18 Jun 23 - Angola - Forest: A Lost Cause

Despite not getting our evening meal till around 22:00, we were up at 05:00 to be back in the field for dawn. For the last several years, I've carried a metal coffee press, ground coffee & an insulated mug on foreign trips. This has been great, but it's dependent on being able to get hot water from hotels: on many days in the past this hasn't been possible. I've gone one step further on this trip & also packed a small travel kettle. So the typical morning routine has been to allow enough time for Phil (my room-mate on the trip) & I, to boil enough water for decent coffee to take into the field. The travel kettle proved its worth on this trip & will be another thing I have to fit into my bag on future trips.

It was about a forty-five minute drive to return to the area we had been Birding the previous afternoon in the Damengola Forest. This name is very misleading as the Damengola Forest has been completely logged and the only trees left are those with little or no commercial value. It is a real challenge to find even the smallest patches of surviving trees. The Birds we found were those who were more tolerant of secondary habitats, while the true forest specialists will have gone.

Our first stop was on the main road a few miles before the tracks into the remains of the forest. Here there were a few large trees next to the road, where we saw African Pied Hornbills, Piping Hornbills, Western Bronze-naped Pigeons, African Green Pigeons, Green-crested Turacos and a selection of Barbets & Tinkerbirds. A Gabon Coucal mocked us from the dense secondary growth, with lots of calling, but no sign of this sought after Tick.

African Pied Hornbill: This is the nominate fasciatus subspecies & it was a frequently seen Hornbill in Angola

Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird: This is the leucolaimus subspecies which occurs from Senegal to South Sudan, Uganda, to Southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and North Angola. This was a commonly heard, but rarely seen, Tinkerbird

White-collared Oliveback: This was a species I was really keen & pleased to see. It occurs in the mountains of Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, West Uganda, North Rwanda, Burundi & North West Tanzania. There other are isolated populations in North Angola & the Republic of the Congo

As the traffic increased on the main road, we carried onto a different ex-logging track into the forest from the previous afternoon. We drove for many miles along this dirt track, in the hope of finding a reasonable pocket. But we had no luck with any remaining decent forest. We encountered a small village quite a few miles along the track. We found many similar villages throughout the country, along every track we drove. These villages resulted in more miles of surrounding slash & burn subsistence farming which further degraded the remaining habitat. We saw many examples of the locals cutting trees for firewood and shooting the few Mammals, and on occasions the larger Birds, for bushmeat. No wonder, we only found some poorer secondary patches along this track and the Mammals & Birds were often shy.

Western Bronze-naped Pigeon: This species occurs from Sierra Leone to North West Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South West Uganda & Rwanda

Narina Trogon: This is the nominate subspecies which occurs from the Ethiopian highlands to Angola & South Africa. Other subspecies occur in the coastal lowlands of Somalia to Natal (South Africa), Sierra Leone to Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Malbrouck Monkey: This species was split from the East & Southern Africa Vervet Monkey at the start of this century

Congo Rope Squirrel: This was the most frequently Mammal we encountered on the trip

Birding in the forest remains: We drove for many miles along dirt tracks away from the main trying to find some reasonable pockets of forest: but with no joy

Being able to see this surviving large tree indicates how all the surrounding trees have been logged

The problem with having distant large trees and dense secondary bushes by the track was it wasn't easy to get photos of the Birds we were seeing. It was worse as they were constant mocking calls from many Little Greenbuls in these bushes, all of which refused to show themselves. Fortunately, they weren't a Tick for any of us. At least, the Insects were a lot more cooperative.

African Castor: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Butterfly species from my published photos

Spotted Ciliate Blue: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Butterfly species from my published photos

Orange-streak Acraea: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Butterfly species from my published photos

Orange-streak Acraea: Another photo of the last individual

Orange-streak Acraea: This was the commonest Butterfly we saw in the Damengola Forest area

Orange-streak Acraea

Blue-tipped Jewel: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Dragonfly species from my published photos

Unknown Carpenter Bee Xylocopa sp.: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to help narrow down this Bee identification from my published photos

This large & impressive Wasp nest appeared to be unoccupied

Ceroplesis bicincta: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify this species from my published photos

Eventually, we gave up on that track and headed off to a lake near to the main road. This proved productive and we saw our first Black-collared Bulbul: a stunning looking Bulbul.

