Alright all
I was wondering if any members were jammy enough to be on the Wildwings Beidaihe trip this year? I was on it last year and have a morbid curiosity to see what goodies were seen this year whilst all us left in blighty have been hanging ourselves thanks to the total lack of anything decent to look at. I know Wildwings will post a trip report soon but it'd be nice to know what the highlights of this years trip were.
Cheers
Chris
A group of us were in Beidaihe at the same time as Wildwings this year, and we had a great time. Wildwings saw much the same as us, with the exception of a few rares we were lucky enough to find, and a few goodies they found that we failed to see.
Highlights in no particular order were Rufous-gorgeted flycatcher, Pied wheatear, Tickell's warbler, Chinese bush-warbler, 2 Pere David's Bush-warblers, White-breasted waterhen, White-throated needletails, Asian grass owl, Orange-headed thrush, Himalayan swiftlet, Grey-backed shrike, White-tailed leaf warbler, 3 Koklass pheasant, 2 Elisea's Flycatchers etc etc.
The best afternoon was just after Wildwings had left, and it rained all morning. Lighthouse Point then produced approx 90 Lancey's, 3 + P G Tips, Ruddy-breasted crake, Per Davids Bush-warbler (presumably this new split anyway, but not too sure of the ID criteria - any ideas anyone?), Hodgson's Hawk cuckoo, 25 + Thick-billed wblrs etc etc
Hope this hasn't depressed you further Chris...!?
Depressed? Of course not ( searches hurriedly for knife with which to slash wrists while the tears flow uncontrollably 
)
Sounds like you got some cracking extralimital birds there, O.H.Thrush and the Swiftlet especially. Were those in Beidaihe, or up in the mountains (or Happy Island)?
But I'm not jealous, not at all, not even a little bit. I mean after all, I've seen a Gropper and a couple of Blackcaps this May on my local patch so there's no need for me to be jealous of all those Needletails, Rubythroats, Flycatchers etc............wish I had'nt started this thread now