Good Friday turned out to be a very Good Friday

Friday the 3rd April

 It's not very often I have a purple day but today was one of them, not too many species but it turned out to be a Classic.

The plan was loosely to see what we see at Magimo Mountain so there wasn't any plan. 

The first stop we got lucky with Little Owl, a bonus bird, as we travelled through the lower levels picking up Coal Tit, Crested Tit, Great Tit, Treecreeper, and Chaff Finch heard and saw Wood Lark from several different areas but impossible to photograph due to the position of the sun.

As we travelled up towards the higher ground bird song got less but we did get Wren in several places, and Crossbill, Mistle Thrush, and at the top, there was nothing, I was starting to think another crappy day.  Until we returned down the Mountain to the Wood Lark site and it just happened how can one bird, make your day well it just did, and out came Celebration Werther's Original creamy butter candy.

 Nice photos of a very good bird, feeling upbeat and optimistic we set off to Montnegra doing the reverse high to low track to be honest it was slow the odd Red-rumped Swallow, Grag Martin. A very brief view of a Subalpine Warbler disappearing into the scrub and no sign of any Woodchat Shrike. 

Undeterred

 We kept going It was early afternoon and birding had slowed up considerably. 

 At the historical site for Trumpeter Finch, it is still dry, I inspected it and cleared it out of some crap but unfortunately, there's no water at this site, so it's done and finished but we did find an area close by where the Trumpet Finch does pop in and out.

We went up and down the main track a few times looking for Blue Rock Thrush but only heard the bird, Black Wheatear showed distanty then out of the blue came 2 Bonelli's Eagles, which showed brilliantly and what a sustained showy performance they gave,  A  nesting pair,  what a display they put on over the next 15 minutes absolutely wonderful to watch 

And to end our day a White-throated Black-eared Wheatear showed very well not a big species list today but some quality birds and a few photos thrown in which is great it's not every time I go birding that I get to press the camera shutter button. So it really was a Good Friday

Big Thanks to Geoff

Not mentioned every species seen

Make some news go Birding and have fun

Cheers Bryan

Photos to follow

Migration in full swing

  

Sunday the 22nd

A good extended morning birding especially the early part of the day we start at the visitor center San Felipe, Jeanette, Geoff, and I. And at the car park of the visitor centre was buzzing with Hirundines 

Alpine Swift

Alpine Swift, Pallid Swift, Common Swift, Red-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, House Martin, also tucked away in the far corner was a Stone Curlew probably nesting somewhere near.

Stone Curlew 

Great Reed Warblers calling from lost of different locations and occasional Reed Warbler big numbers of Cette Warblers,  surprise of the day was a Sedge Warbler,  Red knobbed Coot, Marbled Duck, in good numbers, but not so good for waders as the water levels are high, European Snipe, Little ringed Plover, Black winged Stilt, Purple swamp Hen, Glossy Ibis, all showing well

Little Bitten (4) Squacco Heron, Grey Heron, sound of the day has to be Zitting Cisticola there just everywhere, closely followed by Corn Bunting. 

We left San Felipe to explore the areas around there, Booted Eagle showed well with one pair displaying with aerobatic performance tumbling zigging and zagging very impressive, Buzzard and Marsh Harrier Common Kestrel were also seen.

Booted Eagle

Marsh Harrier

El Pinet

Water levels are very high but hundreds of Sandwich Terns, and Slender-billed Gulls are nesting there, and good numbers of Avocet also Iberian Yellow Wagtail,

 Iberian Yellow Wagtail

Avocet

Last stop Clot de Galvany 

All the usual suspects there but no sign of Ferruginous Duck

Great time out there Birding 

I've not mentioned every bird seen.

Have fun

Make some news

Thanks to Jeanette and Geoff

4 Days Birding

I don't know if we set the bar to high for Birding, we put the hours in, we've done the kilometers, ( This birding trip 800 kilometers ) I don't get distracted, stay focused on the task, but we find we don't get the rewards for the effort put in, it just seems to be getting harder to find the bird's.

Take for instance Great Bustard 10 years ago it wouldn't be unusual to see a drove of Great Bustards of up to 50+ birds in the Corral Rubio area and the last few days just 4 birds were seen, could this be down to climate change? As the area has suffered several years of drought and despite this winter's very heavy rains the seasonal lakes are almost dry and gone.

Spain’s Eastern Valencia region has just experienced the wettest winter on record. In the provinces of Valencia and Alicante, there has not been this much rain since authorities began keeping weather records back in 1864. It is the same story in other areas of Spain which began keeping track of rainfall 

The exceptional wet weather has been two and a half times what is considered normal rain levels for this winter and comes on the back of the region experiencing the driest and sunniest successive winters, and springs, and the hottest summer's on record.

