Beach clean-up Doha, Kuwait, January 27th 2012

My 3rd time at Doha beach.
I went a bit exploring this time, further up the northern stretch, where I surprisingly got access to the, from the outside, fenced off salt marshes.
I think they should be a protected area (which they maybe are?) without car wrecks, cupboards and whatever huge and small trash littering it.
Doha beach itself looks better, thanks to our efforts. If only the residents and campers would take care a little more.
The stretch at Doha entertainment city looks devastating.
More trash than ever and the mangroves seem to be finally dead.
That stretch, K's path got no permission to clean (yes, you need permission to clean beaches). The folks from entertainment city declared they take care of it themselves.



Birdcount:

1 Curlew
1 Lesser spotted Eagle
5 Reef Egret
3 Crested Lark
1 Desert Wheatear
1 Ringed Plover
1 Graceful Prinia
a bunch of Waders and Gulls, too far out to be ID-ed
(Gulls were most likely Black-headed Gulls and some Caspian Gulls)
+ 180 Flamingos
3 Barn Swallows


1 dead Shelduck
3 dead Juv. Cormorant


I am trying to ID the plants and AbdrulRahman Al-Sirhan's page was of great help again.
I still have quite a few to go :(


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Past clean-ups (that I've been to - K's path has been out every weekend):

• Beach Clean-up Sulaibikhat 3, Kuwait, January 13th 2012


• Qaru island, Kuwait - Beach clean-up Dec 23rd 2011

• Um Al Maradin, Island beach clean-up, Dec 9th 2011

• Beach clean-up Sulaibikhat, July 23rd 2011

• Beach clean-up Maternity Hospital, July 8th 2011

• Beach clean-up Sulaibikhat (2), June 11th 2011

• Beach clean-up, Doha, Kuwait, May 28th 2011

• Beach clean-up, Sulaibikhat, Kuwait, May 13th 2011

• Beach clean-up, Doha, July 16th

Beach clean-up, Doha, Kuwait, May 28th 2011

After a break of one week (due to the weather our island trip had to be cancelled – twice), we were ready for another adventure.

This week we went to Doha beach (one of them) near Entertainment city.

‘We’ is a group of Volunteers (12 this time) with two employees from K’s Path. 
This was the second clean-up at this beach. The first one was approx. 2 months ago.

 At first glance the beach looked fairly clean, except for a few corners where the plastic gathers from the wind.
 But as soon as we started the cleaning, we saw that a lot of plastic had been collected underneath the bushes.
Right next to this beach is a beach that belongs to ‘Entertainment city’.
Angelique told me that they offered them to clean up that stretch of beach, but the company refused.
Nobody is allowed to enter there either.
Well, it was low tide and I had a peek.
They should take up that offer, or clean it up themselves.
In the photos it’s the stretch with the beautiful, small mangroves and the pics before and after show the trash gathered there.

 Some morons did drive their vehicles around at the beach, not realizing how much damage they are doing to the plant Life and the structure of the beach.

One one of the photos you see a factory that’s close by. It’s blowing something nasty in the air.
We actually saw that haze all the way from Mangaf and I thought it’s dust rolling in.
Nah, the wind was blowing that pollution all the way (almost 45min drive) down south.

Today I saw my first Lizard (not sure which type), a Grasshopper (my first around here), some sort of desert rodent, a bunch of varied coloured Dragonflies and a dead beetle that looked almost like the ones I usually see, but this one had hooks all around his ‘armor’.

 

 As far as the birds go, migration is pretty much over. Here’s what I found: Bulbul (4), House sparrow (13), Dunlin (7), Basra Reed Warbler (1), (possible) Graceful Prinia (2), House Martin (12), Kentish Plover (8), Collared Dove (2), European Bee-eater (2), Little Egret (1), Namaqua Dove (1) 11 species Sadly enough I saw a lot of empty shells from ‘hunters’ too Overall it was a great day and a successful one (exact count will come when we get the numbers from the recycling company). It was hot of course (around 100F/40c – today it will be around 110f/43C), but unlike the last time it wasn’t humid and we had some nice wind that was cool for a change and not the hot furnace we usually get.

Beach clean-up, Doha, July 16th

Back from the beach clean-up.
Boy, the wind helped, but it was HOT. (120F/50C)
We had 15 people/Volunteers, not bad.
And collected around 250-300kg of trash, a lot of it will be recycled.

We have been at Doha beach for the 3rd time now and got finally one nasty corner at the fence cleaned up (thanks, Andy and Robert - hope I am not mixing up names). One more clean-up to go next weekend, then's Ramadan break (not allowed to drink water in public = no clean-ups).

Bird count for the day (some more will come tomorrow, when my head works again and I'll be able to look at my books without my head spinning): 1 Cormorant 7 House Sparrows 1 Graceful Prinia (sound) 6 White-eared Bulbuls 4 Kentish Plover 1 Namaqua Dove (1 possible Curlew Sandpiper?)
The tide was out very far & I didn't get very close without getting stuck or chase them away