DAY 1 - MON FEB 27TH – Tarfia – Tangier – Moulay Bousselham via Asilah and Larache
An early start was made so that I could arrive in Tarifa in good time for the the first ferry at 9am.
It was a lovely morning, with a bit of a nip in the air but the sea was calm.
The crossing went smoothly, I logged my first species of the trip during the voyage, Yellow-legged Gull, Black Headed Gull, Northern Gannet, Cory’s and Balearic Shearwater, Great Cormorant and a Great Skua.
Getting through customs with an English car which is registered in my wife’s name proved a little tricky, but as soon as a few euros had crossed the palm of the customs man I was on my way. It took 20 minutes to get out of Tangier and soon the countryside was looking nice.
My first stop was North of Asilah near the mouth of the Oued Tahadart, I parked just south of the bridge and scanned from the roadside. Sandwich Terns patrolled the river whilst Curlew, Grey Plover, Black-winged Stilt and Redshank fed on the mud-banks, a Marsh Harrier and a few Lapwings littered the sky.
Next I stopped to scanned some open fields hoping for a glimpse of a Little Bustard, but failed. I did see Little Owl, Hen Harrier, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel and Corn Bunting. A few hundred yards further along the road I could see some seasonal pools, in fact the whole area was lush green so a lot of rain had fallen recently, a stark contrast to the arid conditions in Spain.
The pools were quite productive, I saw about fifty Greater Flamingos, a nice flock of Golden Plover, Green Sandpiper, Water Pipit and lots of Barn Swallows. I then drove to Asilah and just before entering the town I turned right to follow a road heading back northward. This led to a wonderful series of hillocks and huge open pastures, this was an area well known for bustards in days gone by. Not surprising, I failed to find any! In compensation I was rewarded with good views of Black-winged Kite and also Crested Lark, Zitting Cisticola, Meadow Pipit, Corn Bunting, Stonechat, Skylark, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Spotless Starling.
Just south of Asilah I stopped at the rubbish dump, there were hundreds of Cattle Egrets, White Storks, Jackdaws and Spotless Starlings.
It was approaching lunchtime and the temperature was now a nice 18 C as I arrived at the Oued Loukkos Marshes. First I turned eastward off the main road and followed the river to its mouth, along the way I found: Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Greenshank, Ringed Plover and thousands of Gulls. A flock of Wigeon on the water was nice and on the way back I found 7 Caspian Terns on a sandbank with Sandwich Terns and some Gulls which included a single adult Audouin’s Gull.
The best part of this huge marsh complex is found east of the main road just on the north side of the main bridge. This tarmac road leads for many kilometers into the marsh but I found most birds after about 4km. The pools were full of birds as I got out of the car I noticed some movement on the opposite side of the road, a crake had just run from a clump of marram grass into a ditch. I didn’t have to wait long before a beautiful Spotted Crake emerged and started feeding close by, what a thrill, my third new species for Morocco this year, following Woodcock and Short-eared Owl earlier in the month!
A flock of Common Coot held at least a dozen Red-knobbed Coots and a huge flock of Glossy ibis were joined by Little Egrets, Grey Heron, Spoonbill and White Storks in the middle of the marsh. Much nearer were Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilts, Dunlin, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Snipe, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Lapwing, Yellow Wagtail, White Wagtail, Little Grebe and Common Moorhen. Another Black-winged Kite appeared and five Marsh Harriers were quartering the area.
I reluctantly left the marsh area and drove through Larache, on the south side of the town I turned westward onto a side road to look for the ‘Merjas of the Rharb’, a series of 3 lagoons hidden in the rolling hills andFarmland. I found all 3 but was a little disappointed as it was hard to get near them, the sun was also in the south and it was difficult viewing. So I left them and set off for my final destination the Merja Zerja lagoon at Moulay Bousselham. I checked into my hotel in Moulay before setting off to look at the lagoon, the hotel had fantastic views of the blue lagoon, it was looking superb in the afternoon sunlight.
I spent the rest of the daylight searching for the ‘well known’ spot where everyone goes to find Marsh Owl, I couldn’t find it!!! But I did find many hundreds of birds and I added Great Egret to the Tally, tomorrow is another day.
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