Old Al Ula town – Al Ula

Old Al Ula is the ancient trading town comprising 1032 houses with narrow lanes passing in front of them. The town houses consisted of two levels, the first built of stones carried from the ancient site of al-Khuraybah was allocated for receiving guests and storage and the second floor built out of mud brick, was used for the living area with some of the lanes roofed to increase the area of the upper floors of the houses. The town was designed in a way that made it easy to defend with all houses joined to each other forming a fortification around the city and the fort was placed high above the centre of town, on a jabal, for added protection. There were 14 gates to the city, known locally as aswar, that were opened in the morning and closed in the evening. A wide route passes through the town where camel caravans passed and here a number of shops and other trading posts were placed. The town houses were built around an elevated area away from the valley, keeping it safe from torrential rain, streams and floodwater. The town is now disused and has fallen into disrepair but is a very interesting place to visit and is currently being renovated in parts with information boards to tell the visitor about some of the towns history. The famous traveller Ibn Battutah mentioned Al Ula as he visited there saying “Al Ula is a large and fine village with orchards, date palms and water. The pilgrimage caravans stay there for four days to resupply and wash. Pilgrims leave with the villagers any excess belongings they have as they are known for their trustworthiness and only take with them what they need for the journey”.

Taken by Julianna Babbington (Age 6)

Taken by Kerensa Babbington (Age 6)

Gadwalls, Mallards, Northern Shovellers, Garganey, Ferruginous Ducks and Grebes – Dhahran Hills

The percolation pond was full of ducks a week ago but then they almost all disappeared. On 12 December a few ducks had returned but they were very different in composition to the ones that had been there previously. I counted 40 Gadwalls which is the highest count by far I have had on the ‘patch’ of this species. Also with them were three Garganey, three Ferruginous Ducks and two Northern Shovellers. Also with the duck were a large number of Little Grebes and five Black-necked Grebes, the largest count of this species I have seen on the patch as well. It looks like winter may prove to be good this year after a slightly disappointing autumn. I also saw four Little Egrets and a Squacco Heron on the pond but these have been around for several weeks along with two Western Marsh Harriers and a Gull-billed Tern. As it was the weekend I got to the pond when the light was reasonable and therefore managed to get a few photos of them.

Gadwall

Gadwall, Northern Shoveller & Garganey

Gadwall & Garganey

Gadwall

Gadwall

Gadwall

Mallard

Little Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

Al Ula city & surrounding area

Al Ula is a city 380 km north of Medina in northwestern Saudi Arabia and is the closest city to Madain Saleh and was part of the ancient incense route. Prior to the Nabataeans of Madain Saleh the area was ruled by the Lihyanites who left inscriptions on the many rock faces near the city. Ancient history is divided into several phases. The Dedanite kingdom spans to the seventh and sixth century BC, with Dedan mentioned in the "Harran Inscriptions". Here it is told how Nabonidus the king of Babylonia made a military campaign to northern Arabia in 552 BC or somewhat the region. The next four hundred years, until around 100 BC, were the time of the Kingdom of Lihyan. The Nabataeans ruled the region until at least until 106 AD when the Romans conquered their capital Petra. The Nabataeans made Hegra, the modern Madain Saleh their second capital situated 22 kilometres to the north of Al Ula. In the 13th century the old city of Al Ula was built and many stones of the old Dedanite and Lihyanite ruins were reused. A railway station was built for the Hejaz Railway in 1901-08. The railway line was built through the western part of Al-Khuraiba some twelve kilometers to the north of the old medieval town which is believed to be the site of the old Dedanite and Lihyanite town. In the 20th century the new town center was established beside the old town and eventually the people left the old buildings with the last family said to have left in 1983. Both the ruins of the medieval town and the site of the Liyhanite settlement now lay within the limits of the modern city. Many inscriptions, rock paintings and Nabataean wells can be found in the area that is now served by a new airport built in 20012 with flights to Riyadh twice a week in 2014 (Thursday and Saturday). The Al Ula Arac Resort is the best hotel in town to stay at and they can organize tours and tour guides of the area and Madain Sale and obtain you permits to visit Madain Saleh if you send them copies of your Iqamas.