Black-collared Bulbul: This monotypic species occurs from the savanna of Gabon to Angola to South East Democratic Republic of the Congo & North West Zambia

Malachite Kingfisher: This is the nominate subspecies of this widespread Kingfisher which occurs from Nigeria to West Sudan, Uganda & Kenya and South to South Angola, North Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe & South Africa. Other subspecies occur in West Africa, the Horn of Africa & on Sao Tome & Principe

African Pygmy Kingfisher: This is the natalensis subspecies which occurs from Angola to South Mozambique & South Africa. It is another widespread Kingfisher with other subspecies which occur over most of Sub-Saharan Africa

After checking the lake, we headed back to the track from the previous evening as they was slightly better remnant patches of forest along that track. We tried walking various stretches before returning to check a small patch of forest that had been left as shade for coffee near the start of the track. Here we saw a family party of Rufous-vented Paradise-flycatchers. This area was one of the better patches of trees.

Rufous-vented Paradise-flycatcher: Not the best of photos, but the black head and crest confirm this is a Rufous-vented Paradise-flycatcher. This is a monotypic subspecies which occurs from South East Nigeria & South Cameroon to Gabon & North Angola

On both afternoons, a party of African Pied Hornbills passed through the area

At the end of the day, we headed back to the roadside patch of forest we had started the day in. As we were walking out of the forest in the afternoon, I flushed the only Gabon Coucal we were to see in Angola. Unfortunately, Phil was behind Niall & missed it. We hoped the individual that was calling at the start of the day would show itself. While Niall & Phil were occupied trying to see the Gabon Coucal, Richard & I had an equally unprofitable search for a couple of calling White-spotted Flufftails. They came close, but wouldn't show. Despite a number of attempts over the trip, we had no joy seeing another Gabon Coucal or a White-spotted Flufftail.

17 Jun 23 - Angola - Braun: Better Than A Shaver

The previous Blog Post had covered our first morning in Angola where we were driving from Luanda to Uige. There had been a breakfast Birding stop, as well as, a quick roadside stop. The next stop was at the Dande River bridge. When Barry Reed & co visited in Autumn 22, they found a Swallow that superficially looks like a Forest Swallow, but which has a deeper fork in the tail and a more clean-cut pale throat than the West African populations of Forest Swallow. Forest Swallow are found in Cameroon to Gabon and neighbouring regions of the Republic of the Congo & Democratic Republic of the Congo (formally Zaire) and this puts this site out of the known range for Forest Swallow. Pete Morris has included photographs of this Swallow in the Birdquest tour in Oct 22 & like Barry & co, Birdquest have proposed it is either a new subspecies of Forest Swallow or a new species. Fortunately, we saw a couple of this Forest Swallow type, but none were close enough for a photo. I did managed to get a few photos of closer species.

Red-necked Buzzard: This gorgeous monotypic Buzzard occurs from Sierra Leone to Ethiopia, Uganda & Angola

Angola Swallow: They superficially look like Swallows, but lack the broad blue-black upper breast band & long tail streamers (albeit these might not be as long as they are in the UK summer) and they have greyer rather than whiter underparts. To my eyes, they usually looked a shinier blue on the mantle. They occur from Angola & Gabon to Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania & Test Kenya

Cassin's Grey Flycatcher: This is a river-loving species which occurs from Sierra Leone to Angola, West Uganda & extreme North Zambia

Northern Grey-headed Sparrow: This is the ugandae subspecies of this widespread species which occurs from South Mauritania to North Eritrea and South to Angola, North Namibia, North Zimbabwe & Malawi

Angolan Agama sp.: This appears to be a Namib Rock Agama, however, it appears too far North based upon the limited information I can find online, so I’ve left it as Angolan Agama sp.

Angolan Agama sp.: This is the same individual as the previous photo

Having seen the interesting Forest Swallow type, we jumped back into the 4WD and carried on for the next leg of the day. We finally arrived at the Damengola Forest in mid-afternoon. This allowed about three hours of Birding at the site before it got dark.

