Lake Garda in late May

We had a short 4 days in Lake Garda at the end of May, staying at Torri Del Benaco, which is mid way up the east side of the lake, just at the start of the mountains. We stayed at the very relaxing Hotel Benacus overlooking the lake.
Torri is an old medieval town with it's own old castle and little harbour, very relaxing.

The first bird you notice on the lake is Red Crested Pochard

There are a few pairs amongst the Mallard all along the lake, and they are quite tame, coming close into shore around the cafes. There was also a Mute Swan family that my wife insisted I included.

 

 Italian Sparrows were around the cafes as well. Around the lake front I added Hooded Crow, Yellow Legged Gull, Starling, Swift, Swallow and House Martin.

The hills behind the hotel looked good for birds, but all the roads closest ended in private estates, so I was somewhat frustrated that I couldn't get all the way into the woods. However a lane next to the hotel led me to a small mixed wood of deciduous trees and olives. I had a look here every day at various times adding good views of Serin and Wryneck to Redstart, Blackcap, Green Woodpecker and the usual tits and finches. I did hear Wood Warbler but couldn't pin it down, it seemed to be singing from inside a house !!! I wondered if they were kept as caged birds, like the Goldfinch I could see, or if it was something imitating it ??

A trip up the cable car from Malescine took us to the top of Monte Baldo.
The first bird here was Black Redstart just on the track with the Marmots. Then Cuckoo started singing in the woods below and I picked out Redstart singing at the top of a tree. Tree Pipits were performing their parachute displays and Wheatear flitted about the rocks. I saw a pinkish bird which I first thought White Throat, but it was too big and stipey, I subsequently found that Water Pipit breed here so that's what it must have been. I couldn't find any Alpine Chough or raptors here, maybe the time of day, late morning, or the weather which was a bit drizzly.

Back down at the lakeside we got the bus to Garda and walked to Bardolino, past the small reedbed which has Great Reed Warbler singing, like Reed Warbler but slower and deeper.

  I found Mandarin and Great Crested Grebe here too.

Back in Torri we walked north up the lakeside and a small park which was shaded by trees, Spotted Flycatcher was hunting butterflies here, and I watched it for a while in the shade.
Amongst the House Martins and Swallows which hawked over the water close to shore I spotted a couple of Crag Martins. Then, when we were touring the castle, a Black Kite came floating in over the lake giving good views for a short while.

38 species in 4 days was less than I'd hoped for, but a very enjoyable and relaxing few days. The Bardolino red and Limoncello were excellent.  

Boa Vista, C.V. in February 2014

Our February half-term this year was to Cape Verde, the island of Boa Vista, 6 hours flight from Manchester. 
Boa Vista has only opened to tourism in the last 5 years, there are but 2 hotels on the island of any size, both run by Riu. We said in the Riu Touareg on the very south coast, the road only started about 2/3 of the way from the airport, which was very small. It can only cope with a max. 2 planes a day and has no electric to spare for landing lights, so all flights must arrive and depart in daylight !!!

The first bird seen was the endemic Iago Sparrow at the airport terminal (shed !!)

The transfer took about 35 minutes over mostly cobbled roads and tracks. It was apparent the idea of hiring a car was a non-starter as, when there were tracks, there weren't any signposts !!!

The journey added Brown Necked Raven, Hoopoe Lark, and Cattle Egret. On arrival at the hotel a Swallow and a House Martin were flying round the complex, although this was the only time I saw them.

Booking in was very smooth and efficient, as soon as I'd unpacked I took a stroll to find the grey water lagoons I'd read about and get my 'bearings'.
They were about 10 minutes walk to the east along the beach, although I later found it easier to walk to them along the road out of the front of the hotel.
I visited the lagoons nearly every day in the late afternoon. Black Winged Stilt, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, Kentish and Ringed Plover were ever present, as were Hoopoe Lark, Bar Tailed Desert Lark, Spectacled Warlber and Spanish Sparrow in bushes and surrounding scrub.

 On occasion I added Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper,  Ruff, Sanderling and Dunlin representing the waders.
Alexandra Kestrel and a passing Osprey were the only raptors.

Instead of turning right into the lagoons at the end of the road, a left turn up the track takes you to an old rundown farm of sorts, a few enclosed animal pens.

Further up this track away from the farm I found Cream Coloured Courser on some sandy patches, Hoopoe and Bar Tailed Lark in the rocks, and Black Crowned Sparrow Lark flitting about, another Alexandra Kestrel, the ever present Spanish Sparrow and Spectacled Warbler.

All I'd read about Boa Vista advised me to walk to the Isle Ihuela to look for the last pair of Magnificent Frigatebirds in the Western Palearctic, so one afternoon about 2.30 I set off believing it to be about 20 minutes walk along the beach !!!

