the port. The gull had been seen about an hour before but had flown across the port and down channel. We spent some time scanning across the Scheldte checking out small gulls when David suddenly called it behind the Breskens ferry. It made it’s way into the port area, landed on the sea about 500 yds away and then flew over the sea wall and out of sight. Photographs were useless as it was just too far away for anything reasonable.

We spent most of the rest of the day checking out gulls flying up and down the river with several sightings but all distant and unphotographable. It did come in and land with some other gulls on the opposite side of the river but then flew back over the trees and disappeared from sight. We did have a break for a cup of tea and a cone of delicious Dutch Frites, some of the best in the world! There were also sightings of Buzzard, Merganzer, Coot, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Sanderling and two very tame Turnstones.

Eventually the light began to fade and it was time to head back to the ferry. The distance back to Calais is now much further since they built the Terneuzan tunnel and changed the Bresken ferry to foot passengers only. We arrived at the terminal with plenty of time to get something to eat before the train but the pressure of traffic through the passport controls on both sides meant it took over an hour to get through and we only just managed to catch our train. A very pleasant day and thanks to Martin for doing all the driving.

Day 6 - Al Abraq, Sulaibaikhet and Doha Spit

The usual early start with Pekka arriving early, having time to partake of a coffee and a bun because of lack of traffic, collecting and stowing our luggage and still out before 7.15. heading out on highway 70 towards Saudi Arabia. The drive was very interesting and gave us a chance to see a different part of the country. The roads were dual carriageway most of the way with trees planted on both sides. About 85 kms out of Kuwait there was what looked like a large town which Pekka told us was a breakers yard. It was massive with shacks and piles of bits. We turned right at the junction on to the Al Dubdiba road towards Iraq and drove another 25 kms before turning off onto a dirt track across the desert. There were some rubbish bags near the road and there was the almost guaranteed Desert Wheatear flitting around.  Another 10 kms brought us to Al Abraq, with the palms and trees appearing in the distance and getting closer as we approached - giving us an idea of how welcome the sight of an oasis was for travellers in the past.

Pekka parked the car and we walked around checking the trees and grassy areas. As we walked up to a water tank we found a new dragonfly for the trip and one we hadn't seen before. Later identification found it was a Slender Skimmer. There were the usual Vagrant Emperors and Eastern Scarlet Skimmers We all spread out and but there wasn't a lot of activity apart from a few Chiffchaffs and Song thrushes and a Sparrowhawk that flew over, proving not to be a Saker. I joined Pekka and David for a while as they followed a strange call but lost them among the trees so decided to walk through to the other end. I was half way there when David called to say he had seen a Redstart and had a Red-breasted Flycatcher calling. I called for Brenda and Alan, alerted Pekka who went to look for the others and walked rapidly back to find David. We followed the calls of the bird around the trees but had no sightings other than fleeting views of a Blackbird.

We drove back to Sulaibaikhet car park where there were lots of gulls including Armenian and lots of waders as yesterday but quite distant and no Crab Plovers. There were at least 10 Reef Herons standing on a line of posts out to sea and using them as fishing spots. We drove round to Manchester where there were more flamingos but no still no Crab Plovers.

Last call was to Doha spit where we walked the desert area first locating a Desert Wheatear then Pekka called us over for a desert warbler – seen flying and diving into a bush. Eventually we refound it and followed it carefully for a while till it flew away over the bushes.

Pekka drove us to airport where we sorted our luggage, had a Pasta meal with Pekka and then said our goodbyes and sat in the airport until time to check in and head for home. It had been a brilliant week in the desert 

Day 5 - Jahra Pools and coast

The usual 6.30 breakfast for 7.00 am start. We drove to Jahra Pools for a morning session at this lovely reserve. We parked by the first hide and walked along the reed track to the end. There were several 'squeaky' chiffchaffs but nothing that looked like a Mountain chiff. We could hear Little Grebes chattering and several Marsh Harriers floated about over the reeds with two or three Greater Spotted Eagles flying around and diving into the reed beds. There was a bit of excitement as two Great Black Headed Gulls flew around in lazy circles giving good views and of some of the plumage details. We drove back to the track for the second and third hides and parked up to try and get better views of the Graceful Prinias. Scanning the bushes near the road there were several Prinias flicking about and some singing as they went. They gave brilliant views as they searched through the dried seed heads. David followed an interesting looking Stonechat that turned out to be a Caspian Stonechat, showing the white in the tail. We checked out a singing Clamorous Reed Warbler, which showed very briefly and then was just seen moving in the reeds. While we were waiting the Osprey with the damaged wing flew over and a Red-spotted Bluethroat dropped into the ditch and hopped about among the reeds. There was another Clamorous singing at the back of a small clearing which Alan managed to get views of so we waited until it decided to climb some reed stems giving some nice views and allowing some photos.

We made our way to the third hide where Pekka came to fetch us as there were moustached warblers calling in front of the hide. We spent some time looking round when David found a Little Bittern hiding in the reeds, nearly impossible to see. We spent some time trying to decipher the bits of the bird before it flew out right and disappeared round the reeds. A Purple Gallinule appeared near a channel through the reeds and one or two Moustached Warblers flew about and chacked in the reeds.


We drove back past the second pool where we counted 76 Feruginous ducks, a possible Kuwaiti record. Other ducks included Pochard, Teal and Tufted. As we got there a White-winged  Black Tern flew over but didn't stop.

We then drove round to the beach in front of the Maternity Hospital and scanned for Les flamingo among the 1000s of flamingos plus other waders flying around giving an amazing flight like a starling murmuration. We moved to a beach area but the tide was very high so we went for lunch, returning when the tide was lower. There were only a few terns but more waders appeared as tide went down ,including Lesser and Greater Sand plover, Ringed plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, and Wimbrel. We spent the afternoon scanning and doing some rock pooling, picking out shells and coral.
man in canoe
As Pekka lived just round the corner he arranged for us to get a taxi back to the hotel where we ate in again. As we went back to the rooms we discovered we were locked out, a problem with the way the bill had been paid, but eventually it was all sorted and we went to our rooms, semi packed and turned in.