Hi there fellow ringers
Well,I had been waiting a good 18 months to get over to Morocco to have a look at a ringing site that would be suitable to set up as a permanent ringing station.,and last Friday it finally came to pass.
The guys in the Rabat institute are not exactly the fastest movers on the planet,but like the jolly ol'tortoise,they finally made it!!
3 Of us boarded the fast ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta as foot passengers.myself ,Ian ,the UK ringer who has been at the Obs.for 3 months and another member of my local Spanish ringing group,Manolo,who knew N.Morocco very well.
At the other side we got a taxi to the Moroccan border and passed through without a hitch,(very unusual).
On the other side I rang our Moroccan leader and he and his driver were only minutes away from meeting us.
We then toured the windy mountainous area of the N.Moroccan coast,down some amazing tracks,good job we had a Land Rover,long wheel base.
Some areas we a complete no no ,too exposed to the prevailing E.and W.winds or in non birdy/ringing habitat.
We visited such strange places as Jbel Mousa,Beni Younech,Ras Leona,and these were deleted from the list of possibilities.
The next place looked really interesting,a S.to N.facing Oued (river valley),which on the map is directly opposite Gibraltar,the only drawback was no nearby accommodation and the valley was a little narrow.
We then visited the area around Taoutiet el Bioute but this was too public and security might well have been a problem here,as it was rumoured that it was a favored spot for illegal immigrants trying to get to Spain,and possibily a "Drugy" area,so this was also discounted rather quickly.
After a wonderful Moroccan lunch we pressed on in the Afternoon to 2 sites further down the West coast.,both just behind the beach,wonderful scrub habitat,but neither site had any water,and it seemed too public being close to such dreamy pure sandy "playas".
The day ended with a long drive across to the East side to the Hotel for the night at Tetouan.We finally got there at 23.30 hrs.,plus with the 2 hrs.time change,which to us was 01.30 hrs the next day!!!
So by the time we got to bed after a meal we were all shattered,to say the least.
The next morning we awoke to drizzle and it was obvious we had had a lot of rain overnight,but looking W.the weather did look like improving.,and after an wonderful Moroccan style buffet breakfast we set off on more searches.
We really only had 2 more sites left to visit,the first was pretty much useless ,connected to a big private golf club,but the habitat looked good,plenty of Tamarisk and scrub close to a river estuary.
Fortunately we saved the best site till last and it was in fact 1 of 2 sites that I had birded at several times before and I thought was potentially interesting.,
We were not to be disappointed,it was S.of Smir Restinga,a huge freshwater marsh,with open water,Phragmites reedbeds,Tamarisk scrub,Bulrushes,sedge,permanent and semi permanent grazing/water meadows.fig orchard,just perfect.
It was heaving with birds,just to name some we noted on the route round,Squacco,Purple,grey and night Herons,spoonbills,Black winged Stilts,Purple swamphens,Created Coot,Marsh harriers,Reed Warblers,Kingfisher,little owl.,cettis warblers,Zitting Cisticolas,cattle and Little Egrets,Little Grebe,Yellow wagtails,Greenshank,good numbers of swallows,White Storks,plus Osprey,and overhead we had a passage of Black kites.This was just in a couple of hours.
The accomodation and security looks great and everything seems to be just the ticket.Looking N.on the maps it is in direct line with the Rock of Gibraltar,on a prime migration route for passerines and non passerines,plus I know it is also a great wintering site for a large variety of species.
So we departed and all members of the party were happy that this is going to be it.
That was the easy bit,now all the planning for Sept and thats is bound to produce a few headaches and gnashing of teeth,and all this has to be fairly well watertight before I go off to OZ in mid June,much work to be done.,as I do not get back till Sept 3rd and then within a week or so over to Morocco to start the first ringing!!!!
But it is going to be an amazing ringing project in co operation with the Moroccans and am now going to get my head down and get planning .
will keep you posted on progress or otherwise
Your spanish Correspondent
Tchagra (Ricardo)
Well,I had been waiting a good 18 months to get over to Morocco to have a look at a ringing site that would be suitable to set up as a permanent ringing station.,and last Friday it finally came to pass.
