Donana and Algarve 13th -27th November 2007 Part 1.
November again, time for another trip to the Algarve in Portugal, fast becoming my favourite area for some winter birding and photography. This time I also wanted to include a few days around the Donańa area of Spain to broaden the species of birds likely to be seen.
I finally settled on 4 nights in Hinojos, Spain, a good centre for easy access to the best birding spots in the area e.g. El Rocio, Corredor Verde, Isla Mayor rice fields and the Northern Marshes, 5 nights at Bayside Apartments, Salgados a few kms west of Albufeira - Pera Marsh on the doorstep and a shorter drive to Quinta da Rocha and Cabo de Sao Vicente with the last 5 nights at the Parque Mourabel Hotel, Vilamoura – handy for Quinta do Lago, Tavira, the Parque Natural de Ria Formosa at Olhao and the quickest route to the Alentejo.
As it worked out I found this an excellent way to cover the areas I wanted to visit and certainly cut down on the driving, especially with petrol at £1/litre in Portugal (70pence in Spain).
All three places I stayed were excellent value for money, all were kept very clean, beds made daily etc. Bayside and Parque Mourabel Hotel had the advantage of being self catering with a restaurant on site if needed. All were booked via the internet with no problems.
Having sorted out where to stay I booked a cheap flight from Bristol to Faro with Easyjet, a hire-car from Carjet Iberia and was ready to go.
Flying out from Bristol at 8am on the 13th to land at Faro at 10.30am gave the rest of the day for birding, the weather was warm and sunny, to good to waste driving into Spain, so I stopped off at Castro Marim Nature Reserve on the Spanish border and spent until dusk (5.30pm) here, mind you as soon as I crossed the border into Spain the time became 6.30pm crazy isn’t it!
Although there didn’t seem to be the amount of water in the pools and some of the better saltpans had been drained in preparation for refilling for another cycle there were still plenty of birds present even if wader numbers seemed lower than last year. A couple of hours around the reserve and the saltpans opposite the town gave a good start to the holiday with:-
3 Caspian Terns, Sandwich Terns, Black-headed, Mediterranean, Lesser Black-back and Yellow- legged Gulls, Little and Cattle Egrets, White Stork, Grey Herons, Cormorants, Shoveler, Mallard, Teal, 3 Marsh Harriers, Kestrels, an Osprey albeit on the Spanish side of the river, Little Owl, Dunlin, Little Stint, Ringed, Kentish and Grey Plovers, Redshank, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Black-winged Stilts, Lapwings, Crested Larks, Skylarks, Black Redstarts, Stonechats, Corn and Reed Buntings, Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, Sardinian and Fan-tailed Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Southern Grey Shrikes, Black-billed Magpie and a single Swallow.
The salt-works track on the opposite side of Castro Marim held 60+ Flamingos, Shoveler, Pintail, Little Grebes, Black-tailed Godwits and Black-winged Stilts in the saltpans, Snipe, Redshank, 3 Hoopoes, House, Tree and Spanish Sparrows, Yellow Wagtail, more of the same larks, pipits, wagtails, warblers and Black Redstarts, with a flock of about 200 Mediterranean Gulls suddenly appearing overhead from somewhere.
The light was beginning to go now so it was time to head into Spain, an hour later and I was in Hinojos looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully Black-shouldered Kites.
Wed. 14th Nov – The Corredor Verde area, Dehesa de Abajo and surrounding rice fields was the agenda for today.
Along the first part of the track, as far as the Laguna de Mancho Zurillo passerines seemed everywhere, several flocks of mixed Goldfinch’s and Serins, Meadow Pipits, White Wagtails, House and Tree Sparrows, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Stonechats, Black Redstarts, Corn Buntings, Sardinian and Fan-tailed Warblers, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Robins, Hoopoes, Great Spotted and Iberian Green Woodpecker, Crested Larks, Woodlark and Skylarks, Spotless Starlings, Southern Grey Shrikes, 7 Waxbills, Red-legged Partridge and good numbers of Azure-winged Magpies.
The laguna itself was quiet with only a few Coot, Grey Herons and a Little Owl sitting on one of the dead trees. Ravens croaked overhead and raptors were represented with Buzzards, Kestrels, Red Kites, Marsh Harrier and the one I really came to see, Black-shouldered Kite, this one was a juvenile bird, presumably one of the local pair’s young and put on a good show being in the air hunting for quite some time and sitting on top of small trees, excellent bird.
