Welcome to birdline Camp Bastion, the penultimate weekly update.
The week, as the title suggests was tipified by a drop in both temperatues and the number of birds. Overhead movement almost ground to a halt but the passage continued with birds present daily. No lifers were seen although another first for Bastion turned up on Sunday evening.
Monday produced another (Red Spotted) Bluethroat at the bottling plant feeding well at standing water. It was joined throughout by the broken winged Desert Lesser Whitethroat, which seemed to be doing exceptionally well considering, and the omni present Crested Larks. One male Pied Bushchat was seen during the run around both Bastion 1 and 2 and during the evening walk a single Collared Dove was buzzed by a first year female Shikra.
An extremely windy Tuesday added little to the lack of excitement. Crested Larks and Tree Sparrows were again feeding around the bottling plant and a medium sized flock of 'Bactrian' Sparrows flew south east at lunchtime. 'Masked' Wagtails continued to appear with two overhead at last light.
Wednesday's tally improved with three 'Masked' Wagtails in the morning and during the afternoon run around both camps I found two Stonechats, several Tree Sparrows, three Pale Rock Sparrows which were unusually showing well on a barbed wire fence, one 'Bactrian' Sparrow and two returning Barn Swallows. Unusually for Bastion three raptors were present early evening with a pair of Shikra over the accommodation and a single Hobby through the cement plant.
The morning walk to and from the O Group on Thursday produced a single male Pied Bushchat and unusually for a morning a male Shikra over the hospital. This was a quiet day with a singing Crested Lark, a female Stonechat, an overflying Oriental Skylark and small flocks of 'Bactrian' Sparrows.
Friday might as well have been written off, birding wise, with only Crested Larks found anywhere. This was despite a long walk around the north western part of camp. It would have been better to have left the binoculars in their bag and gone for a run instead. A drastic statement coming from me! Saturday did however improve with several more Crested Larks, two Pied Bushchats, one female and the other a first year bird, one female Shikra, one 'Masked' Wagtail and a very obliging Spotted Flycatcher of the asian race neumanni which was feeding well at the cement plants early evening.
Little again on Sunday morning with another singing Crested Lark, an overflying Oriental Skylark and one 'flava' Wagtail flying high to the South East. A quick period of panic tanning beside the accommodation saw one female Stonechat and millions of black fly! The afternoon run around both Bastions was more productive with two Pied Bushchats, two Isabelline Shrikes, one Red-breasted Flycatcher and the incoming MERT Chinook flushed a first year Desert Wheatear, which, showed well during the following wander around the patch.
It would appear that the migration has slowed down somewhat although it still has the capacity to turn up something 'interesting'. I will visit Kandahar soon, hopefully to meet with David Vaughan, and I'll try and bag one more illusive lifer whilst there. Kandahar is always a welcome stop over with its coffee bars, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Tim Hortens and sewage farm!