Brufut Woods (Day 7 Gambia) & appeal

Brufut Woods had plenty of birds whatever your interest

Pearl-spotted Owled

Little Bee-eater

African Green Parrot

African Scops Owl

Fine-spotted Woodpecker

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird

Beautiful Sunbird

Ebrima trying to find another species

Verreuxs Eagle Owl

White-faced Scops Owl

Long-tailed Nightjar

Long-tailed Nightjar

Welcome to Gambia

Cardinal Woodpecker

Woodland Bar

I've just realised I hadn't posted my final blog from the Gambia.  I was very happy of the birding I'd already done during the holiday however Brufut Woods with it's reported Owls was still an attraction. As I was walking across the square a polite guide called Ebrima stopped me for a chat and said he had seen me on twitter and wondered if I had time for any more birding. After a bit of negotiation we agreed to visit the wood the following morning, using my own local transport & Ebrima to guide around the site. Give Ebrima a follow on Twitter at @gambianbirder  .

The Woods were about 40 minutes away to the south which would have been very difficult to find without a guide. The woods were dense scrub land and forest throughout and are protected by West Africa Bird Study Association. On our walk we were also joined by a local ranger who is a long term friend of Ebrima.

Within a few yards I recorded my first new bird a African Green Parrot sitting up before seeing a Africa Harrier Hawk, Skira followed by four species of Owl including African Scops Owl, Pearl Spotted Owlett, White-faced Scops Owl & the impressive Verreuxs Eagle Owl.

I was very impressed with Ebrima's knowledge of the birds habits, calls as well as knowing all their latin names. Ebrima went out of his way to try and find exactly what I wanted to see. Two Woodpeckers I was desperate to see were Fine-spotted & Cardinal Woodpecker. The Cardinal took us a bit longer but with some careful listening we saw a pair very well.

Ebrima had another real treat for me as he put me within a metre of a male & female Long-tailed Nightjar. Hidden within the camouflage of the forest floor it took a couple of seconds to adjust the eye to see this Gambian superstar bird.

Other species recorded included Pin-tailed Whydah, Village Indiobird, African Paradise Flycatcher, Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Yellow-fronted Canary, Copper Sunbird, Yellow-fronted Leaflove, Singing Cisticola, Red Bishop & a Plantive Cisticola.

After a stunning morning we all retreated to the the woodland bar where we chilled with an ice cold drink before heading back to the hotel.

My trip ended seeing a fantastic 155 species in just seven days. We all had a fantastic holiday of a lifeline and met some truly amazing people.

On a very sad note we received word last week our good friend and gambian guide Moses died suddenly. Moses was one of the nicest and genuine people we have all met and we had the pleasure of visiting him & his family in their shared compound. Justine Passey, who introduced to Moses, is trying to raise £2,000 to build a home for his wife & five year old son Little Mo to enable them to try and rebuild their life in a safe environment. A crowd-funding page has been set up to help.

His outlook was to provide a better life for his wife and son so that they could move from their compound. He bought a plot of land and his dream was to build their own house! He put his son into school to better his education but now, all of that will be lost and survival is an unknown. These people have nothing yet they openly share what they have and never stop smiling, their hearts are huge and something we should all learn from.

Moses had plans for his dream house and the costings to build it which is only £2000.00, so Justine decided to put it out there to you all and to ask if anyone is prepared to donate £10.00 (or more at your discretion) - if this is something you feel you can help us with we'd be truly grateful so that we can ensure the safe wellbeing of Moses family following his sad passing. If any can help this would be truly amazing. 

Message from Justine -This has been done from my heart to put it out there to you all to see if you can help this one family to survive, trust me they do deserve it so if you can find it in your heart to help I thank you in advance from the bottom of my heart! Let's change someone's life together- Thank you ❤️X

Abuko (Day 6 Gambia)

Abuko

How many signs ?

