Sep 20th-30th: rare ducks and waders

After a week away in Sao Tome and Principe, it was back to birding in London for the rest of September. The heat wave had dissipated while I was away and the early mornings now have a chill to them. Normally that’s a good sign for some visible migration but the three early starts I had at Brent Reservoir failed to deliver. It’s definitely been an odd month for vis-mig in London with very few mipits or hirundines and no Siskins and barely enough species to fill more than one line in one’s notebook. Not that many people still use a notebook, it’s so much easier to use an app like eBird.

The waders have also changed, gone are all the Common Sands, replaced by increasing numbers of Snipe but there’s still a few Lapwing and Green Sands around. We even had a Dunlin for a few days. I’ve been hoping for some of the scarcer, or even rare waders this month so with wet weather forecast on Friday I decided to visit Rainham in the hope of connecting with something. I’ve still got a few holes in my year-list where Knot and Stints should be.

I arrived just after dawn and sure enough there was a light drizzle which occasionally turned a little heavier. I decided to walk the longer route via the barges and Coldharbour Point. I just reached the western end of Aveley Bay and stopped to have a scan when I heard a wader call somewhere over the river. I couldn’t immediately place the call and desperately scanned around. I did have an idea on its identity and it called again a couple of times giving the impression it was flying away from me. I checked on xeno-canto and was able to confirm that it was a Stone-curlew. I thought it might have been one of the East Tilbury birds but all three were reported as present later that morning. It was a shame not to have seen it but I was happy enough to count it just on the call.

There were a couple of flocks of Dunlin in the bay and I carefully checked each one but there was nothing different lurking among them. I headed into the reserve, a loop still not being possible due to boardwalk replacement. There was a flock of chats at the far end of the ouzel field, mostly Stonechats but with a few Whinchat in their midst. 

Whinchat

There has been an exceptional influx of Stonechat into London during the latter part of this month with record breaking numbers at Hampstead Heath and Richmond Park. They’ve also brought a few of their travelling companions with them: Dartford Warblers, with probably some more around that have yet to be discovered.

I spent a few more days at Brent where the highlight was two Rook flying over on Sunday morning. They’ve always been rare here but it’s been several years since I’ve seen one. On Monday I saw my first Redwing of autumn; there’s been a few odd ones reported across the capital but no sign of any notable movement yet. 

On Thursday I was back at Rainham. There was a small overnight arrival of thrushes with a mixed flock of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes in the bushes along the road to the barges and a few more Blackbirds in the woods on the reserve. I walked up to Ken Barrett hide where there was a Ruff and a Green Sand. Migrating Swallows flew over the river wall and were accompanied by a couple of late Sand Martins. A few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits went over and there were a couple of large finch flocks.

For the last day of the month I decided the Blue-winged Teal was too good a bird to miss so had an early start and arrived at Fairlop just before 8am. I headed down to the lake and soon located a likely looking duck asleep on the island. I met a couple of other birders from Romford who hadn’t found the bird yet so we went back to check out the dozy duck. Eventually it woke up and we could see it was our quarry. A Magpie spooked it and it flew onto the lake flashing its bright blue forewing. It was still distant and the light was pretty awful so I didn’t manage to get a decent photo but it was a good bird to see. 

A lousy shot of a really smart Blue-winged Teal

It’s just the sixth BW Teal for London and the first since 2000. The last bird that stayed more than a day was the one I found at Brent way back in 1995/96. And it brought up 180 species on my London year-list which was my minimum target for the year.

Sao Tome and Principe Part Four

Sao Tome and Principe, September 2022, Part 4

Saturday 17th

We met at 6am for breakfast and Laudino showed up with freshly baked rolls and fried eggs. We decided on having a leisurely day as there were no new birds we needed in the area so we set off on the waterfall trail. This starts behind the hotel and is a driveable track up into the hills but we just slowly walked up it. We did get better views of Sao Tome White-eye and more photos of other birds. We just walked past the waterfall (not much more than a trickle) when it started raining so we elected to turn round and headed back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the day.

