My Fourth Day in The Gambia: Kartong

A Steady Start to the Day

After a busy few previous days, I took the opportunity to sleep for longer into the morning, and had a gentle few hours of birdwatching and talking with other guests before my afternoon plans. I've really grown fond of the noise and chatter from the Common Bulbuls and Village Weavers, and have found it immensely calming to watch them as I have my breakfast. I was delighted to see a Pied Crow come to the water to drink. I'd seen them countless times already, and to my shame had never considered them a candidate for a photograph... until this morning, where I really watched this individual and saw how stunning it really was. There was something quite corporate about the way it was sat, scanned the area, before taking short precise drinks from the water. I'd taken all this time to reflect on the rarer, more brightly coloured birds I'd been seeing, while not appropriately appreciating what I had in abundance.

Journey to Kartong Bird Observatory

Just before midday, I set off to the Kartong Bird Observatory (KBO) where I would be staying for the night to join them for ringing the following morning. I was greeted by Colin Cross, who acts as a Field Ornithologist for the Observatory, and shortly after we were joined by Emmanuel Jatta, who I knew through the Evolving Conservation Leaders scheme (ECL) with OLF and had met when he visited the UK in 2024. Emmanuel is a rare human being, immensely likeable and very easy to spend time with. I was pleased to hear that he would be guiding me on a boat trip along the Allaheim, on the search for Ospreys and other local wildlife.

Exploring the Allahein River

The boat trip was fantastic, with plenty of amazing Osprey sightings - seeing them cooling off in the waters, and gular fluttering (where they are expected to do it, unlike the rare absurdly hot days at Rutland Water) as well as brilliant dives for fish. We were on the hunt for a ringed bird, and despite having 51 sightings over the course of the trip, we hadn't seen a single one. There was still time to appreciate the ospreys that were on display, and I have to admit, seeing them fish and hearing their alarm calls again made me quite emotional - it felt like such a long time since I had last experienced it. There were some outstanding species on the trip; Goliath Herons, African Spoonbills, Great White and Pink-Backed Pelicans, and something I've wanted to see for a long while - a Slender-Billed Gull, of which there were many.

An Unexpected Motorbike Ride

After we got back from the boat trip, we realised that we weren't going to be able to walk to the Bird Observatory as we had hit high tide, so instead Emmanuel suggested that we ask for a lift on a motorbike. Immediately I was very concerned, with visions flooding in of disastrous endings caused by my clumsiness, but for the sake of making the most of everything (and maybe the heat persuading me against the longer walk) I agreed. Emmanuel flagged down a bike, and we (and by 'we' I mean 'I') clambered on and took a very safe yet incredibly stressful ride back to the area close to the observatory. I'm hesitant to share the photos but in the light of recording an accurate series of events, I suppose I'm content in showing my terror.

Meeting the Ringing Team

We returned (in one piece, I must add) and met with the rest of the ringing team - Naffie (also in the ECL program), John and Michael, all Gambian ringers, like Emmanuel, who had been given the opportunity to train through KBO. We walked to the area where we will be ringing tomorrow morning and started to set up the nets. I was chatting with Michael when he pointed out an Osprey flying low over us, which I quickly tried to take a picture of. I only wish I'd been quicker - it was a blue-ringed bird, but the images I'd taken weren't clear enough to read the ring number. I took solace in the fact that I'd seen a UK bird, but was frustrated with myself for not getting a clearer shot. We then walked back to the Observatory before saying our goodbyes for the night and they set off home.

Evening at the Observatory

Colin's wife, Binta, treated me to a delicious chicken and chips dinner before I stayed up chatting with Colin for a while. He showed me to a local area which held a Long-Tailed House Bat colony before we headed to bed. I'll be up early tomorrow morning for the ringing, and I'm very excited to have the opportunity to see some of these fantastic birds in the hand.

My visit to The Gambia has been supported by The Osprey Leadership Foundation. I've been working with OLF over the winter months to support the delivery of their training and education programmes and I'm an active member of their Evolving Leaders Programme. While I'm here, I'm spending time with their partners The Gunjur Project and the Kartong Bird Observatory to learn more about the impact OLF's support is having here and I will hopefully have the opportunity to meet other participants of OLF's programmes.

A massive thank you to the amazing donors who help fund the OLF's work and helped make this trip possible. If you would like to support the work of OLF, you can join as a Friend of the Foundation here