Green Touraco

Giant Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher

Western Grey Plantain-eater

Violet Touraco

Abuko maain lagoon

Hammerkop

Broad-billed Roller

Palm-nut Vulture

Giant Kingfisher

Darwin Field Centre

Red Colobus Monkey

Mallick in action

The calming down Wasp sting

Just a few hundred metres across the road from the rice fields was the undisputed number one reserve in Gambia, Akubo. Abuko is 259 acres and enclosed in a 2.5 meter fence. It is among six protected wildlife management parks and covers an area of 105 hectares (roughly 2 sq. km). The park  is rectangular with a surrounding narrow strip around its boundaries acting as an extra buffer zone

Today, Abuko is the Gambia's most visited tourist attraction receiving approximately 33,000 visitors per year. One interesting fact is that it is the nearest tropical forest to Europe. Fifty types of mature tropical trees have been recorded in the protected area.

It has been estimated that there are over 290 bird species living within the forest. Birding within forest environments is always more difficult so this part of the day was about quality of which we most definitely achieved. We started with a perched female Giant Kingfisher, the largest Kingfisher in the world, which was probably the same size as a Rook. We then reached the Darwin Field Centre where we rested from the hot sun and got further views of both the male & female Kingfisher. It was very peaceful and I was delighted to see my first Violet Touracos. A Broad-billed Roller sat within a short distance watching me closely. A Palm-nut Vulture was going to and from its nest high in a palm tree on the opposite side of the lagoon whilst a Hammerkop collected nesting material. A pair of Great Grey Hornbills were displaying as Mottled Spinetails buzzed around them.

As we left the centre I was stung by a demon wasp on the back of neck. After a few chosen words (not ones I’d repeat to my mother) another birder came to rescue by treating the sting. I did have to cope with a large swelling for the rest of the day trip. The pain of the sting first disappeared when I started watching my first Green Touraco, what a bird. Views were very much on and off but this was a real wow moment, simply awesome.

The trip list had moved to a very pleasing 134, 16 away from my target.

Lamin Rice fields (Day 6 Gambia)

Great White Egret , Squacco Heron & Hammerkop

Straited Heron

Greenshank

Black Crake

Squacco Heron

Black-shouldered Kite

Senegal Thick-knee

Broad-biller Roller

Busy morning

More stunning habitat

My second trip with “King of Guides” Mallick Suso was to Lamin Rice Fields & Akubo. I’ll split the blog into two to accommodate my many photos. The rice field was around 35 minutes from the hotel. The dawn was amazing, sun rising and dawn chorus in full swing. There were awesome birds everywhere. The first channel we reached contained two Hammerkops, Black Egret, Squacco Heron & a Greenshank. It was just stunning. I picked out my first Giant Kingfisher in flight to which Mallick shrugged "I’ll get you much closer than that" ! Whilst watching a Night Heron, Mallick picked up a Straited Heron, yet another first.

Mallick was impressed that I found an African Crake which is a very difficult bird to find and in the same view we watched a Black Crake & African Rail. Further new species were added included Red-chested Swallow, Pied-winged Swallow, Black-shouldered Kite and African Harrier Hawk. It was great to see a Senegal Thick-knee much closer than I had previously. This was definitely a great place to spend a few hours. In addition to the fantastic selection of birds it was great to see the locals working close up on their land.

Lamin Lodge (Day 5 Gambia)

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

African Darter

African Darter

Through the mangroves

Tour party

Lamin Lodge

Lamin Lodge

Lunchtime guests

Namaqua Dove 

Love Gambia

Reading the tourist literature about Lamin Lodge you would be expecting fancy restaurant, that it is not. It is a nice place where to take in lunch over looking the mangroves. We also pre-booked a mangrove tour which took about 90 minutes. Very relaxing time and managing to see my first Snake bird the African Darter. This was the only one we saw during the stay and the guides gave me plenty of time to get a good look. Caspian terns flew over head and we also found our first Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. I was hoping to see an Osprey or two but no luck with this species I’m afraid. As we headed back along the sand track I shouted a loud halt as a Namaqua Dove was feeding right in the middle of the road.

If you are intending to do a full morning in the mangroves check the tide times and be prepared for the boatman and any one associated with the boat dispatch centre to ask for tip. Personally I’d only return here if I was birding.