The guys in the Rabat institute are not exactly the fastest movers on the planet,but like the jolly ol'tortoise,they finally made it!!
3 Of us boarded the fast ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta as foot passengers.myself ,Ian ,the UK ringer who has been at the Obs.for 3 months and another member of my local Spanish ringing group,Manolo,who knew N.Morocco very well.
At the other side we got a taxi to the Moroccan border and passed through without a hitch,(very unusual).
On the other side I rang our Moroccan leader and he and his driver were only minutes away from meeting us.
We then toured the windy mountainous area of the N.Moroccan coast,down some amazing tracks,good job we had a Land Rover,long wheel base.
Some areas we a complete no no ,too exposed to the prevailing E.and W.winds or in non birdy/ringing habitat.
We visited such strange places as Jbel Mousa,Beni Younech,Ras Leona,and these were deleted from the list of possibilities.
The next place looked really interesting,a S.to N.facing Oued (river valley),which on the map is directly opposite Gibraltar,the only drawback was no nearby accommodation and the valley was a little narrow.
We then visited the area around Taoutiet el Bioute but this was too public and security might well have been a problem here,as it was rumoured that it was a favored spot for illegal immigrants trying to get to Spain,and possibily a "Drugy" area,so this was also discounted rather quickly.
After a wonderful Moroccan lunch we pressed on in the Afternoon to 2 sites further down the West coast.,both just behind the beach,wonderful scrub habitat,but neither site had any water,and it seemed too public being close to such dreamy pure sandy "playas".
The day ended with a long drive across to the East side to the Hotel for the night at Tetouan.We finally got there at 23.30 hrs.,plus with the 2 hrs.time change,which to us was 01.30 hrs the next day!!!
So by the time we got to bed after a meal we were all shattered,to say the least.
The next morning we awoke to drizzle and it was obvious we had had a lot of rain overnight,but looking W.the weather did look like improving.,and after an wonderful Moroccan style buffet breakfast we set off on more searches.
We really only had 2 more sites left to visit,the first was pretty much useless ,connected to a big private golf club,but the habitat looked good,plenty of Tamarisk and scrub close to a river estuary.
Fortunately we saved the best site till last and it was in fact 1 of 2 sites that I had birded at several times before and I thought was potentially interesting.,
We were not to be disappointed,it was S.of Smir Restinga,a huge freshwater marsh,with open water,Phragmites reedbeds,Tamarisk scrub,Bulrushes,sedge,permanent and semi permanent grazing/water meadows.fig orchard,just perfect.
It was heaving with birds,just to name some we noted on the route round,Squacco,Purple,grey and night Herons,spoonbills,Black winged Stilts,Purple swamphens,Created Coot,Marsh harriers,Reed Warblers,Kingfisher,little owl.,cettis warblers,Zitting Cisticolas,cattle and Little Egrets,Little Grebe,Yellow wagtails,Greenshank,good numbers of swallows,White Storks,plus Osprey,and overhead we had a passage of Black kites.This was just in a couple of hours.
The accomodation and security looks great and everything seems to be just the ticket.Looking N.on the maps it is in direct line with the Rock of Gibraltar,on a prime migration route for passerines and non passerines,plus I know it is also a great wintering site for a large variety of species.
So we departed and all members of the party were happy that this is going to be it.
That was the easy bit,now all the planning for Sept and thats is bound to produce a few headaches and gnashing of teeth,and all this has to be fairly well watertight before I go off to OZ in mid June,much work to be done.,as I do not get back till Sept 3rd and then within a week or so over to Morocco to start the first ringing!!!!
But it is going to be an amazing ringing project in co operation with the Moroccans and am now going to get my head down and get planning .
will keep you posted on progress or otherwise
Your spanish Correspondent
Tchagra (Ricardo)
