A Naughty Nine No Longer 

As I approach the time when I have to stop travelling outside Europe, I found myself wondering where to travel to next. I don't have a bucket list since it would just keep getting longer however many places I go, so I did what I have done in the past and decided on a focus, setting myself a target. Having long ago achieved my first target of seeing all the world's gulls, and finding others now too expensive (such as Pterodroma petrels), I decided to attempt to see every species on Category A of the British List, somewhere in the world. As I had previously done a lot of twitching this started as a "dirty dozen", and the first year I visited Kazakhstan for two species. I had been there before, but to different areas, so a thoroughly enjoyable trip got me White-winged Lark and Caspian Plover, which was also my 200th wader. The lark, which is one of the most attractive of its family, held interest in that the only UK record was less than ten miles from my current home, but in the early eighties I had only just rekindled my interest in birds and lived miles away. A bonus came in the form of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Bermuda when travelling with Bob Flood to see Bermuda Petrel.  (I haven't quite given up on Pterodromae, but don't tell Ann!)

So I was left with a "naughty nine". Not quite able to decide on my next targets, I went to Ghana with JT, which was a great trip, with several new birds for me. I came to the decision that I was too old for 8-10 hours a day in hilly rainforest and it was perhaps no longer a good idea, so I decided to go to Mongolia, from where I have recently returned. It was one of the best trips I've been on, thanks to Birding Asia, our leader Martin Kennewell, and all the other members of our group. Unlike some tour companies, Birding Asia is really for more experienced birders and their prime concern isn't making huge profits, but luxury is minimal (the real luxury for me was having a blow-up air cushion under my arthritic legs giving some relief from the Mongolian earth, rock-hard from lack of rain). The group, all being experienced birders, got along really well, and in many ways that is what makes a trip, for me at least. Plus of course the birds, some fabulous species, of which more anon, as they say.

The three species I had targeted were Amur Falcon, Red-throated Thrush and Pallas' Reed Bunting. However, the easiest flight was with Turkish Airlines, and they have some long connections, mine in Turkey was 18 hours. I could have got a shorter one but realised that 18 hours  gave me enough time to add another target, only fairly recently added to the UK list (and due to be removed due to taxonomic theories, but I take little notice of that). With such a long layover, Turkish Airlines will give you a free hotel or a city tour, but I discovered that a one-day car hire is available (often three days is a minimum). So I picked up a car about 1.00am, drove to where I could overlook the Bosphorus, slept in the car for a few hours (no problem for me), and woke to view flocks of Yelkouan Shearwaters flying back and forth. I did a bit more birding locally, Syrian Woodpecker being my best find, and was comfortably back on the plane for an overnight flight to Ulaan-Bator, Mongolia's capital.

I arrived two days before the tour started, for two reasons. I don't trust airlines to get my baggage and me to the same place at the same time, but more importantly there is good birding around the hotel. It turned out I had been sitting near another tour participant on the plane, but we didn't realise until we were getting off. He explained there were three Peters, but to call him Pedro, a school nickname, and we spent the next two days birding together, being gradually joined by others. My first target fell that afternoon, as four or five Amur Falcons were circling overhead, and the following morning Pedro saw a Siberian Rubythroat hop out of some grass at the side of the road. The other two targets were fairly easy, although thrushes proved elusive for much
of the trip we located one near our first camp site, and Pallas's Reed Buntings were not uncommon. There are two subspecies, which are a potential split, we saw both and then, during our few periods of wi-fi, my Birdguides app. informed me there was one on Fair Isle! Only the 5th record if accepted, but none has been twitchable. Lastly, we saw numbers of the recently split Mongolian Gull (from Vega). I had thought I had seen this taxa in Hong Kong in 1991, based on what locals told us, but the only photo I had, which I dug out from a box of slides, turned out not to be one. Fortunately, there was never any need to investigate further as this happened a few weeks before the trip, and Mongolian Gull didn't "exist" until 2024!

So, I now have five targets, which I cannot think of a name for. The best I can come up with is "frustrating five",  since only Egyptian Nightjar is reasonably nailed on. Two owls, Northern Hawk and Tengmalm's, should present little difficulty, but they're owls!, and Black-billed Cuckoo isn't always easy to find. My last, Macqueen's Bustard, could yet prove a stumbling block as the last "certain to see" population is in Israel. But they will all be interesting trips. More on Mongolia to come.

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