Few birds – Deffi Park

A visit to Deffi Park was conducted early on Friday morning, as we were unable to enter the farm that was our first option for birding for the day. As a result we went to inner city Jubail and visited the well-kept Deffi Park in the hope of see some good wintering birds. Kuwait has had some good birds such as Brambling, Fieldfare, Eurasian Greenfinch and Goldcrest all of which are potential visitors to the park as the habitat is suitable. Unfortunately we saw very little there with the exception of plenty of Common Chiffchaffs. The only other noteworthy bird seen was a juvenile masked Shrike with few birds seen in general with the exception of large numbers of White Wagtails. This park does look excellent for birds in particular thrushes so we will be visiting again before the winter in finished.

A dark White-winged Tern – Sabkhat Al Fasl

When birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl, Phil and I found a very dark White-winged Tern. We see many White-winged Terns during the year at this site, including a number on the same day as this one, but none of them have approached this bird for darkness. The dark colouration made the bird look superficially like a Black Tern but many of the features of Black Tern where not present such as the normally obvious breast patch. Structurally the bird looked like a White-winged Tern but it’s wing length looked shorter and rounder compared to a nearby White-winged Tern but this may have been due to the dark colouration? Other features pointing towards White-winged Tern included square-tipped tail with paler outer tail feathers, head pattern and a short bill in comparison to Black Tern. We left the site happy the bird was a White-winged Tern, but I did not have any Tern guides with me in Saudi Arabia so I sent the photos to Jan Jorgensen for confirmation and would like to thank him for his comments on this bird.

Grey-headed (Purple) Swamphen a new ‘Patch’ species – Dhahran Hills

Birding the ‘patch’ has been relatively quiet this autumn but as always I have been out and about most days looking to see what if anything has turned up. On Friday 12 December I went birding again. As it was the weekend I took my girls with me and we went to the settling ponds, spray fields and the percolation pond. Towards the end of the visit we went to the percolation pond and walked along the track to see what was there. After looking at the ducks and egrets present we went to the reed bed at the end and watch a large group of Eurasian Coots and whilst looking I saw a Grey-headed (Purple) Swamphen standing in the reeds. It was fairly well hidden but we managed to move around and take a couple of photos of it. This was a new species for me on the ‘patch’ although one has been seen here before I arrived in Saudi Arabia. Whilst looking at this bird a Western Marsh Harrier flew over and made the bird fly into the centre of the reeds and as it did a second bird that had been hidden from view also flew and joined it. Purple Swamphen is not a rare bird in the Eastern Province and large numbers can be seen at its main breeding site of Sabkhat Al Fasl. Phil Roberts and I also found a second breeding site for the species at Khafrah Marsh a couple of years ago so it looks like the species may be extending its range as these are the only sites in the whole of Saudi Arabia. It would be nice to think this is a pair of birds and they will stay and start breeding. Later in the day Mats also saw one bird so, hopefully they will stay around for some time at least and better still breed here. Interestingly the second bird which Mats photographed appears to have a green mantle and shows characteristics of Afrcan Swamphen. We will be out tomorrow for a better lok for this bird to see if we can confirm its identification as African Swamphen is often treated as a separate species from Purple Swamphen and would be a first for the Eastern Province and only second record for the country.

