Sunday 1st April
Arose at 0600, in pitch darkness, and no lights as the generator had not been started.
Following an application of Immodium, I dressed in darkness, and waited for daylight.
The generator was started at 0700, coinciding with daybreak. A glance out of the tunnel; sorry, window, revealed a short stretch of sand out of the back of the casbah, with a large grove of stumpy trees beyond.
It was a brilliant totally cloudless sunrise; but a bit chilly as I stumbled outside, and out of the back along the side of the trees. The first bird was a new one for the week; a TURTLE DOVE, quickly followed by the inevitable HOUSE BUNTING . Somewhere in the trees, I could hear a Hoopoe calling, but I couldn’t locate it, in fact I never saw one the entire holiday. Shades of Lesvos. My persistence revealed a number of WILLOW WARBLERS however, obviously on migration.
I returned to my room to pack, thinking that one night in the casbah was sufficient. Moving my luggage to the gate, I sat on the wall surrounding the well to wait for breakfast. I was soon joined by Tony and Peter, who had also been walkabout at the back. He’d done better than me though, seeing two SUB ALPINE WARBLERS. The rest of the party then joined us and Paul presented me with a birthday card signed by everyone. This was something of a shock, since I thought that it was actually the thirty first of March. I had a certain amount of embarrassment, since I couldn’t buy everyone a drink because of the Moroccan reluctance to change travellers cheques, and I didn’t have much stirling. I resolved to get some Dirhams as soon as possible, to retrieve the situation.
Whilst everyone was loading up the bus, I went across the road to take a photograph of the front of the casbah. When I went back to the bus, Paul pointed out a little flock of TRUMPETER FINCHES, feeding amongst the roadside gravel. These birds for a change did not look as pretty as the book showed them. I then noticed an interesting bird perched on the wires. I said “Isn’t that a WHITE CROWNED BLACK WHEATEAR”. The reply was ;” Yes , but since you were standing right underneath it to take a photo, we’d thought you’d seen it”.We did actually see another one, but it could have been a tragedy for me.
It was going to be an extremely hot day, in fact it was the hottest of the week attaining 86 deg.F in the shade, and something like 110 in the sun. Despite the heat , it was not strength sapping due to the lack of humidity.
Our first target was Mourning Wheatear. A very difficult species to see, and Paul knew of only one site, so this was critical. The site was a dry oud, in the most barren part of the desert, a few miles north of “Wazza”. On the road, or at least above it, we discerned large numbers of migrating BEE EATERS, and a solitary hunting SPARROW HAWK. After a couple of false starts we found the correct oud, and clambered out of the bus. As we wandered along the oud, some excitement ensued, but the two birds turned out to be male and female WHITE CROWNED BLACK WHEATEAR, followed by half a dozen TRUMPETER FINCHES and a WOODCHAT SHRIKE. We were now about a quarter of a mile from the bus, and the sun was beating down, and I started to feel quite ill, and had to sit down on a rock. “To hell with the birds, I’m going back to the bus”, I thought. A few moments later, someone, I think it was Peter spotted our target, male and female MOURNING WHEATEAR . This cheered me up somewhat, but I still didn’t feel too good. However I felt well enough to draw everyone’s attention to our first DESERT LARK. This was back to form in appearance, since it looked much better than the illustration in the book. I then decided I’d done enough, and headed back towards the shade of the bus. On the way I noticed that the only bush in the area contained an elusive bird which didn’t really want to show itself. Our group showed great interest and set up the ‘scopes, and Paul went to circumnavigate the bush. The bird however kept to the opposite side of the bush, and pretty much out of sight. “O.K what is it” said Paul. “Looks like a nightingale to me” I replied. I then suggested that I should circle the bush whilst Paul joined the others on the ‘scopes. After two circuits, Paul decided that it was indeed a NIGHTINGALE, obviously on migration and pretty much exhausted. This was my last starring role and I stumbled back to the bus feeling a bit rough, totally ignoring the overflying SWALLOWS and BEE EATERS.
The next call was what remained of the shrinking barrage to the east of “Wazza” This used to be a good bird spot, but for some years the water had been receding.
All that we could find was a long narrow strip of water and some rather smelly mud. Birds seen here were six NORTHERN WHEATEAR, five LITTLE RINGED PLOVER, a GREY WAGTAIL, WOOD SANDPIPER, CRESTED LARK and two YELLOW(BLUE HEADED) WAGTAIL. The children then started to arrive, so we climbed in the bus and left.
Despite feeling ill, Tony and myself had been whinging on about wanting to look at the main part of the reservoir/barrage. Paul eventually gave in, although he said it was a waste of time and we wouldn’t see much. Well he was right, but then again he was wrong.
He selected a track heading in the general direction of the lake, and we parked by a lush oasis of tall palms and tamarisks. We dismounted and headed for the water through fields of thin irrigated barley, separated by low thin hedges. Even ignoring the continuous BEE EATERS passing overhead , the place was brilliant. After tracking down BLACK EARED WHEATEAR, WHINCHAT, twelve YELLOW (BLUE HEADED) WAGTAIL and a BONELLIS WARBLER, a howl of excitement from Paul greeted a magnificent low flying BARBARY FALCON, which showed off low above us for some minutes. Paul said that it was the best view he’d ever had of that species. The excitement continued with four WILLOW WARBLERS and three SUB ALPINE WARBLER, and then more excitement produced by three TAWNY PIPITS. Still, we weren’t finished as above, amongst the migrating BEE EATERS appeared first an OSPREY carrying a fish, a male MONTAGUES HARRIER, three BOOTED EAGLES, and five BLACK KITE.
