Saturday 13 April 2013

Birding break in the Algarve pt1


Crazy weather year so far in the UK I think you'll agree, certainly all my friends and visitors at Askham Bog are anxious about the impact this cold early Spring weather is having on our wildlife .... I'm not sure how any early returning warblers will have fared against these biting easterly winds we've been having of late but here's hoping that they find a way and we get some warmth soon!

Meanwhile, I've been away in Portugal for a short break to catch a bit of sun and some Spring passage migration. Bit early in the season maybe but there was plenty about and plenty to point my lens at. I spent 5 days in on the Eastern side of the Algarve, mainly around Tavira and Castro Marim and then my birding pal Mark came over for 5 days and we did the Western end.

Before flying out I treated myself to a Kenko 1.4 converter for my lens for a bit more reach and have to say that although the extra zoom was exciting at the time, the results were not always good and many shots that I thought were going to be corkers were too grainy to do anything with, even with Adobe Lightroom. I live and learn .... methinks I should have spent more pennies and gone for Canon glass!

First good bird was a Booted Eagle from the car just outside the airport. First birding experience was 30 mins out of Faro .... the sun was shining, it was warm and I just had to get out of the car and birdwatch! Can't remember the exact location but I stumbled upon one of the entrances to the Rio Formosa national reserve somewhere nr Olhao and had my first Spanish Sparrows ... here's a cracking male (pic left), and the first of many Hoopoes (pic below). I also had my first Willow Warbler along with what were presumably resident Blackcaps and Sardinian Warblers.
 
 


Grey Plover
Although quite densely populated by holiday complexes. the 50 kilometer stretch of coast from Faro all the way to the Spanish border is dominated by vast areas of saltmarsh and a sand bar some 200 metres further out with several access points. I stopped off at a spot called Lux and was immediately into Black and Bar Tailed Godwits, Knot, Redshank, Dunlin, Kentish Plover, Sanderling, Grey Plover, Avocet and Greenshank, all in good numbers

Greenshank
On to Tavira then, and along with Faro and Olhao, this small town with Moorish history is one of the main settlements in the Rio Formosa reserve area. With the sun still shining and glad of the opportunity to walk around in a t shirt after such a long reliance on hats n scarves in the UK,  I headed straight to the salt pans and marshes, had a good tramp around and even camped out at the old ruined fort out there ( Forte do Rato ) ...... and here's a pic of my tent within the fort taken the next morning.

I spent most of the next day at Tavira, there were birds and bird activity everywhere I looked .... wading birds mainly I guess were the main attraction and I must have seen every species of waders I saw last year in one day here! No rarities but wow what great numbers .... I'd not seen such a proliferation since Andalucia a few years back and its difficult to know where to start!


Salt pans and the associated saltmarsh habitat that border them are top feeding and gathering places for all kinds of birds and I certainly had my fill here. Complete species list will be posted in part 2 but highlights from the 2 spent at Tavira include Black Shouldered Kite, Slender Billed & Med Gull, Peregrine Falcon, Wheatear, Bluethroat, Hen Harrier and of course all those waders! Here's a few selected pics
Avocets
Sardinian Warbler


Yellow Legged Gull

Slender Billed Gull
Dunlin








A couple of reasonable 'in flight' shots here.... I say reasonable because although I was pleased with the composition on both of these, the graininess caused by the 1.4 converter is clearly still in evidence despite all my best efforts with Adobe Lightroom....ya live n learn!
Black Shouldered Kite

Avocet
If you look closely on the Black Shouldered Kite pic you'll see he has some kind of a shrew or possibly a mole in his talons ... what a pic that would have been if not for the graininess! Never mind, its a record of a great memory of watching this bird from close quarters hovering and hunting over a field lof wild flowers and at least this pic highlights the famous 'red eyes' on this bird.

Tavira turned out to be the only place to throw up a Bluethroat, a bird my mate Mark had seen lots of on a previous holiday so I was really keen to get some good shots but in the end I had only one drab female or first winter male that perched on a mud heap for a few seconds before flitting away. I scanned that wet field for ages trying to find it again but only succeeded in finding a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, one of which was quite obliging.

 

You have to be going some to get a good shot of a Hen Harrier wherever you are and this was at such distance I never expected much, I was just happy to see one, and a male at that, quartering the saltmarsh and obviously on passage.

 
Next port of call was the Castro Marim area close to the Spanish border where I spent 2 nights camping on the beach, the first night around Monte Gordo where I had a lot of rain and a damp night then further west along the beach near the Quinta da Ria golf course which was just idyllic.
 
