India (Rajasthan and Kashmir) Trip - 31st July - Day 7

We had to be at Dachigam National Park for 5:30 to meet the park guard today so the alarm went off at 03:30 and after a quick coffee we were off in the dark heading to the park gate. We parked someway from the gate, gathered our gear and planned to be in the park all day. It felt like an undercover military operation when we got to gate two and it was locked with no sign of life, we then walked round to the main gate and there were two guards. However, it appeared that they had no idea that we were due to be there and after much head shaking one of the guards reluctantly agreed to accompany us. However, we were not able to have Farook accompany us and it quickly became apparent that the guard spoke very little English and was not at all keen on us being in the park but he agreed to take us in until 10:00. The target was then to get to the area where the Orange Bullfinch occur at the end of the access road and it appeared that the guard understood this. As we walked the road the first bird of note was a Spotted Forktail which showed well as it fed on the road, we 'chased' this bird up the road in front of us for some time before it eventually decided to head into the forest. In a clearing a Hangul showed well but i can't get very excited about deer! And then things got a bit weird, the guide insisted on taking us off trail and we spent the next couple of hours randomly walking around in the scrub, it was clear that the guide was nervous about showing us around and that we clearly weren't meant to be in the park - he was doing his utmost to keep us off the main access road where we wanted to be. We saw little and when it became apparent that the guard was not going to take us to the Bullfinch area we decided to cut our losses and leave - but, we took an arduous route via back paths and eventually had to climb over a fence to leave the park rather than leave via the main park gate. We had had a somewhat wasted morning and saw little but for a Sulpher-bellied Warbler and Himalayan Langur plus some very fresh Bear poo. We left the park at 09:45 and after some discussion decided that our best option was to head back to the house boat for an afternoon siesta and then head out again in the afternoon.

We spent a couple of hours at the house boat birding from the balcony which overhung the lake and taking some shots of the common lake species (Little Bittern, Whiskered Tern, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Black Kite and Common Kingfisher) before heading out for lunch and then heading for the Shankarachariya Temple.

We parked at the summit of the hill below the temple and walked up with the masses to the temple but other than the view it was pretty uninspiring so we quickly escaped the masses and wandered down the road birding as we went. Very quickly, after a bit of pishing, Andy found a cracking male Kashmir Flycatcher and we spent some time getting views of this bird. The road was generally very birdy and we encountered a few bird flocks which were largely dominated by Oriental White-eye with species such as Rusty-tailed Flycatcher, Western Crowned Leaf Warbler, Two-barred Greenish Warbler and Ultramarine Flycatcher. We birded the road from 15:00-18:00 and then spent the last hour of daylight at Lake Dal photographing boats, Whiskered Tern (breeds in good numbers on the lake) and Kingfisher before heading back to the boat house to drink some Kingfisher.

Todays Weather: Generally sunny with cloudy spells.

Spotted Forktail (immature) - Dachigam

Entrance sign to Dachigam National Park - If only they had given us the chance to 'be alert and look for'.

Very fresh Black Bear poo- Dachigam

Swallowtail Moth at Dachigam

Stream in the deciduous forest at Dachigam

Our exit from Dachigam the least welcoming National Park in the world

Little Bittern - Nigeen Lake

Whiskered Tern (Juvenile) - Nigeen Lake

Little Grebe of race albescens, note the yellow iris - Nigeen Lake

Black Kite of race govinda - Nigeen Lake

Marco Polo Houseboat - Nigeen Lake

Kashmir Flycatcher came into pishing about 100m below the main temple car park - Shankarachariya Temple 

Oriental White-eye - Shankarachariya Temple

Hobby attacking Black Kite - Shankarachariya Temple

Hobby - Shankarachariya Temple

Himalayan Woodpecker - Shankarachariya Temple

Ashy Drongo - Shankarachariya Temple

Common Kingfisher, we found the nest of this bird approximately 200m from the lake in a bank in a woodland - Dal Lake 

Common Kingfisher - Dal Lake

Whiskered Tern (adult) - Dal Lake 

Whiskered Tern - Dal Lake

Whiskered Tern (juvenile moulting to first winter) - Dal Lake

Whiskered Tern - Dal Lake

House Crow of the race zugmayeri a much greyer more Hooded Crow like bird than the familiar nominate race

Dal Lake

Links to the other Days of the Trip:
Day 1 - Background and Travel day
Day 2 - Surajpur Wetland and Nahargah Biological Park
Day 3 - Sonkhaliya
Day 4 - Ajmer Thorn Forest and drive back to Delhi
Day 5 - Fly Delhi to Shrinigar (Kashmir) then Yousmarg
Day 6 - Yousmarg
Day 8 - Yousmarg then return to Delhi and flights home

If you have any comments or queries on this post then please do not hesitate to contact me at simon@ecosa.co.uk

