The insects of Gilf Kebir

Egypt Today (Richard Hoath)

Richard Hoath has been to the Gilf and has some wonderful things to say about the insect life and the lack of bird song:

I have just returned from the almost lunar barrenness of the Gilf Kebir and, as predicted in last month’s column, saw very little there in terms of natural life. I relished the complete peace and quiet of the desert — and I emphasize complete. There was no cacophonous traffic, no blaring music, no yelling and shouting, no dousha and disturbance. But somewhat eerily, there was no birdsong. I wasn’t expecting an orchestra of Nightingales, but heard not even the croo of a Palm Dove or the otherwise ubiquitous cheep of a House Sparrow.

There were birds, but all were dead in the Gilf itself. A House Martin here, a Willow Warbler there, all grim testimony to a failed migration, and the aridity of the desert preserves its victims for years. We found a dead Lanner Falcon that would have preyed on those very migrants and, most bizarrely, the corpse of a Little Egret seen and photographed near Wadi Sura, some 700 kilometers of barren desert away from its natural waterside habitat along the Nile Valley.

See the above page for the full story.

Does anyone have an email address for Richard Hoath? If so, please forward my email address to him - I would dearly love to have a conversation with him about his trip to the Gilf Kebir (a.byrnes@ucl.ac.uk).