This blog is shifting emphasis to nature writing and the more birding focused entries are now on the companion blog arunwild.blogspot.com, which also hosts a page listing the bird species seen in the Arun Valley in 2018. Enjoy!
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 li...
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