13th – 24th Feb: The (almost) 12 days of transects

A pretty gruelling trip of roving this time around!  Started off very well with a stop-over at the BTO team’s place (no time to visit the study site itself or help with fieldwork sadly, but great to see everyone) in Nsoatre.  An absolutely mind-blowing creation of various dishes was unveiled by Eric for our dinner.  Never eaten so well in Ghana – thanks Eric!

The next 11 mornings took in a loop from Asukese/Bia Tano and  Ayum forest reserves in SW Brong Ahafo Region, through Western Region’s Krokosua, Dadiaso, Boin River, Fure River and (slight hiccup in the loop here, with a puncture and a missing bridge meaning we couldn’t reach our intended destination of Samremboi, and had to divert some distance and do Fure River first, and then went on to…) Tano Nimiri.

Oppong & Japheth sort out a slight problem with the tyre....

....and find a solution to the missing bridge!



The usual pattern continued with, generally speaking, more wood warblers outside the forests than inside, although the farmland sampled at Krokosua was “thungya” plantain plantation inside the forest, where several wood warblers were located.  This “thungya” system is where plots within a forest can be farmed, provided all of the trees above a certain height are left in place.  In completely ruins the habitat for true forest specialists, as there is no natural understorey, and no mid-level canopy.  However, if sufficient trees of the right species mix are left to thrive then it would seem that wood warblers can be supported in reasonable numbers, just like any reasonably well-wooded farmland outside the forest.

There was mixed success when locating 1km transects at 5, 7 & 10km from the nearest forest, although we were surprisingly lucky in many instances to find good roads leading to good farm tracks that were within exactly the right distance band.  The presence/absence of wood warblers did not always follow the expected pattern however!  Some of the closer-to-forest transects held none, whilst one transect that we reached, at a full 15km from the nearest forest at the Dadieso site, did have a bird.  At this site we also had a bird at 7km, but none at 10km or 5km.  We hope that overall some patterns will emerge!  All of the ground covered is going to greatly improve the model for predicting wood warbler presence and absence in Ghana, ground-truthing for which was a large part of last season’s work.

As if the puncture and search for new tyre weren’t enough, though, a major car crisis emerged on day 7, when all sorts of horrid noises were coming from the clutch.  After a visit to a local garage and a few phone calls to the experts made by Japheth, and the prognosis was not going to be good if we continued to drive the car.  Thus it was decided that Oppong and I would take it gently to the garage at Tarkwa, whilst Roger and Japheth continued with the fieldwork without the car – but with taxis instead!

2 days in Tarkwa for two of us, then, during which a pricey car-job is undertaken. Once sorted, we head north again to meet the other two.  In the meantime, Rog and Japheth have managed to do a taxi-recce from Asenkagrua into the forest at Totua Shelterebelt, taxi to survey their chosen spot the next day, taxi on to Diaso, find accommodation, recce the farmed forest at Upper Wassaw, survey that the next morning, and taxi to and get accommodation at Bibiani.  Such a dedicated team we have that, despite the car being off the road, there’s been no break in the programme of fieldwork (and taxis much cheaper than car-hire too!) Absolutely sterling work chaps!

The final 2 mornings take in Asenanyo and Tano Offin forests in Ashanti Region.  Wood warblers are still present in all areas, but at the latter, a particularly degraded patch of forest, we get more of them inside the forest than outside.  The numbers are pretty small here though, so difficult to draw any conclusions, and the final 10km distance transect, getting pretty close now to Ghana's second city of Kumasi, finds no wood warblers at all.

A solitary Ceiba tree, occupied by a lone wood warbler

With lots of ground covered and little time to spare over the past 11 days, in 11 towns and 11 different guest houses and twice as many chop-bars, we’re looking forward to getting back to base at the study site get some data entered, count “our” birds, and get stuck into the radio-tracking once again. (oh, and wash some clothes!!!)

Prestea, and one of the nicer guest houses visited

Roger on one of the many rickety bridges crossed



Japheth, Roger & Oppong, in perhaps the smallest restaurant in Ghana!

Heading back to Pepease, we are only too aware of the change that is afoot over the next few days. Oppong, our driver, cook and companion over the last 2 seasons, is leaving us for pastures new. Soon after our arrival back at base, his good friend and replacement Derek arrives, to learn the ropes from Oppong before he departs on the 27^th. Fingers crossed Derek can cook at least as well as Oppong!!

29th Jan – 8th Feb A massive team on the move!

The wood warbler team heads out once again to the forest zone to recce the area in the very south west of Ghana, around Ankasa national park.  With a team of 8, and for 2 nights 11, we need to be sure we can secure reasonable accommodation along an appropriate transect of sites from Ankasa northwards to Dunkwa, so the first couple of days are spent on this task alone!

Ethiopian Swallows roost at Dunkwa guest house

A Dunkwa eaterie - not the best advertisment for it!

With this achieved, we carry out our first survey at Cape Three Points, and next morning Ankasa, and in all this wonderful forest, we find no wood warblers.  The team of experts cannot arrive too soon!

Bamboo grove within Cape Three Points forest

The team surveying a clearing for power lines in Ankasa

Roger scanning a forest pond in Ankasa: "Is that a white-breasted kingfisher?!"

