tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34603041576868872212024-02-18T18:05:24.830-08:00Wingspan NewsWINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.comBlogger910125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-51221661099479364982017-04-09T12:23:00.006-07:002017-04-09T12:24:26.267-07:00SPAIN, ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR (based in Gaucin) DAY 5<div itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
MARCHENILLA TRACK – PALMONES SALT MARSH – LAGUNA TORREGUADIARO – SAN ENRIQUE WOODS</div>
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WEATHER: Broken sunshine, strong easterly wind, top temp. 19C<br />
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The cold easterly wind continued today albeit a little weaker than yesterday, it still had a negative effect on our birding enjoyment and results!<br />
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We left Gaucin and drove down the Algeciras Road to San Pablo where we turned off towards San Martin, our first stop was some 4km along this road where a colony of European Bee-eaters has been established in a pig-sty. What a contrast, beauty and the beast springs to mind! We saw plenty of pigs and many Bee-eaters. Twenty eight colourful Bee-eaters sat along a wire fence in the morning sun another 80+ birds flew out of a nearby Eucalyptus trees. Noise colour, movement – a lovely experience to start our birding day.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/c2f28a515360efe570417b22e9cb5b0cb0d2996a/beaters.content.jpg" style="height: 470px; width: 600px;" /><br />
European Bee-eaters on the fence of the pig compound<br />
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Further along the road we turned off to visit the river Guadiaro, we hoped for a sighting of Western Olivaceous Warbler, we heard Cetti’s Warbler, Common Nightingale, Blackcap and Greenfinches but I don’t think the Olivaceous Warblers are back on their breeding grounds just yet.<br />
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Along the Marchenilla Track we saw very little migration movement except for groups of Bee-eaters. The wind kept a lot of the smaller birds down in the scrub and bushes. We saw lots of Corn Buntings, Greenfinches, Sardinian Warblers, Goldfinches, Serins, Linnets, House Sparrows and Griffon Vultures.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/bbde4a44837d4deb7be1a40902dca30634d70329/corn.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Corn Bunting - don't I just love this species?<br />
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I watched a Melodious Warbler when I returned to fetch the car whilst Mike found an Egyptian Vulture during the same time period. A couple of Tawny Pipits, several Crested Larks, Stonechats, a Black-eared Wheatear, Woodchat Shrike, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel and a White Stork made up the rest of our sightings.<br />
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At Palmones Salt Marsh we were again disappointed, I have never seen so few species there! Singles of Grey Plover, Greenshank and Kentish Plover was the grand total of waders, a Sandwich Tern, 3 Eurasian Spoonbills, 4 Grey Herons and a dozen or so of Yellow Wagtails (<em>Iberiae</em>) was the sum total of our findings.<br />
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The Laguna at Torreguadiaro was equally as bad, 6 Common Moorhens and 2 Little Grebes was a poor tally, so we went round to the woods at San Enrique where we ate our lunch. A short walk produced our best bird of the day when we tracked down a Wryneck. This bird eventually showed very well and apart from Blue Tit, Serin and Blackcap we saw very little else.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/b7e7e5ef846f86030d7ff847a7999d4b6215bd13/wryneck.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Wryneck<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/7485149417f67e8e1c63b955cb1e51126388a047/wryneck_1.content.jpg" style="height: 478px; width: 600px;" /><br />
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From the track leading to the woods we watched Bee-eaters, Spotless Starlings and a Booted Eagle drifted over us. From there we drove through San Martin heading towards San Pablo making one stop to watch a Little Owl.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/19178d4e5d3e3b86eb0ccfede6a261c63a65be16/beater.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
allegedly the most colourful bird in the world with 16 different colours - European Bee-eater<br />
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After a short second visit to the Marchenilla Track to try to relocate the Melodious Warbler, without success we drove back towards Gaucin via a series of dusty dirt tracks. We had hoped for Turtle Dove sightings or even Golden Oriole, perhaps a Cuckoo, but alas none of the above appeared.<br />
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We finished early, a short day, however the next two days are going to be much longer so a rest now will help!<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-2059882952269606292017-04-08T20:19:00.004-07:002017-04-08T20:21:28.961-07:00SPAIN, ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR (based in Gaucin) DAY 4<div class="article-blurb">
ENCINAS BORRACHAS TRACK NEAR RONDA – SIERRA DE LAS NIEVES NATURAL PARQUE – RONDA</div>
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WEATHER: sunshine all day with a gusting, bitter cold wind for most of the day. Top temp 19C felt like 5C at times.<br />
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We arrived at the Encinas Borrachas track not long after 8:30am, a cold gusting wind greeted us as we left the car. Not surprisingly very birds were on show, we saw distant Northern and Black-eared Wheatears, also Linnets and Goldfinches, a single Rock Bunting sat in a bush, but nothing else showed.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/121993a071aa176a59eefd997284282b85c8779e/encinas.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
The start of the Encinas Borrachas (drunken oaks) track - you can see how exposed we were to the cold wind<br />
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Our walk across the heathland produced nothing at all but we found shelter from the wind over the brow of a hill where a few birds began to appear. We heard an Iberian Shrike singing, it flew off just as we located it, a distant Common Cuckoo also called.<br />
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The wind reduced somewhat with longer, calm gaps between the gusts, during these calm periods it was quite warm and birding became enjoyable once again. We tracked down an Orphean Warbler as it sang in the cork oaks, the same happened with Subalpine Warbler.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/1e08c52ccfea2c304131d3920ec3046dbf04f5b7/mike.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Mike - full of enthusiasm, waiting for the Orphean Warbler to show<br />
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Mike got onto two Ring Ouzels, I saw them in flight and agreed with their identification. Distant Black Wheatears sat on the mountain tops whilst several Griffon Vultures drifted over.<br />
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Our return walk was much more rewarding, mainly due to the reduced wind gusts. We managed to find Spectacled Warblers, Dartford Warblers (one male without a tail) and a couple of Thekla Larks. Mike found a Woodchat Shrike as we neared the car.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/b564fd4ae39c2b209229f9d12adce599350925f7/dartford.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Dartford Warbler, a tail-less male!<br />
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Our next port of call was a roadside restaurant where we enjoyed a nice coffee break, from there we drove into the Sierra de las Nieves natural parque. Again it was very quiet with very few migrant species to see. We found Cirl Bunting, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Subalpine Warbler and a Mistle Thrush. It was colder there and still windy, we drove deeper into the reserve but never ventured out of the car very much. One stop produced Wren and Coal Tit but not much more.<br />
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At 2pm we drove into the centre of Ronda and became ‘tourists’ for a couple of hours. During our walk around the famous Ronda Bridge and gorge we logged Red-billed Chough, Blue Rock Thrush, Crag Martin, a few Serins and a thousand people of innumerable different nationalities. <br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/43b1444dd33a8b46cb3aefa99eed17f246c08a3a/view.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
view from the famous Ronda Bridge<br />
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Our return journey to Gaucin included a second stop at the Encinas Borrachas track hoping for a better view of Iberian Shrike, but we never found one. A couple of Short-toed Eagles were noted on the way back to Gaucin.<br />
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Today we logged only 10 new species, but I am sure that the weather played a big part in our misfortune.<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-55309502987567559292017-04-07T13:17:00.005-07:002017-04-07T13:17:29.966-07:00SPAIN,ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR (based in Gaucin) DAY 3WEATHER: Sunshine all day, very cold easterly wind, top temp 19C<br />
