Portugal 22nd July – 5th August 2008 at San Pedro de Moel
Family holiday at camp site in pines at San Pedro de Moel. This was not a birding holiday but I have written this report as I could find very little about this area before I went. (I’d strongly recommend this area for a family holiday but I did see fewer birds (both numbers and variety) than I normally do on our annual holiday.
Notable sightings for me were flocks of 7 and then 63 Kentish Plovers just north of San Pedro; Booted Eagles and Bee-eaters at the Tomar World Heritage Site; my first Greater Flamingoes and a Purple Heron at Figueira da Foz
Birds pretty scarce in forest, the following seen within 10 kms of the town:
White Wagtail House Sparrow Swallow Chaffinch
Greenfinch House Martin Swift Black Redstart
Jay (1) Collared Dove Feral Pigeon Black-headed Gull
Blackbird Crested Tit Nuthatch Serin
Coal Tit Sparrowhawk Great Tit Yellow-legged Gull
Buzzard (2) Blackcap Magpie (1) Wood Pigeon
Goldfinch Grey Heron Stonechat Long-tailed Tit
Sandwich Tern (2) Sand Martin (1) GBBGull LBBGull
Kentish Plover (70) Treecreeper sp (1)
Also 2+ Booted Eagles and 15+ Bee-eaters at Tomar; breeding Crag Martins at Alcobaca; 30+ Cattle Egrets, Sardinian Warbler & Oystercatcher at San Martinho do Porto
Rotas das Salinas, Figueira da Foz
The only appearance of my scope all holiday was for a 2 hour walk around these salt pans.
Black Kite (1) Kentish Plover (1) Common Sandpiper (20+) Swallow
Little Egret (c10) Purple Heron (1 imm) Grey Heron (1) Serin
White Wagtail Yellow Wagtail Black-winged Stilt (40+) Stonechat House Sparrow GBBGull LBBGull Sand Martin
Yellow L Gull Whimbrel Zitting Cisticola
Black-headed Gull Flamingo (53) Starling sp
Ian Pritchard
Thanks Ian,
It's good to hear about parts of Portugal other than the Algarve, there must be many, many areas excellent for birding if only we knew where they were.
Regards
John
Hello,
Yes, Portugal has a lot of other magnificent places for birding, particularly in the North, that is less touristic than Algarve: National Park of Peneda-Gerês, Natural Park of Montesinho, Natural Park of Douro Internacional, Natural Park of Alvão, Tâmega valley, Larouco mountain.
All of these areas are placed in a region called Trás-os-Montes (meaning Behind the Mountains).
For some information about it: www.rt-atb.pt, www.rotasdaterra.com, www.spea.pt
Regards,
Marco