5, 6 & 7 September : all at sea

I thought that the title might make for some comments but I really was at sea, this time off Bilbao at the bottom end of the Bay of Biscay, sailing out of Santurtzi (which is on the west bank end of the river from Bilbao. The trips are organised by my old friend Gorka Ocio, see www.verballenas.com and the boat is limited to 10 pax plus the skipper, Roberto, at weekends his wife Rosa, and Gorka. I flew down from Málaga Thursday morning, then out the following three days from 07.30 through to around 17.30, then home on Monday. We went out in a generally NE direction as far as the big, deep (like one which is about 2.500m deep!) canyons which should give upwelling and the big whales, dolphins and, which was my raison d'être for going, seabirds!! (Bet that surprised you!).
As for the photos, the ones of cetaceans which are copyrighted and not for any other use are those of Gorka, who knows his cetaceans, and the seabirds are mine. So, here goes.  

First the cetaceans. Much to my regret we did not get amongst the really big whales, the biggest and also the most common was the Cuvier's Beaked Whale, of which we saw plenty, including the one that jumped (above) and which was about 7m long  and made a hell of splash visible at kms range, as well as an extremely old male (they turn white with age, some of us know how they will feel) and this poor old chap which virtually scraped the paint off the boat and had lost his two protruding front teeth (some of us will also know about that too).

Bottle-nosed Dolphins

 Below: 3 photos of Striped Dolphins, the last from the bow

Sunfish jumping (in Spanish they are pez luna, or moon fish)

I was more interested in the seabirds but at the south eastern end of the Bay of Biscay much depends upon the prevailing wind direction, and wasn't doing much prevailing. However, we saw a single juvenile Long-tailed Skua each day - the two photos are of the bird seen on the first morning, the bird on the last day being a dark phase which had me spooked for a few seconds. On the other hand, we saw only one Arctic Skua.

European Storm-petrels

We saw very few terns, one or two Sandwich Terns at the mouth of the river and a single Common Tern out at sea. A juv. Sabine's Gull which flew over us on the last morning was nice to see but it could have stayed around and given us really good views. Neither were Gannets very common, although we saw them each day it was only on the last day that we saw an adult, the rest being this year's juveniles and a bird moulting to plumage 2. Most of the European Storm-petrels we saw were quite distant and simply buzzing back and forth.We saw a few Sooty Shearwaters, none of which hung around for long, but their cousins the very attractive Great Shearwater, now making their vway back down to Tristan da Cunha, did hang around and one or two offered some very good views, one of which was fascinated by the boat and didn't move.

Great Shearwater

I was rather caught out by the amount of non-seabird migration we saw, although I remember reading about it several decades since. Passerines migrate across the southern part of the Bay of Biscay, sort of cutting the corner between the jumping off point which, if the memory serves, is somewhere around Bordeaux and then hoping to make it across to Euskadi-Cantabria-Asturias, but so much depends upon the weather and the condition of the bird. Seems to me that evolution has messed things up a bit there because it can be a deadly decision as head winds can and do play havoc and the number of deaths at sea is incalcuable.
We saw Chiffchaff (which probably wouldn't have made it as it still had 30 nautical miles to go) and other warblers, including a Melodious (it could have been an Icterine but very unlikely). Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, a few Northern Wheatears (they looked strong), a few Sand Martins and a rather weakly House Martin, although the last migrants we saw were a small flock of 7 Dunlins which shot past the boat like formula one cars (obviously not Ferraris).
And yes, thank you, I did enjoy it.
NOTE: No blogs for a month as I shall be out of action.