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It was bitter cold in the sweet chestnut wood even though we were sheltered from the brisk wind. Surprisingly there was quite a lot of bird activity in the bare branches of these ancient deciduous trees. We quickly found Blue Tit, Crested Tit, Eurasian Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Common Chaffinch.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/81fe41a02f3cb765bf99048e1dbd903be6c0fd16/nutter.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/81fe41a02f3cb765bf99048e1dbd903be6c0fd16/nutter.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Eurasian Nuthatch in the morning sunlight<br />
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We had to walk a few hundred meters into the cork oak woods in order to find our main target bird, it took quite a while before we heard one. The swirling, windy conditions made it difficult to locate our first Iberian Chiffchaff of the trip but when we did it showed very well. We also tried to track down a singing Coal Tit but failed to find it in the tall pines nearby.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/59416755b4c0bb64174a002a058cf05c8f53dded/chiffy_mike.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/59416755b4c0bb64174a002a058cf05c8f53dded/chiffy_mike.content.jpg" style="height: 491px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Iberian Ciffchaff taken by Mike Ream<br />
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On the return walk we found two Short-toed Treecreepers, another Great-spotted Woodpecker and a very obliging Firecrest. A nice sighting, albeit brief, was made of a Hobby, it dashed along above the trees and quickly out of sight.<br />
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By the time we got down to the Rio Guadiaro at Estacion Cortes the sun was higher and we warmed up, the wind was greatly reduced in this sheltered valley. We spent an hour or so walking beside the river noting: Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Common Nightingale, Greenfinch, Cirl Bunting, Woodchat Shrike, Stonechat, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Great Cormorant and White Wagtail.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/028c6b594712022427fc73f069ff945a16dc66ff/rio_guad.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/028c6b594712022427fc73f069ff945a16dc66ff/rio_guad.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
the Rio Guadiaro near Estacion de Cortes<br />
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Generally it was quiet, lots of House Martins, a few Red-rumped and Barn Swallows flew all around us and higher up we counted over 40 Griffon Vultures, two Short-toed Eagles and we heard distant Bee-eaters.<br />
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After a coffee stop in Cortes de la Frontera we made it to Montejaque and the Llanos de Libar by lunchtime, we ate our picnic in the sunshine sitting on some rocks. Spanish Festoon, Cleopatra and Clouded Yellow Butterflies were noted during lunch.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0607c3ba81b0026a12e9339e677ed9590cccf7f6/festoon.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0607c3ba81b0026a12e9339e677ed9590cccf7f6/festoon.content.jpg" style="height: 485px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Spanish Festoon butterfly<br />
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We walked up the track towards the Llanos de Libar scanning the mountain tops and steep rock faces looking for anything that moved. We found Rock Bunting, Blue Rock Thrush, Black Wheatear, Red-billed Chough, Crag Martins and dozens of Griffon Vultures. Lower down we were kept busy watching Sardinian Warbler, Stonechats, Eurasian Linnets, Goldfinches and more Black Wheatears. A male Ring Ouzel was a bonus find but unfortunately Mike didn’t get onto it before it disappeared behind some bushes.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/348cc92f316df0a273fe2ccefac97a3740f3c0af/llanos_track.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/348cc92f316df0a273fe2ccefac97a3740f3c0af/llanos_track.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
the track leading up to the Llanos de Libar<br />
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Driving further up the valley we entered the wide open valley (Llanos) which has some rocky scree and some cultivated fields. We added Mistle Thrush, Rock Sparrow (Petronia) but we failed to find Black-eared Wheatear. During the return journey we stopped to watch a superb male Black Redstart and we continued our search for other wheatears. Other butterfly sightings included; Large Tortoiseshell, Small Heath and a guy we met had just being tracking a Chapman's Green Hairstreak, a new species for me if only I had seen it!<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/b916c954a7396753ae3a8b50393ed1cd44b55320/linnet.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/b916c954a7396753ae3a8b50393ed1cd44b55320/linnet.content.jpg" /><br />
Eurasian Linnet<br />
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A short roadside stop near Montejaque was made to look for more Orchids, we found three species.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0fc10d41f5d1b9490ecdc83672b8acf433568a83/man.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0fc10d41f5d1b9490ecdc83672b8acf433568a83/man.content.jpg" style="height: 557px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Naked Man Orchid<br />
<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/77984ea6c81c938360ce3bab96ecd3d6fd20a934/lutea.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/77984ea6c81c938360ce3bab96ecd3d6fd20a934/lutea.content.jpg" /><br />
Yellow Orchid<br />
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Cueva de Gato (Cat’s Cave) near Benaojan is the best and most reliable place to find Alpine Swifts, we saw four as we emerged from the car in the car park. Our walk to the near-deserted beauty spot at the cave’s entrance was punctuated with stops to watch the swifts and martins. At the blue-pool below the cave we watched Grey Wagtail, Blackcap and not much else. Mike pointed out two large raptors circling behind us, wow! They were Bonelli’s Eagles, a great find, I’d been searching for those beauties all day.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/d862e408190e70d9666fd0f7de24a10db7f39bbb/8.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/d862e408190e70d9666fd0f7de24a10db7f39bbb/8.content.jpg" style="height: 488px; width: 600px;" /><br />
the Blue-pool below the entrance to the Cueva de Gato<br />
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We walked along the river hoping for sightings of Dipper without success, we did hear a distant Golden Oriole caliing but we dipped on the Dipper. It was now 5:15pm so we decided to call it a day, our drive back was speedy along empty roads, we arrived back in Gaucin at 6pm.<br />
Dinner was taken at 7:30pm followed by our bird log, we had now recorded 100 species (including 3 heard not seen), not a bad tally but certainly lacking in migrant species.<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-4839351211582525242017-04-06T13:20:00.000-07:002017-04-08T20:20:58.254-07:00SPAIN, ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR (based in Gaucin) DAY 2WEATHER: another day of sunshine but a brisk easterly wind kept the temp quite cool. Top temp 21C<br />
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At the Rio Genal things were much quieter than I expected, but the coast-road repair work was noisy and water extraction using large tractors towing water tanks was on-going near the bridge, maybe too much disruption?<br />
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Our walk lasted an hour during time which we heard only 4 species singing; Common Nightingale, Blackcap, Serin and Cetti’s Warbler. Actual sightings were minimal, Blue Tit, Serin, Long-tailed Tit, Grey Heron and above us we saw only Booted Eagle and Griffon Vulture, not a single Wagtail, no sight nor sound of Golden Oriole or Hawfinch.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/6742d1c05dd96e42b428109dac2ef1b4908a81b4/scene.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/6742d1c05dd96e42b428109dac2ef1b4908a81b4/scene.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
looking up to Gaucin's Castle (Castillo de Aguila) from the Rio Genal<br />
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By the time we reached the Guadiaro Valley track leading to Secadero the wind had picked up, it was quite blustery at times. We saw several parties of European Bee-eater, also Crested Larks, Blackcap, Sardinian Warbler, Little-ringed Plover, Great Cormorant and not much else. The sky began to fill with raptors but only with Booted Eagles and Griffon Vultures.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/ee76289dc431c616b7c51bc98bbd60f53cca2baa/beeters.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/ee76289dc431c616b7c51bc98bbd60f53cca2baa/beeters.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
European Bee-eaters<br />
