29th Febuary 2020
There were up to 8 Bluethroat in the garden
Jet-lagged this morning and as a result I got up late. After breakfast I got on a bus-taxi and arrived at Peace Park Botanical Gardens at 11.00. The gardens were deserted and seemed as though it was shut down. I wasn’t even sure if I was aloud to go in but a I spoke to a local and he told me that it has closed down but you can go in. In the hour that I was there I saw of note, 8 Bluethroat, 7 Siberian Stonechat, 15 Chiffchaff, 4 Desert Lesser Whitethroat, 4 Meadow and a single Red-throated Pipit. There was a small pine wood on the south side bordering the garden. I stepped in and heard Siskin. In the open 2 Siskin flew around before settling down at of sight in the pines. A scan out into the desert produced 6 Crowned Sandgrouse on the deck and just outside the garden were up to 4 Speckled Warbler.
The closed down Peace Park Botanical Gardens
There were up to 8 Bluethroat in the garden including this individual out in the sun
While this cracker preferred the shade
Male Sardinian Warbler
I managed to get a record shot of the male that was feeding with 5 female Crowned Sandgrouse
Hoopoe were all over the shop
Brown-necked Raven
Male Kestrel
a pair of mating butterfly sp?
Opposite the entrance of the garden just across the highway is the twenty minute walk to the golf course. I was takin a photo of a Greylag Goose, presumed escape, when I was stopped in my tracks. In the time I spent on the course that was the only photo I took because I was told that you can’t use a camera. I understood why and the camera disappeared in the bag. The manager was very helpful and gave me the email address of the owner to ask if I can take photos in future visits while I’m in Sharm. For the first time in 6 or 7 years, I went birding without my camera. It proved very frustrating especially when I had 2 Tawny Pipit only meters away. There are many small pools scattered more or less along the perimeter fence. On these bodies of water were a single Whiskered Tern and small numbers of waders including 12 Black-winged Stilt, 21 Redshank, 7 Greenshank, 4 Green and 3 Common Sandpiper, 4 Ringed Plover and single Curlew and Snipe. Lots of Hoopoe as expected and there seems to be a movement of hirundines with 150+House Martin, 30 Swallow, 5 Red-rumped Swallow, 10 Rock Martin and 3 Sand Martin. On the biggest pool there were 20 Little Grebe, 8 Coot and a single Slender-billed Gull. It was almost dark when I jumped onto a bus-taxi back to the hotel and passed Hollywood!
This Greylag Goose was the one of two photos I took while at the golf course after being told ‘No Photos taken here!’
the other was this Chiffchaff out of the 35 present in the area
I passed Hollywood on the way back to my hotel Not the Hollywood I remember seeing in California
SCILLYSPIDER 2 