Gabon - September 2024

I've soon returned from an adventurous tour to Gabon, along with seven Naturetrek clients. There were many highlights throughout; top of the list for me were watching for over an hour, a 15-strong family of Western Lowland Gorillas at Loango National Park. Other amazing bits were finding a troop of Mandrill, watching a sand-digging African River Martin, getting within mere metres from a Vermiculated Fishing Owl, plus a whole suite of primates.

The tour visited Lope National Park, the various waterways around Lambarene and finished at the wildlife haven that is Loango. It was however not without its issues, as ground transportation in these regions are hardly up to date or reliable, but there were very few hiccups, as long as journey times and bumps aren't included. 

Other good birds were Pel's Fishing Owl, a beautiful mixed flock of Cassin's and Sabine's Spinetails, a Chestnut-flanked Sparrowhawk, lots of Damara Terns, two African Cuckoo Hawks, an African Dwarf Kingfisher, stacks of Rosy Bee-eaters, Carmelite Sunbirds, a few Loango Weavers, amongst others. Only 22 new birds for me though, not helped by not visiting the eastern regions and having visited Angola recently.

Visiting the national parks in the eastern part of the country would be up there if I was to ever make it back to Gabon, so looks like a tour to the DR Congo is next... not really!

Western Lowland Gorillas

African River Martin - approximately 20 seen

Grey Pratincole

Hartlaub's Duck

Red-chested Cuckoo

Square-tailed Nightjar

Crowned Guenon

Grey-cheeked Mangabey

Mandrill

Putty-nosed Monkey

African Grey Parrots

Black-bellied Seedcracker

Forest Elephant

Long-snouted Crocodile

Seaford Head 4th September 2024

This morning was my first and last visit on the old patch this autumn and I had relatively high hopes of digging out a Wryneck, this despite there not being too many along the south coast currently. However, luck was on my side and whilst walking the western edge of Hope Bottom, the unmistakable sound of a flushing Wryneck alerted me to one just ahead as I watched it disappear over the bushes. Thankfully it had landed in a cleared area and I quickly re-found the bird as it sat sunning itself... a wonderful moment and a bird I will never tire of seeing, let alone finding. 

It was good to see Terry and Alan bird ringing this morning and they showed me some of their catch, but in general it was a quiet morning with 10 Tree Pipits, seven Grey Wagtails, 20 Yellow Wagtails, two Whinchats and the usual warblers on show. 

On Friday I head to Gabon for a few weeks leading, then one final week at work before travelling extensively with Emily to Madagascar, Philippines and Borneo, and then... we both flee for a new adventure/life in Scotland!

phone-scoped pic of the Wryneck

Blackcap

Chiffchaff (left) and Willow Warbler

Angola June/July 2024

On 14th June, I went into true Fairbank-style with getting a bus to Heathrow and sleeping on the floor overnight, waiting for the TAP check-in desks to open, where I swiftly checked-in and was soon on my way to Lisbon, where I later met up with Mike Catsis and Will Price. It was then onwards to Luanda and a 15-minute taxi to our hotel where we met Niall Perrins, who had spent a few days driving from Jo'burg to Luanda. He was to drive another crazy amount over the next 2.5 weeks, as we navigated Angola, from Luanda to Uige, down crisscrossing our way to Lobango.

It was an excellent trip with 88 new birds for me, with particular highlights being White-headed Robin Chat, Gabela Bushshrike, Angolan White-headed Barbet, Rufous-bellied Tit, Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye, Gabela Helmetshrike, Red-crested Turaco, Bohm's Spinetail and Braun's Bushshrike, to name only a few. 

The country, despite some nice areas, is in a terrible state and many of the above species will vanish in no time, due to an incompetent rate of forest clearance. The Tundavala escarpment near to Lobango was stunning, both for the views and the birding and was a welcome ending after a few weeks of depressing sights. 

Niall, having expertly guided us, finally left us in Lobango as he started his epic journey back home, whilst we flew back to Luanda, stayed overnight, then flew home the following day, arriving on 2nd July. 