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Further down the track we had one inspirational sighting in the form of a GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO, this bird was perched on the roadside fence but unfortunately it saw us before we ‘spotted’ it, the bird was off over the hill before we could say “camera”. Nevertheless it was a great sighting and my first of this species for this valley.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/131a1c49c6497e04f7fa54573aa407248e0785f2/lrp.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/131a1c49c6497e04f7fa54573aa407248e0785f2/lrp.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Little Ringed Plover<br />
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We continued, encouraged by our find, but things didn’t get much better! We added Corn Bunting, Common Stonechat, Greenfinches, Goldfinches and another stop at the river produced a Black Kite sighting and a Common Kingfisher.<br />
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After a coffee stop in Secadero we drove to San Enrique Woods where we sat in the car and ate our picnic lunch next to the sewerage works, how nice!<br />
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A quick scan of a ploughed field produced both House and Tree Sparrows, Spotless Starlings, Bee-eaters and Goldfinches. Walking in the windy woods we added Bonelli’s Warbler, Great-spotted Woodpecker and lots of Serins.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0fc97047537e53ebbd07b74eaf3bfa64f61d587b/woody.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0fc97047537e53ebbd07b74eaf3bfa64f61d587b/woody.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Great Spotted Woodpecker<br />
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Next we drove to the ‘umbrella’ pine-woods near San Roque, we first looked for Orchids along the main track, we found both Sombre and Sawfly Orchids. We also saw Small Copper, Spanish Festoon, Speckled Wood and Cleopatra Butterflies.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a9a6c0ac3ebf2075bf63f57cb0ddb34937a8c92d/orchis.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a9a6c0ac3ebf2075bf63f57cb0ddb34937a8c92d/orchis.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Sombre Orchid<br />
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Back to birding, we spent an hour or so searching the pine trees and areas of cork oak for new species. Our efforts were rewarded with good sightings of all four target species: Firecrest, Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper and Bonelli’s Warbler. Other species seen were Eurasian Jay, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Blackbird and Blackcap.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/3a67e8370fbbc995fec5acd65648a57455e056fc/jay.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/3a67e8370fbbc995fec5acd65648a57455e056fc/jay.content.jpg" style="height: 470px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Eurasian Jay<br />
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From the elevated roadside just north of San Roque we viewed many White Storks on their nests, it is incubation time right now in the 70+ nests in this area.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/90a2bdf5fc1cb482384e5639e0f1683ca312e0ba/stork.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/90a2bdf5fc1cb482384e5639e0f1683ca312e0ba/stork.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
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We also stopped near a railway bridge to look at a Lesser Kestrel colony, my fears of last year were abated somewhat with the encouraging sight of new ‘kestrel’ nesting boxes attached to the bridge walls. I feared last year that repair work on the bridge walls would discourage these delightful falcons from further breeding, we saw six individuals, one of which came down to a nesting hole with food, smashing!<br />
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Our last stop was just outside of Jimena de la Frontera where we walked along a dirt track looking for Tawny Pipits. We found Stonechats, Serins, Goldfinches and our first Short-toed Eagle but no pipits.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a6936d13d97f4327b7bb27904da6d3042c5766d3/stoner.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a6936d13d97f4327b7bb27904da6d3042c5766d3/stoner.content.jpg" style="height: 461px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Common Stonechat<br />
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This concluded our birding, it was a little disappointing, the lack of raptor passage and of migrants in general is a concern, perhaps the east wind is having a greater effect than I thought it would!<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-47902844935272395842017-04-05T12:26:00.002-07:002017-04-05T12:26:59.985-07:00SPAIN, ANDALUCIA 7-DAY TOUR (Based in Gaucin) DAY 1WEATHER: wall to wall sunshine, light breeze, top temp 23C<br />
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It was great to be back birding in Southern Spain for another exciting season. The weather was just beautiful and the birding as good as ever.<br />
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Today I collected Mike from Malaga Airport he is staying with us for a week, he arrived on time but his luggage was delayed some time. Once in the car we drove straight round to the local nature reserve at Guadalmar, called Desembocadura de Guadalhorce.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/9483b7bbc1086a02f16b2a18b84c3e9131365453/lagoon.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/9483b7bbc1086a02f16b2a18b84c3e9131365453/lagoon.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
just one of several lagoons at the Guadalhorce Reserve<br />
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We had a great two hours walking along the tracks and visiting the hides that overlook a number of lagoons, we recorded over 50 species and the first lagoon produced our top-two sightings of the day. First we located a number of <strong>White-headed Ducks</strong> swimming around with Common and Red-crested Pochard, Little Grebes, Moorhens and Eurasian Coots. But then in the reeds we found a <strong>RED-KNOBBED COOT</strong> which is a mega find for this reserve and a species I have never seen there before.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/746c63b9202a0b07094203088d7f088259f2af6c/white_headed.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/746c63b9202a0b07094203088d7f088259f2af6c/white_headed.content.jpg" style="height: 475px; width: 600px;" /><br />
White-headed Duck<br />
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The next lagoon had a number of Black-winged Stilts, Common Redshank and not much else, so we moved onto the third lagoon which is far more open and has more exposed muddy banks. A good number of waders were feeding there with several species present. We listed; Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt and Pied Avocet.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/800875d54ea0e466fa1578b0cb1b12fe44a46a1a/600.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/800875d54ea0e466fa1578b0cb1b12fe44a46a1a/600.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
record shots of the Red-knobbed Coot, you can just see the Red-Knobs and the blue bill-tip<br />
<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/fbec8ee15111063d8970aff793e5925408798574/coot.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/fbec8ee15111063d8970aff793e5925408798574/coot.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
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On our return walk we watched a group of 12 European Bee-eaters, Zitting Cisticola, Cetti’s Warbler, Pallid Swifts, Greenfinches and a few groups of Monk Parakeets.<br />
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We visited two more hides but it was the Laguna Grande that produced the most new species. From a raised hide we watched; Greater Flamingo, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-necked Grebes, Black-headed Gull, Great Cormorant, Little Ringed Plover, Grey Heron and lots more Stilts.<br />
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During our walked back we bumped into a Eurasian Hoopoe, some Serins, Sardinian Warbler, a distant Booted Eagle, Common Kestrel and Red-rumped Swallows.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/52455be7811baf5f9d63b0feea8239b6903bfa35/hoopoe.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/52455be7811baf5f9d63b0feea8239b6903bfa35/hoopoe.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
taken through heat-haze - Eurasian Hoopoe<br />
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After stopping to buy lunch we set off at 3pm for Gaucin, my home village in Andalucia. We stopped a couple of times near Casares, but first we watched Griffon Vultures, Black Kites, Booted Eagle and dozens of Yellow-legged Gulls over a rubbish-tip near Estapona.<br />
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In Casares we had closer views of Griffon Vultures and we watched a Blue Rock Thrush. At Sierra Crestellina we added Common (Northern) Raven, Common Stonechat and Woodchat Shrike to our list.<br />
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Several nice butterflies were on the wing during this beautiful day; we saw Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Cleopatra, Spanish Festoon, Monarch, Painted Lady and Large White.<br />