In the middle of all this hysteria, we discovered that it was impossible to get anywhere near the water, so we headed back towards the bus. Paul suddenly shouted “ Everyone concentrate on that right hand Bee Eater”. We soon saw that it was a BLUE CHEEKED BEE EATER. Miraculously, the sky suddenly became alive with both BLUE CHEEKED and EUROPEAN BEE EATERS, many of which settled in bushes together, giving a superb comparison. And still we weren’t finished as Helen spotted a DESERT WHEATEAR running about among the crops. The next sightings: SEDGE WARBLER, COMMON BULBUL, and WOODCHAT SHRIKE seemed very mundane following this. In the middle of all this we had eaten our picnic, and Helen had insisted in rehydrating me with a solution of salt, sugar, and warm water, and since I felt too ill to argue, I took it, and incredibly immediately started to feel much better.
As we left, Paul grinned and said, “I’ll have to come here again another time, I told you it would be a good spot for birds”.
We still insisted on getting to the water, and headed towards the water extraction plant, where the warden unlocked the gate and let us in following a small bribe. For such a large area of water there was very little on it,and Paul said,” I told you so”., but this was before he’d noticed the twenty or thirty RUDDY SHELDUCK dabbling in the shallows, a species that many of us wanted to see. The only other birds around were about fifty GREY HERON, six GREAT CRESTED GREBE, three GREAT WHITE EGRET,two GREAT CORMORANT, and two MALLARD. As we drove out of the compound we noted a flock of twelve TRUMPETER FINCHES grubbing about in the gravel.
The thirty mile journey to Boulmane du Dades, although following the River Dades valley, was mainly desert, with little to be seen except for the occasional flock of migrating BEE EATERS.
Boulmane was a surprisingly large spread out town, located in and on the sides of a river valley. Our hotel, the state run Hotel Madayeq, was a huge fort like structure frowning down over the east side of the town from the valley top. The approaches to the hotel weren’t too salubrious by our standards, comprising of military camps and down at heel housing, only partly finished as usual. The hotel was an enormous structure on four levels with a swimming pool and large balcony overlooking the town. Paul told us that we would probably be the only guests, but there was a Swiss birding group there, as well as a few other couples.
The room was quite large and clean, but there was a permanent shortage of water, both hot and cold, which made things a little difficult on occasions. Since it was only 1700, Paul suggested that we should have a short trip into the desert to the famous Tadgilt track. Since Peter and Michael had now caught the dreaded Moroccan tummy, we were a little short handed.
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The desert, which started one hundred yards from the hotel, was of the flat, gritty, stony variety, with scattered six inch high bushes of camel thorn here and there. It stretches about a hundred miles east to west bounded by the Moyen(High) Atlas to the north, and the lower Jbel Sarhro mountains to the east, north to south the desert was about thirty miles wide. In fact to sum it up; it was pretty uninspiring, and difficult to believe that it would hold any birds, but it just goes to show that birds aren’t interested in scenery.
My stomach was still giving trouble, but I didn’t feel too bad as we headed for the Tadgilt track, about five miles south east. We found when we got there that the track had become a narrow metalled road since Pauls last visit two years before.
Paul told us that early morning and late afternoon was the best time for birds in the desert, away from the worst of the day’s heat.
An emergency stop ensued when Brahim spotted a snake at the side of the track. When we investigated, it proved to be a thin eighteen inch long dark grey snake which was fairly unimpressive but it couldn’t half move fast. A brownie point to Brahim for spotting it.
We dismounted; and with me clutching my stomach, went walkabout. Apart from the odd camel in the distance, and a hunting LONG LEGGED BUZZARD gliding above, the desert showed no sign of life.
Paul; who had done this kind of thing before, told us to focus on the ground thirty yards ahead and look for signs of movement, since most of the desert birds are well camouflaged. Paul suddenly froze and looked through his scope. Two STONE CURLEW walking slowly away from us. Nobody else had seen them, and it just proved that professional birdwatchers have a better eye for birds than us mere mortals, which he proved continually. When birds were located, a reference point could usually be provided by errant black or occasionally white plastic bags, which is the advantage of having the town tip only a few miles away and up wind.
Paul then spotted three CROWNED SANDGROUSE, walking slowly away. These were the first he had seen in Morocco, and were not at all common. Then it was Tony’s turn to draw our attention to a DESERT WHEATEAR, which did at least sit up on a bush for us to admire it. It was then back to Paul again for two RED RUMPED WHEATEAR, not as impressive as it’s picture, and the red rump not very obvious.
We finished a little early since I was in quite severe pain, and wasn’t happy until we arrived back at the hotel. Having sought relief in my room and administered Immodium, I attempted to walk out of my patio door without opening it and banged my nose on the glass. Feeling much better by now, also feeling dirty and sweaty, I decided to have a swim in the outdoor pool. It was desperately cold but I persisted for a short time. Val, seeing me swimming decided to join me , but only made it up to her knees, due to the water temperature.
There then followed a very cautious dinner. The only member of the Swiss birding group who could speak English was an extremely friendly Dutchman, who regaled us with tales of their adventures, and the “spicies” they had seen. He also regaled us with large slugs from his bottle of Remy Martin cognac, which he was carrying around. He must have had plenty of money to pay Hotel prices for it. They were having four weeks covering the whole of Morocco, starting at the far north and working their way down. So far they had not , unlike us missed any of the anticipated “spicies”.
I took to my bed at 1030, having a very disturbed Immodium night. What a birthday!
Monday 2nd April
Awoke at 0600 feeling a little frail, but soon livened up. I felt there was something missing: the pains in my stomach. This cheered me up somewhat.
Enjoyed a frugal breakfast; enjoyed the view from the terrace, wished the resident HOUSE BUNTING a good morning, and joined the bus.
We headed straight for the Tagdilt track, together with a vast military convoy heading for the Algerian border, but we lost them when we turned onto the track. We disembarked a mile or two further south than the previous evening , and were walking in the desert by 0715, before the heat of the day got too much. Paul informed us that it was known as the Hamanda Desert, and so we started the great lark hunt as the sun rose higher, and it began to get warm, therefore I donned my kepi i.e. a tee shirt over my head and my hat on top of it leaving the shirt hanging over the back of my neck..
