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30th August 2010 – Semipalmated Sandpiper in Lothian

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:02:03 +0000

Chris arrived at mine at 0700hrs and we were soon on our way northwards. After our usual caffeine stop we arrived at John Muir Country Park in East Lothian. After a walk along the edge of the plantation we made our way to Tynigham inner bay. There were good numbers of waders present and a few birders as well! It was not long before we picked out the juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper. This was a far more straight forward bird than the recent moulting adult in Cumbria. Although this bird was not particularly close (hence no pics), views through the scope were very educational. After studying the bird for sometime and searching for other birds, we decided to have a look at Barns Ness.

Barns Ness was fairly quiet (apart from the steady stream of the local Gannets); however Chris located a superb Great Skua which was a very nice bonus for the day! We decided to return to JohN Muir CP to spend the rest of the day exploring! There were good numbers of waders present and after searching through some of the Dunlin and Ringed Plover groups we located three stunning juvenile Curlew Sandpipers.

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpipers

There were also a few Sanderling present and a very grey Little Stint. This could have thrown a spanner in the works had we not learnt valuable lessons from the Cumbrian Semipalmated Sandpiper and spent a lot of time in the morning studying the various ID features of the juvenile!

Little Stint

Along with some other birders (including Dougie Barr) we decided to check the waders on the high tide, hoping to get closer views of the Semipalmated Sandpiper. The sandpiper was a no-show, but nice views of Grey Plover, Greenshank and Bar-tailed Godwit made it worthwhile!

It had been another fantastic days birding!

Saturday 21st August 2010 – Birdfair!

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:54:30 +0000

Every year I say to myself ‘I’ll go to the Birdfair next year’; yet life usually get in the way! However after Mike Robinson asked if Chris H or myself would like to go with him on the Saturday, I knew I was going to finally make it! Chris and I arrived at Mike’s just after 0800hrs and we were soon on our way south to Rutland.

We arrived at the Birdfair at around 1100hrs and parked up the car. Given the recent (and continuing) rain, there was enough mud to rival Glastonbury! Mike had a list of things he was hoping to do, so left Chris and me to do our own thing. First port of call was of course a coffee (and very good it was too). Next we located one of the Swarovski stands; here we were able to try out the new 25-50x zoom. This eyepiece is nothing short of phenomenal; however with a £500+ price tag it is a little (no a lot) out of my price range.

I had made loose arrangements to meet up with pioneering bird ID guru and general top bloke Martin Garner. So it was good luck that he was the first person we bumped into that I recognised! It was great to see Martin again and also very nice to meet his wife Sharon. (Time to ‘big him up’ – As regular readers will probably know, Martin runs a fantastic new blog (that can me found here: http://birdingfrontiers.com/) and he (being multi talented) is a fantastic tour leader (http://birdingfrontiers.com/shetland-nature-2/ and http://birdingfrontiers.com/shetland-nature/) and is exceptional at giving talks (http://birdingfrontiers.com/talks/). Also anyone that has read Frontiers in Birding by Martin, will know that he is a fantastic author).

Martin Garner, Mike Weedon & Brydon Thomas (image courtesy of Martin Garner)

Martin also introduced me to such birding icons as Killian Mullarney and Ian Lewington. Having communicated with Killian for many years via email and bird identification forums it was great to finally meet him. I have always found Killian to be incredibly helpful and friendly throughout our previous email and forum communications and this was further confirmed when we met in person. I was also introduced to James Lidster another ex-Bishop Burton College student who now works as a birding guide.

The birdfair itself was a massive event, I can see why many people go for the full weekend! Chris and I made our way around many of the marquees looking at some fantastic artwork, amazing technology, great books and mouth watering birding tours! We also met up with Paul Hackett (another friend who I have not seen for along time). Paul was full of energy, giving advice of Kowa and Ricoh birding and digiscoping products. It was also nice to meet up with a few other friends (that I don’t get to see too often) such as Tom Mckinney, David Gray, John Hague and Neil Calbrade.

Chris went to a workshop lead by artist Robert Greenhalf ans as this was not my scene, so I had a wander by myself. I stopped by the Speyside Wildlife stand where it was great to catch up with Jules Sykes again. We had previously had an amazing trip to Spain, where we had stayed at Jules’s guesthouse and been taken out to some amazing birding sites (see trip report).