Wrong !!!

About 45 minutes later after traversing sand dunes bigger than I 'd ever seen and cliffs of rock, good job it wasn't too hot, but the sun was very strong, I found the island.
Unfortunately by now a sandstorm had blown up and I could barely stand let alone hold my scope steady !!! I managed to find some shelter down the cliffs and saw alot of Brown Booby seemingly nesting on the island, I assumed the white ones were young and not Masked Booby.
Suffice to say, no Frigatebird !!!!

 The only way back through the sandstorm was to heroically follow the beach until I sighted the hotel again !!!!

I'll probably never get all the sand out of my optics or my hair !!!!!

Before the storm I had seen Wimbrel, Grey Plover and Turnstone along the rocky coast.




I had wanted to go to the north of the island to see the Red Billed Tropicbird, but our 'island tour' didn't quite take us far enough north of Sal Rei, so I dipped on that too. Still a reason to return one day ??? On the tour I added Little Egret and Grey Heron. I also too this of the wild donkeys that inhabit the island.

So 30 species including 5 lifers wasn't a bad haul. I was disappointed to dip on the Frigatebird, which I think you'd need to be lucky to see, and the Tropicbird, which I think you'd get with a bit more persistence.






A relaxing time, because there's little to do on Boa Vista exept relax, that's no bad thing.
Lovely hotel, lovely friendly people, and warm, if somewhat windy weather.
They are planning to add another 18,000 hotel beds in the next 10 years, so it's going to change, maybe they'll add a few roads ???

Lanzarote October 2013

We spent October half term at the H10 Timanfaya Palace in Playa Blanca on the Carary Island of Lanzarote.
The island is desolate with the only vegetation planted around the villas and hotels, consequently there are few birds about. The desolation has been caused by the volcanic activity of the 18th and 19th century, great fields of lava cover the south of the island, the last eruption in 1824. But it is all rather daunting.
The weather was mixed, always a wind, the first 3 days sunny with broken cloud, then it had a few very heavy showers for 2 days, after which it was very windy and cloudy. Still we managed some sun bathing and a bit of a top up of the summer tan.
We hired a car for three days to have a look at the rest of the island.

The birding -

The hotel grounds had Collared Dove, Yellow Legged Gull and Spanish Sparrow, and a walk to the lighthouse, about an hour each way, added Common Sandpiper. Ringed Plover, Turnstone and Wimbrel on the rocky beach, Great Grey Shrike, and more sparrows on the hotel side of the path. Sandwich Tern was fishing over the sea.

The Salinas de Jubilo are a working salt pan operation just east of Playa Blanca and we visited on the first day we had the car, entering them from the beach. Redshank, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, and Black Winged Stilt represented all the waders we could find whilst Berthelots Pipit hopped amongst the rocks. A flock of about 12 Black Necked Grebe were on the main lagoon and a wreck of 30+ Corey's Shearwater were in the bay off the beach.

Driving around the island we dipped on Canary at Haria and Barbary Falcon at the Mirador del Rio, but added Hoopoe, Raven, Feral Pigeon, Kestrel and Cattle Egret to the list.

El Rubicon - Due to thr fact that the Canary Islands observe BST we were at breakfast by ourselves at 7 instead of when it opened at 8 !!!! Consequently we got to the El Rubicon tracks before 9 !! We found the track behind the cement works and noticed some hunters out on the plain with dogs, that didn't bode well.
But at the far end of the track closer to the LZ2 road we found  4 Cream Coloured Courser near to the track and close enough for some photos, perhaps pushed our way by the hunters. As we turned to come back we saw some movement close to the track, WOOHOO, Houbara's Bustard !!! We watched another 4 feeding close to the track and at one point actually crossing the road giving us great views. This was the bird we'd dipped on in Fuerteventura in February, so we were well pleased. A lifer !!!!!

The only other bird we added to the list was Little Egret on the beach the day before we came home.
We don't think we'd go back to Lanzarote for the birding or the scenery, but the hotel, people and food were good, it would have been ok with a bit better weather.
A total of 22 ticks for the week was rather miserly, but worth it for the Coursers, and, of course, the Bustards.
 

Kos, it's hot !!