Apart from a few BARN SWALLOWS migrating overhead, birds were a little sparse. In the first thirty minutes all we could manage were two RED RUMPED WHEATEARS. It was so boring that many of us took to turning over stones to try to find beetles, scorpions or snakes, which was also unsuccessful.
Paul decided to change our pitch so we headed a mile or two southeast along a side track. Another stop produced a result, when Paul spotted a small flock of TEMMINCKS HORNED LARK, my sixteenth new bird of the holiday. These are like a very pale version of the Horned(Shore)Lark. The seventeenth new bird was not long in coming, when I spotted our first HOOPOE LARK. A very obliging bird that kept hopping up onto the camel scrub, and singing a very sweet song, for such an ungainly looking bird.
We were moving to another area when I spotted a pair of CREAM COLOURED COURSERS, running among the stones.
Whilst the others admired the original pair, I scanned the other side of the track, and spotted half a dozen more Coursers. In fact we seemed to be surrounded by the things, which were however, a spectacularly attractive bird. Whilst everyone sated themselves on the Coursers, a flock of some twenty
SHORT TOED LARKS landed amongst them. We then drove a little way eastwards to camp in the shade of a ruined casbah. As we disembarked, we were virtually surrounded by CREAM COLOURED COURSERS. There must have been sixty or seventy of them, And to think that the last trip only saw two .
As we consumed our picnic lunch, we watched Arabs bringing donkeys and camels to a well about a quarter of a mile away, to fill up their water panniers. As a LONG LEGGED BUZZARD soared overhead, a breeding DESERT WHEATEAR carried material to it’s nest hole in the ruin, and a flock of six COMMON SWIFTS zoomed overhead heading northwards.
Some hilarity was occasioned by a large black camel galloping across the desert at high speed, followed with some difficulty by a smaller juvenile. The youngster eventually gave up and stopped with a disgusted snort, which in camel language I think, meant sod it.
Lunch completed we headed back north east through throngs of CREAM COLOURED COURSERS
They must have been into three figures by now. A further halt produced two THEKLA LARKS,two RED RUMPED WHEATEARS, a DESERT WHEATEAR, and another pair of HOOPOE LARKS.
We could see our Swiss and Dutch friends about a mile away across the desert. We ran out of Courser country and headed for the main road, seeing nothing but TEMMINCKS HORNED LARKS en route.
As we headed for the hotel for a 1300 lunch, we were conscious that the flows of BEE EATERS had restarted heading north west.
The Swiss party had beaten us back to the hotel, and were loaded up and just about to leave. We compared notes of course and found that they had only seen two CREAM COLOURED COURSERS, and they were only half a mile from at least a hundred of them. More importantly for us, they had seen our missing lark “spicies”; Thick Billed, and explained exactly where they had found them.
An important task now had to be performed; acquisition of some dirhams. Only the banks would accept travellers cheques, and Moroccan banks only opened for two hours a day from two until four, and for two hours, as we discovered were packed to the doors. Brahim took four of us to a bank in the town, and miraculously despite the crowd I seemed to sail direct to the counter. Even more miraculously I was the only one to get any money since I was the only one able to produce my purchase receipt, which they insisted upon. Obviously shades of French beaurocracy.
Back at the hotel, masses of BEE EATERS and a single BLUE CHEEKED BEE EATER sailed across the hotel terrace.
Back in the bus we headed into the town for a drive along the Dades Gorge. This is something of a tourist route, which we weren’t particularly impressed with. There were people and houses for most of the way, and we’d already seen plenty of gorges and rock faces to last us a month. Birds, some of us saw along the gorge were, lots of BEE EATERS and CATTLE EGRETS, HOUSE MARTIN, COMMON BULBUL, HOOPOE, WHITE STORK, WOODCHAT SHRIKE, and two quite large flocks of ROCK DOVE. The most interesting feature was that as we drove up the hill in Boulmain back to the hotel, we spotted a thirty foot tree containing about fifty CATTLE EGRET.
Since my stomach was once more acting up, we made a brief comfort stop at the hotel for my benefit, and then headed straight for the Tagdilt track once more, this time staying nearer the town in the spot the Swiss had seen the two Thick Billed Lark, which was described as a small oud, running parallel to a big oud, fifty yards away We were somewhat nearer the town tip now as could be seen by the increase in frequency of plastic bags.
A long search ensued along the ouds, until we saw our first signs of life in the person of ten TEMMINCKS HORNED LARK. We then entered an area of RED RUMPED WHEATEAR where we saw ten in as many minutes. A LONG LEGGED BUZZARD glided above, obviously realizing that I was in great pain and about to expire at any moment. Tony the spotted a distant flying ROLLER and then a HOOPOE. Only Paul saw the Roller, but Val and I were the only ones to miss the Hoopoe.
A large mixed flock of about a hundred BARN SWALLOWS and COMMON SWIFTS, passed overhead, hotly pursued by a LANNER FALCON, and a trailing KESTREL.
.It was obviously raptor half hour as a LONG LEGGED BUZZARD and no less than three BOOTED EAGLES passed overhead.
I was in dreadful pain by this time and could hardly hardly raise any interest in the two DESERT WHEATEAR, and three THEKLA LARK, however as we headed back disappointed towards the bus, Paul spotted the two THICK BILLED LARKS, in exactly the spot that we had been told about.
This is certainly one “spicies” that you can’t mistake. They were extremely co operative and allowed plenty of close ‘scoping much to our relief. Much to my relief we headed for the bus and the hotel at high speed with me clutching my stomach.
Relief finally attained I reported for a very cautious dinner, learning that Peter had also now started the dreaded Moroccan tummy with a vengeance at both ends. After dinner a flock of passing BEE EATERS made me head for the terrace except that the glass door was closed, and I smashed my nose and raised a lump on my head on the strength of it. After mopping up the blood I decided that the best thing I could do was to take to my bed, and write the day off, which I immediately did, sleeping soundly until 0700 without a break.
