Bird watching - a Gambian Sketchbook

Simon Gillings - A Gambian Sketchbook

"Kingfishers, Rollers and Others"

Simon Gillings has been birding since a kid, but only began field sketching whilst birding and twitching at university. "I especially like to sketch on foreign trips as the sketchbook acts as an irreplaceable memory of the trip - even incomplete images convey something of the birding experience. I live in Norwich and work for the British Trust for Ornithology, in whose publications several line drawings have appeared."

I visited The Gambia recently. This was my first time in West Africa and a great opportunity to sketch.

Many Gambian species make perfect models. The various species of African Kingfishers can be easy to find, approachable and with stunning plumage, make great subjects. So would the sunbirds if they weren't so flightly !

This is a sketch of a Striped Kingfisher - a very vocal bird, particularly at dusk and common in open woodland savanna and cultivated areas. The Striped Kingfisher is a dry country kingfisher feeding upon lizards and large insects. I sketched this bird at Brufut Woods.

The Blue-breasted Kingfisher is one of the most beautiful african kingfishers with wings and wing coverts black and bright blue offset by a wide pale blue breast band and conspicuous red and black bill. I sketched this bird perched deep in woodland at Abuko. This is a forest kingfisher often found some distance from water.

The Malachite Kingfisher is one of the smallest african kingfishers. Its tiny size at just 5 inches can make it hard to pin down. But it is also one of the most stunning kingfishers with its bright ultramarine upperparts, white throat and rufous underparts. Good views allow one to observe the checkered black and cobalt-blue head crest. Although difficult to see this bird is locally common throughout Africa, frequenting permanent inland water with overhanging vegetation. I sketched this bird at Darsilami.

The Blue-bellied Roller is another superb species to sketch with a deep blue belly, black upperparts contrasting with a pinkish grey breast, head and neck and those big "Dennis Healey" eyebrows. Like many rollers, in flight, it shows its vivid ultramarine wings. It inhabits woodlands. I sketched this bird at Yundum.

The Vereaux's Eagle Owl is locally common across much of Africa, often encountered, as this bird was, in the daytime sleeping in some thickly foliaged Acacia tree. It is a finely vermiculated brownish-grey owl with a white facial disk with a distinctive black band on either side. It also has attractive pink eye-lids! I sketched this bird at Abuko.