After some time I carried on down the track to where I spent hours watching a breeding pair of Black-shouldered Kites in Feb.06, it didn’t take long to find them sitting in a favourite tree together. Before long the male was off hunting and soon returned with a small mammal which he gave to the female, this happened a couple of times over the next hour so their breeding cycle has started already. Delighted to see they were still here and obviously doing well I headed further down the track to the Night Heron roost, the vegetation has grown a lot since my last visit making it difficult to count how many were present but certainly well over 100.
Coming out onto the Isla Mayor road I turned left after 3 or 4kms, crossed the Entremuros and parked to look down at the reedbeds and rice fields.The reedbed area was short of water this year and only a handful of Purple Gallinules were seen instead of the usual dozens, several Marsh Harriers quartered the area and a few Reed Buntings and Waxbills were all I could find. Turning around to view the rice fields most had already been harvested so no masses of feeding birds to be seen, however Black Storks were certainly present, I counted 52 on a scan along with White Storks, hundreds of gulls, Little and Cattle Egrets, Lapwings, Snipe, Green Sandpiper, a flock of Spanish Sparrows and the usual Sardinian and Fan-tailed Warblers.
Leaving here a short drive along the road brought me to the Canada de Rianzuela. What a difference, lots of water and full of birds, pink of Flamingos, black and white of Stilts and Avocets in their masses, white of egrets and Spoonbills etc. with a dozen or so Cattle Egrets on the bank by the sluice gate. I decided to visit a couple of places further along the road and come back to here for the last couple of hours of daylight. It wasn’t long before I returned however, the pools I wanted to see were more or less dry with very few birds on them.
A rough count of what was before me gave 2000 Flamingos, 2000 Black-winged Stilts, 1000+ avocets, 100+ Spoonbills, hundreds of Cormorants, there was no way of counting the duck present but were in 1000’s rather than 100’s, mainly Shoveler, dozens of Grey Herons and Little Egrets, 200 Glossy Ibis, 3 Great White Egrets, Green and Common Sandpipers, Snipe, Great Crested and Little Grebes, Spanish Sparrows, Kingfisher, Jackdaws – the only colony in the area, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, Buzzard and as dusk was falling 3 Night Herons and a Squacco Heron appeared out of the tamarisks alongside the road. What a spectacle all this made, it’s sights like this that keep drawing people back to Spain.
Final treat of the day was driving back between the Entremuros and the Corredor Verde turn, huge numbers of Cattle and Little Egrets were coming in to roost in the tamarisks alongside the road making the trees almost invisible by their numbers.
Donana and Algarve Nov.07 Part 2.
Thurs. 15th Nov. – Today was a round trip along the Jose Valverde track and back via the Casa de Bombas. Up early for this and got to the track at first light. Things were looking a bit dry on the marismas side and the water in the channel on the other side of the road looked polluted so this could be a mixed bag today.
Larks were certainly evident and it wasn’t long before Crested, Skylark and Calandra were seen with some good sized flocks of the Calandras. Marsh and Hen Harriers were out on patrol as were several Kestrels from the Bombas colony and a Black-shouldered Kite. Grey Herons and Little Egrets were the only birds to be seen in the channel. I stopped for what I assumed to be a Kestrel sitting on the bank of the channel 30-40 yards away to find it was a ringtail Hen Harrier sitting in the sun preening itself, what a photo opportunity, as slowly as I could I got the scope on it, focused carefully, and this bloody van came zooming along the track rattling and banging and put it up, I couldn’t believe it I’m out in the middle of nowhere and it comes along at that very moment, I can’t repeat the things I called the driver. However my luck was still in, it flew about 100 yards down the track and settled on the bank again, this time everything went OK and I got a few nice shots, phew, this will give me a heart attack one day.
Carrying on to reach the Casa de Bombas I found a Griffon Vulture just standing in the middle of the track, well you couldn’t very well miss it! As I drove closer it spread it’s wings fully at me but didn’t fly, magnificent bird.
My plans changed 100 yards further along the track due to several huge pot-holes eighteen inches deep strung across the track, so reversing back to the Bombas I took this track instead, the griffon was nowhere to be seen now. It worked to my advantage as I found out later as there was hardly any water along the marismas side of the Valverde track and very few birds to be seen.