Once Chris had finished at the workshop we met up with Tom Mckinney and has some lunch and then made our way back to the Speyside Wildlife stand. This time we met up with good friends Roy and Jane Atkins. Roy is out of the country so much that the only way you can guarantee to see him is at the birdfair

There are many ‘bird tour’ stands at the birdfair, but the one that impressed me the most was the ‘Birdwatch Turkey‘ one. The guys on this stand were incredibly welcoming and full of enthusiasm about the birds in their country. We were greeted with Rakki and Turkish Delights and given a huge amount of information about Turkey and the birds that can be seen there. Kerem Ali Boyla was really helpful and gave us a real picture of the fantastic range of species that can be seen in Turkey. These guys know there stuff, so if you are thinking of visiting Turkey it would be well worth your while to go on one of their tours.

The Birdwatch Turkey Team

We were also given a Turkish phrase book; this will hopefully help to prepare us for our trip next year. I can’t wait!

Whilst Chris went to check out the Remembird stand I made my way to the Birdguides stand. I was really impressed with the stand (you could have spent all day looking at their stuff) and it was really nice to finally meet Fiona Barclay. Although Fiona was really busy, it was great that she took the time to chat to me. Anyone who twitters this about me ‘We met @binocularface at long last today at #birdfair. He’s much handsomer in real life, and we didn’t recognise him without his binoculars‘ is good in my opinion! It seems ‘Binocularface’ is more well known than me!

It was soon time to meet up with Mike and head back northwards.

The Birdfair had been a fantastic experience and I will definitely be back again next year!

16th August 2010 – Sykes’s Warbler in Northumberland!

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:25:08 +0000

The previous evening a warbler identified as either a Booted Warbler or a Sykes’s Warbler had been found at Druridge Pools Country Park in Northumberland. Pictures taken, suggested it was most likely a Sykes’s Warbler! In the morning the bird was reported as being present and (it seemed) the identification as Sykes’s Warbler had been clinched! Kath was at work and I was looking after the kids at home…….onset of panic! Mike Robinson called me to ask if I would like to go for the bird with him. As he was not able to leave until lunchtime I though it was worth asking Kath if she would take a half day……..she was more than happy to (yep she is a star)! So I called Chris H and we arranged to meet Mike in Carlisle.

It was not long before we were all (including Lachlan) on our to Northumberland! We arrived at Druridge Pools Country Park at just after 1400hrs and soon were amongst the many other birders hoping to see the bird! However we did not have to wait long before we got out first views. I was amazed how (relatively) striking this bird was. It was very pale with very long bill, the structure and appearance of this bird did not recall any Booted Warbler I had seen previously. As we got more views of the bird, I was able to note some of the key features:

Long bill, with pale lower mandible (apparently lacking dark tip)
Very pale underparts lacking any warm tones
Plain tertials
Very short primary projection (estimated at a third the length of visible tertials)
Overall upperpart tone was pale-brown (perhaps greyish toned) (description in Svensson, Mullarney & Zetterström of upperpart colouration being ‘milky-tea brown’ seems accurate)
Not much contrast between legs and marginally darker feet

The supercillium was also relatively striking, being more extensive in front of and over the eye than behind – lacking the ‘flared’ rear supercillium of Booted Warbler. Interestingly; depending on light conditions the extensiveness behind the eye seemed to vary greatly in appearance. The relatively striking head pattern, coupled with the long bill, structure and plumage tones meant that the bird appeared reminiscent of a Paddyfield Warbler, rather than a Booted Warbler. In fact I felt the bird (although clearly not in the same family) had Acro-esque qualities!

I did not attempt to photograph this bird; however Tom Tams has very kindly given me permission to post is superb shots (taken whilst I was on site) here. I would recommend viewing his website as it contains a vast range of superb photographs – http://www.tomtamsnaturephotography.com

As can be seen from the top image, the bird showed exceptionally well at times! The bird was also vocal at times, giving a very hard ‘tac’ call, reminscent of Lesser Whitethroat (certainly lacking the harshness of tone given by Booted Warbler). At one point the bird flew overhead. I was surprised how long-tailed it looked! This was a fantasticly educational bird to see!