African Green Pigeon: This is a widespread species which occurs from Senegal to Ethiopia and as far South as South Africa

African Green Pigeon

African Pied Hornbill: This is the nominate subspecies which occurs in East Nigeria to Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola & Uganda. A second subspecies occurs from Senegal to West Nigeria

Naked-faced Barbet: This is the congicus subspecies which occurs from Western Republic of the Congo, to West Democratic Republic of the Congo & North West Angola

Braun's Bushshrike: The best-looking Bird of the day was this endemic Braun's Bushshrike. Sadly, this was the best photo I managed to take

We left at dusk for the forty minute drive into Uige. We were booked for the next two nights at one of the better hotels in the town. The rooms were uninspiring, albeit a bit bigger than the overpriced hotel in the capital & the food service was appalling. It took nearly three hours for our food to arrive and then it arrived in dribs & drabs rather than in all together: with us ending up eating about 22:00. If that was one of the better hotels in the town, it was good we weren't in one of the poor quality hotels. It had been a long but good day, with the first eleven Ticks of the seventy-five Clements Ticks seen.

17 Jun 23 - Angola - Finally Back In Sub-Saharan Africa

Back in the 1980s & 1990s, I spent nearly seven months Birding in Sub-Saharan Africa visiting, Kenya (twice), Rwanda, bits of Zaire & Uganda, Madagascar, Botswana, the Victoria Falls, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Ethiopia & Cameroon. Since that time, my trips have focused on Latin America & other parts of the Old World, and I've not had the opportunity or priority to get back to Sub-Saharan Africa. A few months ago, I was offered the chance of joining a private Birding trip to Angola with mates Phil Hansbro & Richard Carden. They had arranged a private trip with their mate & South African Bird guide, Niall Perrins (pronounced Neil) for a sixteen days Birding trip. The duration was just about long enough on paper to see the Angolan goodies, but with no built in contingency for difficult species.

Angola obtained its independence from Portugal in 1975 and immediately descended into a twenty-seven year long civil war between two opposing independence parties: one communist & one non-communist. Quickly, neighbouring countries started getting involved, before the backing spread to Russia, Cuba and their allies and the US, as it became another Cold War proxy warzone. Finally, a peace deal was reached in 2002, following the death of the non-communist leader. This left Angola in a serious mess with millions of displaced and poorly fed citizens, many landmines, destroyed infrastructure and other impacts from the civil war. As a consequence, it was never a country that I thought I would visit. However, one of the Banda Sea Cruise punters, Steve Kornfeld visited in Autumn 22, as did Barry Reed & a number of other British Birders on a separate trip.

With Birders visiting Angola and the opportunity to join a private trip with a couple of mates at a price that was considerably less than other Bird tours, it was clearly worth considering. After a few hours of thought, I decided to take up the offer of the third & final place on the trip. The tour groups take larger numbers of punters and their bird guide in two or three 4WDs. We would only have one 4WD which Niall had driven up from his Johannesburg home, with Richard deciding to travel up with Niall. Although Niall was the Bird guide and driver, it quickly felt more like a trip with mates as Phil & Richard were travelling buddies of Niall and they had travelled together on a number of trips, both in Africa and elsewhere in the world.

I flew in from Heathrow with the Portuguese TAP airline via Lisbon. I finally arrived into Luanda forty-five minutes late at 21:45. The visa process then added the best part of another hour delay before I finally escaped from the airport. I had applied for my visa in advance in the most painful visa application that I have ever made. The application not only needed the usual personal details, but confirmation of the travel plans, confirmation of spending at least two hundred US dollars a day, but also the details of a local sponsor. Niall had provided the details of one of the hotel managers along with the details of her nationality card with issue & expiry dates. There were two options to apply for the e-visa: use the free government e-visa process or pay the best part of 100 US dollars and apply via a private visa company. Richard had already tried the government process and had his e-visa rejected, before being successful with the paid process. Phil had gone straight down the paid process route. I decided to try the free government route, but immediately became unstuck as the sponsor's nationality card had expired. I changed the expiry year & submitted the application, whilst urgently contacting Niall to ask for an alternative local sponsor. They didn't need the sponsors full details, but it was a mandatory set of details on the application website that needed completing before you could submit the application. Fortunately and surprisingly, my e-visa was approved within one day.