03 September : Sierra de María

As Dave so rightly says, feels like school is back. However, I am posting this at 04.30 on Thursday morning as I'm flying up to Bilbao at 7 and then having 3 days at sea, so forgive any faults as my brain isn't supposed to be awake at this time of day at my age (or at any other, but those days are long gone!) and the coffee hasn't yet penetrated the neaarly impenetrable depths. So, herewith the new season from Dave, Gilly and the Arboleas Group.
 It felt like the first day back at school as Gilly and I headed up to meet the gang at the Sierra de Maria after a planned break for summer. Arboleas, where we live, has not, apart from some insignificant showers, had any real rain since Christmas Day! Yes, it's still oppressively hot here, hence our cooler destination today. We all met up at the Maria garage cafe for a pre-birding coffee. A good turn out. 19 of us as House Martins flew above and below the garage canopy. We drove up towards the chapel, stopping briefly to observe our first Spotted Flycatcher of the day. 
After parking, a scan of the mountain ridge revealed at least six sitting Griffon Vultures. Between them and us was a constant swirl of hirundines, mostly Red-rumped Swallows, but a few Barn Swallows and a Sand Martin. We wandered round to the water trough. It was alive with birds. Both Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Subalpine Warbler, Chiffchaff, Rock Bunting, Black Redstart, Serin and Great Tit. The star though was an obliging Western Orphean Warbler which stayed visible for everyone to see. A Goldfinch and Hawfinch were also seen. We trudged up to the Botanical Gardens. It was still 25ºC so a chilled water in the Information Centre was very welcome. Numerous birds were attracted to the small pools. Great and Coal Tits, Rock Bunting, Chaffinch and Crossbill. Overhead Bee-eaters could be more heard than seen. Up to 25 Griffon Vultures could be seen flying over the mountain ridge. Some of the group stayed round the garden as we others did the lower walk. I think we only added a Jay to the list whilst the garden stayers were treated to a continual feed of thirsty birds.
We then convoyed down towards the plain apart from Brian and Mary who lived the closest and knew what a bird free area it was. We saw a Carrion Crow near the farm buildings, some Rock Sparrows by the water deposit, a passing Hoopoe and on the plain itself two Northern Wheatears and a Crested Lark! So it was back to the La Piza forest cafe to join Brian and Mary for lunch. Here a small man-made shallow pool near the picnic tables had Crossbill, Chaffinch, Great Tit , Coal Tit, Crested Tit and Long-tailed Tit all visiting. Also seen were Green Woodpecker, Melodious Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Short-toed Treecreeper. And to top it off we saw a Short-toed Eagle on our way back to Maria. It was a great days birding in great company. 39 species in total.

16 August : Guadalhorce

I know that I have said it before but it really does bear repetition. Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun ..... and yesterday (16 August) I was so brassed off with no birding and too much time thinking and looking at this screen that I did. I grabbed the nearest pair of binoculars and at about 15.45 set off for the Guadalhorce, heat, sweat, toil and tears and all. And, like a fool, forgot to take any water, refused to hump around a scope and camera with me. A nice, gentel trudge around would, I thought, do me good. It did, except that I got slightly dehydrated but that was remedied when I got home some three hours later.
So what did I see? Well, basically I went to look for waders but even vefore getting in came across the most superbly patterned chameleon, a really big chap about 12 cms long who was trying to imitate the pattern of the wire fence to which he was clinging. Damn, no camera!
A nice steady pace of not more than 1.5km/h was ideal and even then it started to get rather hot. The first decent bird was a female Northern Wheatear which showed very nicely. Nothing at the laguna de la Casilla going down the eastern track and at the wader pool (second hide) 4 Redshanks - there were at least 6 in the whole area, and singles of Curlew Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and Dunlin, not counting the omnipresent you-know.what hystericals. Further down in the río Viejo area it was solid with gulls, there being at least 200 (and probably a lot more) of Audouin's in all plumages ranging from juvenile through to adult. An object lesson for gull watchers. Then add all the Yellow-legged, some Lesser Black-backs and Black-headeds, and there must have been quite easily well over 500 present. I looked but between only binoculrs and heat haze couldn't find anything else.
I didn't fancy walking along the beach so walked gently back, the Northern Wheatear was still there so I shuffled round to the laguna Escondida where there was an awful lot of nothing. The laguna Grande was rather better with 2 Grey Herons and a few more waders, including a Whimbrel which was fast asleep and never stirred, a single Oystercatcher left over from the group that was there earlier in the week, 2 more Curlew Sandpipers and another Dunlin, making a total of 3 for the afternoon. Finally, after hearing at least 2 distant Greenshanks calling on and off they decided to take off and  flew off  in the general direction of Gibraltar.
By now I had a headache, a first symptom of dehydration, and cursed myself for coming without water so it was time for home. A very pleasant afternoon, in spite of the heat, and with some birds at least.
P.S: Dave and Gilly E-B went down to the Strait whale watching on Thursday and saw some 14 Orcas. Aaagh - it is possible to go off people.