Useful Links:

Once we had had some more views of the Sykes’s Warbler we decided to head down to Whitburn Steel in the hope of seeing some Roseate Terns. On arrival we met Dave Bickerton and friends who promptly directed us two a small group of Roseate’s Terns. These birds were superb to see amongst the large numbers of Common Terns, they certainly stood out from the crowd! There were also large numbers of waders including; Golden Plover, Turnstone, Sanderling, Knot and Turnstone! This was a fantastic end to what had been a great trip!

15th August 2010 – Banded Buzzard….

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:32:23 +0000

No birding trips out this weekend; but that doesn’t mean no birds! Whilst out in the garden mowing the grass a Peregrine flew overhead at fairly close range. However the highlight was a family group of Common Buzzards that lingered in the thermals above the garden. Amazingly they were still performing well after I went into the house to retrieve my camera!

Common Buzzard

Later in the day I went for a walk locally with Kath and the kids. Kath alerted me to a ‘funny looking’ insect; it was a male Banded Demoiselle. This was very unexpected as we were no where near any suitable habitat for this species!

All in all a nice day!

8th August 2010 – American Golden Plover at Anthorn……

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:06:14 +0000

I had made loose plans to meet Craig Shaw (CS) at Workington harbour on Sunday afternoon for some sea-watching. However after looking at a detailed weather forecast I called CS on Sunday morning informing him that the wind direction was wrong for sea-watching. We changed our plans and decided to walk a stretch of the Wampool.

At about 1930hrs we started searching through a flock of 500 or so Golden Plover hoping to relocate the breeding plumaged probable Pacific Golden Plover reported here earlier in the week. It was not long before a greyer bird with a striking supercillium was noted in the flock. At this point the angle of the sun was hampering viewing conditions, so we moved around to get better views. CS picked the bird up again, though light conditions were not great. Although neither of us was at this point convinced we had anything but an unusually plumaged Eurasian Golden Plover. However (thankfully) CS decided to take some record shots of the bird. The bird soon ran right and was clearly visible in excellent light. It was then that we realized that we probably had something special. The bird was obviously smaller than the surrounding Golden Plover with significantly longer legs and a longer primary projection. The bird had a striking pale (thick) supercillium that extended around the ear-coverts and contrasted well with the darker crown and ear-coverts. The crown and mantle were both dark with quite noticeable ‘golden’ flecks. The breast and belly was pale greyish with some dark spotting and a partial pale breast band. The primaries projected well beyond the tail and the primary projection appeared to be almost equal to tertial length. The bird was much slighter in build than the accompanying Golden Plover, with squarer head shape and a finer smaller bill.

We were both fairly certain the bird was an American Golden Plover, though as the plumage was quite unusual we were not at this time 100% certain. We continued watching the bird until something spooked all the plovers and they took flight. As the smaller bird took flight we could see it had darkish grey under-wing and axillaries. At this point it was even clearer that the bird was a ‘lesser’ Golden Plover. We tried to relocate the bird until dark, but failed to do so.

We were fairly sure that the bird was an American Golden Plover, as we were happy Pacific Golden Plover could be ruled out on size, structure and tertial-primary relationship. However it was the plumage of this bird that confused us. We were aware that adult American Golden Plover do not usually moult into winter plumage until much later in the year and it would be exceptionally early for a juvenile to appear in the UK.

Once CS got home he downloaded the pictures he had taken of the plover and forwarded them onto me. We were then able to discuss the identification of the bird whilst studying the images. We were now 100% certain that the bird was an American Golden Plover. The brightness of the crown and upperparts, the partial breast band (caused by moult) and the dark spots on the breast and belly ruled out a juvenile bird. After forwarding the images and discussing the bird with some local birders we were quite sure the bird was a 1^st summer bird moulting into 2^nd winter (the partial breast band indicative of moult).

I also forwarded the images onto RBA and Birdguides along with information regarding the sighting and the news was subsequently circulated.