 

The Spanish State Meteorology Agency says barely 100 litres of rain have fallen per square meter (the average is 336) here in Alicante the lowest level since 1857, and the worst figures for anywhere in Spain. The impact on the province’s unirrigated farmland has been devastating

University of Alicante’s Climatology Laboratory, concurs, saying that in previous years, the southwest of the Iberian peninsula has received less rainfall than desert areas such in northern Africa. Alicante has beaten neighbouring Murcia’s record of just 89 litres per square meter set in 1945. There has been no humidity from the sea. It hasn’t really had any substantial rain since the winter of 2023. (Excluding this Winter) Winter and spring have been extremely dry. The lack of rainfall is impacting the whole ecosystem of the region.

Back to Birding

Tuesday 17th

 Santa Pola Salinas San Felipe and the surrounding areas. 

and Clot de Galvany 

2 Ospreys, Booted Eagles, Marsh Harriers, Distant Spoonbills, Great White Egrets, water levels are very high so no muddy margins for waders. All the usual suspects were at the Clot including my two old birding buddies John and Mary from CBBC. Good to see them both again. The three Amigos would go birding together before John and Mary moved back to the UK.

Almond Blossom

Wednesday 18th

Bonete and Estación  

Best bird seen was the Spanish imperial Eagle which was a dot in the distance, but through the telescope was pretty good so to get a photo I set off across the grassland to get a record photo of the breast, no sign of any little bustards not surprisingly with a Spanish Imperial Eagle on the hunt. Also lots of distance Calandra lark, and Corn Bunting.

Spanish Imperial Eagle as seen

Spanish Imperial Eagle enlarged

Corn Bunting

El Bachiller 

At El Bachiller farm it was good as there are Lesser Kestrel sharing nest holes in the farm building with Common Kestrels which made it difficult for photography as they were very active, I kept focusing the lens on the wrong birds and with lots of comings and goings and conflicts between them. They've obviously bred very early and probably over wintering which they do sometimes, also carrying food back. Also good for Rock Sparrow. 

Lesser Kestrel upper wing

Lesser Kestrel under wing

Lesser Kestrel Note Pale Claws

Corral Rubio and Yecla 

As I mentioned earlier the seasonal lakes have almost disappeared which are essential for Great Bustards they are always close by or need to have access to water, luckily they found us, only 4 birds and all females, It looks like they've not paired up yet. No males seen but they must be around somewhere

Below is copy from my blog 2013

An early start saw us leave Gran Alicante at 6 am and drive to Bonete, arriving just before 8 am and it was still chilly (5C). We kick started our day list with Corn Bunting and White Wagtail. It wasn’t long before we located our first Great Bustard and by the end of the day, we had seen over 70 of these iconic birds, suggesting a healthy population???see photo from that trip which is only a third of what was in flight. 

28 Great Bustards

 Yecla was quiet and only added a few species like Chough, Raven, and Common Buzzard.

 

A very poor photo of Great Bustard

Raven

Black Redstart still a few around

Common Buzzard

Petrola

The water quality has improved and it doesn't stink compared to last summer, but I'm guessing that's down to the temperature and the recent rains.

Give this place a miss as there's hardly a bird on it. In the past, I've seen between 8 and 10,000 Greater Flamingos on this water and great for Waders and Black Terns, Gull-billed Tern, etc., A few days ago hardly anything on the water. It's not the first time I've moaned about how this place has changed.

Thursday 19th

Gaudelentin Valley 

 Excellent for Broccoli, and intense farming, it was so good years ago, historically we are reminded of the birds we once saw there but alas no more.

So we spent 7 hours cruising around the area hoping for a Great Spotted Cuckoo, but only added 6 new birds to the list it was very tough going, the best bird Spectacled Warbler only one migrant was seen which was a Barn Swallow.

Spectacaled Warbler

Spectacaled Warbler

Friday 20th

Montnegre 

Good start with Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Rock Bunting, Dartford Warbler, and in a wooded area Crested Tit, Coal Tit, Tree Creeper, and ended up with Griffon Vultures 

Coal Tit

Total species seen was 88 and even though it was a hard slog and I almost lost the will to live, we enjoyed being out and about birding despite the lack of birds.

 Big thank you to Trevor

Have a great day

Cheers Bryan 

Best bird ever seen,???