Barry had warned me that when I reached immigration in Luanda, I would be sent to another office to get my real visa. It was good being forewarned about this, as my lack of Portuguese and the poor English of the immigration official would have been worrying as to why I didn't immediately get through immigration. The e-visa is only half the process. The second half involved a half hour queue to get into the office where they slowly checked my passport & e-visa, pay the 120 US dollar visa fee in cash which was then changed to local currency to pay another man, before the visa could be checked & finally issued. It's a good job there weren't lots of tourists on the plane as there were only about eight people in front of me to get a visa & yet it still took me nearly an hour to complete the immigration process. Finally, I had my visa approved and I picked up my main bag.

At last, I was out into the main arrivals lounge, but there was nobody there to meet me. Niall had said that he would arrange for a driver to pick me up. Fortunately, the driver reappeared after a few minutes. It was a ten minute drive to the uninspiring and over-priced Golden Park Hotel in the city, where Phil & Niall were waiting for me, whilst keeping the barman busy pouring cold beers. It was good to see Phil again for my third trip with him and to meet Niall. Richard had already decided to get an early night.

The plan was to leave at 05:30 the following morning & drive just over two hundred miles North East to the town of Uige, with three Birding stops along the way. The first stop was a sandy track through scrubby vegetation at Santa Amboleia, soon after it got light. This doubled up as a convenient breakfast stop. Sometimes, Niall arranged pack lunches from the hotels, whereas other stops it was rolls and cheese, with lots of coffee and cold drinks. One benefit of Niall driving his own 4WD from South Africa, was the 4WD fridge, which provided a level of comfort I hadn't expected. Fortunately, Niall had already brought some rolls in the 4WD, as the hotel hadn't provided a vegie packed lunch for me.

Hamerkop: Surprisingly, we saw very few Hamerkops and this is the only photo I managed to get of this monotypic African family

Red-backed Mousebird: It was good to start the trip seeing the first of the thirteen Angolan endemics. This was also the only Mousebird I hadn't seen & I it's nice being able to have seen all the species in a family

Red-backed Mousebird: The red lower back isn't visible when they are perched up. They are darker than the similar-looking Speckled Mousebirds with a more extensive dark face patch & dark, not pale, eyes

Cape Glossy Starling: Not looking very glossy in the early morning light

Superb Sunbird: Another species that looks better than this poor photo suggests

Citrus Swallowtail: Thanks to my mate Steve Morrison who was able to identify a number of the Butterfly species from my published photos

Richard (left), Phil & Niall (right) at Santa Amboleia

After a short Birding stop & breakfast, we were back on the road. In addition to the Red-backed Mousebirds, we had seen our only White-fronted Wattle-eyes and first Hartert's Camaropteras. That was three of the fourteen (Clements) or fifteen (IOC) Angolan endemics seen.

Santa Amboleia: Typical for most Birding sites where all the big trees had been logged leaving only the Baobabs and other species that cannot not used for building or converted to charcoal

While the main roads in Angola were generally tarmacked, they were also very potholed and it wasn't possible to Niall to drive too fast, due to the real dangers of hitting a deep pothole and causing serious damage to a tyre or the suspension. Even at moderate speeds, it was a very common event most hours for Niall to have to break sharply before swerving to avoid yet another pothole. We stopped for a Raptor in a tree, but it was only a Gymnogene: one of the common African Raptors we were to see on the trip.

Gymnogene: This is also known as African Harrier-hawk. It will not be the only species in the Angolan Blog Posts where I've stuck with the names I used on my first trips to Kenya

The next stop was at the Dande River bridge. But I will cover that in the next Blog Post.

13 Jun 23 - Dainty Dancers

In June 18, I visited the Isle of Wight to see & photograph Southern Emerald Damselfly, my last English Dragonfly species. A couple of years later, I heard that there was an isolated colony of Dainty Damselflies on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Dainty Damselflies were discovered in Essex in 1946, but that colony was lost in the 1953 Great Flood. They successfully recolonised the Isle of Sheppey around 2010, but it took the best part of a decade before I was aware of their return to the UK. Additionally, the Sheppey colony was on private land making access difficult.