India (Rajasthan and Kashmir) Trip - 30th July - Day 6

We were up at 04:30 and headed back to Yousmarg at 05:15 and spent the entire day in the park. We first birded a stretch of road where the pines were mature and the ground flora and scrub layer looked well developed and we hoped looked productive for Black and Yellow Grosbeak and Orange Bullfinch but failed on both. We added Brown-flanked Bush-warbler, Tytler’s Warbler, Yellow-breasted Greenfinch and enjoyed good views of the rather odd looking caniceps race of Goldfinch and more Kashmir Woodpecker and Scaly-bellied Woodpecker After around two hours we headed to a patch of forest that we had seen from the roadside yesterday across the river from the park tollgate. Large areas of the park have been fenced against livestock and these areas have developed a rich ground flora containing many species familiar in the UK such as Foxglove, Meadow and Creeping Buttercup, Yarrow, Red Clover and Ox-eye Daisy and while the species/races may be different to those in the UK the overall appearance of the sward is very English meadow like. We figured that these ‘natural’ and less grazed areas would be better for birds. We climbed a small valley, following a tumbling mountain stream where White-capped Redstart and Grey Wagtail were new for the trip. We then headed ‘off-piste’ and cut through the scrub and pine forest seeing more Tytler’s Warbler, Kashmir Nuthatch, White-bellied Nuthatch, Oriental Turtle Dove, Lemon-rumped Leaf Warbler and Western Crowned Leaf Warbler but things were pretty slow going and we decided to head for lunch at 12:00 seeing a Himalayan Griffon Vulture while we waited for our lift.

After lunch we again birded the forest opposite the reservoir until 16:00 walking a loop away from the road, and back down the hill to rejoin the road but it was very slow going and we added nothing new to the list although we had great views of a Common Cuckoo feeding on caterpillars alongside the trail and a pair of Ultramarine Flycatcher. Much time was spent messing around with fungi, butterflies and dragonflies. We then spent the final hour or so walking down the road birding as we went, again it was pretty slow-going with Oriental Honey Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Mountain Bulbul and a Long-tailed Shrike being the highlights.

We headed back to the boat house after a pretty slow day in the field and hoping for  better day tomorrow, a day arranged via Ibrahim and the house boat in the Dachigam National Park. We had been informed that the park was closed but Ibrahim new the head-ranger and so we had high hopes of getting to a known site for both the Bullfinch and the Grosbeak. Beers, curry and bed!!

Goldfinch of sub-species caniceps - Yousmarg

Himalayan Woodpecker (Juvenile) - Yousmarg.

Grey Bush-chat

Western Crowned Leaf Warbler with bush-cricket - Yousmarg

Pine Bunting - Yousmarg

Blue Whistling Thrush - Yousmarg

Oriental Turtle Dove of sub-species orientalis - Yousmarg

Tytler's Warbler - Yousmarg

White-capped Redstart - Yousmarg

White-capped Redstart - Yousmarg

Common Cuckoo of race bakeri - Yousmarg

Ultramarine Flycatcher (male) - Yousmarg

Queen-of-Spain Fritillary - Yousmarg

Butterfly resembling Grayling - Yousmarg

Ladies-tresses species, a type of Orchid - Yousmarg

Skink species, one of only two reptiles seen during the entire trip - Yousmarg

Oriental Honey-buzzard of sub-species ruficollis. The six primary fingers (versus five for European Honey-buzzard) can be clearly seen - Yousmarg

Booted eagle - Yousmarg

Himalayan Bulbul - Yousmarg

Long-tailed Shrike of race erythronotus with Cockchafer - Yousmarg

View from Marco Polo Boat House at sunset

Links to the other Days of the Trip:
Day 1 - Background and Travel day
Day 2 - Surajpur Wetland and Nahargah Biological Park
Day 3 - Sonkhaliya
Day 4 - Ajmer Thorn Forest and drive back to Delhi
Day 5 - Fly Delhi to Shrinigar (Kashmir) then Yousmarg
Day 7 - Dachigam National Park, Shankarachariya Temple and Dal Lake
Day 8 - Yousmarg then return to Delhi and flights home

If you have any comments or queries on this post then please do not hesitate to contact me at simon@ecosa.co.uk

India (Rajasthan and Kashmir) Trip - 29th July - Day 5

We were up at 03:00 for 03:30 departure from our hotel to Delhi Airport for a 05:45 flight to Sringigar. The flight was on time and after a 1.20 minute flight, during which we enjoyed views of the Himalayas, we landed and were very soon waiting for our bags at, what seemed, a very low key, low fuss airport. We were picked up by our guide Farooq and our driver and were soon on our way to Yousmarg, a journey of two hours or so. We drove through the hectic streets of the outskirts of Sringigar where dogs and children played alongside one another on the road sides and wild Marijuana grew in thickets along the roadside filling the air with a sweet fragrance. We climbed from Sringigar to Yousmarg via Chadoora and Jeroha, through winding mountain roads, rice paddies and pastures, through broad-leaved scrub and into tall pine forest and flower rich alpine meadows.