Two weeks at the Oceanis Beach Hotel in Psalidi on the Greek Island of Kos in August.
Two weeks of sun, didn't see a cloud, and temperatures in the 30's with a sea breeze to stop you overheating.
The hotel was lovely, right on the beach, birding was to be a challenge in the heat.
The grounds of the hotel were well kept and had a big flock of House Sparrows with Hooded Crows for company. White Wagtails peaked at 10 and Collared Doves were ever present. From the sunbed we could watch Corey's Shearwater out at sea and passing Med. Cormorant. Passing Swallows and a small flock of Little Swifts kept you awake.
A 20 minute walk along the coast path brought you to the Psalidi Wetlands, dry as a bone !!! But Crested Lark, Tawny Pipit, Barn and Red Rumped Swallow along the way. There was a pair of Black Winged Stilts and a Gull roost of Yellow Legged and Lesser Black Backed, whilst a pair of Long Legged Buzzards floated over. Loud calls from out of the reeds turned out to be Bee Eaters as they flew off.

We hired a car for 2 days to see the rest of the island which was quite small, one end to the other in little over an hour.
The best birding was around Tingaki Salt Pan. Firstly we tried to walk round it but were beaten back by large biting flies, so we stuck to the car with the aircon full on. We found we could carefully drive round most of it anyway. The salt lake seemed to fill up from the sea, so there was always water in it, even though it must have been very salty.
We scoped here at about 10am one morning being careful to avoid full views of the nudists over the dunes !!
Kentish Plover, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, and Grey Heron, along with a big Gull roost, although we couldn't find any diffent gulls.
It seemed every wire or post had a Roller or a Bee Eater on it, they were all over the place along with Hooded Crows.
We found a track down to th riding stables where the hedges had Sparrows, Greenfinch and Ortolan Bunting, at the end a ruined building had Little Owl being mobbed by Sparrows and strangely an Olivaceous Warbler.

Driving up into the mountains round Pyli and Zia we had more buzzards, Turtle Dove and Raven.
The best place for Swifts was the harbour at Kos town with Common ans Pallid.

We had a boat ride to the volcanic island of Nysseros, from which we added Yelkoan Shearwater
A final walk along the coast path on the last day added Lesser Grey Shrike (lifer), Red Backed Shrike and a Kingfisher which perched on the rocks at the end of the beach, made me wish I'd done this walk more often.
Hard work birding but it always is on summer holidays if you want the sun, still 46 species and one lifer wasn't a bad return.

Norfolk 2013

We took our annual Easter migration to Wroxham with the family in our usual waterside chalet.
The weather was dry this year, but very cold, frosty nights and lazy northerly winds in the day.
Somehow I managed a new weekly record of 97 species !!!

The usual birds around Wroxham and our boat trip to the Swan for lunch on Sunday, although this year I had 2 Kingfishers on fly past, which was better than last year. Harold, the Heron made his appearance to the delight of the kids.

On our first trip to my favourite Barton Broad we had Scaup and Common Tern, but it was too cold to linger on the platform for long.
The second time I went, later in the week on evening, I got Arctic Tern, Cetti's, Water Rail, and Scaup, along with Swallow, Sand Martin, and House Martin.

I wanted to find Lesser Spotted Woodpecker this year, but having tried a number of sights dipped.
Hickling produced the strangest sight, two Sacred Ibis flew in to feed !!!


Sacred Ibis

We only had Jean's phone for a record shot, but you can just make them out, bizarre !!! I talked to a local birder later in the week, who said that 8 had escaped from Thrigby and only 5 had been recaptured, but Birdtrack accepted the record.

Tichwell was a new place for me in Norfolk, coupled with a trip to Sandringham. It would be a lovely reserve in the right weather, but was very cold when we went. It's like Cley but smaller and with some very modern hides overlooking fresh and salt water lagoons. The best here was Spotted Redshank until I got Red Crested Pochard on the way back to the carpark.

Spotted Redshank

Avocet

Bar Tailed Godwit

Cley was quite again, the first time I've been and not seen any Marsh Harriers in the air. Plenty of Brent Geese about and the ususal waders on the scrapes. The strangest here was a Purple Sandpiper on the Eye Field. No larks at Salthouse, just some ridiculously tame Turnstones, I'm sure they'd eat from your hand if you tried.
Couldn't find any Cranes or Bitterns this year, so maybe I'll try for 100 next year !!!

Fuerteventura in February

We spent the third week of February in the sunshine of Fuerteventura, nice to get some winter warmth, makes you think of spring !!

We stayed at the Tui Palace in Jandia, which was situated at the farthest southerly point of the island and inhabited mostly by middle aged Germans who rejoiced in their total nudity !!!!

Walking into the Atlantic rollers in February wearing just a hat, must, I'm sure, be very bracing !!!!

No, we didn't try it. British reserve, don't you know.

On our first walk around the resort we found Collared Dove, Raven, Yellow Legged Gull, Spanish Sparrow and Berthelot's Pipit. 