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<img alt="" data-cke-saved-src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/75414845cfd4d43f68547573ec98f65d82f8c1b0/swallowtail.content.jpg" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/75414845cfd4d43f68547573ec98f65d82f8c1b0/swallowtail.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Swallowtail Butterfly<br />
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We eventually arrived at Gaucin around 5:30pm where we enjoyed a cold beer and a delicious home-cooked dinner, provided by my lovely wife Dawn.<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>9WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-84995971937555187852017-03-15T11:19:00.003-07:002017-03-15T11:19:44.778-07:00DAY OUT IN SOMERSET<div class="article-blurb">
Ham Wall - Shapwick Heath - Westhay Moor</div>
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Weather cloudy all day, windy at times, outbreaks of sunshine. Temp 11C<br />
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Today I met Nigel at Ham Wall RSPB car park at 8am for a day's birding in the wonderful marshland area of the Somerset Levels. A Bittern was heard 'booming' from the car park, a promising start.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/775d67b4a0121beddf86bb50fcb898d9149db341/grebe.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Great Crested Grebes<br />
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We walked along the central track noting several common garden species as well as Little Egret, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Shoveler and Mallard. A quick stop at the first look-out added Great White Egret, Mute Swan, Little and Great Crested Grebes, Moorhen and Coot to our list. From the first hide we watched Common Snipe and from the Tor-View Hide we had great views of two Glossy Ibis, these two local celebities have been around for almost a year and there are high hopes that they will breed this year, that is, if one is a boy and one is a girl.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/51c9fb3f59b5699558f3a13f671f18ffd6c506a4/ibis_1.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Glossy Ibis<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/c9849be0bae80b61919d9023c65ddb10dd376082/snipe.content.jpg" style="height: 459px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Common Snipe<br />
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Close views of Reed Bunting and distant Common Buzzard were followed by Song Thrush and Cetti's Warbler further along the track. We made our way to the Avalon Hide which offers superb views over the surrounding reed-beds and a large pool. An hour passed quickly as we enjoyed short views of at least 3 Bitterns! A Water Rail was nice to see and extended views of a small party of Bearded Tits was a highlight and even though they were distant they looked great in the scope.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/6a0732e808cb8c88e2d74d7135a09374367d2d59/tufty.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
TUFTED DUCK<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/8b76bbe01e817024c613b8cf3162c02ed9491f5b/nigels_tufty.content.jpg" style="height: 474px; width: 600px;" /><br />
TUFTED DUCKS - taken by Nigel Bleaken<br />
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Marsh Harriers sightings were frequent, they are obviously pairing off and are currently nest building, they gave quite a show.<br />
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Back at the car park Nigel produced a nice cup of coffee with chocolate-chip biscuits, wow the best thing he'd found all morning! ha! Above us dozens of Sand Martins were dashing about quite high up as was a male Marsh Harrier which was performing some kind of display.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/b40d79e8d52516145117a5e570fb7f3425cb15b7/reedy.content.jpg" style="height: 464px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Reed Bunting<br />
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After the coffee break we walked to Noah's Lake where we sat in the raised hide and enjoyed another hour. Our sighting highlights were Goldeneye (a pair), pintail (3), Kingfisher, Common Buzzards (4) it looked as tgough they were pairing off too! A Bittern 'boomed' several times off to our right and a few minutes later it flew right across our view in the front of the hide. This was fantastic and our best sighting today of this normally secretive and elusive species. Our return journey to the car park was via a new boardwalk route which was an interesting excursion and produced sightings of Bullfinch and a noisy Wren with a beak full of moss.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/caefe9dfe5b6c37d92e49e5f4bb036c3faf99511/avalon_view.content.jpg" style="height: 366px; width: 600px;" /><br />
View from the Avalon Hide<br />
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For the afternoon we drove round to Westhay Moor and walked along London Drove hoping to bump into a flock of Siskin and/or Redpoll, neither of which turned up. At 30 Acre Lake we found lots more Pintails and a couple of Goosander, a Great White Egret sporting a black bill and the breeding 'green' lores was a indication that the 'Levels' were going to have another successful year with this species.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/695197073dd4c4e364c6ed613460994f1dcf5cdb/pintail.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
A pair of Northern Pintail<br />
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In last year's breeding birds' survey the Levels recorded 43 Booming Bitterns, 8 Breeding Pairs of Great White Egrets and two male Little Bitterns failed to find a female (but successfully bred in the previous 3 years).<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/7886b2cb849f1880982e40a9549fcbd6ff36961e/goosander.content.jpg" style="height: 403px; width: 600px;" /><br />
a record shot of a distant Goosander<br />
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We finished off back in the car park where 4 more Great White Egrets flew over. It had been a great day out with lots of sightings, spring is definitely in the air.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a9a55f3156f9f7d99ca2abe5b6936c56b06d21c9/catstails.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
Spring is in the air <b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-86655409685907275792017-03-11T01:40:00.000-08:002017-03-11T01:40:26.696-08:00The best of Spring Migration - Lesvos<b>MIGRATION TOUR - LESVOS 28TH APRIL - MAY 6TH 2017</b><br />
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Spring is in the air, bird migration has started, already several Swallows have been sighted in the UK.<br />
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Wheatears, Sand Martins, Chiffchaffs and Sandwich Terns have made it back already.<br />
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During the next few week over 900 million birds will make it back to the Western Palearctic from their wintering grounds in Africa.<br />
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There is one idyllic place in Aegean Sea to see them, the wonderful Greek island of LESVOS.<br />
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This tiny island is a gem of a place to watch migration, everyday new species turn up, sometimes in their thousands. Lesvos is in an ideal position close to the Turkish Mainland and it 'fools' migrating birds into thinking that they have in fact reached the mainland, so they drop in.<br />
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Last year the island was practically deserted, devoid of birders, especially during the peak weeks of Migration because of 'false news' regarding the human migration of displaced Syrians. We saw zero human migrants, the island was as beautiful and untouched as ever.<br />
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This year there are no direct flights in April which will only exacerbate the situation, the locals need our support, hotels are going bust, restaurants are closing down and car hire has never been so cheap.<br />
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JOIN ME THIS FOR AN AMAZING TRIP AT AN AMAZING PRICE:<br />
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I AM LOOKING FOR 4 MORE PEOPLE: <br />
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FOR AN 8 NIGHT STAY WITH HB ACCOMMODATION, ALL LAND TRANSPORT, 7 FULL DAYS GUIDING AND FLIGHTS INCLUDED FOR AN UNBEATABLE £550. <br />
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I HAVE ONLY 4 PLACES LEFT AT THIS PRICE - FIRST COME FIRST SERVED</div>