Our first stop was adjacent to the reservoir a kilometre or two below the main restaurant and main carpark at Yousmarg, we climbed up the hill through the tall pine forest and walked a short loop up the slope and back to the road – energy levels were low due to the very early start and thinner air at higher altitude. There were singing Western Crowned Leaf Warbler, Himalayan Woodpecker, Spot-winged Tit and a single singing Brook’s Leaf Warbler while a Booted Eagle soared overhead. Then we hit a small feeding flock and added Bar-tailed Treecreeper, Rufous-naped Tit, Lemon-rumped Warbler and our first Kashmir Nuthatch. I had a brief view of a female Spectacled Finch but by the time the others had found the spot the bird had dropped out of view and we didn’t see it again. We then headed to the main visitor centre restaurant for a much needed sit down with a couple of Cokes and a nice spicy Dal.

After a bit of a chill we headed into the forest to the west of the restaurant with its tall pine trees but rather overgrazed understorey. By now we were shattered and birding was tough going in the heat of the afternoon but we did see a few new species including Kashmir Nutcracker, Hodgson’s Treecreeper, White-cheeked Nuthatch, Ultramarine Flycatcher and Rusty-tailed Flycatcher. The birding was generally pretty slow going with occasional bursts of activity as a flock moved through led by Spot-winged Tit and Rufous-naped Tit. This low level of activity was no doubt due to the time of year which appeared to be in-sync with the UK with birds now longer singing, young birds fledged and adults in moult.

We birded this area until 17:00 before heading back to Shrinigar. The traffic through town was appalling and despite the dodging and weaving of the car we remained stationary for some time before progressing through the town bumper to bumper through dusty streets, past a massive stone quarry that appeared to have sprung up amongst houses, past army checkpoints and a captured Pakistani tank. Beer was a must after a hard day in the field but little did we know that nowhere in Shrinigar sells it and so our guide took us to a hotel where a ‘black market’ in beer is operated and Ian and guide smuggled our stash of 16 Kingfisher into the car. After the one hour or so beer diversion we checked into our accommodation for the next three nights, the Marco Polo Houseboat on the edge of Nigeen Lake. We had a rather bland dinner amongst the wood clad, colonial settings and crashed at 23:00.

View of the Himalaya's from the plane

Jhelum River, Chadoora and House Crow

Himalayan Woodpecker sunning - Yousmarg

Large-billed Crow - Yousmarg

Brook's Leaf Warbler - This was the only definite Brook's that I saw, Lemon-rumped seemed to far out number this species - Yousmarg

Silver-washed Fritillary - Many of the butterflies we saw were familiar or were certainly very similar to British and European species including Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Queen of Spain Fritillary and Painted Lady - Yousmarg

Lichen on pines at Yousmarg

Puffball - We got a bit distracted by the amazing variety of fungi - Yousmarg

Fungi- Yousmarg

Earth-star - Yousmarg

Coral Fungus - Yousmarg

Pine Forest to West of Restaurant. The pines are very high and subsequently many birds are high in the treetops - Yousmarg

Spot-winged Tit. Formerly lumped with Coal Tit, this really is quite a distinctive looking bird differing from that species in many respects - Yousmarg

Grey Bush-chat - Yousmarg

Rock Bunting of race stracheyi which extends from China to Kashmir- Yousmarg

Dark-sided Flycatcher, adult and juvenile (right bird) - Yousmarg

Kashmir Nutcracker also known as Large-spotted Nuthatch this species was once lumped with Spotted Nutcracker but Kashmir replaces that species abruptly in the NW Himalayas and hybrids are little known  - Yousmarg

Kashmir Nutcracker - Yousmarg

Rusty-tailed Flycatcher - Yousmarg

Kashmir Nuthatch, once treated as a race of European Nuthatch but differs in more extensive rufous underparts and vocalisations - Yousmarg

Greenish Warbler of race trochiloides (Two-barred Greenish) - Yousmarg

Scaly-bellied Woodpecker - Yousmarg

Temple Repairs

Streaked Laughingthrush - Yousmarg

Kashmir Nuthatch - Yousmarg

Links to the other Days of the Trip:
Day 1 - Background and Travel day
Day 2 - Surajpur Wetland and Nahargah Biological Park
Day 3 - Sonkhaliya
Day 4 - Ajmer Thorn Forest and drive back to Delhi
Day 6 - Yousmarg
Day 7 - Dachigam National Park, Shankarachariya Temple and Dal Lake
Day 8 - Yousmarg then return to Delhi and flights home

If you have any comments or queries on this post then please do not hesitate to contact me at simon@ecosa.co.uk