Below are a few pictures of the trip. I purposefully left my camera at home and I really enjoyed being without it, so expect fewer nice photos in the future. The below are all phone-scoped pics, bar the views of course.

Angola Cave Chat

African Broadbill - only seen one previously in Uganda, 2016

African Spotted Creeper - only one seen previously in Ethiopia, 2012

Achieta's Barbet

Angolan White-headed Barbet - touted as one of the rarest birds in Africa,
this mega was located on our final morning at its only known location
at Tundavala.

Beach Life - most wanted and I went straight into seawatching
mode, finding a few Wilson's Petrels and a West African Crested Tern.

White-headed Barbet location

Black Bee-eater

Braun's Bushshrike

Tundavala Escarpment

Calandula Falls - the third largest in Africa

Hartlaub's Spurfowl - after dipping in Namibia, it was awesome to see 
this chunky-billed spurfowl

Kinjila - a pristine forest only a few years ago, now nearly all gone

Miombo Rock Thrush

Monteiro's Bushshrike

Pale-billed Hornbill

Rufous-bellied Tit - another Namibian dip

Schalow's Turaco

Swiestra's Francolin - a mega bird and one of the highlights

White-headed Robin Chat - a beauty, but, a mega range-restricted species
with only tiny pockets of habitat left

Wood Pipit - another Namibian dip

Pulborough Brooks RSPB - 11 June 2024

On Tuesday morning a video was sent out onto the Sussex Rare Bird WhatsApp group where for the life of me could not hear a Savi's Warbler. I went home at lunch and had another listen, this time just about picking up the distinctive 'reeling' noise. So, on my way down to Dad's I nipped in and went down to Nettley's. After only ten minutes, I could pick out the Savi's reeling away but far to the south, probably off Little Hangar. I whacked the news out and walked around, where a few others joined me. 

It was a near-impossible task from our current position, so we nipped down to the same level, at least this time clearly hearing the bird but still not able to get a sighting. Thankfully, the warbler was clearly working its way towards us and standing in a public area close to the riverbank, the Savi's Warbler propped itself atop a reed stem and sang away clearly in perfect view. Having seen two in Sussex before, this by far the best view I had obtained anywhere, so I was delighted and mightily glad I dropped in to take a look.

Also out on the North Brooks was a smart Whinchat, Little Ringed Plover, Hobby and the expected stuff.

Other recent bits have included the Bridled Tern at Coquet Island (seen only distantly from mainland) and of course the mighty Cirl Bunting at Mile Oak.

Savi's Warbler at Pulborough Brooks, clearly
showing the paler outer primary edging here.

Ezemvelo Nature Reserve, South Africa - 21st April 2024

As I had most of Sunday in Jo'burg, I managed to find a local bird guide called Wian van Zyl to take me out for the day. I handed over a list of birds which were new to me (only five or six species) and I let Wian sort the rest. 

Wian picked me up at the airport hotel at 5.30am (breakfast helpfully served from 4am) and off we went heading west to the Guateng region. Wian was excellent company throughout and we had a superb day, this despite the majority of my target species not appearing.

A Black/Great Sparrowhawk flew over us at some traffic lights and close to the entrance of Ezemvelo, we found a Black-shouldered Kite, Southern Fiscal, Cape Grassbird, Levaillant's Cisticola and Ostrich. We entered the reserve and a start/stop drive in this predator-free reserve was mostly quiet, but I was more than happy observing some excellent antelopes. Most interesting to me were Black Wildebeest, Blesbok, Plains Zebra and a Common Duiker, plus a Black-backed Jackal was also seen. 