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Tuesday 3rd April
Had an excellent nights sleep,arising at 0700. Once again, my digestive problem seemed to be having a day off; much to my relief, since today was the long 220 miles transfer to Taroudant. The bus was loaded, and we were on the road by 0815, SW along the Vallee du Dades (Dades Valley) as far as “Wazza”. Fortunately it turned out to be an overcast if bright day, ideal for travelling.
Poor Peter was having a torrid time with his stomach, which necessitated periodic stops for him to throw up etc, which put him into the most convenient seat for diving out.
Passing through the long strip development away from Boulmaine, some saw a HOOPOE, and we all saw large numbers of passing SWALLOW, HOUSE MARTINS, and BEE EATERS heading north east. In a village we saw a tree containing about thirty roosting CATTLE EGRETS.
Our main priority was looking for Sand Grouse as we passed through the surrounding desert, since our only sighting had been only three Crowned Sandgrouse, on our first expedition to the Tagdilt track.
Patience was rewarded somewhat unsatisfactorily, when Paul and myself spotted two sandgrouse heading towards the bus at high speed from the right hand side. Although we stopped very quickly, they disappeared behind a hill. Paul who’d had the better view said that they were definitely BLACK BELLIED SAND GROUSE, but enquiries revealed that Paul and I were the only ones to have actually seen them, which made us rather popular. The flock of near by THEKLA LARKS were almost ignored with disgust.
We had a half hour stop in “Wazza” for coffee, provisions and money. I just had a short lone walk seeing CATTLE EGRET, HOUSE BUNTING, COMMON BULBUL, and several passing BEE EATERS for my trouble.
The next fifty miles of rolling desert were somewhat boring and birdless, only producing a WHITE STORK and a LONG LEGGED BUZZARD. Paul told us that he had in the past spent hours prospecting this area, but had seen very little. As we passed over some outlying foothills of the Anti Atlas, we spotted a pleasant little wooded valley with a stream, where we stopped for our picnic lunch. This proved to be a superb little oasis for resting migrants. Apart from the resident BLACK WHEATEAR posing on a summit rock, there were bushes full of BEE EATERS, as well as a lot of resting WILLOW WARBLERS, half a dozen BONELLIS WARBLER, a few BLACKCAPS, a couple of SUB ALPINE WARBLERS, a NIGHTINGALE and a WOODCHAT SHRIKE which was also probably a resident.
Picnic over we set off once more: seeing continual BEE EATERS heading north. We shortly ran out of the desert into slightly greener country. Although rather arid, there was a certain amount of cultivation and a few groves of Olive Trees etc. Birds seen en route; during our periodic stops for Peter, were KESTREL, BLACK WHEATEAR, BLACK EARED WHEATEAR, SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE. and the inevitable migrating BEE EATERS.
A stop for a leg stretch; and Peter, at an olive grove near Tazenhakht , produced a number of WHINCHAT, WILLOW WARBLER, a few COMMON BULBUL, a MOUSSIERS REDSTART, a COMMON REDSTART, and a BLACK EARED WHEATEAR. Peter who had wandered off on his own for obvious reasons also saw a HOOPOE.
Another “Peter” stop, produced more BEE EATERS and a BLACK KITE, plus more importantly for me, our first GREENISH BLACK TIP butterfly, which is perversely a small yellow insect of about one and a quarter inch wingspan.
A leg stretch etc. in a hilltop olive grove at the head of the Sous valley near Aboulouz gave us good views of THEKLA LARK, unusually singing on the top of a small tree, two COMMON REDSTART, several GREENFINCH and CHAFFINCH, and after something of a hunt two ORPHEAN WARBLER, which eventually surrendered and perched out in the open.
We then descended into the very green and verdant Sous valley. The only birds identified from the bus being BLACK KITE, and of course overflying BEE EATERS.
Yet another “Peter” stop, gave us excellent views of no less than four hunting male MONTAGUES HARRIER. Paul also rescued a young CRESTED LARK which decided to walk across the road to have a look at us. He found the nest in the roadside grass and put it back with it’s brothers and sisters.
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A short pause at the Aoulouz Gorge, the former Bald Ibis breeding colony site, only produced passing BEE EATERS.. The ibis deserted this site when additional water extraction dried up the river, yet this was a national nature reserve. It’s easy to criticize , but a shortage of water is a perennial problem in Morocco. It’s a pity we can’t give them some of ours.
The country was now fairly heavily cultivated with many more tall trees, palms and conifers. We saw few birds other than the usual urban species, i.e WHITE STORK, COMMON BULBUL, HOUSE BUNTING, BARN SWALLOW, PALLID and LITTLE SWIFT, COLLARED DOVE, HOUSE SPARROW, SPOTLESS STARLING, and now that we were approaching the coastal valleys, large numbers of TURTLE DOVE.
The northern end of Taroudant was extremely colourful and park like with a myriad of flowering trees and bushes, such as Bougainvillea, Jacaranda etc.
Our hotel; the Palais Salam was built into the city walls, and was much the most luxurious that we stayed in. The bar, restaurant etc was surrounded with enormous trees; banana palms, grapefruits, lemons etc, and seemed the ideal place to relax in. It was also full of tourists, mainly French, but also some Germans, identifiable by their loud voices, and English, as usual looking miserable, plus a few very loud Americans.
My room, together with others, was approached through a magnificent walled garden, with tiled paths and full of large aromatic trees, and was enormous. It was a suite, with a domed painted ceiling, and draped with Moroccan carpets , with painted tables and arabic divans scattered about The bathroom was in fact larger than our lounge at home. When the rest of our party came to look, Tony said that it looked like a sultan’s boudoir, which in fact it did.
I could have got used to living there if the food had been better. After soup and some bread , I gave up and went to my room, where I wallowed in luxury and had a hot bath. Even the bath was about seven feet long.
