Mallorca - A Day's Birding 17th Feb 2016 (1 of 2)

Wednesday 17th (1 of 2)

 

Today was my day for bird watching, I had a great day and owe great thanks to Mike Montier via the Forum at Mallorca Birdwatching.com and to the great publication 'Finding Birds in Mallorca' by Dave Gosney, both these resources proved invaluable.

 

I got up early and headed up to the Forementor region in the North-East of the island. I drove up the hill above Port Du Pollenca to the view point at the top, I arrived nice and early which is advisable as it got fairly busy about 08:00.  The views were spectacular.... and a little nerve racking, the path had the smallest of walls with gaps and a sheer 150 (ish)ft drop to the ocean below.

 

 

The purpose of this location was to look for Blue Rock Thrush and Balearic Warbler.  The first birds I saw were a few Raven, there were also Yellow-legged Gull on the sea below.  I eventually found a number of Blue Rock Thrush, the trick was to sit and wait for them to appear.

 

Raven 

Blue Rock Thrus

Blue Rock Thrush

 

 Blue Rock Thrush

 

The only problem with the Blue Rock Thrush was you could never get within about 100m of them so photo opportunity was slim but I didn't care as this was my first lifer of the day.  I wasn't so successful with the Balearic Warbler but did find another Sardinian Warbler.

 

I then headed down towards the Cases Velles Farm as this is known as a migrant hotspot and although I knew it unlikely due to it being the middle of February I thought a quick look couldn't hurt.  Needless to say there were no migrants but I was afforded so great views of Crossbill, I also saw Black Redstart, Robin, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Blackbird and a hovering Kestrel.

 

I reckon 90% of the passerines I saw in Mallorca were Black Redstart, except on the Formentor Peninsula which seemed infested with Robins, they were everywhere.

 

My next stop was the Boquer Valley, here I was hoping for Alpine Accentor but this was not to be, I'm certainly not complaining as the birding was amazing.  I parked in the tiny dusty area at the bottom of the access path and check the field adjacent as Dave Gosney's book said it was good for Stone Curlew..... he was spot on, I found one straight away along the field margin.

 

Stone Curlew

 

Walking up the path, through the farm there were Black Redstart everywhere, a few Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Linnet, Sardinian Warbler and Song Thrush, Robin, Blue Rock Thrush on the rocks higher up.

 

Black Redstart

Black Redstart

 

Boquer Valley

 

On the route back to the car I was treated to two lifers in the form of a flock of Crag Martin and a pair of Booted Eagle.

 

Crag Martin

Booted Eagle

Booted Eagle

 

Next stop was the Gola reserve in Port du Pollenca, I parked up on a dirt track opposite the super market off the 'boat plane' roundabout.  First bird in the fields leading to the reserve was of course Black Redstart....  I got onto the track of this very small reserve and reached one of the viewing points where I was treated to Great White Egret, Little Egret, Cormorant, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Common Sandpiper and Yellow-legged Gull

 

Great White Egret

 

Little Egret

Cormorant

 

Yellow-legged Gull

 

Back in the fields I then had Chiffchaff, Stonechat and Sardinian Warbler.

 

Chiffchaff

 

Italian Lifers...

Just back from a long weekend in Italy visiting Venice and Rome, this wasn't a birding trip, I only had a small pair of 8x25's and never stopped for birding specifically.

That said I managed 3 lifers even though I only saw 22 species!

I started with a few days in Venice, very nice city and very easy to spend the day walking in circles.

I think the first bird I saw was Yellow-legged Gull and by the end of the weekend I understood why - they are everywhere..!

Yellow-legged Gull

Whilst on the train across to Venice I was gobsmacked by the number of summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe in the bay, must have been in excess of 20 within the Mallard.  I only had a 55mm lens so this is the best image I managed from a moving train.  Saw a flock of 9 Little Egret and a single Black-winged Stilt.

Black-necked Grebe

There were plenty of Italian Sparrow and Feral Pigeon around the market stalls.