Noteworthy birds were some stunning Red-throated Wryneck; Buffy Pipit was new, plus Greater Double-collared Sunbird, Spotted Thick-knee, Brubru, Black-chested Prinia and Cape Longclaw as we progressed the dusty track. At the accommodation block, things spiced up a bit with one of my targets coming into some playback, this being a Striped Pipit. The pipit showed brilliantly for 10-minutes. A Mocking Cliff Chat, Chinspot Batis, Violet-backed Starling, Banded Martin, Bar-throated Apalis and Southern Black Flycatcher were also here, adding to the joys of encountering these excellent species after such a long gap. A drive further out into the reserve added some larks and pipits to the day, with Eastern Clapper (new) and Spike-heeled Larks, and, Nicholson's Pipit, plus Cloud Cisticola and a Pearl-breasted Swallow flew through.

One species that has eluded me during my trips to Africa is African Cuckoo-hawk, so with searing temperatures, we headed to Wilge River Valley which is apparently a good spot. However, on this occasion, thousands of locusts stole the show, with any nearby cuckoo-hawks no doubt gauging themselves on this recent hatch. Little was seen here but by the early afternoon I was battered and was quite happy just sitting by the river and eating lunch... what's happened to me!! Anyway, birds seen here comprised Hamerkop, Brubru, Southern Black Tit, Grosbeak Weaver and lots of quelea and sparrows. 

Wian dropped me off mid-afternoon and I caught my flight back to the UK, arriving early doors on Monday morning and was back into the office at 10am... probably a mistake as all week I've had a horrendous fever.

Striped Pipit

Red-throated Wryneck

Ostrich

Ezemvelo NR

Lunch stop

Saint Helena Island - April 2024

In March, I had a quite incredible invitation through work to spend a week on one of the remotest islands in the world, this being Saint Helena. The invite was through the tourist board and I joined 25 others in what would be a remarkable push for tourism for the island, this despite its many access challenges. 

On Thursday 18th April, I took a direct flight to Jo'Burg where I had a free day on the Friday, to only explore locally, but this did produce Red-headed Finch (a South African tick), Greater Striped Swallow, Speckled Mousebird, Little Swift, Cape Robin Chat, Cape Wagtail, Hadeda Ibis, Karoo Thrush and a few other commoner species around the hotel, all of which were nice to reacquaint myself with, not having seen most of these since 2014.

The Saturday morning we took a flight to Saint Helena, stopping for half-hour at Walvis Bay in Namibia to re-fuel, but not a single bird was seen here! It was then a further three hours to the island and as we descended out of the clouds, the volcanic rock emerged and we soon landed on the short runway. White Terns and Masked Boobies were apparent on the approach.

On our drive to Jamestown I saw three Saint Helena Plovers (aka Wirebird, named for their long legs) which meant I'd seen pretty much every native bird before the trip had even started. After checking in at the superb Mantis Hotel, I walked down to the waterfront and seawatched for a while, finding Band-rumped Storm-petrels, a mystery and very distant Pterodroma petrel, Brown and Masked Boobies, Red-billed Tropicbirds, breeding White Terns above my head, but best of all, an unexpected Ascension Frigatebird was spotted circling high up and remained on view for a good ten minutes. Many non-natives were also seen, mostly Java Sparrow, Common Waxbill, Yellow Canary and Common Myna. Over the week I saw perhaps 40 plovers, most around the Golf Course.

Saint Helena Plover

The week comprised taking in the various 'tourist sites', but this did include Napoleon's museum/house which was beyond incredible. I'm far from a history buff, but this was a true eye-opener. Several hikes and many swims were also had, the latter allowing some excellent views of the endemic fish life: Saint Helena Butterfly fish being the most impressive. 

However, the best was saved until last when we managed to scrounge a boat and go snorkeling with the gentle giant, this being a superb Whale Shark! A majestic Devil Ray was also about! The shark was simply brilliant, this being a life-long ambition and it didn't disappoint as it casually cruised by back and forth for ten minutes and approached within yards!

Final descent towards Saint Helena

Jacob's Ladder - the record for going up 
is 5mins 5secs... my attempt was 6mins 19secs

Off Jamestown. The sailing ship on the left was
departing for the Caribbean midway through the week 

View of Jamestown

Millennium Forest

Napoleon's tomb

The shadow of a Whale Shark just about visible

easier from below