Dear All,

On 14th August, Nigel Hunter and myself had a morning free, but only up to mid-day and were wondering what would make an interesting excursion locally for just a few hours. We decided to have a quick look at Corner Baridi where there was a Little Rock Thrush and the usual Lynes’ Cisticolas, then we continued to Kisamese and took the road to the right, down the escarpment into the Rift. Unlike the Magadi Road, the habitat is still in very good condition and was full of birds. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but the collection included Rosy-patched Bush-shriikes and Southern Grosbeak Canarys. It was all very pleasant, and the highlight was a Bush Pipit in a more open grassy area. We then thought we would try and find the access to the large dam (similar in size to Athi Dam), that is visible from the Magadi Road. It was very easy to locate and we scanned the dam which had a receding water line and held muddy bays. The best here were three Madagascar Pond Herons, but there were also four Common Sandpipers and two Little Stints, apart from a few Red-billed Teal, Yellow-billed Duck and White-faced Whistling Duck. There is potential for this dam to attract some interesting migratnts a little later in the year. We measured the distance from the dam to the junction with the Magadi Road and it was only ten kilometres (nine from the right hand turn that we had taken to get to the dam).  It all made for an interesting excursion.