After many months of COVID hibernation, I finally managed to force myself to go look for some birds and headed towards Hameem Beach, Abu Dhabi, which is a good hot spot for Ospreys. Upon getting there, I found that the beach was closed due to a massive construction project. The best location to observe and photograph Ospreys is gone! maybe forever. I sincerely hope that this will not affect the birds because they usually stay on the opposite side of the Canal and would be relatively free to do their 'thing'.
However, the adjacent Khor Qirqishan area is still undisturbed and apart from the hundreds of fishermen, it is un-touhed. I was about to give up and head home when 3 beautiful Ospreys appeared in the far distance out of nowhere and I was relieved to see that they are still out there.
Correction on my last post - I meant far west access.
Desmond, to reach that access you normally get the dirt road to the right at 24.229212, 54.272224 (this is where the barriers are placed - don't try to pass through the mudflats unless you want a real off-road adventure :) ). The middle access is the normal access to Hameem beach, taking the obvious route starting after the last roundabout and to the left at 24.223026, 54.415115. There are barriers there as well but you can drive around these - more barriers at the beach where there is also an earth barrier all along the beach up to the fenced property. For the east access through ICAD you leave road at 24.275245, 54.432170 and after reaching the shore you can drive along up to Hameem beach (partially blocked). Hopefully, the access will be reinstated soon...
Any markings on the map would help please.
That Far East access was also closed several times I tried. A couple of times there were big 4x4 left stuck in the mud trying to bypass the barricades but a couple of times I had luckily found one of the barricades pulled away. Anyway, there is routine police and municipality patrol on the beach, especially during the weekend, so I am not sure if it worth the effort. Last Saturday I reached to Khor Qirqishan via ICAD quite late to avoid the patrol, but they met me on their way back... At least I got 20min of the beach to myself, but couldn’t reach the Hameem part where mist of the birds are...
Hi Luigi. I don’t know about a construction project at Hameem, but police and municipality had barricaded the access to the beach, due to the high numbers of fishermen and kite surfers going there, especially in the weekend. It was much easier to access last month, especially weekdays...