06 August : at sea in the Strait of Gibraltar

At last, a new entry you may rightly say. In excuse, I must give family problems as one major part, another the fact that we are in the hot season (although I really should get out and see some wader passage now) and I am very busy drawing and writing for a book which will be handed in about 10 months late if I can maintain the present rate of progress.
However, I should also add that there aren't going to be too many blogs between now and mid October at the earliest as for reasons totally beyond my control I had to reschedule the cataract surgery on both which was going to be in early July and will now be in the second part of September, so bang goes another month out, which is why I'm bashing on with the writing and dzrawing (which I actually finished last night). On the plus side, I should be able to see a hell of a lot better after it!
Last Wednesday we went down to Tarifa for a 3 hour trip out with Turmares to try and see some cetaceans, especially the Orcas or Killer Whales which have been seen intermittently. In that we were unlucky, in fact neither did we see Sperm or any other whales, but we did get in amongst a big pod of some 200 (guesstimate) Striped Dolphins, many with small youngBottle-nosed and finally a few Pilot Whales (which are more closely related to dolphins).

In the bird line things were equally bad, if not downright poor. We saw at least 3 Black Kites crossing towards Tangiers, 4 or 5 Cory's Shearwaters but no Balearic Shearwaters, which rather surprised me; the odd Yellow-legged Gull crossing between continents and that was it. No masses of Black Kites, no huge spiralling flocks of White Storks, in fact, a lot of nothing. So you'll just have to make do with these photographs!

09 July : Las Norias

The second part of Dave's birding week....

On the way back from Motril the next morning Gilly and I dropped into Las Norias for my treat before being dragged round the Roquetas shopping mall! On the first causeway were were greeted by a noisy flight of Black-winged Stilt and a flyover by a Night Heron. A Great Reed Warbler was giving some from the reeds over to the right. We scanned but never saw it, but did see the Squacco Heron fishing nearby. We saw about half a dozen female Red-crested Pochard but no males. Also seen were Great Crested and Little Grebe, Coot, Yellow-legged Gull, Grey Heron and Cattle Egret. Land birds seen included Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Jackdaw, Turtle Dove and an obliging sitting Zitting Cisticola! 

Moving round to the "Old Heronry" Gilly decided that she'd stay near the truck as there were suspicious characters around  whilst I had a check on the bird life. I shouted to her to lock up and come over. On the rocky outcrop apart from a flock of terns there were about a dozen Collared Pratincoles, our firsts of the year! The terns were Little and Gull-billed, plus a Common when I checked the photos later!  Avocets and Black-headed Gulls completed the crowd. Also seen was a Kingfisher and Reed Warbler. 

We ended up at the second causeway. We added Woodchat Shrike and Magpie to the list. I managed to take a shot of a Night Heron from a different angle as it flew over.

We had 34 species, but boy was it hot and humid. The flies were a right pain, but luckily no mosquitoes.

08 July : Charca de Suárez (Motril),

Two missives in a row from Almería, published as separate entries, the first from Dave and Gilly who ventured in to enemy territory and teamed up with some of the Arboleas Group. Thanks for the condolences, Dave, I think you can be pretty certain that I won't be at the Bird Fair this year (or probably any other year in the future). I can go along with Red Underwing without any problem but shall leave the definitive word to Mick Richardson. By the way, what's this 'politeness' bit? Getting soft in the old age?

It may be hot and the Arboleas Birding Group's trips on temporary hold, but I was getting itchy feet stuck at home. I decided that Gilly and I would take a trip down to the Charca de Suarez bird reserve at Motril. 

I contacted Steve and Elena Powell and Bob and Jenny Wright out of politeness saying I was visiting their patch and they kindly agreed to meet us there. If you don't know this reserve I have to say it's a gem. It's only open at this time of the year, 18.00 - 20.00hrs each evening plus 09.00 - 12.00 at weekends. There has been a lot of work been done improving the site since I was last here.