On the 3^rd of Feb we are joined by driver Duncan, Dr Danaë Sheehan and Dr John Mallord from the RSPB, and Professor Tomasz Wesolowski from the University of Wrocslav in Poland. John has been the project leader on the RSPB’s UK wood warbler project since 2009, and Tomasz has been studying the wood warblers of the Bialowieza Forest in Poland for quite a bit longer than that!!  We return to Ankasa on their first morning, and lo-and-behold, we hear no wood warblers in a transect that starts about 300 metres in from the park entrance.

Tomasz, Roger, Japheth & John trying hard for wood warblers in Ankasa

Upon completion some 3 kilometres later, we head back to the exit  to try a few points of playback in the farmland immediately outside.  Whilst part of the team undertake the count, the keen-eyed Dr Mallord spots his first Ghana wood warbler in a flowering Ricinodendron, next to the river, right outside the park entrance. 

Farmland left, forest right, and (L) the solitary Ricinodendron home of our first Ankasa wood warbler

The recorders, not having seen the bird, then detect this individual themselves once they use the playback, when sure enough the wood warbler responds.  One further bird is found after 5 points in the farmland, and that’s after none across 30 points in 2 mornings inside the forest.

As we move north we are joined for a couple of nights in by Kasper Thorup and Anders Tottrup from the University of Copenhagen, and their driver and our old friend Emmanuel from GWS. With this enlarged team we split into two and cover twice the ground the next morning, in forest near to Tarkwa. Amazingly, the greater number of wood warblers is encountered in a large patch of plantain within one of the two forest blocks that we visit.

Roger & Japheth in farmland within "protected" forest - but it seems good for wood warblers

With this and our Ankasa experience in mind, we decide to change tactics the next morning.  After waving off Kasper an Anders as they head back to Accra, we set off for Nkonto Ben forest reserve near to Bogoso, again with two teams.  This time one team follows a logging track, and the other explores nearby farmland outside the reserve, so we can hopefully do more farmland points in one morning than we’ve managed before.  Although the forest team find 2 wood warblers during 4 hours and 3km of transect, the farmland team, walking along a road through very degraded looking habitat, manage 6!  Seeing as the  farmland is adjacent to forest, thoughts arise as to whether there may be a preference for this forest edge habitat.  We decide with our future transects to include “controls” away from the forest edge, at 5 and 10km distances.

On to Dunkwa once more (Whilst Danaë and John head back to Accra to meet with David Gibbons and Juliet Vickery, the rest of the team spend the next two mornings at Opon Mansi and Subin Shelterbelt forests respectively.  At the first site the team of Roger, Japheth and Tomasz find just 1 wood warbler in the forest (on the edge) and a few more in the farmland.  They also encounter a stretch which passes the awful mess created by illegal small-scale gold mining.  On our travels we come accross many of these eyesores, not only removing chunks of the forest, but polluting the waterways, and with scant regard for safety endangering the lives of those employed there.

Illegal open-cast gold mining

Meanwhile Oppong and I drive to and then walk Ikm transects at minimum distances of 5km, 7km and 10km from the nearest point of forest.  At none of these do we find any wood warblers.  Some of the habitat traversed is pretty intensive palm plantation, but there are still stands of trees here which one might think would support a wood warbler or two.  For example, in one spot there were 4 flowering Ricinodendron, the same species as was being used for foraging by the first Ankasa bird.  At Subin the roads are so bad that we cannot afford to drop of the team and then race around to the controls at 5, 7 & 10km, and then return to pick them up, so the team stays together to do 10 points in the forest then 5 in the farmland.  Again, the 5 farmland points yield more wood warblers than twice the length of transect inside the forest.  Once done, and now en route to Obuasi, we stop off at the 10km mark from nearest forest, and along 1km in quite badly degraded farmland we get no response from any wood warblers.

One of the many non-migrant highlights: dwarf bittern

Woodland kingfisher

Last leg back to Pepease, and we hear that Danaë, David, John and Juliet are already there.  Most amazingly, whilst waiting outside the accommodation for us to arrive, they are treated to good views of a wood warbler in one of the garden’s trees.  We near-residents haven’t even seen that!! There has been a melodious warbler around here a lot recently though……

15th-27th Jan: Into the forest zone....

After an unavoidable 2 nights in Accra to obtain our permit to work in the forest reserves, we head west along the Cape Coast road. The first bout of roving takes in Kakum national park and adjacent forest and farmland, and 4 other forest blocks in a transect south to north. We have moderate success finding wood warblers in degraded forest edges, but in the closed canopy within Kakum for example, we find none.  Without the playback this would come as no great surprise perhaps, but the output from the playback device is pretty powerful, and we’re fairly sure that we should have had some response if the birds were up there. Do they really not like the forest interior?

Further north near to Lake Bosumtwe we barely touch proper forest, our path taking us through farms within the forest reserve, and timber plantations that are perfectly normal practice in these reserves of resource, rather than those of biodiversity such as the national parks.  Here we detect double figures of wood warblers, with a minimum of 6 calling from within the rather regimented plantation. Again, more questions are raised as to the preferred habitat of wood warblers in Ghana!

Roger & Japheth listen out for wood warblers in plantation within Bowumtwi forest reserve

We return to the study site in Kwahu for a site survey, producing similar numbers of birds to our previous count 2 weeks ago, and also reminding us of just how good the wooded farmland is here with higher densities than all of the 6 sites we traversed in the previous week. With an up-coming visit from Dr Danaë Sheehan and several other luminaries from the UK, Denmark and Poland, we can expect plenty of discussion as to how to progress and answer many of the questions that we are left pondering.