Vienna - Day 1 - Hamster twitch

We arrived in Vienna after an early morning flight from Luton. A short wait to be collected
by the car hire company, a quick trip to the supermarket for lunch and we were on our way. We spent a bit of time looking for woodland and a place to stop for lunch but got a bit too east so we turned round and headed back towards Vienna, stopping along the river bank for lunch with the company of lots of Hooded crows sunbathing. We then managed to add the 'Spital' to the sat nav and we headed off. We found a car park near the hospital, walked through the gates and spent some time wandering the grounds. We found lots of burrows and a sign requesting care and respect for the hamsters, showing that these mammals are appreciated here, at least.

It was very hot so we spent some time sitting on a seat where there was a bit of breeze. Everyone but me got a a couple of short views of hamsters but nothing very satisfying, so we decided to give to till 4.30, when it would cool down. We explored an area near one of the gates which had tracks and trails and saw a hamster which gave good views. As we watched a kestrel crashed into the weeds with a heavy load which turned out to be a hamster which it proceeded to tear to pieces.

 I turned round to view the children's playground, which was now clear, and a hamster appeared on the lawn giving excellent views. Over the next hour or so we found lots of hamsters of different sizes, feeding and chasing each other about across the lawn and around the other parts of the grounds. They were quite wary and dashed for cover when there was any sudden movement or noise.

We tore ourselves away around 6.00pm and returned to the car park where we had a bit of a fight with the payment system, ringing up the help line twice to get us out. Then we set the sat nav and drove north to our second target, Gerasdorf. We tried a Gausthaus but it was shut and another was full so we tried the hotel, which looked shut but had a restaurant next door. We asked about accommodation and they let us through to the reception. There was no response to the bell but a sign suggested we phone a number which we did. We booked rooms and were given a number to get into the rooms but as it was getting towards 9.00 we ordered dinner at the restaurant first. We then fetched our luggage and walked up to the rooms but they just had a key hole not a number pad that we were expecting. A second phone call to the help line explained that there was a key safe at the front door where you keyed in the number given and # and a little door opened with a key for the door and the room. We arranged to meet up at 8.00 for breakfast, sorted ourselves out and went to bed after a very long and successful day.

A Day on Box Hill

I was picked up around 9 o'clock for our trip to Surrey. A short hold up around Pembury and we were at the Car Park to collect SG by about 10.30. Our first port of call was a chalk path close to the road where we found Box with Box bugs, Wild Allyssum.

On the way home

We were collected at 5.00am and taken the short drive to the airport saying goodbye to Mohammed who had looked after us extremely well over the week. Flights from Dakhla are limited so we were flying to Agadir via Casablanca in a turbo prop and then a wait of several hours before our Ryanair flight back to Stansted.

As we had our luggage to look after we took it in turns to go out of the airport and do some birding around the grounds with African Blue Tit seen by Gerald and Mahgreb Magpie, Corn Bunting and Greenfinch in the bushes and Swallows flying over. There were several butterflies and some interesting flowers to look at before returning, checking in and going through to departures where we had pizzas and chips and a decent sized beer for the boys before our uneventful flight back home after another really good trip to Morocco and Western Sahara.

Friday 17th - Last Day

We had an early start with the usual breakfast of Semolina, jam and tea before setting off back along the Assouerd Road. We took a shortcut across what looked like a sand quarry, probably to avoid police checkpoints. A short way along the road we had brilliant views of the desert species of Little Owl, which we spent a little time watching and photographing. 

Back on the main road we drove up to Km 56 where we went offroad to a small oasis by a dripping pump which creates a pool and a stream which meandered into the desert. 

We stopped by the pool and got to scan round. There were several flocks of sandgrouse flying around and dropping into the stream a little way away. We studies them on the ground and found quite a few Crowned Sandgrouse among the Spotted Sandgrouse. Unfortunately a flock of goats came across the desert to drink and spooked the birds, which got up and flew round before flying away. Around the oasis we found Thekla larks, a Peregrine flew over and a Long-legged Buzzard was sitting up on a cliff. 

We walked out to a wadi finding a Wolf Spider under a stone on the way. The area was under some sort of cultivation with alfalfa, sunflowers and remains of maize in small, rough fields. Around the bushes were Tawny Pipits, Thekla Larks, Red-rumped Swallows and a very smart Desert Wheatear. In the grassy areas there was a good colony of Ornithigallum and several butterflies, including African Grass Blue, Long-tailed Blue and Lang's Short-tailed Blue in the alfalfa.

We started off towards Bir Anzerine but Mohammed decided to divert to a disused farm area which wasn't so far away. There were some buildings and it had once had a very sophisticated water system as there was water gushing out of a pipe and the area was surrounded by a concrete aqueduct system although it wasn't in use. There was a geometric field system with several areas planted up with alfalfa.

The cars parked under some eucalyptus and we explored the bushes and scrub. There was a sizeable pool and some very damp areas where the water ran and this attracted a lovely, red dragonfly and among the trees we found lots of Chiffchaffs and 2 Bluethroats, which proved very tricky to photograph. A Kestrel hunted from a tree in the middle of the 'farm' and some interesting spiders hung in webs among the plants.

After about an hour we were called over for lunch under the eucalyptus trees which kept us cool and shaded. It included some really delicious oranges. After this we worked our way back to Dakhla, stopping at a municipal garden area which had trees planted in a grid forming a series of rectangular plots which did look a little neglected. They had picnic areas which were obvious very popular judging by the huge piles of empty plastic bottles. There were Little Swifts flying overhead, House Sparrows and several warblers in the bushes.We also found a lizard trying to keep cool by lifting its body and individual legs off the ground.

We drove along the coast stopping for a sea-watch, with sandwich terns feeding off-shore, and as we got closer to Dakhla we found a couple of Little Ringed Plovers poking about in a wet area created by a leaking pipe.

We arrived back at our apartments, sorted out our bags and went for a final tea and coffee at the corner cafe. The tea ceremony here is taken very seriously and takes about ten minutes to perform. We were collected at 7.00pm, spent a little time exploring some of the markets, the food one was very interesting, and then went to an Italian restaurant for a celebratory beer, as most places are teetotal. Unfortunately, they weren't very friendly, the beers were small and expensive and the food was nothing to shout about. There was a large group getting together, most likely from the Forum, so it's possible that they were very busy. We then returned to the apartments for an early night before our early morning flight back to Agadir.

I forgot my tracker today so I have a slightly different track from the phone which may share in a different way. Click here