Late Spring migrants

Week 20; 17 May 2019 - Pivot Fields

I had a morning at the Pivot Fields with Neil Tovey and Matt Nottingham enjoying the few late spring migrants that were still about.

We spent some time at one of the standing pans (still remnant from the winter rains) which has turned into a really good and compact wetland habitat. Black-winged Stilt's were pretty abundant

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

Along with a number of other wader species, including a few Ruff

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax)

Overhead, Pallid Swifts were quite vocal as they were feeding

Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)

Sedge Warbler's had arrived in numbers and we were literally flushing them everywhere we walked

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

Red-backed Shrikes which are generally late spring arrivals were also seen in numbers

Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio)

After Neil and Matt had left, I had one last drive around the farm, finding Eastern Nightingale

Eastern Nightingale (Luscinia m. golzii)

And my first Whinchat of the spring

Male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)

As the temperatures have increased quite quickly, now Spiny-tailed Lizards are also more easily seen as they sun themselves near the burrows

Arabian Spiny-tailed Lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia microlepis)

After leaving the Farm, I decided to go and check out the new 36km Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway from Free Trade Zone across Kuwait Bay to northern Subiyah which had recently been opened to the public. I must say, it is an impressive bit of engineering and will also be really good for the occasional sea watch in adverse weather conditions and when any pelagic species may be migrating

Sheikh Jabar Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway