THE HABITATS AT BEIDAIHE

Stephen J. Holloway, Simon R.B. Thompson and Martin D. Williams

 The areas covered in and around Beidaihe were much the same as those covered in spring 1985, the main exception being Tai-Ho Pool, which had been landscaped and made a poor habitat for birds (see below).
  Though members of China Cranewatch 1986 arrived only 14 months after the 1985 survey, there had been many changes to the area, and development and the resultant habi-tat destruction were continuing. Beidaihe is one of China’s premier resorts, and its ex-pansion (which includes the establishment of a new town, Nandaihe) is having adverse ef-fects on the habitats available to migrants.
  This account mainly details changes to habitats between spring 1985 and autumn 1986, with some mention of subsequent changes; further information is given by Holloway (in Williams 1986, pp. 12-22). [Note that in previous reports, including Wil-liams (1986), the Wade-Giles form of romanisation was used for localities at Beidaihe. Here, we adopt the pinyin system in which, e.g., Peking becomes Beijing and Peitaiho becomes Beidaihe.]

The south coast of Beidaihe  The shore along the south coast of Beidaihe is generally sandy, with a few rocky outcrops. Hotels, vil-las and other buildings, and small public parks, fringe the seashore. Some of the buildings—especially those from Tiger Rocks westwards—are set in large, wooded grounds (e.g. at the West Hill Hotel, which was the expedition base in 1985, but is now off-limits to casual visitors). There are several new (post-spring 1985) buildings, including hotels, especially towards Lighthouse Point. Pines and tamarisks Tamarix sp. line the beaches, to act as windbreaks.
  The public gardens to the east of Tiger Rocks (near ‘Study Area Gully’) are mainly composed of planted shrubs such as Co-toneaster sp., Berberis sp., Rosa sp., Ligustrum sp., and others familiar to western horticulturists. They had become rather ne-glected and overgrown, providing dense cover for passerines. By early November, the Co-toneaster and Berberis produced a good berry crop, which attracted some passerines. The thickness of the ground cover made the area difficult to work. Further, the area suf-fered from disturbance by both local people and visitors to Beidaihe, especially at week-ends. Disturbance was much reduced by early November; interesting birds seen here during this month included Chinese Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis, Azure-winged Magpie Urocissa cyanus and Père David’s Laugh-ingthrush Garrulax davidi (the berry crop, reduced disturbance, and good cover at a time when many deciduous trees had lost their leaves made this park especially attractive to passerines in November).
  Several gullies lead down to the sea along the south coast. One of them—‘Study (Area) Gully’, which lies just west of the overgrown gardens—was visited often in 1985. This could be accessed from either the main road running east to west through Beidaihe (the top of the gully meets this road a little east of Kiesling’s) or from the road along the seafront. Both the entrances had groves of poplars Populus sp. mixed with smaller numbers of acacia Robinia sp. A few older apple trees were also present. A small boggy area proved attractive to insectivores such as Dusky Warblers Phylloscopus fus-catus and Radde’s Warblers P. schwarzi. Long grass held the occasional Yellow-legged Buttonquail Turnix tanki and skulking Lo-custella warblers. White’s Thrushes (Scaly Thrushes) Zoothera dauma frequented a walled garden beside the southern end of the gully. By autumn 1986, little had changed since 1985, although piping had been laid along the centre of the gully, reducing the stream flow in that area. By 1988, a wall had been built across the southern entrance, sev-eral bushes and trees had been damaged or removed in the middle of the gully, and rocks and rubble had been tipped in from construc-tion work at nearby buildings: however, the gully still produced good numbers of birds. A large building has since been constructed in the gully; only the upper part of the gully is worth visiting.
  A stream to the east of the gardens doubled as a sewage outlet. It was lined with reeds Ty-hpa sp., dense morning glory Convolvulus sp. mats and willow Salix sp. saplings. Al-though unpleasant to work, this area together with the small, overgrown outlet to the sea held good numbers of warblers and chats.
  Further east, near Legation Point, was Lega-tion Gully. ‘Park’ was a term used by Hemmingsen (1958) for the upper part of this gully; there were maize fields here, extending to the town’s main east-west road, but con-struction work had already begun. A large belt of Thiya (?) T. orientalis and pines ef-fectively screened this area from the lower section of willows and oaks Anarcus sp. (?). A small stream with marsh surrounds flowed down towards the sea, spreading out to form a larger marshy area. This held the typical se-lection of warblers, Red-flanked Bluetails (Orange-flanked Bush-Robins) Erithacus cyanurus and flycatchers; a Baillon’s Crake Porzana pusilla was flushed from the bog-gier sections. A large sector of pines dominated the grassy centre of the gully and bordered onto a large, densely-vegetated walled garden on the eastern side—this was inaccessible, so observation was limited to birds visible from the gully.
  The maize fields just north of the gully were in the process of being built over; it seemed likely that development would spread into the remainder of ‘Park’ in future years. Trees in an adjacent orchard (which had been good for warblers and Siberian Blue Robins Erithacus cyane) were cut down by mid-November. Towards the last day of the survey, wire was strung across the southern end of the gully—so development seemed imminent. In seasons immediately following autumn 1986, the habitat degradation and increased restric-tions on access made the area relatively unrewarding for birdwatching; however, it has recently proved attractive again.
  Just east of Legation Point, Legation Point Gully had been effectively destroyed as a birdwatching area by the construction of ho-tels. The large grove of poplars at the seaward side had held flycatchers at times, but now seems near-useless for birdwatching.
  Between Legation Point and Lighthouse Point, hotels occupy land which had been semi-arable with scrub. In 1986, a track al-lowed access along the beach; this had become a road by 1987 (roads now lead all along the coast of Beidaihe).

