Less is More 2 - The Sequel

[Lesser Spot Finder]

There has been little movement around Bastion/Leatherneck with wader passage at the latter almost ground to a halt. I guess the next couple of months are going to be quiet and having looked at my notes from the Summer of 2007 and Op HERRICK XI; quiet times are ahead.

Great Hoopoe Larks are very much in evidence around the South Western Perimeter Track and I have picked up three singing males; one singing and displaying from a mound and the other two using razor wire as their preferred means of getting their song and parachute display across. They are great to see and a welcome respite from the heat whilst I am panting along the 6 mile route. On the 16th whilst I was out running I picked up a single Sandgrouse sp. heading south, it remained unidentified.

We re-zeroed our weapons on the 17th and the range was adjacent to the Leatherneck Grey Water Lagoon. A quick look over confirmed that there were no Waders present and as I stood on the firing line a lone Asian Desert Warbler flew past, obviously disturbed by mad Guardsman turning rounds into brass. Nothing else appeared for the remainder of the day until last light at 1930hrs when the silhouette of the first Sykes’s Nightjar of the tour flew through or accommodation tents; the jizz of this species noticeably different from its European cousin – less bouncy as it hawked by.

Birding authorities like to change the names of birds and what I knew as a Rufous Bushchat but is now a Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin appeared on razor wire at the Theatre Log Group Compound as we drove to breakfast. I couldn’t stop to look as the vehicle was full of people tired of me pointing out birds to them.

All in all a quiet week which was still capable of throwing up the odd surprise.

[Lesser Spot Finder]

Having written off both wader passage and Runway's End Marsh (now a smelly trickle) I stopped off there this monring (Sunday) to see what was about and quickly encountered 5 Little Stints and a single Spotted Flycatcher. Following the destruction of a couple of weeks back nature has already started to reclaim the banks of the run-off stream with waterside plants (looking like Watercress) appearing along the whole length. Desert Thistles are popping up all over camp - it is amazing how much greenery there is around Bastion when you look for it.