After lunch, we went our separate ways but all ended up at Radar Marsh where Tony’s group had found a Mongolian Lark – bird of the trip for many. It was well-watched for two hours, before we paid attention to a small, skulky warbler in the grass along the edge of the paddyfield, which we had flushed on our arrival. To his credit Martin had thought it might be a Japanese Swamp Warbler, and so it proved to be – a new bird for the ‘great Colston’. It had been another day of hard work, but with numerous quality birds.

17th May – A quiet early start at Beidaihe, followed by the drive to the eagerly anticipated Old Peak. Reports were coming back that all species were present apart from Chinese Leaf Warbler (the ‘great Colston’ produced his uncanny imitation of the song on request). The drive was very hot, but as we wound our way up the mountain, the air cooled slightly.

Stopping at the entrance gates for a short walk had new birds flowing thick and fast: a Large Hawk Cuckoo calling almost constantly and a ‘grip-back’ from those who had seen one at Happy Island; Godlewski’s Bunting, pleasingly numerous; Blunt-winged Warbler, with its rapid, almost Sylvia-like song; Yellow-streaked Warbler; Hair-crested Drongo – incredibly iridescent; and Bull-headed Shrike. Unfortunately, Manchurian Bush Warbler, and Indian and Asian Lesser Cuckoo were only heard, not seen – we saw the first two the next day.

Upon arrival at the plush, new hotel, it was drop your bags and get out birding. The first of numerous Chinese Nuthatches were easily found, but one of the most interesting birds of the trip was also found and showed well and sang, Elisae’s Flycatcher. This species is, according to Tony seen on almost all WildWings trips, but its appearance is always like the illustrations of females – even singing males. Superficially, it is like female Yellow-rumped but with the white inner greater coverts and lines down the edges of the tertials replaced by two white wing bars. We saw more at Old Peak, all singing males, all appeared the same, all were unlike the image of adult males given in the literature.

The late afternoon walk up the peak produced many Blyth’s Leaf Warblers, their Wren-like song and wing waving display is excellent value, but the best was kept to last. A rustle in the leaves next to the track attracted attention, quickly raised bins had views of a male Koklass Pheasant scampering up the hillside. Three of our four piled in after it; I stayed on the track and a Chinese Leaf Warbler popped out of the bushes and showed itself at very close range. The walk back produced good views of Grey-sided Thrush.

18th May – A few mad people got up at 0430hrs to walk up the peak, primarily for Koklass Pheasant, others strolled up later. I went to try and video Elisae’s Flycatcher (ending up with a brief snippet of song from below a bird – very poor), but later joined the rest at the top. Chinese Leaf Warblers were singing well at the site I had seen one yesterday and other areas; Bull-headed Shrikes totalled 11 for the day; Indian Cuckoo was scoped distantly; but the star of the morning was perhaps the Great Wall disappearing into the distance, fort after fort.

Returning to Beidaihe (one night at Old peak is perhaps not enough), we dashed out to Radar for a last attempt at Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, but without joy. I nearly trod on a Ruddy-breasted Crake, and Pintail Snipe also produced excitement – Oriental Reed Warbler was incredibly numerous in the small reed beds.

19th May – Our last morning at Beidaihe, found a small group at the sand flats wood, which produced 12 Lanceolated Warblers, Black-capped Kingfisher, Arctic and Two-barred Greenish Warblers. Back at base, a flush for a PGW seen by a lucky few found more Lancies, but not the one we wanted. Later, a Spotted Bush Warbler was seen by Martin, and this proved to be last good bird of the trip as we transferred to Beijing by train in preparation for the return home.

20th May - We left the hotel at 0800hrs and arrived back in England c20 hours later.


Final Comments
I offer some final comments before I give a list of species seen as part of a checklist to the birds of Beidaihe.

Birding in China, especially in the Beidaihe area, is a love/hate affair. The birds are fantastic; some of the landscape is wonderful (Old Peak, for example); and the people are very friendly. However, the treatment of the landscape and the litter/rubbish problem is acute; and the development at Beidaihe continues unabated – soon access to Lighthouse point will be a thing of the past. There appears to be no planning behind dumping, simply find a ditch or field and dump there. For example, at Radar Marsh a large area of the northern paddyfield is now covered with dumped waste (including hospital waste).

Don’t let the above put you off going, rather book soon before it changes too much, and book through WildWings. I can thoroughly recommend it.


Brian Small
May 2001