5th March 2020
My first stop just off the main highway to St Catherines and I got 12 Crowned Sandgrouse including this male
Yesterday I set of towards St Catherine stopping off overnight at Yasmina Camp, just north of Nuweiba. This morning I awoke to the Red Sea only meters from my door and a Short-toed Lark flew north
Just before I left for Nuweiba, I had these 2 cracking Black-headed Wagtail
Looking from the Blue Lagoon, Dahab towards the Sinai Mountains
I started the two hour journey after a healthy breakfast and after 30 minutes pulled over and feeding near to the road were 12 Crowned Sandgrouse and 2 Hooded Wheatear. On an almost empty road, I drove through the amazing Sinai Mountains. Another stop off produced a single Western Morning Wheatear, 2 Fan-tailed Raven and 6 Desert Lark. 7 Black Kite moved north and I finally reached my destination, Bedouin Camp in the city of St Catherine. It’s was early afternoon and the idea was to go and look for the species I was hoping to see, Sinai Rosefinch. However, while eating the homemade veg soup with the tall Sinai Mountains looking from all corners down on the city, I didn’t want to move. For the rest of the afternoon I sat there until the sun had disappeared behind the mountains. I’ll try first thing tomorrow for the rosefinch.
Looking towards the Red Sea on one of the tracks of the main highway
Up to 12 Crowned Sandgrouse were close to the highway
Hooded Wheatear
Eastern Morning Wheatear
The stony desert just before arriving at St Catherine’s
SCILLYSPIDER 2 