birding never sleeps: MOROCCO April 1977: south to Gorge du Todra

Pete Naylor’s untimely death on Christmas Eve 2012, far too young at just 62, got me thinking of the good times I’d had with him over the years. In the mid 1970s and early 1980s we were part of a group of friends doing regular weekend trips to Norfolk or twitching and holidays on Scillies, Fair Isle or abroad. Pete was a very careful and competent birder brought up with the discipline of watching at Perry Oaks and Staines Reservoir (where birds usually had to be identified at great range). He was highly reliable, completely unflappable and with a wry sense of humour which made him excellent to have on any trip. These postings of a Morocco trip we were both on in 1977 are dedicated to his memory. As usual they are based on note book entries that I wish had been more detailed, scanned slides of variable quality and my unreliable recollections.

In May 1975 I’d been one of a group of friends who had visited the Camargue and Pyrenees in a minibus, my main contribution being keeping whoever was driving awake and finding a Wallcreeper in the Pyrennes. The trip went very well (50 new birds for me including said Wallcreeper, then my most wanted bird) and we were keen to follow it up with something a bit more adventurous. We didn’t get anything off the ground in 1976 but a trip to Morocco became a firm possibility for 1977. Other friends were interested and in the event ten of us went - four from around London (Richard Bosanquet, Andrew Moon, Pete Naylor and Nigel Redman), four from Liverpool (Geoff Bond, Pete Campbell, Ken Dummigan and Chris Murphy), Dave Norman from Devon and myself (working as an accountant in Hove - that didn't last ...). We flew to Malaga on the morning of 18 April 1977 and hired two small Seats for a fortnight (5 plus luggage,including tents, in each was quite a squash). We drove to Tarifa where we got a ferry across the Straits of Gibraltar to Ceuta. Limited roadside birding in Southern Spain produced two new birds (Spotless Starling and Pallid Swift), Bee-eaters and Egyptian Vulture. Two Puffins and a Bonxie were seen on the crossing and roadside stops as we drove south in Morocco added Barbary Partridge and a selection of waterbirds. We camped in the Rif.

approaching North Africa

roadside Catttle Egrets

Crested Lark, these and Theklas needed a good view to be sure of their identification

19 April. We drove to Fez seeing our first Bulbuls and two Rufous Bush Robins en route. Fez was very busy with hundreds of Alpine Swifts flying around the old city walls although 20 Little Swifts were another new bird. After buying some provisions (we seemed to live mainly on bread and lemonade) we continued south to Dayet Aoua (a single Crested Coot and 12 Hawfinches), Annoceur (Long-legged Buzzard and 50 Black-necked Grebes) and Foum Kheneg Gorge (Roller, Black Wheatear and 3 Blue Rock Thrushes). We camped at Midelt, south of Zeida.

The Rif, Morocco was full of wide open spaces

Rufous Bush Robin

Wood Lark

Ait Youssi

Pete Campbell and Geoff Bond unsuccessfully scanning for cranes at Ait Youssi

Annoceur, good for Black-necked Grebes

Roller, always a favourite

20 April. Up at dawn and soon chasing after Dupont’s Lark of which about ten were singing in the area although it took a while to track one down. Other birds here included 25 Lesser Short-toed Larks, 10 male Desert Wheatears and best of all 3 Cream Coloured Coursers. We continued south along the plain towards the edge of the Atlas mountains seeing 3 Black-bellied Sandgrouse and more wheatears. We entered more hilly country where I was delighted to see 7 Moussier’s Redstarts and 6 Tristam’s and an Orphean Warbler while the drive south to the edge of the desert at Ksar-es-souk added Desert Lark, House Bunting and Fulvous Babbler.

distant village at Kef el Mellah

decent if somewhat narrow road at Kef el Mellah, traffic wasn't a major problem

Richard Bosanquet, Dave Norman, Pete Naylor, Chris Murphy, Nigel Redman and Geoff Bond looking for larks south of Zeida

White Stork

looking north from J Ali ou Rbeddou, site for ...

... Tristram's Warbler, a poor photo of a very smart bird

Rock Thrush

Raptor stop (yawn) near Defile N'Zala. Nigel Redman, Pete Naylor, Andrew Moon and Dave Norman, the other occupants of 'our' car. I'm not sure how we all fitted into it - Pete and Andrew certainly suffered from lack of leg room.

apparently deserted village near Defile N'Zala

more signs of life here

Gorge du Ziz

impressive canyon but very muddy looking water in it

very little vegetation in places despite the river

leaving the Gordge

21 April. We camped at Source-bleue de Meski, which in daylight was a lush oasis with migrants including Redstart, 12 Bonelli’s and a Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher. Not being able to get our 2WD any further into the desert we headed west, seeing 6 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and our first (of many) White-crowned Black Wheatears on the way to Rissani. 4 more Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters on the way to Gfifate where we added Bar-tailed Desert and Hoopoe Larks, Scrub and a rather lost looking Wood Warbler and 20 Trumpeter Finches. We finished the day driving to Mellab with another 10 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters and more Bar-tailed Desert and Hoopoe Larks with one of the latter performing song flights in response to a poor tape recording.

Zouala

Kar ej Jdid, amazing the difference irrigation can make to the desert landscape

the road at Maadid, clearly not rush hour

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

one of the birds of the trip

Trumpeter Finch

young White-crowned Black Wheatear

adult White-crowned Black Wheatear

Desert Lark, about as dull as one gets

Bar-tailed Desert Lark, much more impressive than its namesake

Hopopoe Lark, even better still!

22 April. We drove slowly westwards to the Gorge du Todra, where a pair of Crimson-winged Finches were found, and turned south down the Tagdilt Track near Boumalne. This area was good for Red-rumped Wheatears, Temminck’s Horned and the very impressive Thick-billed Larks and more coursers. We would stop the car in the desert seemingly in the middle of nowhere but soon people would appear and start walking towards us, eventually to stop and stare. More scary was to return to the cars and find hand prints on the windows when we’d seen no one and had hardly been out of sight of them.