Al Warsan Lakes (Wimpey Pits)

25°09'52''N + 055°25'04''E

Al Warsan Lakes are two lakes connected to each other in Dubai International City, near the Dubai Pivot Fields.

It is not mentioned in the Shell Birdwatching Guide.

It used to be one of Dubais star birding sites, but since 2005 it has shrunk in size and lost 90% of the birds that used to be present.

The Al Warsan Lakes was formerly called Wimpey Pits due to the Wimpey Construction Company that started the first digging out here in the desert. It is now the site of a mega-construction called Dubai International City and Dragon Mart, and the area is officially named Al Warsan.

This is how it looks like by mid 2007:

Thailand and Indonesia will completely surround the lake (January 2008 update; not yet finished), and apart from the odd waterbirds the lake will probably not offer good birding opportunities.

This is a satellite photo from UAE Locator from ca 2003, when the area still held birds like Red-knobbed Coot (Arabias first breeding record) and visiting Small Pratincole on a regular basis, as well as vagrant Whooper and Mute Swans alongside hundreds of ducks and grebes:

A more recent satellite photo from Google Earth from the end of 2005, where you can see the finished Dragon Mart and how the lake is shrinking in size:

Update January 2008; the area still offers good birding with thousands of gulls roosting, hundreds of ducks wintering and a few passerines are around. The lake is protected from the public with a tall fence, but a boat is sometimes operating on the lake.