Our early morning walk saw the group now comfortable with
the local bird song that washed over us in successional waves as the day
arrived. Firstly the Stone-curlews sounded out the night and then the grouchy
Red-legged Partridges and the early Thekla’s Larks, shouty Cetti’s Warbler and
invisible Stonechats and Cirl Buntings joined in before you became aware of the
soft background thrum of Wood Pigeons and the slightly melancholy Blackbird.
Sardinian Warblers started to scold and Collared Doves joined the chorus while
Tree Pipits, Finches and Corn Bunting left their roost. The tardy House Sparrows were always late
getting up and would go from zero to a querulous mass as they chatted about
where to go for the day while still in their roost palms and probably argued
over who was going to use the bathroom first.
By now it was approaching 8am (and our breakfast) and several Hoopoes
added their voices to the general ornithological hubbub. This perfect start to any day was completed
by a watchful Iberian Hare in a field.
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| Red Squill - Drimia maratima |
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| Red Squill - Drimia maratima |
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| Lesser Asparagus - A acutifolius |
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| Wild Asparagus - A horridus |
We headed north to s’Albufereta Marsh and were soon parked
up and walking down onto the saltmarsh trail where a zillion hungry mosquitos
seemed intent on creating some sort of artistic pointillism installation on my
legs.
A scan from the first platform gave us a juvenile Purple
Heron sneaking its serpentine neck out of the grasses while checking of the 12 Coots
revealed, well, 12 Coots. A flock of
Ruff took off and left after being spooked by a Marsh Harrier and a cloud of
Cattle Egrets were milling around. There were a couple of Mallard but the only
other wildfowl was a rather incongruous Black Swan…
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| Artemesia caerulescens - I think! |
We walked down through the pines where Serins jingle jangled
and Cetti’s Warblers played chase before cramming ourselves into the little
wooden sweat box. Once the door was propped open it was bearable and we were
quite happy watching a selection of waders with Greenshank, Green, Wood and
Common Sandpipers and a couple of Kentish Plovers that included a colour ringed
one that I shall chase up. A couple of
the Flamingos had Blue Darvics but the water was too deep to read them.
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| Flamingos |
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| Kentish Plover |
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| Kentish Plover |
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| Kentish Plover & Common Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Cattle Egrets |
Kestrels, Marsh Harriers and Booted Eagle soared overhead
and on the walk back we found a fishing Osprey that had what looked like a
white tracking box on its back and two Eleonora’s Falcons.
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| Osprey with transmitter? |
We have done very well for this species away
from its breeding cliffs. The Serins also now put on a show with at least 12 on
the almond orchard with some Linnets and a couple of Spotted Flycatchers and
Stonechats.
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Mediterranean Fan Palm |
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| Golden Samphire |
Lunch was taken nearby but every other pool on the marshes
seemed to be bone dry so we opted to drive back south to s’Albufera and walk to
the visitors centre and back in the hope of finding some more marshy birds. A Long-tailed Blue greeted us by the van as
we set out but it was incredibly hot and I doubted the wisdom of my choice.
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| Moorish Gecko |
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| Long-tailed Blue |
The Grand Canal was very quiet this time with no Little
Bitterns but we did find 12 Night Herons lurking including a spotty juvenile
but even most of the Cattle Egrets had at last completely fledged and the trees
were almost empty. Kingfishers once
again taunted us. Some large Atlantic Blue Crabs were seen in the canal margins. An imposing but non-native American species.
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| Atlantic Blue Crab - Callinectes sapidus |
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| Mullet |
The hideous sauna hide was our destination (no one fancied
walking to the other side again) and as I opened the door I could see a
Swamphen just outside! It was a young bird and put on quite a show just below
us but unlike the first visit it was not the only one and we counted 18 across
the pool with one full blue-purple adult appearing from the top pf a sedge
clump out front too. There were the best
views I have ever had of the species.
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| Those feet are ridiculous |
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| Western Swamphen |
Ibis and Stilts kept dropping in and the Shoveler flock was
no longer just of that species, with 20 Teal and three very stripy Garganey
amongst them too. Some Flamingos also gracefully arrived and a couple had full immersive
baths where they simply laid down in the water and soaked it up with occasional
flaps to make sure they reached every nook and cranny!
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| Proper bath! |
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| Glossy Ibis |
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| Little Egret |
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| Glossy Ibises |
Greenshanks appeared and seven Snipe were the first of the
trip along with the two small ducks and there were smiles all round that we had
managed to rescue a challenging day. With Father B and Patsy on the van we soon
began the walk back before the drive to Aumallia which gave us our first Honey
Buzzard too to round up the day. A
different route back in still did not give us the much desired Stone-Curlews!
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