Raven



Yellow Legged Gull



Berthelot's Pipit



Next morning, watching the sea from the balcony, I had a pod of about a dozen Dolphins, although they were quuite far out, and the only ones I saw in the week. 

Also 18 Cattle Egrets roosting on a bare hillside opposite the entrance to the hotel, they were eventually accompanied by 3 Grey Heron. They seemed to roost there every day and commute to the area of wetland behind the beach.

We hired a car for the middle three days to get about and see more of the island. A Nissan Micra with no hubcaps ?? Why no hubcaps ?? None of the hire cars on the island seemed to have any hubcaps ???

Anyway, first stop, the legendary La Pared plains which hold Houbara Bustard and Cream Coloured Couser, but not today !! We did however get a nice Hoopoe whilst we were there.

We continued up the mountainous west coast road to Betancuria for lunch. There we had African Blue Tit as we ate our tapas.

Next stop Los Molinos, a dry river valley which has been dammed to save whatever little rain falls in a reservoir. Here we met a couple of birders from Switzerland, and teamed up to scope the area. 

Ruddy Shelduck were plentiful here and breeding with half a dozen ducklings. Waders included Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Kentish Plover, Black Winged Stilt and Common Sandpiper, all ably identified in French, German, Latin and English !!

When we went back to the car, we met an English birder who'd seen 6 Bustards at El Cotilla and told us of Fuerteventura Chat further down the valley by the beach. So we went to find it, and we had both male and female at exactly the spot he'd suggested, another lifer !!

Day 2 with the car, again we headed north, well we had to, 'cos there was only sea south !!

We went all the way to El Cotilla on the north coast, spent a futile hour looking for Bustards then another hour on the beach by the lighthouse with the Atlantic rollers booming in.

The rocky beach here had Sanderling, Kentish and Ringed Plover, Wimbrel, Little Egret and one Grey Plover.

Along the coast to have a look at Corallejo, like Blackpool with sun, so we didn't stay there too long !!

Day 3. I decided, if I was going to see the Bustard, I'd have to do La Pared at dawn. I saw on my phone that sunrise was at 7.30, it took half an hour to get there, I assumed daylight would come up about an hour before sunrise, so I was on site at 6.30 alone, very quite, and very spooky alone in the desert. Light didn't arrive until 7.15 so I had the best part of an hour sitting in the dark, the stars where very bright and numerous with no light pollution, beautiful. About 7 another 4 or 5 birders arrived, so I knew I was in the correct place, however, no Bustards. A distant Cream Coloured Courser and Short Toed Lark were my best two along with the ever present Berthelot's Pipit.

Later, after breakfast I took Jean back to see if we could get better views of the Courser, and we did, getting close enough for some photos. 





Cream Coloured Courser





Short Toed Lark


• 

With no car now we had to wander the resort, but added the two parrots, Monk's and Ring Necked Parakeets, another lifer.



Monk's Parakeet



Ring Necked Parakeet



Ground squirrels were quite tame everywhere, coming to take food from the hand in some cases, and we came across a Jack Rabbit in the wetland behind the beach, like a cross between our rabbit and hare.



Ground Squirrel



Jack Rabbit



In the same wetland area, which was bone dry, called El Mattoral, I think, was Southern Grey Shrike and Spectacled Warbler. My photo of the warbler is probably the best I've taken !!



Southern Grey Shrike



Sectacled Warbler in motion



A lovely holiday, good to get some winter warmth and some interesting birds, but hard work at times, some of the tracks are quite challenging for a Micra !!

Might try Lanzarote next time for another go at the Bustards,got to leave something to go back for !! 

Wild West

Had a day up at Lancaster yesterday.

First stop Heysham Power Station, for the gulls. A howling gale tried it's best to put me over the wall onto the beach, but I clung manfully onto the fence as I juggled my binoculars to watch 5 Little Gulls and 2 Kittiwakes on the outfall. Nothing much else obvious, but it was too windy to use the scope, the beach was quite empty and the tide was well out.
I tried to find my way round the nature reserve there, but couldn't figure out the tracks, so I gave up and headed off to Leighton Moss.

The new arrangement at the feeders is really good, you seem to stand right amongst the birds, and the new hides at Grisdale and Tim Jackson are brilliant. Marsh Tit was occasionally on the feeders with Blue, Great and Coal as well as Chaffinch, Dunnock, Bullfinch and Nuthatch. I had Marsh Harrier from Grisedale as well as a Sparrowhawk that flew low along the reeds putting up Snipe every so often, but I didn't see it catch one. A Red Deer was grazing here in the reeds.
It was bleak down at the seaside hides, not much to see, so I hung around looking for Spotted Redshank but not finding one.

Still year list up tp 125 now with 45 for the day.