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Here are few pictures, taken during recent trips, to whet your appetite:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ95hSTTj7iNhexrdvul5dvhb-GngfsobcCPhjlt3b5PLmiz9Z-0xB11ywVrbzfrPT79IJzt3eUanD9RdJq5aXrdr6mY3giSIP5jQiYLCTjHLc7PjXMHLuSsFG50-lZXkKgmJBbvkG84U/s1600/lesvos+-+leo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ95hSTTj7iNhexrdvul5dvhb-GngfsobcCPhjlt3b5PLmiz9Z-0xB11ywVrbzfrPT79IJzt3eUanD9RdJq5aXrdr6mY3giSIP5jQiYLCTjHLc7PjXMHLuSsFG50-lZXkKgmJBbvkG84U/s320/lesvos+-+leo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long-eared Owl</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxxw-KiJPlxrkyTb4L4umcCLUnuBTVnq_hpCacTCarH1o5f1rghHNytvfQzaS9QGyf7ormsCWS67R4Noe0x_bgirZqaWyFHB2J5BhvFy2canXTUhsFFo59Wa0Rm_Ya6Sk1vK8nMaYJNk/s1600/lesvos+-+liitle+bittern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxxw-KiJPlxrkyTb4L4umcCLUnuBTVnq_hpCacTCarH1o5f1rghHNytvfQzaS9QGyf7ormsCWS67R4Noe0x_bgirZqaWyFHB2J5BhvFy2canXTUhsFFo59Wa0Rm_Ya6Sk1vK8nMaYJNk/s320/lesvos+-+liitle+bittern.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Bittern</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPu2hKmkLaEL8Em0UNW5dOdzupb99Dz4QGRCBvz4w3rFGfMEUeJ4iC2VTd5tQwsuClpPHIC29OjNfV_g-qLM_gGGGXxiYkvkIhscxGvjrXwr-FT_aHYCa5hLmdDfofbqyXxxDlWKVYM2E/s1600/lesvos+-+little+crake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPu2hKmkLaEL8Em0UNW5dOdzupb99Dz4QGRCBvz4w3rFGfMEUeJ4iC2VTd5tQwsuClpPHIC29OjNfV_g-qLM_gGGGXxiYkvkIhscxGvjrXwr-FT_aHYCa5hLmdDfofbqyXxxDlWKVYM2E/s320/lesvos+-+little+crake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little Crake</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikvVp-VN-xTcHgaQPOuYAKS7oqMA7_5oMo_MzdvfC6jwoi7DJV3If083xNXt5WPDgy1V51G48wKyYeh5X12AkfLQuEBhrOaCp_aBgdQ2TST4yUMc3ssFAdcPHE1BzNd55CO1AKG0b_AO8/s1600/lesvos+-+masked+shrike.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikvVp-VN-xTcHgaQPOuYAKS7oqMA7_5oMo_MzdvfC6jwoi7DJV3If083xNXt5WPDgy1V51G48wKyYeh5X12AkfLQuEBhrOaCp_aBgdQ2TST4yUMc3ssFAdcPHE1BzNd55CO1AKG0b_AO8/s320/lesvos+-+masked+shrike.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Masked Shrike</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP3RzYpchAiHPkCJde3WfEa7NwG_wWyGeqdpPVPla4txv83t-eTZbn5sJZXXnpLnRvcu9iG8JU5Y_1zHZnTlFoRY3VqydQAMhpP4Sm8F8Wo_RrHKAZRyzXd6imAn9Q43SVYwkF2hYgw38/s1600/lesvos+-+penduline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP3RzYpchAiHPkCJde3WfEa7NwG_wWyGeqdpPVPla4txv83t-eTZbn5sJZXXnpLnRvcu9iG8JU5Y_1zHZnTlFoRY3VqydQAMhpP4Sm8F8Wo_RrHKAZRyzXd6imAn9Q43SVYwkF2hYgw38/s320/lesvos+-+penduline.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Penduline Tit</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigsROxo_bTbpJABSCm0pwkSV9jEUf9Cj2lBopa1UO_uz7mITqoMUtl0qb4kHCGDdxOv4lKEDW2fozqtC6YI5w9QTohV8k_T0-74-cEsQrNgMJjIbuRmyyyDU_WXR07_HaP6gEJOed4_xc/s1600/lesvos+-+prat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigsROxo_bTbpJABSCm0pwkSV9jEUf9Cj2lBopa1UO_uz7mITqoMUtl0qb4kHCGDdxOv4lKEDW2fozqtC6YI5w9QTohV8k_T0-74-cEsQrNgMJjIbuRmyyyDU_WXR07_HaP6gEJOed4_xc/s320/lesvos+-+prat.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collared Pratincole</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivNb6gUg-0uk5Z5-wVgh-u-Tbm8uoanK5Wzf6Jcj29mgtgNL_VjLRF3FlOQ9SZxEbqfMLOxA5fV04VFJ89HX4-_IVHoEccpfqgJKM0_MIdD-D9gSoNc0RVPKpsnn2LdDGFJGGmZuD8pqg/s1600/lesvos+-+r+t+pipit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivNb6gUg-0uk5Z5-wVgh-u-Tbm8uoanK5Wzf6Jcj29mgtgNL_VjLRF3FlOQ9SZxEbqfMLOxA5fV04VFJ89HX4-_IVHoEccpfqgJKM0_MIdD-D9gSoNc0RVPKpsnn2LdDGFJGGmZuD8pqg/s320/lesvos+-+r+t+pipit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red-throated Pipit</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4sWNaEzczwrHMhockCfN84iJG9L2FlyS5-Y_8fN-tB5YjJvK9xem3yZtp_S0No0VuaLe4MTGf3qHjuUPXVwHCc3jR6HnuL85gO48UKEhPU2muiAopG4ye07urrGH-stWbJ_U6wiK97M/s1600/lesvos+-+rollee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX4sWNaEzczwrHMhockCfN84iJG9L2FlyS5-Y_8fN-tB5YjJvK9xem3yZtp_S0No0VuaLe4MTGf3qHjuUPXVwHCc3jR6HnuL85gO48UKEhPU2muiAopG4ye07urrGH-stWbJ_U6wiK97M/s320/lesvos+-+rollee.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">European Roller</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGK-NwNX071yN5TX-bZgYBQMdxOyAHhOeGxf5UKG_kcoRIH-T39MCARYsv6dBITRBhVgVewtF8LF2AYmlMaYwMAYa_P9yn0MNhPNOVcQe5WlrZGAXUuuK5KToLDzwSFf5KQgr5GME4ro/s1600/lesvos+-+scops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGK-NwNX071yN5TX-bZgYBQMdxOyAHhOeGxf5UKG_kcoRIH-T39MCARYsv6dBITRBhVgVewtF8LF2AYmlMaYwMAYa_P9yn0MNhPNOVcQe5WlrZGAXUuuK5KToLDzwSFf5KQgr5GME4ro/s320/lesvos+-+scops.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scops Owl</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2zHJFwoN2W2CKkk0ZYbB7AZty70tQfDD-3PN9zw9SfuK6cCRc_Wdpj58mMvRLnnINkRtknUXkLpUOugyRCLGn853jXvPWgiOM4OEAv1LIAkF07JSUY3qiVqbRxI0AnnE3PwNImMXX3M/s1600/lesvos+-+squacco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2zHJFwoN2W2CKkk0ZYbB7AZty70tQfDD-3PN9zw9SfuK6cCRc_Wdpj58mMvRLnnINkRtknUXkLpUOugyRCLGn853jXvPWgiOM4OEAv1LIAkF07JSUY3qiVqbRxI0AnnE3PwNImMXX3M/s320/lesvos+-+squacco.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squacco Heron</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56KEeRcxbN1-vyYlMwLImyp7v_G6d2FvMOV34gCoMjWyGaxXTJul2hyphenhyphenmqUdQIOhXhHHkCxUJzoxn5I2WglC_cY-b5P6YWoSDW9O2EI-abPGr8AZCezuThXMYDf9XKz4irlEvl55S0lzs/s1600/lesvos+-+wood+sand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56KEeRcxbN1-vyYlMwLImyp7v_G6d2FvMOV34gCoMjWyGaxXTJul2hyphenhyphenmqUdQIOhXhHHkCxUJzoxn5I2WglC_cY-b5P6YWoSDW9O2EI-abPGr8AZCezuThXMYDf9XKz4irlEvl55S0lzs/s320/lesvos+-+wood+sand.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood Sandpiper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswel9ZLnUJ5ZjwdKxo35FrnXXHvGva7u8tNajK1dTfduiGPA7LkMK-y97YoT0TJQaTHIq3V-MFMjsquaPRwVLlNW5dedryLP0rXGUbeJ231iPaFGLrxpwvwVT61Kai-8GKG_8BV1c-WQ/s1600/lesvos+-+woody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswel9ZLnUJ5ZjwdKxo35FrnXXHvGva7u8tNajK1dTfduiGPA7LkMK-y97YoT0TJQaTHIq3V-MFMjsquaPRwVLlNW5dedryLP0rXGUbeJ231iPaFGLrxpwvwVT61Kai-8GKG_8BV1c-WQ/s320/lesvos+-+woody.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood Sandpiper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNSLUiZ-wCtXafOvw3x9LwdYYIP638tcd4JIeD9ZvK__lxx3K6TBSje92NWjiEDCBKlGFoq5emFRtDe1ka2C5220fKuZCbWOgrrBpYT7aKYk-eGXXywv_erzR6uminEwXXdX2oN7T5H0/s1600/lesvos+kemistre+bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNSLUiZ-wCtXafOvw3x9LwdYYIP638tcd4JIeD9ZvK__lxx3K6TBSje92NWjiEDCBKlGFoq5emFRtDe1ka2C5220fKuZCbWOgrrBpYT7aKYk-eGXXywv_erzR6uminEwXXdX2oN7T5H0/s320/lesvos+kemistre+bridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the medieval Kremasti Bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<br /></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
Call now 01935 - 426152 or e-mail bobbuckler49@hotmail.com</h3>
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<br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-73821277299802624552017-02-12T16:10:00.000-08:002017-02-12T16:13:01.313-08:00Costa Rica - Pre-Tour Day - 11TH FEBRUARY 2017<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #5b9bd5; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Weather: Sunny, warm
but a little windy.</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">We arrived in San Jose late afternoon, it was
28C a clear blue sky but a little windy.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">
</span></span><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">Whilst waiting for the shuttle bus to our hotel we logged Grey-breasted
Martin, Long-tailed Grackle, Western Kingbird, Black and Turkey Vultures and
House Sparrow.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhUcuTnKrFS1BYlwFPCaswwy8QT4YBgdxzeTpjywKV1s5pzbbYbA0uxH8gpgeiktz9uoO1PDSwTy7lW2BTNL8PiGn3XNt2MGVl3gLIdRVLRFij-6mjZA6J2IrBlDcaYQeWwuyF-k1Rqo/s1600/rufous+collared.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOhUcuTnKrFS1BYlwFPCaswwy8QT4YBgdxzeTpjywKV1s5pzbbYbA0uxH8gpgeiktz9uoO1PDSwTy7lW2BTNL8PiGn3XNt2MGVl3gLIdRVLRFij-6mjZA6J2IrBlDcaYQeWwuyF-k1Rqo/s320/rufous+collared.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">Rufous-collared Sparrow </span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">After settling into our rooms at the hotel we
went for a late afternoon stroll, 11 of us assembled at 4:30pm in the hotel
foyer. A short walk for about an hour produced a number of species, our first
‘hummer’ Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. Our first Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager and
lots of other firsts! Rufous-collared Sparrow, Rufous-naped Wren and lots of
Crimson-fronted Parakeets, the trees around the hotel were flowering and dozens
of parakeets fed on them.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT08K00K_kCIvM8RZVNN8L3ngU0iduDNvNnaKBxjui7aZC5PoHL0kRxH75vVnXyo-cK-_dqRxQzZeho5LO6GVvMeNaBI_T3dGxZDU9DgNiXv6pEC_logFGhv1W7J1gAwoPSd9M2K3chAs/s1600/red-billed+pigeon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT08K00K_kCIvM8RZVNN8L3ngU0iduDNvNnaKBxjui7aZC5PoHL0kRxH75vVnXyo-cK-_dqRxQzZeho5LO6GVvMeNaBI_T3dGxZDU9DgNiXv6pEC_logFGhv1W7J1gAwoPSd9M2K3chAs/s320/red-billed+pigeon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: white;">Red-billed Pigeon</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">An area of wasteland produced more Grackles,
Clay-coloured Thrush and our first woodpecker, a female Hoffman’s Woodpecker
that showed very well. A Cattle Egret flew over as did Blue and White Swallows, we
found a Black Phoebe in a rock-strewn stream and our first reptile, the Emerald Basilisk or the ‘Jesus
Christ Lizard’ a big one!</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphen9wFVdNhaAkI2enD2H7dVQQ18Y2MUVwQxJTW8ywYNbvxgdNDZ76O7twO9NlLMl9iNhSx0ftYx9UxXT1osioXOA4079hy9T8bbpflMx3T97P8hH27vKAIkTmVhLCgmhBtzJnVZhCGhDo/s1600/hoffer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphen9wFVdNhaAkI2enD2H7dVQQ18Y2MUVwQxJTW8ywYNbvxgdNDZ76O7twO9NlLMl9iNhSx0ftYx9UxXT1osioXOA4079hy9T8bbpflMx3T97P8hH27vKAIkTmVhLCgmhBtzJnVZhCGhDo/s320/hoffer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: white;">Hoffman's Woodpecker</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">Our last bird sighting was of a Yellow Warbler
found in shrubs near the hotel swimming pool. </span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";">Our 12</span><sup><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup><span style="color: white; font-family: "calibri";"> group member, Eva, arrived
