Phil Roberts and I went for our normal winter birding trip to Haradh recently and saw a lot of good birds. Best was 14 Sociable Lapwings which I have already posted about but we also saw a number of other good winter visitors and early spring migrants. The first pivot field we stopped at had a hugh flock of over 500 Spanish Sparrows and a nice looking are of long grass next a freshly cut area. In the freshly cut area were a number of Yellow Wagtails with several White Wagtails alongside. Whilst looking at the Wagtails were heard several Common Quail calling from the nearby grass area and saw one bird in the short grass and four more were flushed from the long grass. Both Common Quail and Yellow Wagtail are early spring migrants. Whilst walking through the long grass we saw up to twenty Red-spotted Bluethroats, the largest number I have seen at a single site at the same time and several Siberian Stonechats along with European Stonechat. Several Namaqua Dove were in the same area and a few Common Kestrel were overhead and perched. Large numbers of Tawny Pipits were also in the fields and long their edges showing that migration was in progress.
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| Common Kestrel |
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| Namaqua Dove |
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| Tawny Pipit |