Unfortunately despite thorough searching the bird was not present the following day. However on the 22^nd August 2005 the bird was located at the same site by Darren Robson. The bird was then observed on 24^th, 25th, 26^th, 27^th and 31^st of August 2005 by many birders. The bird was also observed on the 1^st of September 2005. However due to work commitments I did not observe the bird again until 3^rd of September 2005. On arrival at Anthorn there was a small group of Golden Plover roosting and feeding on the mud opposite the grassy lay-by. After a quick scan of the birds present Tim Drew and myself were able to pick the bird out fairly quickly. The striking head pattern and greyish plumage was quite striking. The bird was walking about on the mud, appearing distinctly longer legged and slighter in build. The long primary projection (as stated previously appeared equal to tertial length) was very obvious. Unfortunately before I was able to get my camera set up the birds flew. However as the birds flew the American Golden Plover was quite easy to pick out due to its greyer plumage, smaller size and grey underwing. One other feature worth noting was the lack of any foot projection (beyond the tail) when the bird was in flight. This was particularly interesting as I recalled the adult Pacific Golden Plover (found by Darren Robson) I observed in the county (at Port Carlisle, Anthorn and Bowness-on-Solway) several weeks previously showed a very obvious foot projection when in flight. We observed the bird several more times, though the bird was very flighty and I was unable to obtain any photographs.

The following day on the 4^th September 2005 Tim Drew and myself located the American Golden Plover again on the mud opposite the grassy lay-by at Anthorn. This time the bird was showing quite nicely for a prolonged period of time; both roosting and actively feeding. I was able to get some reasonable photographs using my digital camera/Scope combination. In addition to these I was able to take some short video clips.

American Golden Plover

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-053OEDHYFE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHTeebI8GeM

Once the bird was feeding it was very active (far more so than the Golden Plover accompanying it). The American Golden Plover would also show aggression towards a Golden Plover that got too close!

I last observed the bird on October 1^st 2005, but the last reported sighting of the bird was on October 1^st 2005.

Main Plumage/Structural features:

Head/bill Structure: Head was squarer in shape than that of the accompanying Eurasian Golden Plover. The eye appearing rather large (and dark). The bill was significantly smaller/shorter and daintier in structure when compared to that of the accompanying Eurasian Golden Plover. Bill length was approximately shorter than distance from the bill base to the rear edge of the eye.

Head Plumage: The bird had a very bright pale supercillium that began just in front of the eye, extending back beyond the eye and curving down along the rear edge of the ear-coverts. The supercillium was at its broadest at the rear edge of the ear coverts.

The supercillium was very striking as it contrasted well with the dark ear covert spot and the dark crown. The dark crown gave the bird a ‘capped’ appearance. In good light conditions the dark crown could be seen to be interspersed with golden spots.

Under parts: The bird showed a pale throat and breast with indistinct greyish mottling, the breast showed an incomplete paler breast band (presumably an artifact of moult as can be shown in moulting Eurasian Golden Plover). The bird also showed several large dark spots above the pale breast band and several dark (three of which were merged) below the breast band (showing hints of breeding plumage). The bird showed a pale belly, flanks and under tail only interspersed with indistinct greyish mottling and a couple of dark chevrons along both flanks.

Mantle: The mantle appeared darkish (greyish toned) with golden spots (this as with the crown tones was more visible in good light).

Underwing: The underwing and auxiliaries were dark, toned greyish in colouration. This feature was very noticeable in flight, and made the bird very easy to pick out.

Terials/Primaries: The visible primaries were very long extending well beyond the tip of the tail. There were 3-4 primary tips visible beyond the tertials. The length that the primaries projected beyond the tertials appeared to be equal to tertial length. The primaries appeared dark with pale fringes. The tertials were dark with pale notches along the edges. It was also noticed that the bird had dropped its lower most tertial on the left side and was re-growing a new one.

Tarsus: The legs were darkish grey and significantly longer than those of the accompanying Eurasian Golden Plover. However it was noted that the toes did not project beyond the tail when the bird was in flight.

General: The bird’s slighter structure, longer legs, greyer plumage, long winged appearance and striking head pattern made this bird very easy to pick out amongst the accompanying Eurasian Golden Plover.

Well that was nearly five years ago…………………

Today I was heading down the Solway with Chris. With the recent Semipalmated Sandpiper found by Darren we were mildly optimistic that there could be another rare bird hiding amongst the commoner waders. We started at Anthorn; but the height of the tide meant that there were no waders! The roadside scrape at Campfiled Marsh RSPB reserve was far more productive. There was a Ruff amongst the Lapwing and a Green Sandpiper hiding amongst the juncus. Also a Peregrine put in an appearance! Next we made our way to Port Carlisle, where we met up with Darren to search through the waders on the falling tide. It was great to see such a large amount of birds. However despite thoroughly searching through all the Dunlin and Redshank er could not located anything unusual. Six Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper were the highlights! Once the birds had dispersed we checked the harbour. The highlight here was a Black-tailed Godwit! The area of mud between the harbour and Bowness Railings produced a superb summer plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit and a good number of Ringed Plovers. There was nothing new on the roadside scrape so we decided to check the Wampool at Anthorn again. There was nothing unusual amongst the small number of waders present…………….perhaps there will be next time…………..