after dark, so we were now all assembled at the hotel ready for tomorrow’s
official start to the tour.</span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-32574911196862665702017-01-21T14:15:00.000-08:002017-01-21T14:32:47.163-08:00SOMERSET LEVELS - WEEKEND BREAK - DAY 2 - SATURDAY 21ST JAN 2017WEATHER: the beautiful weather continues, a most glorious sunny day, no wind, no clouds, perfect. Top temp 5C.<br />
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Well I couldn't believe that we had a second fantastic day weather-wise, it was superb, so we made the most of it! We left the guest house in the dark at 7am in order to get to the Starling roost by sunrise, which we did with 10 minutes to spare. It was freezing cold but we all wrapped up well so didn't notice it much, the air was still but alive with noise of nearly 1 million chattering starlings.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNy1NybyVUYF9POuah1E-2hcMGcgBj534_TFCqOF8MN5PODbRjR2INcSRn3QAzDoRTBH-I_xELLunZrWfRH_1pI5TUI5WTBPJandFE7ZKTewDlzfLAmM92cHBsb0nsIHr7Gi2cLVvhlwc/s1600/sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNy1NybyVUYF9POuah1E-2hcMGcgBj534_TFCqOF8MN5PODbRjR2INcSRn3QAzDoRTBH-I_xELLunZrWfRH_1pI5TUI5WTBPJandFE7ZKTewDlzfLAmM92cHBsb0nsIHr7Gi2cLVvhlwc/s320/sunrise.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">sun rise - we arrived to this at 7:20am</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Whilst waiting for the starlings to fly we saw 13 Great White Egrets drop into the marsh with 7 Grey Herons, also Lapwings, Cormorants and several groups of various ducks dashed over us. A couple of early-bird Marsh Harriers also put in an appearance.<br />
<br />
As 7:40am they all took off like a plague of locusts bursting from the reedbeds, it was incredible, the noise from their wings sounded like rolling waves on a windy day. It took ten minutes for them all to disperse, it was a truly memorable and fascinating experience, the ultimate natural spectacle, nature at its best, awe inspiring and many more superlatives I can't think of..<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKLmR0RliST3jqxfQEEeLGObeyswk_dQhhdCBcvGcUyzo5z4nH_PfzWiT17nqzjRNlSPacObBz9zQuz5XcxnRxqMMnpBIt5_0xLHSQ83A8rYOxjhA_lNa56xoME9REdXwcL4aeU317gE/s1600/blurr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKLmR0RliST3jqxfQEEeLGObeyswk_dQhhdCBcvGcUyzo5z4nH_PfzWiT17nqzjRNlSPacObBz9zQuz5XcxnRxqMMnpBIt5_0xLHSQ83A8rYOxjhA_lNa56xoME9REdXwcL4aeU317gE/s320/blurr.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a swirling mass of starlings as they erupted from the reeds</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We were back at the guest house tucking into a delicious cooked breakfast at 8:30 but within an hour we were off again. Today we started our birding at Westhay Moor by walking along London Drove, our target species was Goosander on '30 acre lake' and any other goodies that might pop out of the marshes.<br />
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From a slow start we gained momentum with sightings of Common Kingfisher quickly followed by Bearded Tit. The latter showed extremely well down to 3-4 meters but they kept moving. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSw-KqkPivWQcBoRZYwEhiHwTuIaBt7yImMWLI8dXmL3Wi_W_0uVrlwW3oX0aL872qvQ0UzjhEpFuO41WLqEb4rRPHZTPk3tR-9Z-paZqXogiImBnMeW0UjqxZAyRur_BRTU9-mgGD40/s1600/kev+rail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSw-KqkPivWQcBoRZYwEhiHwTuIaBt7yImMWLI8dXmL3Wi_W_0uVrlwW3oX0aL872qvQ0UzjhEpFuO41WLqEb4rRPHZTPk3tR-9Z-paZqXogiImBnMeW0UjqxZAyRur_BRTU9-mgGD40/s320/kev+rail.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water Rail - as I didn't take any more pictures today the next 5 were taken by Kevin Jones in recent visits to the 'levels'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We added our first Pintail sightings at 30 acre lake but no Goosander were present, most the lake was frozen over so all the ducks, geese and swans were crammed together in small pools of unfrozen water. It was comical to see Mute Swans landing on ice and slipping on their rear ends before crashing into other birds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxt1b5fjeinv441OJdUQet1VVNDqeJ74MAQaY0loNjkixSXxbtny5aHCngbPHQTgErspBzdbgStijWVz-avTQBn01TvFYGewtjDxi54uKlM4g9FyBGefofHsef6hCt8uVWMthJgCiR4o/s1600/kev+bittern+swim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxt1b5fjeinv441OJdUQet1VVNDqeJ74MAQaY0loNjkixSXxbtny5aHCngbPHQTgErspBzdbgStijWVz-avTQBn01TvFYGewtjDxi54uKlM4g9FyBGefofHsef6hCt8uVWMthJgCiR4o/s320/kev+bittern+swim.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bittern - swimming - taken by Kevin Jones</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We spent a while in a brand new tower-hide, again we looked over frozen pools with nothing on them but we did mange to see a Eurasian Bittern in flight, well most of the group did.<br />
8<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOWRWQdunu6RvTGxVVXEhqc5psa3hycR4zLwtFKHMFjDuOu069DF0LiOqXO3yPJEAz3JofwQ1rhK4EMwvt7OP0kTkUIKT2gOKxXz3jK3cs6GkDgSJtjJIei8A8jRYV1uFBV2Fw02PJmM/s1600/kevs+bit+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOWRWQdunu6RvTGxVVXEhqc5psa3hycR4zLwtFKHMFjDuOu069DF0LiOqXO3yPJEAz3JofwQ1rhK4EMwvt7OP0kTkUIKT2gOKxXz3jK3cs6GkDgSJtjJIei8A8jRYV1uFBV2Fw02PJmM/s320/kevs+bit+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bittern - not swimming - taken by Kevin Jones</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Walking back to the bus we stopped to watch a couple of Bullfinches and a single Lesser Redpoll before John found a Water Rail very close by. A quick search for a 'drumming' Great Spotted Woodpecker was in vain.<br />
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We drove round to Mudgley to look for Cattle Egrets but none were there, a huge number of Redwings and Fieldfares littered the fields with a single Song Thrush, a couple of Stonechats, a flock of Linnets and two Red Foxes!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNq8SZK0yUTcyPv5PvDfvbLGtJglv2Mm5qEp6h7esGdyJBHBCw37xgT5pbVjd2axB9OrwlNem3Ex-3RDI28DU1D1P4NI627vZjyxUCVK5mifiMbCJ71ttlWEsv2f6mVsT4ZlYLxP4cxKE/s1600/kevs+teal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNq8SZK0yUTcyPv5PvDfvbLGtJglv2Mm5qEp6h7esGdyJBHBCw37xgT5pbVjd2axB9OrwlNem3Ex-3RDI28DU1D1P4NI627vZjyxUCVK5mifiMbCJ71ttlWEsv2f6mVsT4ZlYLxP4cxKE/s320/kevs+teal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eurasian Teal - photo by Kevin Jones</td></tr>
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A short drive around Tealham Moor produced sightings of many Lapwings, thrushes, Rooks, Jackdaws and Starlings, but nothing new.<br />
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After a short stop in Wedmore where we bought lunch we travelled to Cheddar Reservoir. Our lunch was eaten in the car park as we sat in the lovely sunshine. Birding at the Reservoir was short but sweet, we scoped the whole circular body of water from one point, it was covered in parts with hundreds of ducks, coots and gulls. We added Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Goldeneye, Red-crested Pochard but we couldn't find any Goosander that were supposed to be there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBJZ9xEwlvXZCVhGT18brAN-c-t6OJNEe96c0KWrjdR4xy93Ko_n5voti2M_ZQwd7NlgOct_igWZTcAZZuCdCy3FtZJ984t5JsC_TRsuPB6DGc3ltyUPlfxVlDgbu1hly7yC3e-zv32w/s1600/kev+gt+egret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTBJZ9xEwlvXZCVhGT18brAN-c-t6OJNEe96c0KWrjdR4xy93Ko_n5voti2M_ZQwd7NlgOct_igWZTcAZZuCdCy3FtZJ984t5JsC_TRsuPB6DGc3ltyUPlfxVlDgbu1hly7yC3e-zv32w/s320/kev+gt+egret.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Egrets fighting - phot by Kevin Jones</td></tr>
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We then drove through Cheddar and the famous Gorge but never stopped because it was packed with day trippers that swarmed all over the place, a nightmare.<br />
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So back to normality at Chew Valley lake where we spent the last two hours of day light watching thousands or birds from the two causeways, Heron's Green and Herriot's Bridge. Both places provides good sighting and offered opportunities to see one or two rarer birds. We added Black-necked Grebe, Bewick Swan (8), Shelduck and we put a lot of time in looking for Ring-billed and Mediterranean Gulls without reward. We also missed Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Pink-footed Goose and Goosander because we never had time to drive all the way around this huge man-made lake, another time maybe.<br />
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We drove back to our guest house in the dark arriving in good time for another delicious dinner.<br />
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<br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-20048381508756193412017-01-20T14:20:00.001-08:002017-01-20T14:20:26.716-08:00SOMERSET LEVELS - WEEKEND BREAK DAY 1 - FRIDAY 20TH JAN 2017WEATHER: a superb winter's day with a cloudless sky, no wind but cold. Top temp 5C.<br />
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The group arrived on time as we met at our guest house near Meare on the Somerset Levels. After settling in and a nice cuppa we were all ready for an afternoon's birding in the bright sunshine.<br />
