Soi Dao and Huay Mai Teng

At the end of May we went to Soi Dao which is a nature reserve close to the Cambodian border.  It took about five hours to drive via the coast road but significantly less going across country coming back. The reserve has lots of promise but our timing was wrong so the forest birds were hard to connect with.  It also got very crowded once the road to the waterfall opened up at about 9.00.  However we walked the road from 6.30 and were alone.  Good numbers of Blue-winged Pitta were calling as well as a Blue Pitta.  Broadbill (mainly Banded) were very noisy as were Greater Racket-tailed Drongo. The track to the waterfall was easy but beyond the waterfall it became very hard to follow and therefore moving to the higher altitudes needed to find the speciality species became even more difficult.
However, round the HQ there were good numbers of Thick-billed and one Pompadour Green Pigeon feeding in a fruiting tree which was also full of Green-eared Barbets.  At times, especially in the evening after heavy rain, needletails were common but all seemed to be Brown-backed.  The hotel recommended by Nick Upton is very well located and excellent value for money.  It was clean and comfortable.  However it did not provide breakfast or any other meals but there were plenty of places to eat in the nearby town.

 Rufous-bellied Eagle showed distantly

 A Besra flew up the river and landed in a tree.

This Barred Buttontail showed well just outside the reserve.

In the middle of June we decided to go and find Huay Mai Teng reservoir.  It took about 2 hours from Bangna and the area was surprisingly impressive.  It took a bit of finding since you cannot see it from the main road and I missed the signpost telling me to turn off left.  However it did not take long to realise my mistake.  I spent a long time on the dam wall but then drove round to the other side of the reservoir since the water level was very low.  This area was very interesting and held all the River Lapwing I saw.

There were large numbers of Small Pratincole which flew over the dam wall heading east whilst I was watching.  Round the other side of the reservoir were some juvenile Small Pratincole acompanied by adults.  Large numbers of Oriental Pratincole were also present.

Once we found our way to the exposed bridge we found seven River Lapwing.

There were good numbers of Oriental Skylark and we also found Pied Kingfisher and a Blue-throated Bee Eater both of which failed to give any good photo opportunities.

I am looking forward to visiting Huay Mai Teng again in the autumn.  It has the potental to turn up loads!