Lighthouse Point was still out of bounds to foreigners. However, two or three visits were made to the grounds of the Dong Shan Hotel, before one of the hotel staff said it was off-limits. It seemed the hotel grounds could be very good for birdwatching, being well-wooded and at a prime locality for attracting migrants which are following the coast or ar-riving from over the sea.
  In subsequent years, birdwatchers visited the point, and found it productive for migrants (Hemmingsen found it to be one of the best localities in spring). They gained access through a gap in the fence on the west side of the point, and followed a track to its southern tip. This led through trees; two small gullies proved attractive to songbirds including thrushes, and a small reedbed also held birds.

Fishhook Point  In spring 1985, building work began on fields above Fishhook Point. By autumn 1986, this had made the area al-most unrecognizable; there were a large, walled hotel complex many buildings and two new roads on the land which had been fields. Many of the coastal shrubs had been cleared; the only remaining vegetation which produced birds was in villa gardens and orchards adja-cent to the area. A small, reed-fringed pond which had held Baillon’s Crakes and Acro-cephalus warblers was within the hotel grounds; some visits were made to this, though the gate was sometimes locked and observers were turned away on occasions.
  The sea remains worth checking for grebes, ducks etc., but in 1986 the immediate vicinity of the point seemed of little value for passer-ines. The newly-erected telephone wires were popular with gathering swallows; a building site held a selection of larks and buntings.
  By 1988, much tree-planting had taken place above the shore and along the new coast road; the cover has been allowed to develop, and this area has regained some of its attractive-ness for migrant passerines.

Eagle Rock Gully  The small, cultivated gully to the south of Eagle Rock had changed little since spring 1985, and remained a pleas-ant place to sit, watch and photograph birds. Warblers, chats and buntings could be found throughout the gully. The small stream flow-ing through the gully was reed-fringed in several areas and remained undisturbed most of the time. Dense peach orchards covered most of the road-side section, leading through a nursery of newly-planted trees and grafts to a well-established orchard of apples and pears (there were no citrus trees in the gully as re-ported in Williams 1986, as Beidaihe is too far north and cold for a citrus industry). Thrushes frequented the peaches, whilst a Long-tailed Rosefinch Uragus sibiricus and Azure-winged Magpies were seen in the older section (the gully was the favoured locality of Long-tailed Rosefinches in spring 1985). The only change in evidence was the uprooting of most of the older fruit trees in November. Unlike spring 1985, there was little evidence of birds been shot at.
  In autumn 1987, many of the trees in the upper part of the gully (divided from the lower part by a small wall) were uprooted; building work was underway here in autumn 1988, and this upper part has since produced few birds.

