From the Archives: China Trip 28-30th September 2008 Part One

With any current birding severely curtailed due to the Corona virus emergency I  have resurrected some unpublished trip reports from excursions abroad that pre-date this blog. Here is the first concerning a three day birding trip in China away back in 2008. This was my pre camera  days when all I had was some basic digiscoping equipment resulting in photos most of which I am too embarrassed to publish so please forgive the lack of bird images.

September 28th 2008
Xiao Yangshan

Weather very windy due to the proximity of a Typhoon off Taiwan but otherwise sunny and very warm

A short business trip to Shanghai was too good an opportunity to miss so I decided to add three days birding onto the end before returning to home. That saved me the cost of any flights! I made contact with Zhang Lin a local Chinese birder, just setting out as a professional birdguide, who lived in Shanghai and spoke good English. It would be inordinately difficult to do such a birding trip by oneself as the places we needed to go to see the 'good birds' were inevitably where little or no English was spoken, and using buses and taxis, which is what we did, required someone who knew what to do where to go and spoke the language!

I met Zhang Lin at 7am in the lobby of my hotel in Shanghai and we took a taxi to the bus station where we made our way, via two buses, to an island callled Xiao Yangshan. Although an island it is now connected to the mainland via the enormous 33 kilometres long Donghai Bridge which the second bus crossed and then deposited us at the local bus station on the island. Everything built or constructed in China seems to be on an heroic scale and this bridge was no exception.There is also no such thing as planning permission or appeals in China. If the Government says it is to be done then it is and there are no arguments.

We arrived at the bus station at 9am and made our way to a nearby scrubby and rocky hillside right by the sea with a weather station on the top of it. We birded the landward side of the hill where it was sheltered from the very strong onshore wind courtesy of the typhoon off Taiwan and it was obvious the birds had the same idea. We soon started connecting with birds, the first being three species of wagtail, Yellow, White and Grey which left me distinctly underwhelmed although the Yellow Wagtail was of a race M.f. taivana I had not seen before but then a noisy Long tailed Shrike followed by a Brown Shrike certainly improved the mood. Walking up the hillside we found an Asian Brown Flycatcher and eventually estimated there must have been fifty plus sheltering in the general area with at least fourteen perched on one short stretch of fenceline around the weather station. Blue Rock Thrushes played their usual game of hide and seek in and around the rocks. More surprising was the discovery, after some debate about the identification, of two Collared Scops Owls which we flushed separately from some low vegetation, to be followed shortly afterwards by an Oriental Cuckoo which flew off rapidly up the hillside. We followed the track up the hill and came to a small flat area with an isolated tree in which we found two beautiful adult male Blue and White Flycatchers. Whilst watching these an Eastern Crowned Warbler, a new bird species for me, obligingly perched motionless on the edge of some bushes below the tree and then was replaced by an Arctic Warbler. A Black capped Kingfisher, another new species for my list, put in a brief fly by appearance.

We retraced our steps and made our way around the back of the weather station to an overgrown area overlooking a rather beautiful temple or was it a lighthouse or even a coastguard station? Neither of us were quite sure. I did risk a photo of that as it was so impressive and seemed to be unoccupied.

The trees at the back of the building were alive with migrant passerines including at least two more Eastern Crowned Warblers plus one each of Yellow browed and Arctic Warblers, a single Japanese Paradise Flycatcher, a Black naped Oriole, a small flock of Yellow billled Grosbeaks, a Bull headed Shrike, yet another Asian Brown Flycatcher, a Grey streaked Flycatcher  and two roosting Black Crowned Night Herons.

We had an al fresco lunch by the temple/lighthouse whilst watching another two Black naped Orioles and some perched Yellow billed Grosbeaks. Setting off back up the path we located a Dusky Warbler and a male Siberian Stonechat. Crossing to the seaward side of the hill we found it devoid of birds apart from a Common Kestrel hanging in the wind, so we walked a mile or so to another cliffside area. Again we remained on the sheltered side and although there were not so many birds here we found good numbers again of Asian Brown Flycatchers, a couple of Grey streaked Flycatchers and Long tailed and Bull headed Shrikes.We followed an elevated track that led to a smallholding and looking down to the base of the hill we found a few Richard's Pipits scratching and feeding in the gravel and grass plus an Oriental Turtle Dove and some Spotted Doves for company. A Common Kingfisher flew away from a pond, while a couple of Great Tits with no yellow on their underparts, just greyish white and a flock of fifteen Light vented Bulbuls flew up the hillside. We progressed to the small holding and the highlight here was a White's Thrush which flew up from beside the path and very obligingly gave us close views as it perched motionless low down in a tree for about fifteen minutes. 

It then flew down from its perch and we watched it feeding for about forty miutes and I even managed to get some reasonable digiscoped shots of it. A minor miracle in itself. 

Zhang Lin then drew my attention to some Fork tailed Swifts flying above the cliff face. We followed the track onwards and just before a long tunnel which led through the rock and out to the seaward side, a small leaf warbler gave tantalisingly brief views before disappearing but was probably a Two barred Greenish Warbler. Unsurprisingly there was little birdlife on the seaward and much more windswept side of the tunnel apart from a Peregrine and a Common Kestrel disputing the airspace.

We called it a day and made our way to the bus stop catching the 1630 bus back across the interminable bridge to Binhai where we checked in to an enormous and brand new hotel at around 1730. We celebrated the day with a beer and an extremely palatable Chinese meal in the hotel. Our waitress noticing I was from the west was worried that I could not eat with the normal chopsticks provided and presented me, with great ceremony, a knife and fork. I can use chopsticks but thought it diplomatic to use the knife and fork especially as she watched to make sure I did. With the meal over and done we retired to bed early as we were both very tired. The room itself was functional but comfortable, clean, air conditioned and had a shower. That was all I required.

Day total at Xiao Yangshan 0900-1600

36 species/9 lifers

Common Kingfisher1; Black capped Kingfisher 1; Oriental Cuckoo 1; Fork tailed Swift 2+; Collared Scops Owl 2; Common Kestrel 2; Peregrine 1; Black crowned Night Heron 2; Oriental Turtle Dove 2; Spotted Dove 3; Bull headed Shrike 3; Brown Shrike 1; Long tailed Shrike 5; Black naped Oriole 3; Japanese Paradise Flycatcher 1; Blue Rock Thrush 6; White's Thrush 1; Light vented Bulbul 15+; Grey streaked Flycatcher 4+; Asian Brown Flycatcher 50+; Blue and White Fycatcher 6; Siberian Stonechat 2; Great Tit 2; Barn Swallow 1; Plain Prinia 1; Dusky Warbler1; Yellow browed Warbler 2; Arctic Warbler 2; probable Two barred Greenish Warbler 1; Eastern Crowned Warbler 3; Eurasian Tree Sparrow 50+; Yellow Wagtail 10+; Grey Wagtail 3; White Wagtail 2; Richard's Pipit 3; Yellow billed Grosbeak 12+