It was very true, as Paul had told us that the better the hotel, the worse the food. The best food we had was at the worst hotel, in Marrakech.
Wednesday 4th April
A magnificent nights sleep was indulged in, and since we were only staying the one night I hadn’t unpacked.
With the day dawning bright and sunny, I awoke about 0700 as usual , dressed and went walkabout outside the hotel. Unfortunately, the park gates opposite the hotel were still locked so the street had to suffice. Tony, and a rather pale looking Peter; feeling much better and over the worst, were also abroad. Birds in the vicinity were COMMON BULBUL, HOUSE SPARROW, HOUSE BUNTING, TURTLE DOVE, SPOTLESS STARLING, BARN SWALLOW, PALLID SWIFT and LITTLE SWIFT.
The usual simple breakfast was taken, and we retraced the road to the north east for five or six miles to search for Fulvous Babbler, and Black Shouldered Kite, the latter of which we never did see, despite a great deal of perseverance.
We left the bus for a walkabout at one of the usual spots, which consisted of a scrubby, stony flat area, with a long six feet high series of hedges interspersed by trees along one side. One or two buildings and a control tower revealed that it was in fact Taroudant airport. Although there was no restriction on access, Paul assured us that the airport was not in fact derelict, despite it’s appearance. A walk along the hedges was thought to be the most productive policy, and it would also keep us clear of the runway, and any possible security presence.
Various birds were flushed from the hedges including GEENFINCH, LINNET, TURTLE DOVE and KESTREL, whilst SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE and CRESTED LARK, ran about the airfield.
Two STONE CURLEW then ran along the hedge in front of us. As we watched them, they disturbed another brown long tailed bird which flew over the hedge and away, never to be seen again. It seemed that only three of us had seen it. It was a good job that I was one, since it was another new bird for me; RUFOUS BUSH CHAT( or ROBIN if you like). A long search for it proved fruitless.
Overhead the usual BEE EATERS PASSED OVERHEAD, together with migrating BARN SWALLOWS and HOUSE MARTINS.
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A well seen BLACK KITE, then glided low overhead to have a look at us, closely followed by the closest BOOTED EAGLE of the holiday. It even landed about thirty yards away, caught and ate a lizard, wiped it’s beak, then after another close pass and a good look at us flew away. They must have been talking to a Long Legged Buzzard. The hobby of bird watcher watching seems to be spreading among the raptors. Or was one of us looking ill ?
Also present on the airfield were GREENISH BLACK TIP, CLOUDED YELLOW, SWALLOWTAIL, and COMMON TIGER BLUE butterflies.
Since neither of the target bird species were present, we took to the road again, passing through the town once more to a spot about three miles SW. This bordered a wasteland housing a disused rubbish dump, and some ploughed fields behind high thorn hedges. Despite the quantities of white butterflies in the vicinity, it didn’t look too promising for birds, however birds don’t follow normal rules.
First off were the inevitable passing BEE EATERS. A yell from Paul alerted us to a family party of FULVOUS BABBLERS, flitting along the hedge. They are quite a big bird, appearing slightly larger than a Blackbird, and a much more attractive shade of reddish brown than shown in the book, also having a loud melliflous call. Apparently they are always found in family parties, this one consisting of half a dozen birds.
Barely had we ‘scoped the Babblers, than another loud and unfamiliar call in an adjacent field caught our attention. Although it acted hard to get we eventually got good views of yet another new bird, BLACK CROWNED TCHAGRA or as it used to be called Black Headed Bush Shrike flitting about the bushes. It was a quite spectacularly coloured bird, with a very loud and instantly recognizable call, even to me.
Other birds seen in this locality were SARDINIAN WARBLER and SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE.
Following a low pass by a BOOTED EAGLE, I wandered along the track looking for butterflies which
were almost exclusively GREENISH BLACK TIP, CLOUDED YELLOW, and DAPPLED WHITE.
As I peered through the hedge, I froze as a FULVOUS BABBLER flew straight towards me, and landed some two yards away to feed in the grass.
It was now time to vacate our hotel, to which we returned to load the bus, whence we set of westwards on the thirty five mile journey to Inezgane, three miles south east of Agadir. On the way we stopped in Taroudant for a visit to the souk, where Paul bought some pottery, and Peter now feeling himself again bought some leather belts. All of the buying involved haggling; which I couldn’t cope with, all of the hassle just didn’t suit me, so we hit the road again, with TURTLE DOVES and BEE EATERS everywhere. It was now Mike Thomas’ turn to be ill, and during a comfort stop, Dorothy attempting to get out of the bus, slipped and smashed her back on the bus step. For a few minutes it looked as though she would need a medical evacuation to the Canary Islands. She recovered after a little while, and being an ex G.P was quite confident that she’d done no lasting damage.
Entering Inezgane, a nondescript sort of place, with nothing of note to recommend it, we became involved for some ten minutes in our only Moroccan traffic jam. However no one lost their temper, and everyone stayed good humoured and smiling.
We dropped the ailing Mike, and his wife Helen at our hotel, and drove straight to the Sous estuary. An upgrading of the estuary sewage disposal plant was indicated by a foul smell, which as is the nature of it, you soon got used to.
The area near the sewage works, held a lot of mud flats, marshes, and reed beds, as well as plenty of birds, not that I was expecting any thing new in this area.
On the mud flats and flying around the area were large numbers of BLACK WINGED STILT, GREY HERON, GREATER FLAMINGO, SPOONBILL and WHITE STORK, with lesser numbers of COOT, MOORHEN, LITTLE EGRET, REDSHANK, WHISKERED TERN, BLACK HEADED GULL, YELLOW LEGGED GULL , COMMON SANDPIPER, and LITTLE RINGED PLOVER, two STONE CURLEW, one COMMON GULL and one LITTLE GULL. In the surrounding trees were a number of brightly coloured SERIN and one or two MAGPIES of the Moroccan race which has a noticeable blue patch behind the eye.