Eagle Rock  The development of this prom-ontory as a tourist attraction has entailed the construction of pavilions and walkways, and the siting of a genuine Mig fighter plane for souvenir snapshots (it has since been re-moved). Admission charges, though small by western standards, are strictly enforced. Dis-turbance of observers by tourists can be off-putting, but a short descent of the cliff face enables one to find a peaceful vantage point from which to survey the Sandflats and look over the sea (because of the height advantage, it is usually much easier to see grebes, ducks and other birds on the sea from here than it is from the Sandflats).
  By autumn 1988, there had been little change other than the removal of the fighter plane.

The (Henghe) Sandflats  The Henghe (Heng River) runs to the sea across the Sand-flats, an estuarine area extending approximately 1.75 km to the north of Eagle Rock. The area was basically unchanged since 1985, though two artificial lakes had been built at the southern edge, and there were seats and small pavilions below Eagle Rock.
  There was little vegetation on the Sandflats, except for mats of salt-tolerant species such as sea lavender Limonium sp. and glasswort Salicornia sp. A large bed of this, in the southwestern part of the Sandflats, was used as a roosting area by waders and was fre-quented by larks and wagtails, although it was frequently covered by high tides.
  At the beginning of the survey, the Sandflats were covered with silt, unlike spring 1985 when the area was mostly sandy, with silt mainly restricted to the channel of the Hen-ghe. This was apparently largely a result of tides being considerably higher than for much of the spring, often reaching to the Beidaihe-Qinhuangdao highway; the higher summer rainfall may also have helped wash silt down the Henghe to the Sandflats. This silt layer was largely gone by November, when cover-age at high tide was generally less extensive (it seems the tides tend to be lower in winter than in summer, perhaps as a result of the air pressure being usually higher in winter).
  The silt evidently increased available food for birds, and the Sandflats were excellent for waterbirds such as shorebirds and gulls to early November. Shorebird numbers and di-versity were highest in the first three weeks of the survey period: in the morning of 27 August over 2000 individuals of 34 spe-cies were seen. A Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer over 4-6 September and up to seven Relict Gulls Larus relictus in a day were the ‘star’ birds seen at the Sandflats.
  Migration was often in evidence, with birds typically arriving from over the sea to the east or northeast, and heading south or southwest (over the town); or travelling down the coast. These included many of the species seen from the Lotus Hills watchpoint and some species, such as shorebirds and White-winged Terns Chlidonias leucoptera, which were seen in higher numbers from here than from the Lotus Hills, or were not recorded from the Lotus Hills. On several migration wave days, such as 27 August, passing shore-bird flocks sometimes landed briefly before continuing southwards.
  As in spring 1985, the area suffered from disturbance by shell and seaweed collectors and fishermen. There were also occasional hunters: a Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lap-ponica was seen killed, and a Far-Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis maimed, on 22 September.
  A very conveniently situated maize field ad-jacent to the Sandflats often produced good numbers of pipits and wagtails, as well as Bluethroats Erithacus svecicus in the sur-rounding sparse vegetation.