Waterfall

We had lunch in the restaurant which soon filled up, either with tourists or students. There was also a party of UN observers who were here for next week’s election. We had a relaxing afternoon, photographing birds in the garden and packing, even though we still had quite a few wet clothes that we weren’t able to dry out. 

Newton's Sunbird

We had a late check-out at 5pm and drove into town where we stopped at a bakery for snacks and then to the airport where we bade farewell to our guide and driver.

It didn’t take long to get airside and then we had a long wait until our 10pm flight. Unfortunately, there was a refuelling problem so it was delayed by two hours so it was after midnight when we finally left Sao Tome.

Sunday 18th

With the two hour delay we just missed our connection in Lisbon. TAP had booked us on the next available flight but it wasn’t until the next day as all flights were full because of the Queen’s funeral. The TAP rep gave us the new flight details and meal vouchers and said we had a hotel but this turned out to be a complete lie. We elected to collect our luggage which took about ninety minutes then went to find out where our hotel was. After talking to multiple TAP people we were finally told that their hotel was full and we had to book one ourselves and then claim the money back. This seemed unreasonable but they wanted nothing more to do with us so Lynne found us a close hotel via an app.

We had lunch in the airport then took a cab to the Radisson Blu Hotel and checked in. Not wanting to spend all day indoors, Lynne and I went for a walk in the local park which turned out to be quite birdy, seeing Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Firecrest and Spotless Starling amongst other common birds. There were even a few dragonflies on the lake and it was a pleasant stroll in the warm afternoon sunshine. 

One of many interesting sculptures in the park

We all met up again the bar in the evening and had a drink before our final dinner together.

Monday 19th

We enjoyed a welcome lie-in and met for breakfast at 8.00. We got a cab back to the airport and arrived in time for check-in. Once through to the other side we spent all our meal vouchers and waited until it was time to board our plane. We should have left at 11.00 but because of the funeral the airspace was closed so we had to wait for two and half hours on the tarmac before we could finally head to Heathrow and then back home.

Sao Tome and Principe Part Three

 Sao Tome and Principe, September 2022, Part 3

Thursday 15th

Luckily we didn’t have to get up early this morning and we had a leisurely breakfast at 7.00. Lynne was suffering after last evening’s exertions and took the day off to rest while the rest of us drove down to the quay and boarded our small boat to go and try for the Principe Thrush.

Our little boat

Heading out towards the sea

We hadn’t realised the full extent of what this trip entailed: a two-hour boat trip followed by a two hour hike up hill just to get to the area where the thrush was. I was expecting a much shorter boat trip with a few seabirds thrown in. In the event we saw half a dozen Brown Boobies on the way out before the swell picked up and we got totally drenched by the spray. Before we arrived it then started raining and the outward journey took three hours. Then we had to disembark at the so-called beach which was actually a bay with a rocky shore. We had to take off shoes and socks, roll up trouser legs and step carefully off the boat into the sea which was about knee height. We then had to wade ashore, slowly clamber over the rocks and up to the top of the beach where we could sit down and reboot.

The rocky beach where we clambered ashore

The trail started by an abandoned plantation building and followed the coast along the route of the former narrow-gauge train that took the cocoa and coffee back to town. The plan was to follow this trail then hike uphill. 

Heading up the trail

We soon realised we were not going to be able to manage this and complete the return crossing before dark so we decided to abort and instead made our way to a sandy beach where we had lunch and saw a few birds. 

Western Reef-Heron

'Beach elephant'

This was another expedition that groups do by camping overnight and I don’t think they had really thought it through. After a sufficient rest we headed back to the rocky beach, finding a tame Blue-breasted Kingfisher along the way, then unbooted and waded back into the sea. 