7th August 2010 – Whiskered Tern at Saltholme

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:36:06 +0000

Chris arrived at mine and 0700 hrs and we were soon on our way east. Lachlan was also accompanying us today! After our usual caffeine stop, we arrived at Saltholme Pools RSPB reserve. We scanned the causeway and were soon enjoying views of a juvenile Whiskered Tern. The bird was roosting with a small group of Dunlin.

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Terns are a pretty scarce bird in the UK and the majority of records are of spring adults; so to see a juvenile was a great opportunity. The bird was really well marked; the rufous mantle was really subtley marked with dark edges to the feathers. Even at range, the dark markings on the tertials and primaries were very discernible.

In addition to the Whiskered Tern we also had views of a couple of Common Terns and three Ruff! Next we decided to go onto the main part of the reserve in the hope that the tern would fly close to the hide. Although the Whiskered Tern was always fairly distant it was good to see it in flight. The bird clearly hawked like a ‘marsh tern’, but appeared much broader winged than the other two closely related species. Other highlights here were nice vies of both Water Vole and a Ruddy Darter! After watching the tern for some time we had a look at Greenabella Marsh and Greatham Creek. The highlights here were an Avocet, Greenshank and fifty-seven Greay Seals! Nearby Doremans pool produced views of Little Ringed Plover and another Greenshank. Sharp-eyed Lachlan also alerted us to a Fox that was walking along the track ahead of us.

We returned to Saltholme Pools where the Whiskered Tern was still present on the cuaseway. There was also a second summer Little Gull sitting on the water.

Whiskered Tern

After a short time the Whiskered Tern took flight and began hawking over the pool on the opposite side of the road; here the bird gave us superb views!

Whiskered Tern

We finished the days birding off at Bishop Middlam where we had great views of another two Ruff, three Green Sandpipers and a superb Wood Sandpiper. This was an excellent end to what had been another brilliant days birding! I think the highlight for Lachlan (aside from another stop at Scotch Corner services) were the Deer, Bison and Emu’s in the field bhind the wader pool!

31st July 2010 – Dragonfly Fest and a Benjamin!

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:06:26 +0000

Mike picked me up at Oxenholme Railway Station at 0740hrs and we were soon on the long trek to Essex. By 1300hrs we arrived at Hadleigh Castle Country Park. En route to the pools we saw Essex Skipper, Gatekeeper and good numbers of Migrant Hawkers. Thinks were looking promising – or so we thought!

There were several people present at the site, unfortunately none of them had seen the Southern Migrant Hawkers all day! This did not bode well for us, however I soon discovered that there were some very interesting damselflies and dragonflies present that made the trip well worth while for me at least!

The commonest damselfly present was Scarce Emerald. This was a new species for me, so I attempted some photographs!

Scarce Emerald Damselfly

I was also pleased to see Small Red-eyed Damselflies; this is a species I have not seen many times before.

Small Red-eyed Damselflies

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

Just when we were about to give up, someone located a male Southern Migrant Hawker feeding with some Migrant Hawkers. This was superb, I could not believe how blue this species was! We watched this superb insect flying over our heads for a good while before it moved off elsewhere. I decided to walk along the edge of a ditch to see if I could see anything else of interest. Within a few seconds I was watching the Southern Migrant Hawker has it hawked over the ditch. I called everyone across and we soon all enjoying great views of this striking dragonfly! The insect did perch up briefly on a few occasions, however I did not manage to get a photo! So a big thanks to John Hague for allowing me to use one of his fantastic pictures here. I would also like to take this opportunity to plug his excellent blog - http://thedrunkbirder.wordpress.com/

Southern Migrant Hawker © John Hague 2010

It was also great to see David Gray again.