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I drove the group round to Ham Wall nature reserve where we planned to walk the main track and to visit the viewing platforms and the large raised Avalon Hide. Our main objective however was to stay until dusk t o watch the famous 'starling murmuration'.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzUUPjFqVf0fONMhT8cL4yZz83QBwdBJLTyZxCdEggeORipAUHAygs_E1SG4wJD-sw09xNaeoU8s_45B_uRUYFPCy31djMpZRnN16pD0YowY4UijkULZN9ERzjmPj5-CRKZIjB2eL_nM/s1600/tor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzUUPjFqVf0fONMhT8cL4yZz83QBwdBJLTyZxCdEggeORipAUHAygs_E1SG4wJD-sw09xNaeoU8s_45B_uRUYFPCy31djMpZRnN16pD0YowY4UijkULZN9ERzjmPj5-CRKZIjB2eL_nM/s320/tor.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glastonbury Tor looking from Ham Wall</td></tr>
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In the car park we watched the bird feeders situated behind the visitor's centre where Blue, Great and Coal Tits were feeding on peanuts and Chaffinches were picking out seeds below them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnk3mG-2Pmp5at7ok1uyUe0h6LKLEWsVUGqZEkmmTnpuW7P4ZMjPf-vc9mRsdPZBAI_yGdQMkDW-1a_j6NOTbCEGZK_pc4LvQpfivtMIW8zQIkdSIGyowMK2Kf_cjcLp67IzJ4AbDeSV8/s1600/grupo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnk3mG-2Pmp5at7ok1uyUe0h6LKLEWsVUGqZEkmmTnpuW7P4ZMjPf-vc9mRsdPZBAI_yGdQMkDW-1a_j6NOTbCEGZK_pc4LvQpfivtMIW8zQIkdSIGyowMK2Kf_cjcLp67IzJ4AbDeSV8/s320/grupo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My group for the weekend, L to R Chris, Ted, Tom, Marianne and John</td></tr>
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Along the main track we had excellent views over reed-beds, pools, ditches and managed channels where we found many species of wildfowl as well as passerines in the bushes and trees. The seven most common ducks were all present in good numbers, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Gadwall and Common Pochard, whilst smaller numbers of Little and Great Crested Grebes, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan and Great Cormorant joined them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg8Rv84qccSYAs9BBvuGg_ewd8URHiUFpRkTefM2kkND4vovCI0G623OagrIy6xzQtiRdp5NY_5mYPImHJt_GPT4BpKErZ3h5b4fI_YLiOz4V37UTMfNKzDrWYvz5k_rbVU2QMKSmqY4/s1600/gadwall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGg8Rv84qccSYAs9BBvuGg_ewd8URHiUFpRkTefM2kkND4vovCI0G623OagrIy6xzQtiRdp5NY_5mYPImHJt_GPT4BpKErZ3h5b4fI_YLiOz4V37UTMfNKzDrWYvz5k_rbVU2QMKSmqY4/s320/gadwall.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the fine vermiculation on the flanks of the male Gadwall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98-AUHS2c5MVrboTdMY_ahNIz7MrmUQRL1h4DNZBlIPSqd_jRR0vGo61BNsQMXcbjIaa9FggnD5VxxQD_4b0SpW2EXX6mNvtWISzPDHWkt8KDndRaNx4Z1YYbIqIPdHQk5EhaSLNPZqU/s1600/what+duck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98-AUHS2c5MVrboTdMY_ahNIz7MrmUQRL1h4DNZBlIPSqd_jRR0vGo61BNsQMXcbjIaa9FggnD5VxxQD_4b0SpW2EXX6mNvtWISzPDHWkt8KDndRaNx4Z1YYbIqIPdHQk5EhaSLNPZqU/s320/what+duck.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a closer view of the breast and flank - Gadwall</td></tr>
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The larger birds consisted of egrets and herons with Great Egret being the most common and both Grey Heron and Little Egret providing a supporting cast.<br />
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From the Avalon Hide we searched for Bittern without success but we had great views of 3 Marsh Harriers and we heard Water Rail. We watched Reed Buntings feeding on the phragmites seed-heads and Stonechats and Robins in the scrub. A distant field held a number of Lapwing and a Mistle Thrush, a Kestrel sat in very distant tree feeding on its latest kill and a number of sightings of Common Buzzard was enjoyed by all of us.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Zb_ik_myymbKBvNpwiiF6GuXTt7byptPegf8e2bDzaZGiQWqQgmuyGkTWFc2UpafN0_k3D0k_N-uYg5K5UFvvdPn426fB6anB_cohO1jYfRjtZa5ig4ZEK4QrW-n5OODfs-APcSBSKc/s1600/egret.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Zb_ik_myymbKBvNpwiiF6GuXTt7byptPegf8e2bDzaZGiQWqQgmuyGkTWFc2UpafN0_k3D0k_N-uYg5K5UFvvdPn426fB6anB_cohO1jYfRjtZa5ig4ZEK4QrW-n5OODfs-APcSBSKc/s320/egret.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Egret</td></tr>
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Taking the long way back to the main track we stopped to watch a couple of Goldcrest, a single Long-tailed Tit and as we joined the track we found a flock of Goldfinch and with them were both Lesser Redpoll and Siskin. Some time was spent at a viewing platform where we added a couple of Common Chiffchaff but not much else.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXe5EmjZ9g-tED-V835nX7Odmu4TVBMojuZecYin12Z0oipX4xvXqJJC6vh50FIJyvjCIiN8CLQULQlW8KgRFSgV_XXKErp8AXxtvOUXJ8WQOuTHNG8YazBKznnuhWq8s6u-wEneGGlc/s1600/starls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXe5EmjZ9g-tED-V835nX7Odmu4TVBMojuZecYin12Z0oipX4xvXqJJC6vh50FIJyvjCIiN8CLQULQlW8KgRFSgV_XXKErp8AXxtvOUXJ8WQOuTHNG8YazBKznnuhWq8s6u-wEneGGlc/s320/starls.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of the first flocks of starlings to arrive</td></tr>
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Wren, Blackbird and Dunnock joined the list before we settled at one spot to wait for the starling spectacle. Over the next half an hour and until it got dark we were mesmerised by the amazing number of starlings coming to roost. Despite the lack of 'murmuration' it was still a wonderful spectacle, the stunning and most colourful sky formed a perfect back-drop to the thousands of black 'dots' swarming across our vista. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCp_s9UGyNMGrXeYRB75V5FXqdGXOj2WLn7pei2kVXLaFN-drCSXVWeflJ-KanT6WF5oCkZNL0HCd36ayLaejE6AoKY_Tf__qmViumxEewNNYED4Aql6Nfn4QqU-9iRBLWK3jmQmHzAGo/s1600/marsh+h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCp_s9UGyNMGrXeYRB75V5FXqdGXOj2WLn7pei2kVXLaFN-drCSXVWeflJ-KanT6WF5oCkZNL0HCd36ayLaejE6AoKY_Tf__qmViumxEewNNYED4Aql6Nfn4QqU-9iRBLWK3jmQmHzAGo/s320/marsh+h.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a mass of starlings with a Marsh Harrier in amongst them - can you spot it?</td></tr>
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It was cold now and getting dark, a crescendo of noise emanated from the reeds as the starlings settled down for the night, it was time for us to leave them to it. We walked back to the bus in the dark with hordes of other birders who had also braved the cold night air to watch this spectacle.<br />
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We completed our bird-log before a superb home cooked dinner was served, we logged 50 species this afternoon, a very enjoyable start to our weekend break in Somerset.<br />
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<br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-32716574187205641962017-01-18T14:00:00.000-08:002017-01-18T14:09:04.148-08:00SOMERSET LEVELS - DAY TRIPWeather: mostly clear and sunny, top temp 10C, dry all day.<br />
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This was a fantastic day out with gorgeous weather, superb light and a nice range of species. I left home at 8am just as it got light and spent 40 minutes in the car before arriving at Ham Wall, it was cloudy to start but as the morning progressed the sky cleared completely.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7SSNQp4gnrRM8oaCLbhJtSe1nIPBZBNVIkg79b31lAf28tnIpYxNnTmxcZkrquG_-5MD3-ubLoaK3ZDd8p95n-jRHcXKRNcqEUCCJFdbpCiZM3-Gu-IKwTNMc7SI6BzdBoN3ixSqDaWc/s1600/tor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7SSNQp4gnrRM8oaCLbhJtSe1nIPBZBNVIkg79b31lAf28tnIpYxNnTmxcZkrquG_-5MD3-ubLoaK3ZDd8p95n-jRHcXKRNcqEUCCJFdbpCiZM3-Gu-IKwTNMc7SI6BzdBoN3ixSqDaWc/s320/tor.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glastonbury Tor</td></tr>
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The main track at Ham Wall is in fact an old railway track which is raised and provides excellent views over the marshes, pools and tree-lined droves. I soon listed a number of species in the shrubs and trees, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest, Reed Bunting, Robin, Dunnock and Blackbird.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKWQFiqJ9zg1L_Kh28CmS9L2EeKYCv5rjV9oWIL1rcKizaL5Dh6LYT92ZaLvIsXjC5yreMApOMSYEWHv970H-w_Nx7pygDbfn18ps7KDyMvoetARHFD-cbye1N-hi5pRQFOCAm4uHMlw8/s1600/noahs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKWQFiqJ9zg1L_Kh28CmS9L2EeKYCv5rjV9oWIL1rcKizaL5Dh6LYT92ZaLvIsXjC5yreMApOMSYEWHv970H-w_Nx7pygDbfn18ps7KDyMvoetARHFD-cbye1N-hi5pRQFOCAm4uHMlw8/s320/noahs.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ham Wall marsh and pool</td></tr>
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In the pools all the common duck species were present in good numbers, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Common Pochard, they were joined by Pintail, Great Cormorant, Great Crested and Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan and Common Snipe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZK7DOY8z5f8ye1t0Rhyphenhyphen4WCQnZShVX39G1s5lYi7LFBT4hsNxVaqKPN8WEKnaofUDwNbu5Hb9deX3Zvyxzy5CgUi99zzP_EdS38dBwg0b6RoMncEM4i91NBfg-EXpCpNNW3sNApJYjj_g/s1600/bunting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZK7DOY8z5f8ye1t0Rhyphenhyphen4WCQnZShVX39G1s5lYi7LFBT4hsNxVaqKPN8WEKnaofUDwNbu5Hb9deX3Zvyxzy5CgUi99zzP_EdS38dBwg0b6RoMncEM4i91NBfg-EXpCpNNW3sNApJYjj_g/s320/bunting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reed Bunting</td></tr>