A birder friend asked me what the best bird I’ve ever seen and that’s a deceptively hard question. I said I'll give it some thought, usually I split it into two categories: birds I’ve photographed, and birds I’ve only ever seen once. Some of the most special birds I’ve encountered were one-off moments and I never got a photo. So for me it really comes down to the birds I’ve photographed (even if it isn’t rare)

 below some of my favorite birds Photographed in no particular order

Gannet with
Air brakes out

kagu
New Caledonia

North of New Zealand lies an island with a teeming rainforest that every dawn is drowned out by the haunting 15-minute long song of the kagu. This bird is found only in the flora and fauna-filled New Caledonia. The isolation of this South Pacific island has created many unique features of nature, and the kagu has several. Kagu, or cagou, are about the size of a chicken and have brilliant red eyes, long orange legs and bill, bluish-grey feathers, and 'nasal corns’. These structures cover its nostrils and are not found in any other bird species. It's thought that they evolved to prevent dirt and other particles from entering the nasal cavity since the Kagu is also flightless and spends its time on the forest floor.

Inaccessible flightless Rail 
Inaccessible Island 

The Island is called inaccessible because it is. It’s almost impossible to land on the narrow beach most attempts fail and the cliffs are so steep that the top is inaccessible.

If you’ve ever gone looking for rails, you know they are usually differcult to see. They live in dense marsh grass and won’t come out for anything except the sound of another rail and then only in the breeding season.

But there is in fact a truly inaccessible rail. The Inaccessible flightless rail (Atlantisia  Rogersi) is the smallest flightless bird in the world, extremely rare, and vulnerable to extinction. He lives only on Inaccessible Island 

This was a surprise because the island, which is in the Tristan de Cunha archipelago, is closer to Africa than to South America as shown below.

DNA studies show that his ancestors, related to black rails, did fly more than 2,300 miles from South America over the South Atlantic Ocean to Inaccessible Island. They arrived 1.5 million years ago.

Spectacled Petrel
South Atlantic 

Golden Oriole 
Spain 

Vanuatu Petrel

Off Chichijima, Bonin Islands, Tokyo.

Black footed Albatross

Gould's Petrel
South Atlantic 

Kergalen Petrel
Gough island Southern Oceans 

Violet Turaco Gambia

Rainbow Pitta 
Northern Rain forest Australia 

European Roller
Spain 

Long tailed Superb Starling
Gambia 

Black footed  Albatross
North Pacific Ocean close to Japan

New Zealand storm Petrel
  Thought to be extinct since 1850 till I got this photo and others. 
Little Barrier Auckland

Fea's Petrel
At Sea

Red backed Fairly Wren

Superb Fairy Wren
Australia 

Major Mitchell's pink Cockatoo 
NSW Australia 

So this little exercise in finding a few photos turn in to a nightmare, normally it's all backed up on multiple external hard drives, but on exploring the hard drive, 4 of the  1TB drives had died, they do go back in time a long way, maybe they'd fail as they've hardly get connected for use, just for back up, So inevitably I've lost some trips photos which can't be replaced, not a good day.

Make memory's 
Go Birding 

Fave fun go

A Pleasant Day of Birding with Mike Jeffrey

 

January 23rd

Today was a great day spent birding with Mike, a British birder now living in the Netherlands. Mike is an experienced birder with an impressive global bird list, so it’s always a significant achievement to spot a new species and add another tick to the Book of Life.

We planned to hit all the local hotspots to give Mike the best chance to add to his already extensive list of Spanish birds. With such a solid list already, adding new species was going to be a challenge, but we were up for it!

We didn’t start early, as overnight rain (which hadn’t been forecast) left things a little damp. But we set off at 9 o’clock towards Santa Pola Salinas. The sky was partly cloudy, and with the forecast calling for full sun, the day was looking promising.

Santa Pola Salinas

Our first stop was productive, with a good mix of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Audouin’s Gulls, and a near-full summer-plumaged Mediterranean Gull. We also spotted Black-headed Gulls, Slender-billed Gulls, and a few distant waders. At our next stop, we had distant views of Great White Egrets and around 20 Spoonbills, with Marsh Harriers gliding over the reed beds.

El Pinet

Unfortunately, the water levels were too high due to the recent rains, and there were hardly any birds around. Mike had hoped to spot a Little Owl, which we did manage to find at Lower La Marina Tracks, along with a few Meadow Pipits and a Southern Grey Shrike. It was a bit slow, but we kept going.

Palm Farm Road

I suggested we try Palm Farm Road. Historically, this area has been great for birding, although it hasn’t been as productive lately. Reluctant to skip it, we decided to give it a go and we were glad we did. Out of nowhere, a Great Spotted Eagle appeared, putting on an incredible show as it was mobbed by a Booted Eagle and a Marsh Harrier. I didn’t even attempt to get photos; I was too caught up in the spectacle. We jumped back in the car and chased it down the road, and unbelievably, the eagle turned back toward us for a few more minutes of viewing before drifting away. It’s always a treat to see such a massive bird of prey. We also spotted a large flock of Skylarks more than 100 in total.