We all enjoyed watching the Southern Migrant Hawker for a good while before it moved away again. It was nice to get views of Emperor Dragonfly, Ruddy Darter and Brown Hawker. I even attempted some more photographs!

Brown Hawker

Emperor Dragonfly (female)

Emperor Dragonfly (male)

Ruddy Darter

Brown Hawker

It had been a superb day and well worth the journey south! It was soon time to head north. As we made progress northwards we decided to take the very short detour off the M6 in the hope of seeing an adult Franklin’s Gull at Gailey Reservoir. On arrival at the site we were soon enjoying nice views of the bird!

Franklin's Gull

This was a superb end to an epic day!

30th July 2010 – Semipalmated Sandpiper

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:08:23 +0000

Chris had joined the finder Darren at Port Carlisle to see the probable Semipalmated Sandpiper found the previous day. This bird sounded intriguing and following discussions with both of them and after seeing Darrens pics I was very keen to see the bird.

The following afternoon Chris arrived at mine and we were soon on our way to search for the wader. As soon as we arrived at Port Carlisle we were met by Darren who had already located the bird. The peep was very easy to pick out amongst the Dunlin, due to its small dumpy appearance and it different feeding action. My initial thoughts were that the feeding action was very unlike my experience of Little Stint; it was methodically and purposefully picking at the surface and not particularly fast moving. The bird seemed greyish in overall tone, lacking the hint of rufous tones that appeared to be evident in the pictures taken the previous evening. The bird did show fairly prominent ‘white braces’ which is a feature usually associated with little stint. However the bird also showed a white outer web to at least one of the scapulars; this feature has recently been highlighted as a very good feature for Semipalmated Sandpiper. Although based on the pictures, the bill appeared relatively long; in life this did not seem to be significant. I also felt that at some angles the bill was ‘blob-tipped’. The head pattern was interesting; although the appearance of a black cap was present, overall the head pattern was not particularly striking. There did not seem to be a split supercillium. The upper breast streaking was very striking also!

The more we watched this bird, the more we were feeling that it was most likely a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Darren soon intimated that he had seen palmations between the toes. After watching the bird as it came closer we were all happy that this feature was present. We did compare the feet with Dunlin at the same range to rule out (or in) the possibility of ‘mud film’ giving the impression of webbing; none of the Dunlin showed this. I was now without any doubt that the palmations were clearly visible and that the bird was indeed a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Another fantastic find for Darren!

This was one of those birds that high;ights why I love birding. It did not really matter what the final identification would be, the fact that it got the grey matter working was really the point!

18th July 2010 – Day Seven: I still Love Spain!

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:22:37 +0000

Today’s trip was a return to the Alicante area and starting at Santa Palo beach. Here we had more great views of Audouin’s Gull and Yellow-legged Gulls. Sardianian Warblers gave decent views as did an Iberian Shrike. A view of an Iberian Woodpecker was another added bonus.

Audouin's Gull

Next we visited the Clot de Galveny area. This time we did not visit the main part of the reserve, but concentrated on the edges. We managed excellent views of Bee-eater, another Iberian Shrike and Sardinian Warbler. We continued onto the amazing Salinas de Santa Pola where we had fantastic views of Slender-billed Gulls. This time we got really nice views of some juvenile birds as well as the adults. Both Audouin’s Gulls and Yellow-legged Gulls were very much in evidence. Large numbers of Greater Flamingo were hard to miss, but despite extensive searching we could not locate a good candidate for a Lesser Flamingo! Little Terns were very common and there were small numbers of Whiskered Tern and Common Tern present. On the wader front Black-winged Stilt, Avocet and Kentish Plover were all giving nice views. We also had good views of a fly-by Collared Pratincole! Glossy Ibis were on the day list as was Cormorant!

Slender-billed Gull

Greater Flamingo

Kentish Plover

A visit to a nearby nature reserve El Pinnid was worthwhile giving more views of Greater Flamingo, Slender-billed Gull, Little-ringed Plover and Collared Pratincole. We soon moved on to the area around El Hondo where we enjoyed views of Cattle Egret. Mediterranean Gull, Bee-eater, Roller and Crested Lark.

The next plan of action was to head up through the Sierra de Crevillente to the Bonelli’s Eagle Finca. En route we had amazing views of Bee-eater; allowing some nice photographic opportunities.