We moved half a mile nearer the sea ,and walked through a mosquito infested marsh to the river where we saw, in the marsh and on the river mud flats; small numbers of FAN TAILED WARBLER, MOORHEN, COOT, SARDINIAN WARBLER, GREEN SANDPIPER, WOOD SANDPIPER
OYSTERCATCHER, KNOT, RINGED PLOVER, GREENSHANK, GREY PLOVER, and CORMORANT.
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As we were crossing the marsh to get back to the bus, an urgent signal from Tony alerted us that he had a SPOTTED CRAKE in his ‘scope. This bird was seen on every visit at this spot and became known as “Tony’s Crake”.
We then headed back to the Hotel Pergola which is famed for it’s French inspired bureaucracy. It didn’t let us down on this occasion taking some time to get the rooms sorted out. It was however an agreeable establishment, with the main single storey building housing the office and dining room, and the bedrooms around three sides of a very lush flower and bush bedecked garden. Since we had a three night stay here, I unpacked, and indulged in a shower. The room was as usual clean; if unspectacular, conversely the food was quite good.
Since Tony, Peter and myself had now largely recovered, we indulged in a few beers, and I bought a round of drinks for everyone for my birthday.
I left the hotel, and tried to contact Pat from a “Teleboutique” along the road without success.
After a good dinner we all took to our beds at about 2300.
Thursday 5th April
After a good night’s sleep, with breakfast at 0700, I had a crisis of dress finally donning my shrousers for what looked like being a long and hot day. This made me ten minutes late for the bus, which gained me a round of applause, when I finally climbed aboard. On this occasion we headed south along the main road on the thirty mile journey to the national nature reserve at the Oud Massa, or Massa Estuary. The country was quite flat and arid, without any notable features, even the birds were those we see most days i.e TURTLE DOVE, MAGPIE, SOUTHERN GREY SHRIKE, SPOTLESS STARLING, PALLI D SWIFT and inevitably this week; small parties of migrating BEE EATERS.
We eventually turned off the main road towards the coast, and the village of Massa. Paul told us to examine all doves carefully, since this is the only place in Morocco where Laughing Dove Is found, although apparently they are rapidly being ousted by the increasing numbers of Collared Dove.
Massa was by Moroccan standards , a fairly tidy village straggling down a steep hill.
We turned off yet again towards the coast down a steep hill with the so called river at the bottom.
There was little water at this point, having been pumped out for irrigation, and the once famous crake pools were almost dry. Birds seen on the descent were mainly YELLOW WAGTAILS and STONECHATS, this being in the main the only regular site for the latter.
This short section of almost dried out river was also famous for something else; little boys, who were reckoned to be the worst in Morocco. They arrived in numbers from all directions and were a complete pain in the neck; pushing, sqabbling, fighting, and being a general nuisance, in fact it was difficult to ignore them and concentrate on the birds. It was through them, that most of us missed our first passing Laughing Dove. The highly cultivated area around the narrow water course was very pleasant and appeared quite promising, but you just could not concentrate. Whilst there, we saw overflying BEE EATERS, and a fourteen strong flock of GLOSSY IBIS, plus MOORHEN, POCHARD, LITTLE GREBE, COOT, GREY HERON, CORMORANT, GOLDFINCH, CHAFFINCH, SEDGE WARBLER, REED WARBLER, FAN TAILED WARBLER, YELLOW WAGTAIL and two NIGHT HERON perched in the reeds. When we returned to the bus, Hassan gave the boys the most enormous rollicking whereupon they all shrank shamefacedly away. As this was going on, our first PLAIN MARTIN, flashed quickly overhead.
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Once again however, only Paul and myself saw it. He didn’t help matters by saying that it was unlikely that we would see another. Anyway, we drove up to the top of the hill, and just before we entered the village, someone shouted that some ALPINE SWIFTS were approaching from the south. We all tumbled out of the bus of course to admire the three Alpine Swifts, which flew around just over our heads for a while. I then have to claim credit for noticing a number of PALLID SWIFTS and SWALLOWS hawking, about fifty yards away. I investigated further by climbing onto a hump, to reveal a stretch of water and a reed bed plus three or four PLAIN MARTINS. I was the hero of the hour for about the only time of the holiday.
We next drove along a rough track, on some low cliffs above the river estuary, which now had plenty of water in it. We were about two hundred yards away, and fifty feet above so ‘scopes were essential. There were however plenty of birds in the scrub as well, and a short walk revealed SARDINIAN WARBLER, BLACKCAP, WILLOW WARBLER, SUB ALPINE WARBLER, CETTIS WARBLER and SPOTLESS STARLING in the scrub, plus a very close BLACK CROWNED TCHAGRA which was enjoyed by everyone. On the estuary were SQUACCO HERON, PURPLE HERON,CATTLE EGRET, GREY HERON, COOT, MOORHEN and POND TERRAPINS in some numbers, as well as a closely seen swimming MONTPELLIERS SNAKE. We drove a short distance for another wander around at a small village called S’Rbat. The scrub around the village and the skies came up with MOUSSIERS REDSTART, FAN TAILED WARBLER, CHAFFINCH, HOUSE BUNTING , COLLARED DOVE, WREN and KESTREL plus a continual passage of BEE EATERS. Some frantic waving from Val alerted us to a very co- operative LAUGHING DOVE perched in a tree. Another hero! Minutes later we were buzzed by another PLAIN MARTIN. A scan of the river gave us GREAT WHITE EGRET, many LITTLE EGRET, small groups of SPOONBILL, and BLACK WINGED STILT. Some excitement was caused by a hunting male MARSH HARRIER, and a fishing OSPREY.