Lots of birds – Sabkhat Al Fasl

My trip to Sabkhat Al Fasl last weekend proved quite rewarding with lots of birds seen including a few good ones. The first bird we saw on arrival was a Mauryan (Steppe) Grey Shrike sitting on an electrical post with a Common Kestrel. It has not been a good year for this species of Shrike so far although I have seen a few in the last couple of weeks. Over my time at the site I saw about five more shrikes with all the ones I got good views of appearing to be Daurian Shrikes. As normal, Grey-headed (Purple) Swamphens were common, with a newly burnt section of reeds holding 17 birds. Although they are common at Sabkhat Al Fasl this and Khafrah Marsh nearby are the only sites for the species in the country. Quite a few winter visitors are around now including White Wagtails, Water Pipits, Bluethroats and Eastern Stonechats and a Desert Wheatear was an unusual species for the location. The flock of Spanish Sparrows and the four Eurasian Penduline Tits, already posted about earlier, were also good winter visitors. As normal Greater Spotted Eagles were seen but this time only two with one a standard juvenile and the other a slightly odd looking bird with some features of Lesser Spotted Eagle although the bird was not seen well enough to claim such a rare species. Unfortunately the fulvescens bird was not seen. Another good bird of prey seen was a Long-legged Buzzard, a resident but uncommon species in the region and one I had not seen at the location before, although I have seen them just outside the reserve. As always the majority of birds were herons and egrets with good numbers of Grey Herons, Little Egrets and six Western Great Egrets. Squacco Heron numbers are building up with well over twenty birds seen during the day. A few waders were seen but numbers were low with Green Sandpiper seen in a few places and 37 Pied Avocets also present. Greater Flamingo numbers are increasing with more than 200 birds now on the flooded sabkha and Slender-billed Gulls are also increasing in numbers with 100 or so birds seen. Otherwise a few species of tern were seen including Caspian, Gull-billed, Whiskered and White-winged.

Mauryan Grey Shrike

Daurian Shrike

Eastern Stonechat

Grey-headed Swamphen

Greater Spotted Eagle

Long-legged Buzzard

Little Egret

Western Great Egret

Squacco Heron

Green Sandpiper

Slender-billed Gull

Ringing again in Bahrain – Alba Marsh

Nicole and I went ringing at Alba Marsh in Bahrain for the first time in almost a year. We have stopped ringing there since we now have permission to ring at Sabkhat Al Fasl in Saudi Arabia, where we catch more birds and don’t have the inconvenience of travelling across the Bahrain causeway and passing through passport control and customs. We went to Alba Marsh as our ringing trainer, Brendan Kavanagh was visiting from Ireland and we wanted to meet up and do some ringing together. We arrived well before first light but as we had not been to the site for ten months we had to do some work clearing the net rides. We set six 18 metre nets in the red beds and along the edge of the reeds and all were set up by 07:00 hrs. We caught few good birds including a couple of nice re-traps, both of which had originally been ringed at the same site in previous years. A Water Pipit was re-trapped that was originally ringed 9 March 2012 and an Indian (Clamourous) Reed Warbler re-trapped that was originally ringed 8 February 2011 the first time Nicole had ringed at the site. The Indian Reed Warbler is resident but the Water Pipit is a migrant meaning it has returned to its breeding grounds three times since it was originally trapped and is obviously faithful to this small marsh as a wintering area. We caught 22 birds in total, which is a good catch for the location, including Water Pipits, Bluethroats, Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warblers, Little Bittern, Eastern Stonechat, Paddyfield Warbler and House Sparrow. By 11:00 it started to rain very heavily and curtailed our ringing but not until we had caught and ringed a few good birds. It was very nice to ring back at Alba and maybe I will come back a couple of times a year in the spring and autumn to see what is happening there.

Bluethroat - male

House Sparrow

Indian (Clamorous) Reed Warbler

Little Bittern - female

Water Pipit

Flock of Spanish Sparrows – Sabkhat Al Fasl

A small flock of Spanish Sparrows appears to have taken up residence for the winter at Sabkhat Al Fasl. Birds are uncommon here, as well as the rest of the Eastern Province, but they have been seen the last three winters at Sabkhat Al Fasl always in the same area. This year numbers are higher than previous years with over 30 birds present, mainly females although a few males are present. The species is a migratory sparrow that likes to travel, feed and breed in flocks, so these birds are typically what is seen when they are located. Elsewhere in the Kingdom they are a common winter visitor and now an established breeder. These birds are not so easy to photograph as they are very mobile and easily disturbed but, hopefully, over the winter they may settle and allow better photos to be taken of them?