Wawu Mountain – formerly a very popular birding location but then closed for years for a tourist development – that at one point allegedly went bankrupt – was brought back to life and finally opened in 2023. I have to admit, I’ve not been since the reopening – we now get all the Wawu birds – including four former star birds, Grey-hooded/Three-toed Parrotbill, Sichuan Treecreeper and Emei Liocichla  - at other sites that fit better into the itineraries we use. And apart from that, Wawu is very expensive compared to other sites.

However, according to reports you still get great birds there - still the parrotbills and most of the other goodies – but it must be degraded as a birding site because you now can’t explore the lower park with private vehicles, and apparently you are not allowed to walk the access road and must travel by park bus. My suspicions are backed up by Ebird reports that seem to suggest that former key birds, Emei Liocichla, once quite an easy tick in roadside bamboo habitat, is now almost absent from lists, and at the summit Sichuan Treecreeper now seems far outnumbered by Hodgson’s. Luckily there are replacement sites for all these species.

And that price – during summer 2024, the summit hotel was over a 1000RMB (around £105/$140) – the other alternative is to stay at entrance hotel at around half that price but have the inconvenience of park bus to cable car – later up and earlier down.