We then moved another half mile towards the sea, stopping at the sight of a large number of promising looking birds on the estuary. Some frantic ’scoping produced small numbers of BLACK TAILED GODWIT, WOOD SANDPIPER, COMMON SANDPIPER, SHOVELLER, LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL, and two MARBLED DUCK, which most of the party had on their “wanted list”
The sky and the bushes behind turned up ALPINE SWIFT, BEE EATER, WOODCHAT SHRIKE, SAND MARTIN, and a little more excitement in the form of a few SANDWICH TERN, and WHISKERED TERN flying overhead.
After our picnic lunch was eaten, I climbed up the hill at the back of us for a look around, but inevitably, it was followed by yet another hill, so I descended just in time to board the bus for the trip back to the main road.
A ten mile trip west to a barrage called “Barrage Youssef ben Tachfine” was impressive for the scenery, but useless for birds. Although this location has been good in previous years, this year it seemed to be having an off day. The lake produced two CORMORANT and absolutely nothing else. The hoped for Barbary Partridge had obviously moved into the next desert, and the only birds to be seen in the scrub were a WOODCHAT SHRIKE, and a BLACK CROWNED TCHAGRA, although we did have excellent views of several of the very attractive BARBARY GROUND SQUIRRELS. And that was it.
A rapid return to our Hotel Pergola in Inezzgane ensued, where the sick, Michael and Helen were deposited.
The next fun activity was a nightfall trip to the Sous estuary, where we hoped to see Red Necked Nightjars hawking by the light of the floodlights on the walls of the royal palace. The problem with this location was that it’s marshy situation engendered a lot of mosquito’s, especially at night.
Rather foolishly, I didn’t bother changing out of my shorts, hoping that liberal quantities of insect repellent would do the trick, which it did to a certain extent, although I did get a few bites.
A few minutes wait until it got dark produced a number of the said RED NECKED NIGHTJARS, doing their thing. They are quite identifiable by their clucking call, quite different to any other nightjar. It always amazes me what very large birds nightjar are.
A swift return the short distance to the hotel, followed by a good dinner, and a few beers put me into a mellow mood.
It really is a very attractive hotel, and I even managed to contact Pat on the hotel phone, at the third attempt.
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Since I had promised to ring her on my birthday, and had failed miserably, she waxed a little sarcastic, asking if I had gone to Mars for my holidays. A remark which produced great hilarity when I told the others.
I turned in at 1030 nursing a huge insect bite on my wrist, to prepare for the last full day of an eventful holiday.
Friday 6th April
Last day and also Bald Ibis day. Although I wasn’t terribly bothered about seeing them, they are one of the worlds rarest birds. Arose at 0600 for a 0700 lift off, after an excellent nights sleep; breakfasted, and made sure that I was first on the bus to make up for my late arrival yesterday.
After some badinage about my early presence, we headed through new Agadir; and took to the coast road heading north for the vicinity of the town of Tamri about thirty five miles away. I wasn’t impressed by Agadir, it was all of course very modern and could have been any town in the Med, even to the frequent building sites. The valley where old Agadir stood until it was destroyed in the nineteen sixties earthquake, was just a mass of tumbled boulders with very little signs of ruins.
Accompanied by the inevitable loose flocks of BEE EATERS, we headed along the cliff tops before coming down to sea level, where a flock of gulls on the beach deserved our attention.
‘Scoping revealed a mixed flock of quite large numbers of in the main LESSER BLACK BACKED GULLS, with a few BLACK HEADED GULLS and YELLOW LEGGED GULLS, also to everyone’s delight; half a dozen AUDOUINS GULL, a once endangered species which has successfully increased numbers quite spectacularly, in recent years.
Another larger flock a few hundred yards away produced similar numbers of the same species plus approx. three hundred SANDWICH TERNS.
We passed through the rather interesting town of Tamri, where one different type of activity was the numbers of stalls selling “hands” of bananas. Our Moroccans went to buy provisions, and at our suggestion; a large hand of bananas.
A few miles north we stopped at a cliff top hot spot, with about half a mile of sparse barley and scattered scrub between the road and the low cliffs. Walkabout ensued, trying our best to avoid the crop
as we slowly wandered along seeing CRESTED LARK, BLACK EARED WHEATEAR, SUB ALPINE WARBLER, and a panic when Paul thought he’d spotted a Spectacled Warbler. No one got a good look at it, and it quickly vanished. On the alert for big black birds, we thought we cracked it until we realized that we were looking at RAVENS, of which there seemed to be quite a few flying about the area.
I was all this time searching single mindedly for the suspected Spectacled Warbler, which I didn’t find. I did however find to both my own and Pauls amazement a few TRUMPETER FINCHES, a species that is only supposed to be found in the desert, a hundred or so miles to the east.
“Look at those two big black birds with the languid wing beats, coming over the cliff “, shouted Paul. What looked at first glance like more Ravens were actually our target bird; BALD IBIS.
After one or two low passes, one of which nearly took Brahims head off as he was standing near the bus, the birds settled amongst the barley and commenced to feed. Thanks to some bushes we managed to get quite close; in fact very close, about fifteen feet away in fact. They didn’t seem very bothered by our presence, and just continued feeding. That’s perhaps why they’re nearly extinct
Standing over three feet tall with a wingspan of nearly five feet; they are really a most impressive bird especially from fifteen feet away, also they really are a much more attractive bird than the illustrations imply. The bald head and face is actually a quite attractive shade of greenish blue, although both of our birds were males, which are somewhat more colourful than the females.
After ten minutes very close proximity admiration, they decided to try another area, taking off and disappearing inland over the nearby hills. Some ladies in colourful costumes were harvesting the barley, and since we had been wandering amongst it, Paul gave them twenty dirhams, to make up for any damage. Apparently this was about a weeks wages to them, so no wonder they were grateful.
Paul was quite ebullient, telling us that it was much the closest view he’d ever had of Bald Ibis; at that it was decided that it could not get any better, and so returned to the bus, to head back south.
