Skip to main content

Borderline

The morning is mild but grey, the route along the Arun to the Millstream quiet apart from six Magpies squabbling territorially on the path.

Rain has swollen what is already one of the fastest-flowing rivers in England and detritus picked up at high tide is now careering towards the sea. Among it is a matted mass of reeds, a Moorhen perching incongruously on the vegetation probing for food. Watching it, I recall standing by a different river a decade ago.

It’s 28 December 2007, a bright, crisp day in northern Thailand, and hosts of waders are feeding on a small chain of sandbars along the Mekong River. There are Long-billed Plovers and Temminck’s Stints, Spotted Redshanks and Small Pratincoles, but the River Lapwings are the real prize. This is a new species for me.

What’s more the side of the river I’m standing on is the border between Thailand and Laos, meaning the birds are in Laos. The 14 species noted on the sandbars form my list for a country I’ve still not set foot in. A lifer and a new country list, what could be better?

The birding is interrupted as a dead animal floats past, too decomposed to identify. Peter, the Swedish guy I’m birding with, tells me he once saw an elephant carcass heaving down the river. Others have seen human bodies, he adds. We are close to the Golden Triangle where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet, a place where gambling camps and drug traffickers take advantage of porous borders.

I return to the present, watching the Moorhen and its raft of reeds swirl down the river. I’ve only seen one animal carcass floating down the Arun, what appeared to be a pig that presumably lost its footing when water levels were high. And I’ve never seen a human body floating down the river, yet.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Arun Valley: 17-23 Oct

B irds recorded during walks at various locations in the valley this week. 23 Oct (14.40-17.40) - Arundel Park: 1 Red Kite, 50 Chaffinches, 150 Goldfinches, 20 Linnets, 3 Yellowhammers, 7 Reed Bunting. 23 Oct (08.00-10.00) – Arun South: 1 Red Kite, 2 Peregrines, 6 Reed Buntings, 3 Yellowhammers, 12 Song Thrushes, 1 Stonechat. 22 Oct (08.15-09.45) – Arun East, Millstream, Mill Road: 1 Little Grebe, 4 Meadow Pipits. 21 Oct (14.00-17.30) - Arundel Park: 3 Hawfinches, 35 Chaffinches, 3 Firecrests, 1 Marsh Tit, 16 Yellowhammers, 1 Reed Bunting. 21 Oct (08.00-10.00) – Arun South: 2 Coal Tits, 16 Reed Buntings, 6 Yellowhammers, 15 Song Thrushes, 4 Stonechats, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine. 20 Oct (17.15-18.30) – Millstream and adjacent river: 4+ Marsh Harriers (roost), 4 Tawny Owls, 20+ Pied Wagtails (roost). 20 Oct (08.00-09.30) – Arun South: 1+ Ring Ouzel, 14 Blackbirds, 10 Song Thrushes, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Peregrine. 19 Oct (1010-12.40) – Arun from For...

Arun Valley 22-28 Dec

Selected birds recorded on walks in the valley this week. 28 Dec (10.50-12.30) – Arun South: 3 Egyptian Geese, 1 Marsh Harrier, 11 Grey Partridge, 1 Snipe, 210+ Lapwing, 1 Kingfisher, 3 Stonechat, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Bullfinch, 2 Yellowhammer. 27 Dec (13.40-16.40) – Water Wood, Screen Wood, Sherwood Rough: 3 Marsh Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 6 Goldcrest, 2 Nuthatch, 1 Hawfinch, 3 Siskin, 3 Bullfinch, 15 Yellowhammer, 1 Jay, 1 Kestrel, 4 Buzzard, Tawny Owl. 27 Dec (08.10-09.35) – Arun East, Millstream, Mill Road: 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Red Kite, 6 Reed Bunting, 1 Yellowhammer, 2 Bullfinch. 26 Dec (08.15-09.30) – Arun South: 1 Shelduck, 1 Buzzard, 280+ Lapwing, 1 Kingfisher, 4 Reed Bunting, 12 Yellowhammer. 25 Dec (08.15-09.30) – Arun East, Millstream, Mill Road: 1 Buzzard, 6 Yellowhammer, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Stonechat, 2 Bullfinch. 24 Dec (08.15-09.30) – Arun South: 2 Egyptian Geese, 1 Buzzard, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Redshank, 1 Stonechat, 16 Yellowhammer. 23 Dec (08.15-09.30) – ...

July 4: Arun South

It’s already hot in spite of the easterly breeze, and the river is sluggish after days without rain. The grass is parched yellow, even the reeds in the ditches wilting. The gull loaf is building up on the stone-lined sections of the river bank and 55 Herring Gulls and 78 Black-headed Gulls have been joined by two Great Black-backed Gulls and single Mediterranean, Common and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. All of them are inactive. Even the Great Black-backs make only occasional forays, scolded when they do so by a pair of vigilant Oystercatchers. A dozen Lapwings dot the muddy stretches of the river’s edge, standing stock still before indulging in seemingly inconsequential runs. Much more active are the seven Common Sandpipers, their numbers up from only three a few days ago, while a single Little Ringed Plover and a calling Greenshank may be harbingers of other less common passage waders in the weeks ahead. There are probably no passage passerines yet. Sedge Warblers and Reed Warbl...