A very early breakfast was taken at 6:30am!! We set off for Gibraltar at 7am and arrived at 8am. We drove immediately round to the east side to scan the slopes for Barbary Partridge, no luck! Round at Europa Point we stood on the new promenade and scanned the Strait for shearwaters. It was amazing, the sea was like a mill pond, it was a little misty but we could see for miles.
A huge pod of Dolphins (white sided and bottle nosed) was feeding just off the point. There must have been well over 100 animals it was incredible to watch. Many of the dolphins were circling and closing in on shoals of fish and just as many shearwaters were following them. We had great views of Cory's and Balearic Shearwaters, Northern Gannet and lots of Yellow-legged Gulls. It was hard to drag ourselves away - but we did.
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| Monarch taken by Mike today |
The next 3 hours was spent on the Upper Rock - we were true tourists as we visited the Caves, the Tunnels and all the souvenir shops. We did see Sardinian Warbler, Pallid Swift, Peregrine Falcon and a Two-tailed Pasha.
We left the Rock at 1pm and headed to some pine woods just beyond San Roque and under an umbrella pine we ate our lunch. A short walk produced: Chaffinch, Short-toed Treecreeper and Blue Tit. Butterflies seen were; Southern Brown Argus and Small Copper. At a small reservoir nearby we found Kingfisher, cattle Egret and Mallard.
Lastly we stopped at a bridge near Castellar where I have seen Monarch Butterflies in the past, we were not disappointed as a couple of individuals were found within minutes of arriving. We also watched numerous birds coming to drink in the stream, Blue Tit, Sardinian Warbler, Garden Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Jay and a superb Crested Tit were all listed.
The temperature reached a staggering 42C today and it took its toll on us, we set off for home at 4pm and hour or so earlier than usual to crash out in the shade at home.
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