A stop on a stretch of beach which often provided some good birds in the scrub, was something of a waste of time, the only bird of note being a low hunting LANNER FALCON, other birds noted being passing BEE EATERS, and SARDINIAN WARBLER, GREY HERON, CRESTED LARK, and BLACK EARED WHEATEAR.
The more interesting wildlife on the beach; Atlantic Porpoise, and False Killer Whale, were dead and getting somewhat “high”. Also of interest was a twelve inch long GREEN LIZARD running through the sand. We also managed to steer two German birders to the Bald Ibis area, which they hadn’t been able to find up to then.
We took our lunch on a low cliff; at Cap Rhir, overlooking some lethal looking jagged rocks by the sea. There was also a promising belt of low scrub between the cliffs and the road, as well as you will have guessed, loose flocks of passing BEE EATERS.
Eating and sea watching through the’scopes, then took over, the latter producing one or two COREYS SHEARWATER, eight GANNET a few SANDWICH TERNS, and incredibly a flock of ten GARGANEY. The scrub was less productive, giving us a perched on a bush KESTREL and a BLACK EARED WHEATEAR. Butterflies seen here were GREENISH BLACK TIP, PAINTED LADY,and a new one: GRASS JEWEL. The bananas at lunch were much appreciated being smaller and much sweeter than usual..
The time was flying and since we had to be up at 0330 on the morrow, no one wanted to be too late in bed, so we returned to Inezgane for another look at the Sous estuary. A short tour of Agadir en route did not alter any opinions of the place.
The sewage outfall area had seen some changes , the most notable being fifty or so GULL BILLED TERN fishing the area. REDSHANK , BLACK WINGED STILT, LITTLE EGRET, WHITE STORK, and GREY HERON, were still quite numerous, whilst some eager ‘scoping discovered some RINGED PLOVER, COMMON SANDPIPER, LITTLE STINT, RUFF, and single LITTLE RINGED PLOVER, SPOTTED REDSHANK, YELLOW LEGGED GULL. LITTLE GULL and BLACK TAILED GODWIT,as well as another “wanted” species; three SLENDER BILLED GULLS. In the trees were large numbers of SERIN, whilst Moroccan MAGPIES, showing their bright blue eye patch flew back and forth, and inevitably BEE EATERS continually passed overhead.
A mini bus load of German birders then arrived who told us that they had seen sixteen Bald Ibis north of Tamri. Unlike us, they didn’t get anywhere near to them however.
A lot of birds roosting on the sandbanks towards the sea took our attention. Identifying these took quite a long walk along the marsh and the river bank to get the sunward side of them, but it was certainly worth it.
As well as renewing our acquaintance with “Tony’s Crake”, we recorded a hunting OSPREY, plus six AVOCET, four SANDERLING, a GREY PLOVER, CORMORANT, large numbers of OYSTERCATCHER, and a flock of eighty SANDWICH TERNS on the sandbank, as well as FAN TAILED WARBLER and SARDINIAN WARBLER on the marsh.
Still further down river, Paul became intrigued by another flock of roosting terns, some of which appeared extremely large. After another longish walk, we were rewarded by thirty SANDWICH TERNS, twenty GULL BILLED TERNS, two LITTLE TERNS, and standing with them looking positively enormous, six CASPIAN TERNS. No new birds there, but a tremendous climax to the holiday just the same.
Back to the hotel for the last supper and a few beers, and then early to bed by 1000.
Saturday 7th April
Up at 0330, after a good if brief sleep. An early breakfast at 0415 was a pleasant surprise from the hotel staff, with the bus loaded and heading the five miles to the airport to catch the 0640 plane to Casablanca. We didn’t see any passing Bee eaters, since it was still dark.
We said our goodbyes to Brahim and Hassan, and they promptly got a ticket from a passing policeman for having an overloaded minibus. I wonder that they had got away with it before, since Moroccan law states that the maximum load for a minibus is twelve, not fourteen.
An overcast dawn broke as we sat on the tarmac waiting for our B 757 to depart, which proved to be thirty minutes late. Although I had a window seat, there was absolutely nothing to see because of low cloud.
An hour in a rather crowded Casablanca airport was passed pleasantly enough, and our Heath Row bound B 757, departed on time.
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The thick cloud stayed with us until we approached the Tangier stop, when we ran out into bright sunshine, although the view to the south showed that the heavy overcast had not moved.
As the day grew hotter, we sat on the tarmac, and waited, and waited, and waited.
Apparently, this was all due to crowded skies over Europe.
Two hours we sat there. The only diversion was the coming and going of WHITE STORKS nesting on the terminal building, and the occasional passing CATTLE EGRET.
By the time we got moving it was getting very hot indeed. An appropriate farewell to Morocco, was
close view of a hunting female MARSH HARRIER, gliding alongside the runway.
Spain was clear, giving good if hazy views from the window, but the Bay of Biscay was totally clouded over, until we reached the English Channel, and there was Jersey again basking under clear skies.
Although the English south coast was just about clear, thick cloud shrouded everything as we moved inland.
At this juncture Royal Air Maroc suddenly decided that we needed a Charley Chaplin film to cheer us up. We finally descended below the cloud over the Thames estuary, in heavy rain. Paul commented that Derby County should have been playing at Stamford Bridge, but there was no sign of any football as we passed over. Tony said that there would not be any signs of football anyway if Derby County were involved. This conversation ensued after we landed of course.
The delay at Tangier had made us somewhat late, but by the time the luggage arrived, I felt that two hours should be sufficient to get to St Pancras to catch my nominated train.
It wasn’t, since there had been an “incident” on the line meaning that I missed my train by five minutes, which cost me an extra twenty six pounds for a single ticket. I was cold, tired, hungry, and utterly brassed off by this time and utterly past caring. I eventually arrived home to a hero’s welcome from Pat at 2200 hours.
Good birds, good scenery, bad food and horrible children . Still I thoroughly enjoyed it in a perverse sort of way.
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