Grassy Sands  Hemmingsen named the area north of the Sandflats ‘Grassy Sands’. He mentions that trees had been cleared before he arrived at Beidaihe; the area was mostly grassy sand dunes, with meadows or shallow grassy ponds in late summer and early autumn. Among birds he notes as occurring, the flocks of Oriental White Storks Ciconia boyciana, cranes and Great Bustards Otis tarda are especially noteworthy; these no longer land in any numbers at Beidaihe (at least the cranes and bustards occur at the Luanhe estuary, parts of which are perhaps similar to the Grassy Sands of Hemming-sen’s time: see below, ‘Visits to other localities’).
  We have retained the name for the coastal strip immediately north of the Sandflats, which is bounded to the west by the Beidaihe-Qinhuangdao highway. The area comprises a large stand of acacias, as well as several smaller plantings of Cassia sp. and associ-ated undergrowth and tall grass. Migrant passerines were seen in some numbers; it seemed that most insectivores moved on fairly quickly from here, presumably as there were relatively few insects; especially towards the end of the autumn, bunting flocks were to be found.
  The area has changed little since spring 1985.
 
Henghe Reservoir  The small, shallow reser-voir formed by the damming of the Henghe was little changed by 1986, as were its sur-rounds. The limited building work to the north of the reservoir was continuing, but pools and dried-out marshy areas still existed. The acacia thickets bordering the north side of the reservoir had grown considerably since spring 1985, making progress difficult. Similarly, the poplars and other vegetation along the south side also hindered progress. The reservoir itself, from approximately half-way along, was overgrown with reeds, which were systematically cut and dried by local people as the season progressed, to be even-tually used as fuel. Observations in the thickly vegetated areas were very hard, and no doubt many skulking rails and herons were missed.
  The reservoir and environs proved as good as in spring 1985; birds seen included little bitterns, rails, Acrocephalus and Locustella warblers, and small numbers of ducks. Rap-tors regularly hunted the adjacent fields. The acacia thickets and undergrowth were a fa-vourite haunt of flycatchers, chats and buntings, whilst the reedy fringes produced a flock of Vinous-throated Parrotbills Para-doxornis webbianus late in October. The paddy-fields, marshy areas and channels ex-tending from the southern edge of the reservoir remained largely undisturbed.
  Fishponds now occupy a large part of the area south of the reservoir; more fishponds were built to the north of the reservoir in spring 1989. Plans for a migratory birds ref-uge occupying the reservoir and surrounds, the Sandflats and the Grassy Sands have been drawn up (see Ounsted 1990). As a result, in 1990 the Beidaihe government established a bird reserve in the southwestern part of the area; however, no funds for development were forthcoming, and in spring 1995 a road was being built through the ‘reserve’.
  There is already a reserve, administered by the Qinhuangdao Forestry Bureau, extending northwards (to the southern limit of Qin-huangdao?) from around the northern boundary of the reservoir. This is more a tree plantation than a nature reserve: partly be-cause it is difficult to grow trees here, only one species of tree is grown. It is not espe-cially attractive to birds, though passage migrants occur, the small colony of Chinese Pond Herons Ardeola bacchus found in spring 1985 is in this reserve (though not in the same location; numbers have grown, and egrets may also nest), Black-naped Orioles Oriolus chinensis are common breeding birds and two or three Common Pheasants Pha-sianus colchicus were seen in autumn 1988—though it is possible the latter were of captive origin, as there are captive birds at the reservoir.

Daihe (= Tai-Ho)  The Daihe flows to the sea just south of the town. The bridge which had allowed easy access to the southern shore, and thence to Tai-Ho Pool and the Yanghe, had been removed by August 1986, and work was just beginning on a new bridge. Getting across the river involved a cycle ride of several kilometres upstream, and then crossing by a makeshift ferry service. As a result of this inconvenience, and the construc-tion work which was underway, less observations were made at the Daihe and Yanghe estuaries in 1986 than in 1985. The Sandflats’ increased attractiveness to birds, and the virtual loss of Tai-Ho Pool, further decreased the incentive to make the somewhat arduous journey.
  The vegetation along the Daihe was mark-edly similar to that of the Henghe Reservoir and Sandflats. Large tracts of reeds lined up-stream stretches, with large surrounding maize fields and small acacia thickets. Areas of glasswort and sea lavender lined the estu-ary mouth.