Birding in the rain is ok so long as you're warm and under cover, and I was quite happy sat in a lay by with my scope poking out of the car window right in the middle of the Castro Marim reserve! Rain quite often brings birds down and it was here I had my first Swifts, lots of them with several Pallid Swifts mixed in ..... it doesn't matter where in the world you are, your first Swift of the year is always a special event. Shame I'm not quick enough to capture them with any success! I also had stacks of hirundines here too - Swallows, the odd Red Rumped Swallow and House Martins. Good few raptors passing through too with my first Montagues Harriers (4 in total) plus Lesser Kestrel and a couple of Marsh Harriers.
 
Sadly the light was just too bad for photographs but when it cleared up and the Swifts departed I took a stroll and took some pictures of the local Spoonbills and Black Winged Stilts .....
Spoonbill

Black Winged Stilt
 As you can see on the Stilt pic, there were plenty of wild flowers about so I took the opportunity to photograph a few. No expert, as I've said before, so the Poppy aside, until I get around to identifying these they'll have to remain penned as 'pretty flowers'!

   

 
 
 
If there's anybody reading this that can identify any of these flowers I'd be very grateful ... plus it'll save me a job!
 
A quick mention of other birds seen at Castro Marim before we move on .... plenty of waders with Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank being the highlights, lots of White Storks (some clearly moving North), Red Crested Pochard, Caspian and Sandwich Tern. All seen within a quick stroll from the Guadiana Bridge (pic below) which crosses the Rio Guadiana and spans the border between Spain and Portugal
 
 
 
 
Ok, back to the long lens and this very handsome Spotless Starling singing in the morning sun on the beach at Quinta de Rai. I'd found a cracking camping spot on the beach with hardly a soul about and it was pure joy to walk down the beach in the morning .... it was warm, there was a Southerly breeze and it was no surprise to see birds on the move - Sand Martins, Red Rumped Swallows and Hoopoe in off the sea, several Willow Warblers and Chiff Chaffs in the bushes and a single Sub Alpine Warbler in amongst them.

I had a probable Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler adjacent to the Golf Course ... streaky above, long legs, eye stripe, a bit squeaky like a Fan Tailed but with a large rounded tail ... gotta be hasn't it?

And then a surprise bird in off the sea ... a Great Spotted Cuckoo (pic below). I managed a distant shot but as with the Starling pic, I'm unhappy about the graininess in such good light.




I also had some of these Common Waxbills here, curious little finch type things with bright red beaks that I think have been introduced here from North Africa; anyway I had about 15 in the car park feeding on bits of left over food - its not mine, but here's a pic of said wee thing.








From Castro Marim, I headed back West towards Tavira again. My battery on the camera had finally gone flat so I booked into a camp site at Tavira to charge it up and took the opportunity to have a shower myself ... I needed one!

Whilst the camera battery was charging I decided to head up into the hills just to the North of Tavira and was totally awestruck with the natural beauty of the countryside up there .... huge green hills and rocky outcrops and deep chalky valleys full of flowers and lush vegetation. I was instantly rewarded by 3 'firsts' for the trip - 2 Little Owls perched on fence posts (which would have made such a fab picture!), a Great Grey Shrike and a passing but close range Short Toed Eagle .... not bad for an hour's drive!

Driving back into the camp site I was a bit dismayed to be pitched next to Scottish couple in a campervan who were obviously drunk and arguing like mad. I didn't need that and the site was pretty spartan anyway so I decided to up sticks and pitch back at the old fort on the saltmarsh again. There was another Little Owl perched on the walls of the fort as I was setting up my tent and in the morning there was a Hoopoe on the same wall!





My mate Mark was flying out in the evening to join me for the last 4 days of the holiday, so I had to be in Faro later, but not before a last tramp around Tavira. Nothing new there apart from a possible Redwing and a couple of definite Auduoin Gulls but I did get some reasonable shots of a Curlew Sandpiper and Black Tailed Godwit
Curlew Sandpiper

Black Tailed Godwit
I was looking forward to seeing Mark .... travelling, birding & snapping away is great fun and I get totally self absorbed in it all, but tis always better to share these moments and after a while I miss the friendly banter ... so, back to Faro & the bonus of a hotel room (booked online by Mark's wife ... she's so understanding of our needs!)
 

I got to Faro early and had several hours to kill before Mark's flight (delayed by freezing conditions at Leeds / Bradford airport!) was due to arrive. Luckily the area around Faro is itself excellent for birding and I picked up Little Stint and Tawny Owl as new species as well as a few decent 'coastal' pics. Here's a common bird nicely posed ... a Lesser Black Backed Gull in a wind that was ominously strengthening from the West
Earlier I just had to stop and photograph this old boat that looked so forlorn and crying out for some attention ....  so there ya go old boat, a full spread in some old mad man's blog!
 