Gilly and I arrived early at the gated entrance. 

We were blessed with an obliging Spotted Flycatcher to keep us company as we waited for the ranger to let us in. We were met by Steve and Elena. We first made our way to a new shallow lake. There we saw Black-winged Stilt, Yellow and White Wagtails, Little Egret and Ringed Plover. We were joined by Bob and Jenny, the latter still shell shocked after her recent car accident. We heard Reed Warbler and also saw Zitting Cisticola and Bee-eater. We carried on round towards one of the hides seeing Turtle Dove, Great Tit and Goldfinch on the way. 
We spent some time in this hide, which gave good views over a lake with some islands, on which were Cattle and Little Egret and Mallard. Bob identified a group of around 6 Ferruginous Duck down the far end and also a group of Audouin's Gull amongst the Black-headed ones. 

Also seen were Little and Black-necked Grebe. Gilly spotted a Little Bittern. At the next hide we added a solitary Red-knobbed Coot, then spent some time chatting about past and forthcoming trips. As time was getting on we hurried to the last hide. There we had good but distant views of Purple Swamphen and Night Heron. As we headed to the exit gate a large moth landed in the reeds by the path. The nearest ID we could find in the book was a Red Underwing. Perhaps one of you experts could confirm or deny it!

We ended up with 32 species. A really good time was had by all....the birds and the company!

I'm sure you'll all join me in offering our sincere condolences to Andy Paterson for the sad loss of his sister, Gay.

06 July : Guadalhorce

Now that the balmy summer days are with us and that by 10.00 it's boiling, Federico and I were in to the Guadalhorce at just gone 07.30 this last Sunday morning. We didn't expect too much but nevertheless built up a respectable list of some 41 spp. during the 2 hours 30 were were in there.

young Stilt finding life hard

Waders, leaving aside the Stilts and the rather few Little Ringed and Kentish Plovers (subjeactively much fewer of each than last year at this time), theare was only a single Common Sandpiper which those bullies the Stilts chivvied around. But while to my eyes there were much fewer young plovers than  in previous years, the Stilts appear to have held their own very satisfactorily and there were plenty of young, some of which found life rather tiring as the photo shows. The pair of Avocets that started with four young have now reduced these to two juveniles which are capable of flight, to which you can add the parents plus 4 more adults, a total of 8.
We saw both Common and Pallid Swifts and  although it's hard to be sure, I had the feeling there was quite strong westerly drift. There were a few Barn Swallows and even fewer Red-rumped, although there were plenty of House Martins around, mainly under the bridge.

(L-R) male Ferruginous Duck, male White-headed Duck, Coot (sex unknown)

There had been reports during the week of two Ferruginous Ducks but we only saw the one bird, the male, plus a small selection of others which included Gadwall, Mallard (including a female with 5 ducklings), Pochard and the usual White-headed Ducks. As ever, it was nice to see Little Bitterns, a total of 8 birds it was reckoned , including a very visible juv. fishing in the laguna de la Casilla and a nice male at the laguna Escondida. There was a single Grey Heron which flew off upstream
The most interesting passerines in what is now the quite time with breeding over and moult starting were 3 Yellow Wagtails (2 juvs.) and one or two Reed Warblers still churring away, although they too are losing their vitality, and a single Melodious Warbler flew across the path.
We walke ddown to the seawatch mirador and watched a short while, turning up some 5 or 6 Cory's Shearwaters, altghough technically these Mediterranean birds are now more or less officially known as Scopoli's Shearwater from a recent split which I fail to find totally convincing, these possibly from colony in the Chafarinas Islands, plus a couple of Balearic Shearwaters winging their way out to the Atlantic.
All in all, not a bad morning considering the time of year and heat.
PS:  I forgot to add that last week, evening uncertain as I failed to ask him, my son (and possible heir if I don't blow it all on birding trips) plus two friends of his cycled through the reserve one evening on their way to El Palo and back and on the way back saw the Barn Owl plus two nightjars (sp. unknown) with greenish eyes glowing in the lights of their cycles.