At Lotus Hills the raptor passage was fair, largely Japanese Sparrowhawk, but also Grey-faced Buzzard, Upland Buzzard and a Short-toed Snake-eagle. At Yang Ho wood a female Long-tailed Minivet caused some discussion about its identity, but a Pechora Pipit found by Steve and Marion disappointingly eluded the rest of the group.
10th May – A good early start to the day saw visible migration at Lighthouse Point, e.g. Grey-headed Lapwing, large flocks of Yellow-breasted Buntings, Olive-backed Pipits, Chinese Penduline Tits, Yellow Wagtails and c.20 Hobbies coming in off the sea. A trip to the Great Wall, north of Qinghuangdao, produced birds typical of more mountainous habitat: Chinese Hill Warbler, Daurian Redstarts and Jackdaw, Siberian Meadow Bunting, plus the second of three Short-toed Snake-eagles (to support the bird seen earlier at Lotus Hills). In the late afternoon, the sand flats, wader pools and sandflats wood produced Greater Sand-plover, Siberian Pipit and Daurian Starling.
11th May – Again a day full of anticipation, we were to make our way to the hotel near Happy Island and the ‘Magic Wood’ (near Lao Yu Jian harbour). The day started typically at Lighthouse point, highlights being Red-throated Diver (the first ever for a Wildwings group) and four Grey-headed Lapwings; then we made our way south, stopping at Yang Ho; Da Pu He grasslands (the spectacular Daurian Partridge put in a show here); a road-side pool for a lovely group of White-winged Black and Whiskered Terns with Oriental Pratincoles; Chi Li Hi (more evidence of bird trapping, with a Brown Shrike on a thread, having had its wings and tail cut off to make a play thing for a child) – here there was a good array of waders, but not perhaps anything which we would not see later and perhaps it would have been better to press on to the woods near Lao Yu Jian. Eventually, we reached the harbour at Lao Yu Jian, and picked up the beautiful Saunders’s Gull, Asian Dowitcher, Great Knot, etc., but the ‘Magic Wood was to be saved for another day…..
12th May – A day to remember not only for numbers and species seen, but also for sheer quality, and one that needs full treatment. A very early start found two Broad-billed Sandpipers amongst hundreds of waders (Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints, etc.) near the Yuan Yang hotel (Siberian Blue Robins and Rubythroats plus Bluethroats flew across the pools in a steady stream), auguring well for the ‘Magic Wood’ (after 2000 this had a big reputation to live up to).
We entered the wood at 0630hrs for a one-and-a-half hour purge before having to leave for the ferry (we returned later). The totals speak for themselves in a way: White’s Thrush – 30; Siberian Thrush – 3; Rufous-tailed Robin – 6; Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush; Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - 2 males; Siberian Rubythroat – 150; Siberian Blue Robin – 100; Eyebrowed Thrush – 24; Upland Buzzard – 2; Oriental Scops Owl; Grey Nightjar – 2; Yellow-throated and Tristram’s Buntings – males; Lanceolated Warbler – 3; Oriental and Common Cuckoos; Grey-streaked Flycatcher – 3; Wryneck; Rufous-bellied Woodpeckers – 4; Radde’s and Dusky Warblers – 100s; Thick-billed and Oriental Reed Warblers; Yellow-legged Button Quail, etc., etc., all in a wood the size of two football pitches! At one stage I found it all too much and just knelt down and let everything pass me by.
Happy Island was very good with similar numbers of White’s Thrushes, plus the first (for me) Arctic, Pale-legged and Two-barred Greenish Warblers of the trip, White-throated Rock Thrush, but best of all ‘Stubby’ (Asian Stubtail) which I found by nearly treading on it, a great bird made better by Graham not seeing it (he gripped us back later on Old Peak).
Mere figures don’t really give the true excitement of the day: add all of the waders, raptors, terns, swifts and you begin to get the picture.