And while we're in seascape mode, here's a panoramic view of Faro from the nearby saltmarsh .....
 
 
  ...... and here's my last pic of part 1 of my Algarve trip, another common continental bird caught in a nice pose and in the setting sun, a rather lovely looking Cattle Egret.
 
 
 
More to come in part 2 folks .... including more new bird species, a complete species list, more stunning wild flowers,crashing Atlantic waves and an adventure with the Portugues authorities!














 

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Off birding to the Algarve!





Gear is packed .......

 
and all roads lead to ...........................


One of these is hired ......



with one of these in the glove compartment......



Next post in about 2 weeks time, hopefully with some mega spring passage pics of, well just about anything and not just birds, I'm memory card laden so looking for for some good pics of Portuguese life n landscapes too. Not a huge deal to report in the past couple of days, the poor weather has brought neither a Chiff or a Chaff for me, nothing but a few good waders in the rain - 50 Ruff and 70 Dunlin in amongst Lapwings and Goldies at North Duffield and these good Whoopers at Thorganby yesterday ..........



Sunday 17 March 2013

Siskins in the garden bring back memories & a nap hand of goodies at Askham Bog

As a young lad I remember my parents allowing me to camp overnight in the garden for the very first time. I'd just got into birdwatching and so thrilled because I'd rigged up a homemade bird table, loaded it with food I thought birds might like to eat (I have a memory of old xmas cake!), and located it just outside the tent in the hope of attracting all manner of things. In my 11yr old mind this meant anything from Eagles to Hoopoes of course ..... and of course I was to be disappointed .... but I was rewarded at first light by some birds I didn't recognise at my bird table, and that was the day I begged my parents to buy me a bird identification field guide!

Some time and much begging later I was pleased to identify my mystery birds as Siskins. That was more than 40 years ago and although I've seen many Siskins since, I've never actually had another one in my garden ... until the other day that is, when I had a pair on the feeders and then in next door's tree. You rarely get such good views of these terrific little finches, normally they're flying over in flocks from tree to tree and I was just as thrilled to see these as I was the ones spyed from my tent all those years ago!

Here's a couple of shots of the male in next door's tree ....
  

Nice when things like that come full circle.

Pretty awful weather this weekend and glad I'm on holiday and not working Askham Bog as it would have been rubbish with most folk staying put indoors, but last Sunday was ok down on the bog - plenty of visitors and a healthy number signed up plus a nap hand of good bird pics in the sun!
 

Chaffinches all over the place and this one was looking particularly splendid .....




















I normally shy away from taking pictures of birds at feeding stations because of that 'staged' look but had to make an exception with these exquisite Long Tailed Tits.


















Here's a common but often overlooked bird, always one or two skulking around in UK gardens and nice see them slightly out of context perched in a tree ... its a Hedge Sparrow or Dunnock. Not actually a sparrow at all, this understated wee bird is an accentor - a family of birds that normally inhabit mountainous areas with the Alpine Accentor being its nearest relative .. never going to get one of those at Askham Bog!







Ok folks, ready to enter the 'Is it a Willow or a Marsh Tit' debate? Well I have to confess to being not as good as I should be on separating these two similar birds and I wouldn't wish the vagaries of identification and splitting the two on anyone but at the risk of being publicly humiliated by the birding world I'm sticking my neck out and saying this is a Willow Tit ... light wing panels, clean cheeks, unglossy cap ... please tell me I'm right expert birders! (actually I heard this one call so know darn well its a Willow!). Anyone interested in what is a bit of hot topic in the birding world, so much so that the distribution of both species is now really muddled, here's Richard Broughton's bible on separating the two - 'separation of marsh and willow tit in britain, a review' 
 
 

Last but by no means least, I've been trying to get even a half decent picture of a Wren for months at Askham Bog .... they tend to creep around under the boardwalks a lot but occasionally pose for a few seconds before flitting away, so I was reasonably pleased to get this one. Would have been better perched on a mossy tree stump or something but the wire fence just about works for me!

 
 

Early signs of Spring at Wheldrake Ings

Gazing out of my window upon cold and cloudy skies and a very wet garden I have to remind myself that it will be the first day of Spring in just 3 days time on March 20th! Yes, next Wednesday is down on the calender as the vernal equinox - where daylight hours begin to match those of darkness and the Northern Hemisphere warms up.... hurray, bring it on!

The very first signs of Spring have been with us for a a few weeks already of course with Snowdrops, Crocuses and Hazel Catkins bringing a bit of colour to the countryside and I noticed the Willow trees at Wheldrake coming into bud earlier this week. Haven't seen any Sand Martin records for Yorkshire yet but one in Liecestershire on the 14th with several more further South shows they are on their way up and they've had Swallows in Cornwall, Dorset and Ireland already!