On the way to San Felipe, we managed to get a few glimpses of Zitting Cisticolas, a species Mike had on his list to see.

San Felipe

San Felipe didn’t disappoint. As usual, we spotted Red-knobbed Coots, Marbled Teals, Snipes, Green Sandpipers, and Water Pipits. We also enjoyed an impressive aerial display from a group of Craig Martins, with a single House Martin in the mix. At St Aguada, around lunchtime, the sun finally came out, and we managed to catch sight of a small flock of mobile Little Stints and there was probably a Temminck's Stint with I over looked initially. A quick stop at the Bellavista Hide revealed a massive flock of Greater Flamingos probably a few thousand and 20+Cormorants.

Clot de Galvany

Our final stop was Clot de Galvany, where we spotted a variety of species, including:

Red-crested Pochard

White-headed Duck

Ferruginous Duck

Gadwall

Teal

Shoveller

Sparrowhawk

Grey Wagtail

By around 4 p.m., we decided to call it a day.

It was a wonderful day of birding, and I’m grateful to Mike for the company. The highlight, without a doubt, was the Great Spotted Eagle. It’s been a while since I’ve re- connected with the Great spotted Eagle, and I had forgotten just how massive these birds are.

I haven’t mentioned every bird we saw, but overall, it was a memorable day.

Happy birding,

Cheers, Bryan

Montnegre and Maigmó

Montnegre

Montnegre & Clot de Galvany – 2 January

Yesterday, 2 January, Steve Saunders and I decided to explore the mountains of Montnegre. Mountain birding is never easy, and in winter it can be even more challenging. That said, conditions were pleasant: around 16°C, hazy cloud, and hardly any wind.

Our first stop got things off to a good start with a confiding Blue Rock Thrush, plus another more distant bird. A very close Black Wheatear showed extremely well, while Dartford Warblers were contact-calling but frustratingly difficult to see. A few Serins announced themselves, and Crag Martins passed overhead.

We spent some time at the Trumpeter Finch site—not that we were expecting them, but it’s usually productive. Not today, unfortunately. Moving further up the valley, Steve picked up Short-toed Treecreeper, Crested Tit, and Black Redstart. Robins were everywhere, as usual.

At the top end of the valley we had a real highlight: 16 Griffon Vultures perched right on the summit. I’ve never seen that before—normally they’re just gliding along the rock faces. No sign of any other raptors today, though.

We then crossed to the other side of the valley to Maigmó, but by now the weather had turned very cloudy and dull, and so had the birding. Coal Tit, Crested Tit, Great Tit, and Chaffinch were about the best we could manage. With that, we cut our losses and headed for Clot de Galvany.

Clot de Galvany – 30 minutes later

Birding at the Clot was much more productive. Along with the usual suspects, we were able to add several good species to Steve’s list, including:

Gadwall

Marbled Duck

Ferruginous Duck

Common Pochard

Red-crested Pochard

White-headed Duck

Black-necked Grebe

Teal

Shoveler

Steve’s species total now stands at 99, and with a few more days to go, he should comfortably crack the century mark before heading home.

Thanks to Steve Saunders for the company and the birds.

I’ve not mentioned every species seen—but you get the idea.

Make some news… go birding.

Cheers Bryan 

Merry Christmas Everyone

 

Have a Great Christmas 

American Robin

          Have fun enjoy 

European Robin

Cheer's Bryan

LOOKING BACK ARCHIVE BIRDS PHOTOS from the ISLES of SCILLY

Thought I would share some photos that I've taken on the Isles of Scilly  over the years. its good to get some of these images on-line instead languishing on hard drives and in cupboards and draws. It reminds me of some good times birding and a lot of laughs, for every photo there a story behind. Hope you enjoy the photos and it brings back some good memories of Scilly

Short billed Dowitcher 2012

Sora Rail 2005

American Golden Plover 2006

Ovenbird 2004

Marsh Sandpiper 2008

Little Crake 2002

Semi Palmater Sandpiper 2003

American Robin Tresco 2006

Black Browed Albatross 2009



Blackpoll Warbler 2007

Front cover British Birds October 2008

Red eyed Vireo 2003

Scopolli's Shearwater 2005

Blackpoll Warbler St Mary's 2008

Snowy Owl 2008

Cream Coloured Courser 2004

American Nighthawk 1998

Common yellow Throat St Mary's 1997

Red eyed Vireo 2003

Wilson's Petrel 2005

Sooty Shearwater 2004

Have a good day

Cheers Bryan