Tai-Ho (= Daihe) Pool  In spring 1985, this small brackish pool was excellent for waders. But by autumn 1986 the channel connecting the pool to the sea had been dammed, and the pool had been landscaped into two fishponds which held very few birds. This was a great loss, both because the pool had been an en-joyable place to work, with very good views of birds present, and it was popular with such species as Long-toed Stints Calidris sub-minuta and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers Calidris acuminata which are not normally seen in numbers elsewhere.

Yanghe (= Yang-Ho) estuary and woods  The coastal strip between the Daihe and Yanghe was suffering at the hands of devel-opers, as a new tourist resort, Nandaihe (= South of the Dai River) was under construc-tion. The acacia woodlands were still relatively unscathed, although intensively managed and manicured by local people (who remove most dead material for use as fuel), which helped make birds highly elusive. Relatively few visits were made to the woods during autumn 1986; Spotted Bush-Warbler Bradypterus thoracicus and Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum were noteworthy species seen here.
  In 1986, work was just beginning on a bridge across the Yanghe estuary. As in spring 1985, watching birds using this estu-ary proved difficult, as the area is exposed and the light for viewing distant waders was often poor. Especially earlier in the season, shorebird and gull numbers were generally lower than at the Sandflats; a Great Black-headed Gull Larus ichthyaetus was a note-worthy find. By late autumn, the Yanghe could prove better for shorebirds than the Sandflats, which was probably less attractive as most of the layer of silt had gone. Num-bers of Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula frequented the river and estuary mouth in November.
  Raptors such as harriers often hunted over the adjacent rice paddies and fields, and partly because of the flatness of the area the Yanghe was a good place for observing visible migra-tion. The rice paddies and marsh in the area often held crakes, warblers and buntings; a splendid Chinese Grey Shrike Lanius sphe-nocercus was seen several times.
  By autumn 1988, the Daihe and Yanghe bridges had been completed and a road crossing them led south from Beidaihe, along the coast, and eventually to Changli. Nandaihe had expanded considerably. The south shore of the Yanghe was accessible by the bridge; extensive fishponds here hold gulls and shorebirds when the water is mostly drained out, and a small channel formed by the river often held Saunders’s Gulls Larus saundersi and Relict Gulls in autumn 1987.