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Climbing back up into the boat was trickier but eventually we all made it aboard and began to head back. It was still rough on the sea and raining so there was nothing to see and we got even wetter. After about two hours we turned the corner onto calmer sea and saw some whale blows. We stopped the engine and watched them for a while, working out from the bushy spouts and tail flukes as they went into a deep dive that they were Sperm Whales. Not long afterwards we saw some more whale blows ahead of us and on our way towards them there were more even closer. We approached the nearest ones and could see that it was a group of six pale grey cetaceans with a prominent dorsal fin that we later identified as Risso’s Dolphins. We sped over to the other blows and could see that it was a mother and calf Humpbacked Whale.

It ended up being a superb finish to our day’s trip to hell and back and it was almost worth the pain. On our final approach to the town it started raining really heavily, soaking us once more. We drove back to the guesthouse and tried to dry off before going out for dinner.

Friday 16th

We had an early breakfast and checked out of our guesthouse at 6.00 and drove towards the airport. We had some time to check out a few sites along the way as we still had had some more Principe endemics to find. We had better views of the Golden Weaver and Speirops but couldn’t find the two missing endemics here: Principe White-eye and Principe Starling. There were also plenty of African Green Pigeons which don't occur on Sao Tome. 

African Green Pigeon

Before long we had to make the short drive to the airport and check in. In hindsight it would have been better to not attempt the thrush but spend longer looking for the other birds.

Flame trees amid the native rainforest

We didn’t have long to wait before we boarded the plane and headed back to Sao Tome.

Leaving Principe over the main town

There’s only the one terminal there so we had to mix with all the international arrivals at the carousel and had a long wait for our luggage. We drove for an hour up to the north of the island going through an area populated by large Baobab trees and stopped at a nice restaurant that had been converted from an old colonial plantation house. 

Baobab trees

Restaurant with sea view

It had a terraced dining area so we could do some birding as we ate. We saw our only Island Bronze-naped Pigeon of the trip (an endemic shared with Bioko) as well as a few Blue Waxbills.

Blue Waxbill (Southern Cordon-bleu)

Island Bronze-naped Pigeon

We had a short walk up the hillside. It was quite hot and dry here and the birdlife was different too. We found a small flock of White-winged Widowbirds and some Yellow-fronted Canaries but couldn’t find any of the bishops that are usually here. 

White-winged Widowbirds

Yellow-fronted Canary

Common Waxbill

Another endemic: Giant Weaver

We then drove to the coast and had a short walk along the beach behind a mangrove swamp. There were a few common waders around but nothing out to sea. A Malachite Kingfisher flew past us and perched up on a post in front of us.

Malachite Kingfisher

Sunset over beach

We drove back to the same hotel we were in on our last night in Sao Tome, arriving just after dark. We went to dinner straightaway and discussed plans for our final day.

Sao Tome and Principe Part Two

Sao Tome & Principe September 2022, Part Two 

Tuesday 13th

An early start as we checked out and drove north towards the capital. We turned inland and drove up by the botanical gardens at Macambara where we had breakfast. 

We then walked up the hill, this was a much easier walk on a wide, gentle slope with fields and low scrub adjacent to the track. It was also dry and sunny so there were plenty of other things to see such as butterflies, moths, grasshoppers and various other insects and spiders.

Although the lower stretches bordered fields which had recently been rainforest, there were plenty of birds to be seen including endemics like Newton’s Sunbird, Principe Seedeater (confusingly named as it’s on both islands) and Sao Tome Prinia and Speirops. 

Principe Seedeater

Sao Tome Speirops

Sao Tome Prinia

African Emerald Cuckoos were heard calling and we enticed one out into the open. Vitelline Masked Weaver was seen several times which initially confused us as it’s not mentioned as being here but is presumably another introduction. It’s easily identified from the similar Southern Masked Weaver by reddish patches above and below the black mask.

African Emerald Cuckoo

Vitelline Masked Weaver

Up at the top of the trail at around 1,300 metres we went looking for Sao Tome Green Pigeon and saw a distant one. Our guide played a recording of the ST Scops Owl even though he’d never heard one here. Amazingly, one responded and we managed to track it down, our third one of the trip. We had lunch by the masts and then ambled downhill, stopping regularly to photograph insects. 