In 2019, a new colony was discovered at Sandwich Bay. Fortunately, this colony was on a wildlife pond that the Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory had created on land leased from a local farmer. Once lockdown restrictions were over, the Bird Observatory decided to host a number of Dainty Damselfly viewing sessions. I wasn't able to book on one last year, but I was successful this year. It was a very early start to be there for 11:00, due to the ever unpredictable risks of major delays on the M25. Fortunately, there were no problems & I arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Dainty Damselfly: They have a wine glass shape on the second segment, but this can look similar to the markings on some Common Blue Damselflies, Variable Damselflies and Azure Damselflies

We were met by the warden Steffan, who gave us a talk before walking to the field with the wildlife pond. Steffan said the vast majority of the Blue Damselflies at the site were Dainty Damselflies, which was nice as it should provide plenty of opportunity for people to spread out & enjoy them, especially as there were only about a dozen or so people in the group.

Dainty Damselfly: They are a little bit smaller and more delicate-looking than Common Blue Damselflies, Variable Damselflies and Azure Damselflies, providing you have got your eye on with those species

Sadly, that didn't work out as well as I hoped. Another local Birder, Nigel Jarman, & I were lying down in one area & clearly photographing different individuals. They were clearly very active in the midday heat & sensitive to the slightest movement. Several other people in the group showed little fieldcraft walked far too close to the general area where we were spread out and repeatedly flushed our subjects. After biting my tongue I left that part of the pond in the hope of finding others at the back of the pond. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a less popular area with the Dainty Damselflies. Eventually, I found one that was settled, only for another member of the group to immediately appear, with another flushed Damselfly. Finally, I ended up with some reasonable photos from the session.

Dainty Damselfly

I was trying my old Canon 15 - 85 mm macro lens with the new R7 body for the first time and in hindsight, perhaps I should have spent some time before going to Kent to have a play with different camera settings.

Dainty Damselfly

Dainty Damselfly: The long pale pterostigma are a good feature for Dainty Damselflies. The other blue species have squarer & darker pterostigma

Steffan said that the Bird Observatory has an appeal to raising money to purchase seven acres of fields around, and including, the wildlife pond. If they can purchase the land, then there are plans to create more and deeper ponds alongside the existing pond. There are concerns that as we are experiencing longer, drier & hotter summers, then there is a risk that the existing pond could dry out one year & the colony would be lost. If anybody, would like more information about the land purchase appeal or would like to contribute, there is a link to the Fund the Fields Appeal here.

Dainty Damselfly

1 Jun 23 - A Local Adder

Around mid-morning, I received a phone call from Mark Singleton who works for the National Trust to say he had bumped into a local Hoopoe near Dancing Ledge. I took the camera & walked up to the location in the hope of being able to add Hoopoe to a fledgling Walking From Home List. Unfortunately, I failed to locate & Mark later confirmed that as he passed the area about a half hour later, he hadn't seen it again.

Still my walk wasn't totally in vain with this local Adder that was hunting along the edge of this grassy patch.

Adder

I can't complain about life in the Isle of Purbeck when I have views like this within walking distance of the house

Views back towards Nine Barrow Down & Ballard Down

26 May 23 - A Garden Broad-bodied Chaser

I returned home from a quiet walk around St Aldhelms, to find this stunning Broad-bodied Chaser in the garden. It was quite happy & I saw in perched up on several occasions later in the day. This is the tenth Spring out of twenty-five Springs that I've lived in Dorset, that I've seen a Broad-bodied Chaser in the garden, but it's the first year that I've had one give good views. Normally, all I see is one flying by which doesn't return.

Broad-bodied Chaser

23 May 23 - The First Dingy Skipper Of The Year

One of the nice things about living in the historic Isle of Purbeck is there is a good selection of UK Butterflies on my doorstep. I've seen 49 species of Butterflies in Dorset, with 43 of these species seen in the historic Isle of Purbeck. The remaining six do not occur locally: Brown Hairstreak, Duke of Burgundy Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary, Purple Emperor, Silver-spotted Skipper & Wood White. This means I have a good chance of just bumping into many of these 43 species whilst just out Birding.

Dingy Skippers fly in mid-May along the Purbeck coastline & it was good to see this freshly emerged Dingy Skipper at St Aldhelms.

Dingy Skipper