By virtue of my son’s football training I finally managed to get round to checking out a bit of interesting habitat bang in the centre of Ratchaburi, between Tesco Lotus and Daruna School. The football pitches are at the far end of the site and there are a couple of decent access roads to them so it’s possible to walk a kind of loop around the middle of the site: a large plot of derelict land, much of it overgrown with a fair amount of shallow water in it. In fact it is so overgrown there are some parts of it which are virtually inaccesible.
This afternoon the place was teeming with drongos and barn swallows but I also picked out Oriental Reed Warblers and by sound Black-browed Reed Warbler and Thick-billed Warbler. A rail or crake flashed in front of me as I drove in this afternoon and the only thing I can be sure of is that it wasn’t a White-breasted Waterhen; the latter are present along with good numbers of Little Egrets and Chinese Pond Herons. A Yellow Bittern briefly hovered over over the phragmites reeds and a small flock of White-rumped Munias were happily working their way around the site. In the final light of the day I heard the high pitched ululation-like call of a Red-legged Crake. There were also a couple of Eastern Stonechats present.
Benny trains twice or three times a week in the late afternoon so I reckon I’m going to get about the site and try and see what I can find. There was enough there today for me to think this site could have real potential with the possibility of some raptors and owls too.
Dodgy Birds 