Italian Sparrow

Got some amazing views (although crap photos) of summer plumaged Mediterranean Gull and Black-headed Gull down by the Arsenale di Venezia.

Mediterranean Gull

Next was a couple of days in Rome which seems pretty devoid of bird life at first glance.  Again there are Yellow-legged Gull just about everywhere, even on top of St Peter's Basilica and the Coliseum.

My 2nd lifer of the trip was Monk Parakeet in the trees around the Vatican along with Ring-necked Parakeet.

When visiting the Castel Sant' Angelo I again saw plenty of Yellow-legged Gull, Italian Sparrow and Feral Pigeon.  I also got my first close up view of a Hooded Crow which I expected to see everywhere.

Hooded Crow

 

There were loads of Eurasian Swift, Barn Swallow and House Martin flying up and down the river, all year firsts.  Also saw my only Collared Dove of the trip.

 

Collared Dove

 

It was a nice surprise to see Black Redstart and Blackcap at Largo di Torre Argentina although I wouldn't like to speculate how long they'll last as the ruin was home to about 8 cats.

 

Only other birds were a handful of Blackbird and Magpie.

 

I had read on the internet that Serin were abundant and I was sure I could hear them everywhere although I could never find one - until I was looking at Foro Romano when I heard one very close, it was actually under my nose but I didn't see it until it flew up, hence my usual amazing photograph, this was my 3rd lifer of the trip..

 

Serin

 

Only other species I saw was Greenfinch when waiting for the bus to the Airport



Round Britian Tour - Day 7

We arrived last night after a very long day in the car. The Travelodge usually used for this trip was fully booked so we had to scour the internet for B&B's at a reasonable cost. We managed to find a pub which had motel style rooms out back which was just outside the wire of RAF Mildenhall. We all arose this morning a little later knowing we only had a 5 minute drive to our first site, we were a little disappointed on stepping outside to realise that it was completely light. You just don't consider that daylight timings will vary that much as you travel East in your own country.  So it was a very quick breakfast and into the car for our first target - Golden Pheasant. We were unsure if they would be about as the land owner had been threatening to kill them all as he was fed up of birders.  Whether they have all be exterminated is unknown but we certainly didn't manage to locate any.

We made a quick detour on route to the next location in the hope of connecting with a couple of Waxwings reported at Martlesham Heath at the Douglas Bader pub! We had to stop to ask directions to the pub when the satnav took us into a housing estate - Martlesham Heath - not the type of heath I was expecting. When we arrived we were greeted by a handful of birders who put us straight on to the Waxwing, the birds were in a small square which was surrounded by shops, the locals picking up their morning papers must have wondered who all the lunatics were in camo gear with high powered cameras.

103. Waxwing

103. Waxwing

103. Waxwing

103. Waxwing

 

As we were about to leave the Waxwing were joined by a Redwing and a couple of Fieldfare so had to share their berry bounty with these bigger bully boys.

101. Redwing

102. Fieldfare

Next stop was a tip from a local birder for a good location for both Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer which were both target birds for today. Yellowhammer had avoided us for the whole trip so far so when we pulled up to the location it was a relief to find a large flock of Yellowhammer flitting between an arable field and some power lines, there was a large number of Red-legged Partridge around too.  In the same area we managed to seen about 15 Tree Sparrow along with Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and a couple of Brambling.

With those in the bag it was off to North Warren to check out some Pink-footed Geese, we drove around looking for geese flocks which favour a certain area. We eventually located a field of geese comprising of numerous Barnacle Goose, a single Canada Goose and a handful of Greylag Goose, now Pint-feet though. The numbering is out again but I promise it all tallies up in the end...