Apart from my truly enjoyable working hours at Askham Bog, I've not been out much recently ....been taking advantage of this pre Spring lull to get a few things done around the house and when I have ventured abroad its still felt like Winter to me!

Dodging the snow flurries at Wheldrake Ings last week was kinda fun and as I sought refuge in Tower Hide my reward was a couple of drake Scaups in with the rest of the wildfowl. Too far away to photograph sadly because as you can from this view the light was good in between the showers.

These roaming Whooper Swans were a little closer (but not much!) and managed a couple of half decent shots with a lucky capture of a bit of argy bargy swan behaviour!


It was a shame the good light didn't remain long enough to get more pics because I was after some wildfowl in flight. There was a healthy number of Pintail on the reserve (I reckoned about 100) and I was dying to get one of those but had to settle for Comon Teal and a pretty grubby and hastily shot fly over of a small group of Pink Footed Geese
Common Teal
Pink Footed Geese
 




It was certainly no day for a surprise early Swallow or anything like that - but then Spring comes in many guises; depends of course where you are on this planet as to what may be that harbinger of warmer days ahead,but as I look out again on to settling snow in my garden, I'm secretly chuffed to have caught a few of Wheldrake's own symbols of Spring .... Curlews calling and drifting overhead
























Pussy Willow starting to bud and alongside the pathways
 

...... and the occasional Oystercatcher probing for worms that are themselves starting to wriggle again.



















Highlight birds on the day were some good flocks of waders with maybe 120 Dunlin, 20ish Ruff, about 500 Lapwing, 50 Golden Plover and 2 Snipe. Still plenty of ducks and geese about with maybe 100 Pintail, 70 Gadwall, 150 Shoveler, 200 Tufted Duck, 2 Scaup, 8 Goldeneye, 150 Pochard in amongst the many hundreds of Wigeon, Teal and Mallard. With a brisk and chilly Easterly blowing a couple of hours in Tower Hide was not good for my hands and as the light began to fade I gave up on trying to pick out anything special like a Glaucous or Med Gull amongst the other gulls coming into roost and sought refuge!










Monday 4 March 2013

Road trip to Hampshire ...Brents & Sanderlings a plenty plus a couple of goons!

Another whistle stop road trip down to Hampshire to visit friends and squeeze in a bit of birding last week. We shouldn't be surprised I suppose but once again the weather was against us for all but a brief window of sunshine on Wednesday afternoon / eve, otherwise it was cold and decidedly gloomy! Great views of Red Kites coming into roost in the mist on the way down nr Newbury and we must have topped 20 in total whilst journeying ... they really have spread far and wide in the UK and always a treat to see.

Farlington Marshes is always a handy reserve to visit down there and although the morning was grey there were plenty of waders, ducks and geese about plus a couple of Song Thrushes and a Sparrowhawk.
Fly by Redshank
The geese were almost all Brents with maybe something like 300 on the water and many hundreds flying overhead ...... now I have to say that the light they were flying in was as gloomy as a graveyard on a wet Sunday afternoon, so most post production needed and not quite sure what I did with this but they look better than they ever did in the viewfinder!

This was a loner..... there's always one looking for a passport pic!




Talking of passport pics don't use these boys, you might get arrested for more than being in possession of  living head fur and a cockney rebelesque 70's pose!!





  The birds they must have pulled in their prime!
 
Ok, I'll get some stick for that but back to some birds with feathers as well as a pulse here's a few cracking Sanderling pics on Eastney Beach ..... and for a few hours the sun did shine!

Sanderlings are one of my favourite waders, nearly always doing something .... this little tussle over a juicy mollusc went on for several minutes

 
Until the victor flew away with the spoils!
 
Closely followed by a hungry gang .........
 
 
And then time for a rest .... didn't notice at the time but one of the Sanderlings has colour coded tags on its legs. I found a site on the net where you can report such tags and obtain a history of the birds movements (http://www.waderstudygroup.org/res/project/sand-colrings-en.php) so hopefully I'll get something back soon.
 
We had a single Mediterranean Gull fly past but sadly too quick for me to get the camera on it ..... Here's a few 'too far away but reasonable images' 
 
Oystercatcher feeding on a jetty at Eastney beach
Hardly in the 'reasonable' category but this was the only Sparrowhawk and only posting because Mark missed it ... here you go mate!



Mr & Mrs Common Teal out for a stroll
 
Later in the day we went back to Farlington Marshes and were rewarded by an impressive gull roost of 2000 plus Black Headed Gulls and many more waders including both Golden and Grey Plover, Dunlin, Knot and Black Tailed Godwit.
 
Then the sun went down and it was time to think about heading back to Yorkshire!