Have recently returned from a 3 week family holiday .Its my first report so be gentle with me.Attached photos will be from this trip unless marked (A) ,which will have been taken in April.
We flew as a family of 6 from Leeds/Bradford on 26/7/09 with Jet2 to Alicante.A 1hour drive north saw us arriving at my in-laws Villa ,situated between Xabia and Denia.The villa is within the boundaries of 'Montgo National Park' so development is at least controlled.There is a large garden with mature pines,and surrounding farmland includes orange/almond plantations as well as lots of semi-abandoned areas(waiting for development,me thinks sadly!).
I have stayed many times,know the area well ,but hadn't been iin the smack bang middle of summer so was expecting the doldrums in terms of birds.Turned out I was partly right ,partly wrong!
So ,here goes;
26/7/09
The trip N only produced a few Yellow Legged Gulls as we rounded Benidorm.At the villa ,whilst trying to sort out a 2 and 6 year old/unpack etc,still managed to add Goldfinch(2) ,House Sparrow(3) ,Spotted Flycatcher(4) ,Collared Dove(5) and Sardinian Warbler(6+A).
Spent around villa and local areas acclimatizing(40 degs +!).Added Spotless Starling(7 +A) ,Raven (8) ,Swift (9) Swallow ,(10), House Martin (11) Hoopoe(12) Serin (13) White wagtail (14) Woodchat Shrike (15)Long Tailed Tit (16) 2lovely Turtle Doves (17) and the resident Little Owl (18 +A).
This was my first proper days birding.I was meeting Jules Sykes ,excellant birder ,superb tour leader and friend(Jules may contest this!).He is based a few miles north at Oliva ,runs 'Olivarama 'tours and if anyone is visiting this area...book him,he will find all the specialities and more.info@olivaramatours.com
Jules was pressed for time ,about to lead trips to Bay of Biscay and then onto Bulgaria(lucky s*d) so we quickly headed to observation tower in this lovely ,small but productive wetland.We added Cattle Egret(19) ,Little Egret(20),Night Heron(21),a squadron or two of Squacco Heron(22)Purple Heron(23+A),Grey Heron,(24)Moorhen(25),Marsh Harrier(26+A),Woodpigeon(27)Little Bittern(28) Spotless Starling ,Collared Dove,Turtle Dove,Black Winged Stilt(29),Little Ringed Plover(30)6 Curlew Sandpiper(31)Green Sandpiper(32),White wagtail,Yellow Wagtail(33),Swallow,House Martin,Red Rumped Swallow(34),BH Gull(35),Whiskered Tern(36)Sardinian Warbler,a single Melodious Warbler(37),Greenfinch(38),Great Reed warbler(39),Reed Warbler(40)Hoopoe,Bee eater(41)Serin, ,Fan Tailed Warbler(42), and finally Kingfisher(43).
Jules final act of friendship was to give me some detailed maps that would prove invaluable later in my trip.Thanks ,Jules,hit all targets except Scops Owl.A trip for this bird ,going out at midnight to a town centre,I can assure everyone would have led to divorce papers being served!
Best bird was probably a single Great White Heron(44).
Other interesting sites were the large butterflies,not in my field guide.Can anyone ID?Also a maamal,stoat like ran across a road but was too far away (and driving) to ID.A large part of the marsh is rice growing paddy fiels.Unfortunately ,the farmers started to run off the water on my last visit ,so there were few areas of open water/mud.The site is good for Savis & Moustached Warblers ,but I failed to connect on this trip.