After enduring a bad night's sleep due to (presumed) monkeys fighting each other on the roof of our chalet we drove to the south side of Bueng Boraphet and found the reserve there. Whilst small boat trips were available we chose to head for the boardwalk and hides in the hope of seeing wintering Warblers. Unfortunately the tower hide had seen much better days, and whilst we got to the top, the view of the wetlands was largely obscured by a large tree that has clearly grown up since the tower was constructed. We had read that the boardwalk ran through an excellent area of scrub and reeds but the area had recently been cleared. In fact, large areas of the reserve seemed to have been very recently bulldozed and it was clear that large areas were being landscaped - even the road appeared new. No doubt vegetation will quickly recover in the tropical climate and hopefully the area will again become a magnet. It soon became very hot, and not knowing how bad the traffic would be on our way to the airport, we decided to call it a day. In the event the Bangkok ring road didn't prove too busy and we arrived a couple of hours earlier than planned for our flight back to Gatwick. Our flight was then delayed by a couple of hours meaning we had only 7 minutes in Dubai airport to transfer planes so it was no surprise our bags missed the flight. Arriving to a very frosty morning we were very pleased to be met by my parents.
Lesser Whistling Duck 500
Asian Openbill 1,000
Pond Heron sp. 25
Cattle Egret 250
Grey Heron 10
Great Egret 20
Little Cormorant 500
Oriental Darter 1
Eastern Marsh Harrier 2
Black Kite 5
Purple Swamphen 1
Black-winged Stilt 80
Greater Coucal 1
Asian Koel 1
White-throated Kingfisher 2
Blue-tailed Bee-eater 2
Ashy Woodswallow 30
Black Drongo 30
Large-billed Crow 1
Buff-vented Bulbul 8
Swallow 100
Striated Grassbird 1
White-vented Myna 100
Common Myna 100
Chestnut-tailed Starling 6
Baya Weaver 150
Amur Wagtail 2
Ashy Woodswallows at Bueng Boraphet
White-eyed River Martin statue at Bueng Boraphet
We were 35 years too late to see this species at the last site it was ever seen. Whilst present in Thailand we learnt the sobering news that Gurney's Pitta is now apparently extirpated from the Country with no sightings for over a year. Here's hoping the fortunes of Spoon-billed Sandpiper can be reversed and Thailand plays host to them for many winters to come...