98.Barnacle Goose

 

We now decided to try out for Black Redstart at a reliable location, the beach that runs in front of Sizewell B power station. About 50 meters from the car we'd located a female Black Redstart and almost missed the male sat about 5 meters from her, just as I brought my telescope to bear on him, off he went. They were very difficult to get within a decent range off.  We also had Kittiwake off the shore within a mixed gull flock. I managed to 'Phonescope' the male from some distance away:

 

99. Black Redstart

 





So that was another of todays targets in the bag, Next stop RSPB Minsmere, I couldn't believe that I'd never visited Minsmere before, what an amazing location. We traipsed right across to the far side of the reserve, almost back to Sizewell except for the estuary.... We were looking for Tundra Bean Goose and managed to located the flock they Greylags they were accompanying. There were a few smaller geese but as luck would have it they were sleeping and very distant. Eventually one popped it's head out for a look around and revealed a beautiful white facial plate above the bill, so now Bean Goose but a few bonus White-fronted Goose.

We set off back to the car but not without stopping for the Water Pipit showing ridiculously well directly in front of the Island Mere Hide, unbelievable and unmistakable. I was questioning a Rock Pipit back in Devon but with view like this there was no question.

100. Water Pipit

100. Water Pipit

 

We were also lucky enough to get some great views of a Red Deer (I think?), RSPB Minsmere apparently has the largest herd outside of Scotland. Not entirely sure what the impact these large animals have on the reed beds though? A bonus was a Muntjac Deer keeping the Red Deer company.

 

Red Deer

 

Muntjac Deer

 

I thought we were having a great day seeing some great species which I very rarely get to see, however Lee Evans wasn't too happy with the amount of birds we'd dipped. Next option was to go for a Long-tailed Duck which was showing on and off or Twite. We decided to go for the Twite which turned out to be epic...!  I think we went to Dingle Marshes and walked along a shingle beach for about 1.5 miles before we met a birder coming the other way who'd seen the Twite fly towards us! At this point we'd decided we couldn't go any further as it had nearly killed us walking that far, it was REALLY hard going and we were only half way, i.e. we had to go back yet...!  So an executive decision was made, we would have to dip the Twite. We had amazing views of a Common Guillemot on route back although the negative side is that it was probably ill being so close in - about 5 meters away. We did get some great views of Stonechat which is a bird nobody can tire of seeing.

 

We then went Orfordness in an attempt to locate the Rough-legged Buzzard, we managed it but only very distant views. This bird was a lifer for me so not the most memorable of views. We then had the choice of trying the Long-tailed Duck or to head up to Great Yarmouth in the hope of connecting with Shore Lark which were showing spectacularly well. Consensus was to try for the Shore Lark which pleased me as this too was a lifer. We arrived on site with little light remaining and spent until dark scouring the sand dunes but nothing came of it, another dip for the day.

 

The group decided to stay right on site at a seafront hotel and to try for the Shore Lark at first light.

 

I saw 60 species today of which I had one lifer (I dipped on 2). I'm now at 153 for the trip:

 

1. Collard Dove

2. Pheasant

3. Black-headed Gull

4. Woodpigeon

5. Red-legged Partridge

6. Carrion Crow

7. Great Black-backed Gull

8. Greenfinch

9. Goldfinch

10. Chaffinch

11. Tree Sparrow

12. Blue Tit

13. Brambling

14. Blackbird

15. Yellowhammer

16. Skylark

17. Waxwing

18. Fieldfare

19. Redwing

20. House Sparrow

21. Dunnock

22. Pied Wagtail

23. Barnacle Goose

24. Canada Goose

25. Lapwing

26. Greylag Goose

27. Little Egret

28. Coot

29. Mallard

30. Teal

31. Widgeon

32. Shovelar

33. Pintail

34. Herring Gull

35. Lesser Black-backed Gull

36. Magpie

37. Jackdaw

38. Mute Swan

39. Starling

40. Robin

41. Black Redstart

42. Kittiwake

43. Great Tit

44. White-fronted Goose

45. Water Pipit

46. Long-tailed Tit

47. Marsh Harrier

48. Common Guillemot

49. Stonechat

50. Redshank

51. Cormorant

52. Grey Heron

53. Shelduck

54. Tufted Duck

55. Kestrel

56. Rock Pipit

57. Goldcrest

58. Coal Tit

59. Rook

60. Rough-legged Buzzard