Bee-eater

Bee-eater

We were soon at the finca and again made very welcome by Jane and Colin. From their garden we enjoyed superb views of Black Wheatear, Serin, Alpine Swift and Crag Martin. Red-rumped Swallow, Bee-eater and Woodchat Shrike also gave us nice views.

After a very pleasant evening meal; a walk up the hill above provided very good views of Crag Martin, Alpine Swift, Blue Rock Thrush, Sardinian Warbler, Subalpine Warbler and several Thekla Larks (L). It was great to finally catch up with the latter species! As the evening drew on it was fairly clear that we were going to miss the eagles again; however this did not really matter as the spectacle of seeing and hearing Alpine Swifts whirring in the skies above us was one of the greatest experiences I have been lucky enough to witness.

The whole week had been a fantastic experience. The birding had been amazing with such superb views of so many spectacular species. We had met some very pleasant, enthusiastic and genuine people. Most of all the company was brilliant! My first overseas birding trip will be firmly lodged in my memory for all the right reasons! Thanks guys!

A Big big thanks has to go out to Jules Sykes and his mother Jill, both had been very welcoming and incredibly helpful. Jules is a fantastic guide, he has a vast knowledge of the area and a great love for the birds and wildlife found within it. His great birding skills coupled with a great sense of humour makes for a brilliant trip! If any birders are planning to visit this area of Spain I would highly recommend staying at Olive Rama Pension and hiring Jules as a guide.

17th July 2010 – Day Six: Marshtastic

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:34:43 +0000

An early morning pre-breakfast visit to Pego Marsh produced nice views of Green sandpiper, Cattle Egret, Squacco Heron, Little Bittern and Purple Heron. Whiskered Terns were also showing very well. The highlight of the morning for me was watching an adult Great Reed warbler feeding one of its chicks a juicy caterpillar!

After breakfast we made our way to Moro Marsh. As we walked along the first track on the seaward side we saw good numbers of Common Tern and Little Tern. A Turtle Dove was showing very well on the beach, apparently collecting nesting material. A couple of Gull-billed Terns also flew overhead. Audouin’s Gull and Yellow-legged Gulls were also giving nice flight views. From one of the hides Chris B found a superb summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper. Chris H made a good call with a flyover Tawny Pipit.

Turtle Dove

A family of Fan-tailed warblers gave excellent views. From another area of the reserve we added Great white Egret to the trip list. Squacco Heron, Purple Heron, Little Egret, Black-necked Grebe and Coot were all visible from the hide. The water channels were very rich in insect life with Long-tailed Skimmer, Scarlet Dragonfly, Black-tailed Skimmer and Red-veined Darter being the main highlights.

Fan-tailed Warbler

Scarlet Dragonfly

Long Skimmer

Next we made our way to the fantastic Albufera de Valencia wetland areas. Here we had superb views of the usual assortment of herons and egrets. Gull-billed Terns were showing very well as the fed up and down the water courses. A Moustached Warbler was also a very nice bonus! After stopping for lunch we had a drive around the large lake and located a nice group of adult and juvenile Audouin’s Gulls. These birds were particularly photogenic!

Audouin's Gull

After a spell in this area, thanks to Derek’s super sense of direction and Chris H’s amazing navigational skills we located an area of wetland that was very rich in bird life! At this site there were over five hundred Collared Pratincoles, and over three hundred Gull-billed Terns. There were also good numbers of Black Terns, Little Terns and a scattering of Audouin’s Gulls. Kentish Plovers and Black-winged Stilts were very much in evidence. Derek located thirty six Curlew Sandpipers and a single Little Stint.

Collared Pratincole

Gull-billed Tern

Nearby we managed superb views of an adult Night Heron and good numbers of Purple Herons. We decided to visit the lake again to attempt to get more pictures of the Audouin’s Gulls.

Night Heron

Purple Heron

As the wetland area was so rich in birds, we decided to revisit the site again. This was a good move as a Red-necked Phalarope was present on our return. Scanning the more distant areas of the wetland produced good numbers of juvenile Night Herons and a few Glossy Ibis.

We made our way back to Oliva for our evening meal before heading out to the Red-necked Nightjar site. We located at least six Red-necked Nightjars, some giving amazing views! A Savi’s Warbler in full song was another added bonus!

Today was a day with no new species for me, however to get such great views of species I have seen on very few occasions was truly memorable!