The Bombas track is in pretty good condition so didn’t require one eye on the road and one birding most of the time. More Marsh (about 20 during the day) and Hen Harriers were seen along with Buzzards, Red Kites a Booted Eagle and 3 more Griffon Vultures. Larks seemed exceptionally numerous and widespread seeing good numbers of Crested, Skylarks, Calandra and Lesser Short-toed Larks. Great White Egret, Black Stork, White Storks, Spoonbills, Little and Cattle Egrets, Grey Herons, huge numbers of Greylags were seen in flight and about 200 Common Cranes in a field close to the track plus larger numbers away in the distance. Ravens, 2 Yellow-legged Gulls, Spotless Starlings, Black Redstarts, Fan-tailed Warblers, Lapwings, Snipe, Green Sandpipers and a Spotted Redshank were seen before reaching the Valverde Centre. Here birds really tailed off, due to lack of water presumably, a drive back to Bombas along the Valverde track confirmed this, most of it was dry with no duck or waders seen at all.
With great hesitation I did manage to negotiate the huge pot-holes successfully, and there were several others apart from the first ones I saw, but I would recommend anyone going in the near future to avoid this track unless you’ve got a 4 wheel drive, I was lucky, it was dry.
There were still a few hours of daylight left so drove down to El Rocio. Plenty of water here and plenty of birds, especially duck, huge numbers of Shoveler with Pintail, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard and Pochard with them, Greylags,100+ Flamingos, 30+ Spoonbills, 50+ Glossy Ibis, Little and Cattle Egrets, Purple Gallinule, 100’s Coot, Moorhens, 2 Squacco Herons, Grey Herons, Red Kites, Marsh Harriers, Wood Pigeons and Jays. I reckoned it was worth a morning’s birding so decided to have a look in at La Rocina and come back here tomorrow.
Plenty of water in La Rocina but very few birds to be seen, only a handful of Shoveler, Mallard and Little Grebes on the water, a Water Rail was heard as were several Cetti’s Warblers. Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Song Thrush, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Wren, Sardinian and Dartford Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Goldcrest, Black Redstart, Azure-winged Magpies, Short-toed Treecreeper and a Marsh Harrier finished the day – well not quite, on driving back to Hinojos a Black-shouldered Kite flew over the road about 1km or so past the Villamanrique turning, a nice finish to a good day.
Fri.16th Nov. – I managed to arrive at El Rocio about 8am to get in a full days birding on my last day in Spain. As I was arriving large numbers of Cattle Egrets were leaving, presumably having roosted here overnight. The Flamingos, Spoonbills, etc were still here, Glossy Ibis numbers had risen to over 100, ducks were everywhere, Purple Gallinule, Water Rail, Coot in huge numbers, Moorhens, Great Crested and Little Grebes, not many waders seen though, a few Snipe, c.50 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Black-winged Stilts and 4 Spotted Redshank. The 2 Squacco Herons put in a brief appearance as did a Great White Egret. Water Pipit, Cetti’s and Fan-tailed Warblers, Black Redstarts, Spotless Starlings, Serin, Azure-winged Magpies and Kingfisher were added to the list. Scanning the trees on the opposite side of the lake revealed 3 Black-shouldered Kites.
Two Swedish birders, a father and son, joined me on the promenade and during 2 hours watching the area to the east of the lake we had 2 Spanish Imperial Eagles, an adult and an immature, a Spotted Eagle, identified with great certainty by the Swedish birders, I only knew it wasn’t an eagle I had seen before, Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle, several Red Kites, Buzzards, Kestrels, Marsh Harriers and 30 Griffon Vultures. Birding doesn’t get much better than this.
To finish off the day I went back to the Corredor Verde for another look at the Black-shouldered Kites, the juvenile was showing well again as were the adult pair and were a lot closer today thanks to a Buzzard sitting in their favourite tree. The male was hunting regularly and giving most of his kills to the female so it won’t be long before mating and nest building takes place. Eventually I had to head back to Hinojos to pack etc as I wanted to leave early in the morning for Portugal so said my farewells to the Kites and this excellent area of Spain.
Great start John.
You have waved the match sized flame with a king sized bedspread to make it a bonfire! Really eager to get going now!
Wot, no Little Bustards at Castro Marim?