Lotus Hills  As in spring 1985, the bulk of the observations of visible migration were made from the Lotus Hills, which lie to the west of town and are 150-160 m high at most. However, when observers first visited the 1985 watchpoint, at the top of the easternmost hill, they were told to leave by soldiers (army training exercises are sometimes carried out on the southeastern flank of this hill). After briefly trying the highest of the Lotus Hills, which lacked a suitable vantage point (obser-vations from a hilltop pavilion were marred by trees partly blocking the view, and by num-bers of visitors), we began observations from a rocky knoll lying below, and to the west of, this main hill. This afforded excellent views to the south, across the plain to the west, and north to the mountains above Shanhaiguan, though the hill blocked much of the view to the east, towards the town and the sea. It was a pleasant place from which to watch birds—if a little exposed at times. It was a good vantage point for observing passing mi-grants, though views of those which passed to the east of the Lotus Hills (notably most of the cranes) were often poor.
  The dominant vegetation around this vantage point was pine, mixed with smaller stands of oak and cherry Prunus sp. The ground cover included such species familiar to western gar-deners as iris Iris sp., day-lily Hemerocallis sp. and wild orange zinnia Zinnia sp.
  In early autumn, large black and yellow spi-ders were remarkably abundant; it could seem their webs were strung between every tree away from the main paths.
  Especially in late autumn, local people scoured the woods for dead plant material for use as fuel. Leaves and dead branches were swept up, dead-looking branches on trees were tapped to check if they were still alive, and removed if not, and we even saw people shaking pine trees vigorously, then sweeping up the needles. This surely limits the value of the area for wildlife.
  There were several small reservoirs and ponds in the foothills, which tended to differ from one another in their associated vegeta-tion and the birds attracted to them. ‘Kingfisher Pond’, visible to the west of the watchpoint, was shallow and surrounded by willows and reeds—the Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis was the prominent species early in the survey period. ‘Osprey Pond’, below the watchpoint, to the north, was mainly used as a stock-watering and carp-raising pond: two Ospreys Pandion haliaeetus which spent up to four weeks in the area were seen to ex-ploit this easy source of food. Mandarin Ducks Aix galericulata were seen at ‘Manda-rin Pond’ and ‘Hidden Pond’. The former, near the bottom of a small valley to the south of the watchpoint, lacked any shoreline vege-tation whilst Hidden Pond was well-concealed by thick vegetation and overgrown orchards (it was only discovered after the bulk of the thrush and warbler migration was over).
  There were old rice paddies and marshes below Mandarin Pond. Two Watercock Gal-licrex cinerea and a Schrenck’s Bittern Ixobrychus eurhythmus were notable in early September, Hobbies Falco subbuteo lingering around the hills were watched hunting here, and the paddies and the fringes of Mandarin Pond were popular with buntings in late autumn.
  Orchards—both apple and pear—surrounded the northwestern slopes of the Lotus Hills. These were excellent for buntings, and for Siberian Accentors Prunella montanella late in the season.
  At least five songbird-trapping sites were found. These were mostly in operation in October and November, when quarry species were Eurasian Siskins Carduelis spinus, Hawfinches Coccothraustes coccothraustes and Japanese Grosbeaks Eophona personata. There was also a hawk-trapping site, which was primarily operated in October and No-vember; the quarry was young Northern Goshawks Accipiter gentilis (see below, ‘Hazards facing migrant birds at Beidaihe’).
  Temple Gully (Hemmingsen’s name; the area had been called Lotus Hill Gully in spring 1985) runs from the Twin Bridges, past a small temple, and finishes below the gap between the highest and easternmost hills. It had changed little since spring 1985, and regularly produced White’s Thrush, and the autumn’s only Siberian Thrush Zoothera sibirica.
  Access to West Hill Gully was not easy, since the West Hill Hotel (the expedition base in 1985) had closed, and the only way we found to the gully was down Temple Gully, which ‘becomes’ West Hill Gully down-stream of the Twin Bridges. The west side of the gully, with its paths and orchards, had been taken over by the West Hill Hotel, and work was underway on a wall to complete this separation (it was fenced off by barbed wire) and build a paved path along the eastern bank of the stream. Because of the access problems and the ongoing changes, few visits were made to the gully.
  To access the Lotus Hills, we used the en-trance on the eastern flank of the highest hill, reached by a road leading up from the town. An entry fee was charged here (small by western standards), though we eventually per-suaded the ticket collectors to let us in free (and anyway often arrived before they did).
  By autumn 1988, the wall in West Hill Gully had been completed, as had the path. Another entrance to the Lotus Hills had been built, just above the West Hill Hotel, and en-abled easy access to the gully. The spring 1985 watchpoint was used by observers in late autumn 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990, and proved excellent for the cranes, though it may be that migrants such as harriers and passer-ines are better counted from the rocky knoll.
  A nature reserve—‘The Hundred Birds Park’—has been established in the western Lotus Hills by the Beidaihe Parks and Gar-dens Authority.

The Diplomatic Personnel Guest House, our base in autumn 1986, lies on the seafront, just to the north of Tiger Rocks. There are well-established pines and oaks scattered amongst the old villa-style gardens. There are trees and some dense vegetation in a small gully beside a pavilion, which was worked most days. Flycatchers and Phylloscopus warblers fed here, along with the occasional White’s Thrush, and a Large Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus sparverioides was seen during 12-16 September.
  Pines and Thiya at the western part of the hotel—both in and adjacent to the grounds—held a Long-eared Owl Asio otus roost towards the end of the survey, the high-est count being 25 birds on 19 November.