Acrea zetes

Acrea jodutta

Acrea niobe

Amauris sp (not previously recorded on Sao Tome) 

Mrs & Mr Spider

Variable Eggfly

Armoured Spider

New birds on the return journey included Bronze Mannikin, a flock of Yellow-billed Kites (the only raptor of the trip) and a flyover White-tailed Tropicbird. Over the course of the week we encountered quite a few of these seabirds which nest on the highest slopes and fly down to the sea to feed.

Bronze Mannikin

Yellow-billed Kites (adult & juvenile)

We drove the short distance down to the road, adding a male Pin-tailed Whydah in full breeding plumage before crossing over the road where our guest house was situated. It was a pleasant place with a large communal room and veranda looking over the valley down to the coast. Some of us had rooms a little further up the garden with our own balcony, fully equipped with table and chairs so we could have a rest before dinner. We later met up on the main veranda and watched a procession of fruit bats heading down from their roost towards the coast.

Luxury cabins at Almada Negreiros

Views down the valley from our balcony

The restaurant was just over the road and we were the only customers. Just before dinner was served there was a power cut which left the whole place in darkness. Candles were quickly lit before the generator was switched on. The meal was excellent and we sampled the local beer. As we were leaving early again tomorrow they gave us food and flasks for breakfast.

Wednesday 14th

We were up at first light even though we could have had a lie-in for a change. We met for breakfast in the main room and Laudino soon arrived bearing fresh bread rolls, ham and cheese. Once we were all packed up we headed off to the airport. We checked in and soon boarded a new 18 seater plane which left at 9am and landed on Principe about 40 minutes later. 

Our plane to Principe

Arriving over Principe

It’s a much smaller island with a population of just 8,000, most of whom live in the only town where our guest house was, a short drive along the coast.

Our guest house in Principe

We decided to go for a short walk before lunch but were held up driving to the spot by a slow-moving electioneering truck complete with sound-system and rapper on board. We could still hear it when we parked up and walked into the forest. It didn’t take long to track down some new endemics: Principe Golden Weaver and Principe Sunbird, both of which proved to be fairly common. 

Principe Golden Weaver

Principe Sunbird

We also saw Dohrn’s Thrush-Babbler which looks like a Lesser Whitethroat on steroids. Along a stream was a Malachite Kingfisher of the endemic Principe race, previously considered to be either a separate species or a race of White-bellied Kingfisher.

Dohrn's Thrush-Babbler

Continuing on, we encountered another Kingfisher, this time a smart Blue-breasted one.

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Flying over were several Timneh Parrots, a split from African Grey Parrot which was the only lifer for me that wasn’t an endemic. 

Timneh Parrot

We arrived at a little clearing and managed to find a few perched parrots along with plenty of African Green Pigeons. We drove back into town and stopped at a little cafe for lunch which soon filled up with supporters of the main parties who were out electioneering.

In the afternoon we went to a different area, adding Velvet-mantled Drongo, Principe Speirops and Splendid Starling before heading off to another restaurant for an early dinner.

Splendid Starling

Principe Speirops

We drove out to another forest, arriving well after dark. We then had a long walk up the hillside that took the best part of two hours. It was tough going in places where trees had fallen across the path but at least it wasn’t muddy. When we reached the designated spot, our local guide began whistling in the owl. It responded almost immediately and after a few minutes the torches went on and we could see it perched up high – the recently discovered Principe Scops Owl - so recent that it doesn’t even have a scientific name yet. After a minute it flew off but Neil still hadn’t seen it so he joined the guide below who carried on calling and searching for it. It hadn’t gone far as we could hear it responding but it was proving very elusive.

We moved back out of the way so we could sit down and heard another one calling behind us. After about 45 minutes the first owl relented and showed itself again, allowing Neil to even get some photos. With the long descent still ahead of us we called it a night and began the walk back down the hillside. We didn’t stop much, apart from to look at a Sao Tome Giant Tree Frog and we were pretty tired by the time we got back to the vehicle. We arrived back at our guesthouse just after midnight.