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I walked to the 'new' Avalon Hide where I added Great Egret, Canada Goose and two top birds, Eurasian Bittern and Water Rail.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8C5BIhgDA2VwfkI2bb46lUBMo3_E32k2gt3eHkThTFXxFkVRR3z0gU5H_mRtiJUtcYuap8r5ehNy8GnO5B7z419JNGwiCFXapd7-n2LI_ICNKmWutfs4HPIyziiBpUpLIIlDdKrG4bng/s1600/bittern+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8C5BIhgDA2VwfkI2bb46lUBMo3_E32k2gt3eHkThTFXxFkVRR3z0gU5H_mRtiJUtcYuap8r5ehNy8GnO5B7z419JNGwiCFXapd7-n2LI_ICNKmWutfs4HPIyziiBpUpLIIlDdKrG4bng/s320/bittern+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eurasian Bittern</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
Water Rail</div>
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After an enjoyable hour in the hide I walked further along the main track to Loxton's Marsh where I sat in Noah's Hide. I added Greylag Goose, Little Egret, Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Kingfisher, Common Stonechat, Eurasian Chiffchaff and I saw at another 30 Long-tailed Tits in 3 more flocks.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41vsPXxMxwx63rHlD9gq7rXDjoJPsr_tf89Q_owk1NnyPg4lR7eqGPD_CNFF_NXhEP4iEh_zM2CVN1mqJkoC3HxZ_NIO2-f-_bEnVnUYYM2FiLu-2cOQxvMLrJtGpSGGaaiKsLzwmlEQ/s1600/egrets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41vsPXxMxwx63rHlD9gq7rXDjoJPsr_tf89Q_owk1NnyPg4lR7eqGPD_CNFF_NXhEP4iEh_zM2CVN1mqJkoC3HxZ_NIO2-f-_bEnVnUYYM2FiLu-2cOQxvMLrJtGpSGGaaiKsLzwmlEQ/s320/egrets.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5 Great Egrets with 9 Grey Herons</td></tr>
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More Great Egrets were seen with a number of Grey Herons, it is amazing that Great Egret numbers in the UK have exploded in recent years. A fantastic count of 31 was seen recently at the Ham Wall roost. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WD3ASO9fOK0f6X-vnIQ2KhXoMyRLyW-Y0c_j01XcGm_1nc55zCBQSNJV_Onb-Rd0ZZwev8v3yUXrtu5QW59A_xJgskeoeNBIhzHgqLP9dU6rhad56ltebQmfNZJTRd9tNaGQrP5hR9U/s1600/peacock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WD3ASO9fOK0f6X-vnIQ2KhXoMyRLyW-Y0c_j01XcGm_1nc55zCBQSNJV_Onb-Rd0ZZwev8v3yUXrtu5QW59A_xJgskeoeNBIhzHgqLP9dU6rhad56ltebQmfNZJTRd9tNaGQrP5hR9U/s320/peacock.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">can't believe a Peacock Butterfly was on the wing today</td></tr>
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Back at the car park a pair of Ravens flew over, a Great Spotted Woodpecker perched nearby and 3 finches fed nearby, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmUrWHrtvuQ4R7H-aRogr1TCSTZwhElIw0n1QpQYBuRlP0ohYqBFMtaBPW0FlxNBoxof1B4HHvNBoPTuwU4dT1sGil9BUp7oZ0RZ1RqDfSo86uYFEEDBwRUtzy_JLqahl8epgqa3bXl5A/s1600/gadders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmUrWHrtvuQ4R7H-aRogr1TCSTZwhElIw0n1QpQYBuRlP0ohYqBFMtaBPW0FlxNBoxof1B4HHvNBoPTuwU4dT1sGil9BUp7oZ0RZ1RqDfSo86uYFEEDBwRUtzy_JLqahl8epgqa3bXl5A/s320/gadders.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gadwall</td></tr>
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Next I walked to Noah's Lake on Meare Heath, along the way I searched for a Firecrest which had been seen earlier, it never showed. </div>
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Noah's Lake was covered in birds but only a single juvenile Whooper Swan was new for my day list, the light was superb and ideal for photography.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eurasian Wigeon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuwCl1cNpu9Y6wWWudnw6WM1WxBaocAErC0JttMBXJU8rS0wEOpC5-oSdsT1XQj2hAqtg1pJI6iCBaq9SyHsxAt6Fqm28m6ZmnuRPhBzj2BdAKv806QtVJ-qq9HpFEDuNouP4qQ3f9xg/s1600/tufted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuwCl1cNpu9Y6wWWudnw6WM1WxBaocAErC0JttMBXJU8rS0wEOpC5-oSdsT1XQj2hAqtg1pJI6iCBaq9SyHsxAt6Fqm28m6ZmnuRPhBzj2BdAKv806QtVJ-qq9HpFEDuNouP4qQ3f9xg/s320/tufted.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tufted Duck</td></tr>
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I returned to the car park for a second time to find out that a Yellow-browed Warbler had been seen close by, however my search turned up nothing.<br />
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I travelled to Westhay Moor to look for Cattle Egrets but only found Pied Wagtails, Redwings, Fieldfares, Lapwings and a Song Thrush. <br />
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From there I visited Tealham Moor another superb section of the 'levels' where I saw many species, nothing new except Common Gulls, Common Pheasant and Rooks.<br />
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The last hour of the day was a classic winter sunset, the colours were simply stunning. I drove back to Ham Wall to watch the Starling roost and whilst their numbers were around 1 million birds they never performed as they are supposed to. Nevertheless, it was spectacular and a fitting end to a beautiful day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starlings - quite a few of them!</td></tr>
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<br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-2514739503692486532017-01-12T11:09:00.000-08:002017-01-12T11:09:37.390-08:00GAUCIN - OUR LAST WALK BEFORE LEAVING FOR THE UKAFTERNOON, CIRCULAR WALK BELOW THE VILLAGE<br />
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WEATHER: another fantastic sunny day, cloudless, warm and no wind.<br />
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We left the village around 2pm on a track from Calle Tinajones which takes you down into the Genal Valley passing below the Castle. We returned on a narrow footpath arriving at the bottom of Calle Casares, this circular walk can be done in about 30 minutes, it took us 2 hours because we stopped so many times to admire the wonderful views and the very active bird/insect life.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7k8lNrXfEeNELyogXxBzVPC6Y8tZ2CIYCk8DvDr61tzKvyGnMDjub1ITLW_v93hC2kWcoEmxGnBLO11E36J510rfJeGHVAYBvxHAMwTECJeMHaSfCfJqw3hTQ8c_ycAewB4wuuDtmsc/s1600/11+track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ7k8lNrXfEeNELyogXxBzVPC6Y8tZ2CIYCk8DvDr61tzKvyGnMDjub1ITLW_v93hC2kWcoEmxGnBLO11E36J510rfJeGHVAYBvxHAMwTECJeMHaSfCfJqw3hTQ8c_ycAewB4wuuDtmsc/s320/11+track.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">looking down the main track</td></tr>
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It was great to see the 'wintering' Booted Eagle again, we had 3 different sightings and yet I still failed to photograph it. The little blighter crept up behind us on two occasions and flew across the bright sunlight, the third view was too distant.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHnYN_1x3w0H2nR37UJjqlXM4wjTk73dtE6o5-1JgXhT6PAmtTdRt2xe1JeKik2WtNOYxRUxEn721BPgNg-ADNcq0R9UGHge0tDEjaAAJr9ulq04ZjcFgzJyV5OMCea3oILEFClGY_Cg/s1600/11+crestellina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHnYN_1x3w0H2nR37UJjqlXM4wjTk73dtE6o5-1JgXhT6PAmtTdRt2xe1JeKik2WtNOYxRUxEn721BPgNg-ADNcq0R9UGHge0tDEjaAAJr9ulq04ZjcFgzJyV5OMCea3oILEFClGY_Cg/s320/11+crestellina.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sierra Crestellina with Almond blossom in the foreground</td></tr>
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A 'kettle' of 49 Griffon Vultures clustered in the valley between Sierra Crestellina and Gaucin and both Common Kestrel and Common Buzzard showed up too.<br />
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The bushes, trees and open fields produced many bird sightings with the usual fare of Blackcap, Black Redstart, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Sardinian Warbler, Robin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blackbird and Blue Tit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gibraltar and Morocco in the distance - taken from the track</td></tr>
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A Short-toed Treecreeper was nice to see and the pink almond blossom was starting to break out all over the place and was buzzing with bees, it really felt like a sunny June day in the UK!<br />
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This really warm winter spell enticed several butterflies out on the wing, we saw Cleopatra, Large White, Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow, also, and to our great delight, we saw a Hummingbird Hawk Moth.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQujc9MZUOZWoZvrBlqkI0wc_abePJhsmOEVVvY1H1-Qv_02JXQffLQ93VX74kcS_27x7BrkYc8zBYT1-U9yjNWm4H5ivBWBwhciSznh0MhyloId6QvWPO9QZ50Fh6a7XjOoUrAyO3PM/s1600/11+wall+lizard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQujc9MZUOZWoZvrBlqkI0wc_abePJhsmOEVVvY1H1-Qv_02JXQffLQ93VX74kcS_27x7BrkYc8zBYT1-U9yjNWm4H5ivBWBwhciSznh0MhyloId6QvWPO9QZ50Fh6a7XjOoUrAyO3PM/s320/11+wall+lizard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a young Iberian Wall Lizard sunning itself</td></tr>
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We said goodbye to the beautiful surroundings as we re-entered the village, we'll be back on April 4th.<br />
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If you want to see what birding trips we do during the next two months then follow the wingspanner blog go to: www.wingspanbirdtours.com/blog WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-15032701799101643142017-01-09T12:58:00.002-08:002017-01-10T00:45:14.964-08:00Birding in Spain - January 9th 2017Andalucia - Los Lances beach - La Janda - Barbate river and marshes<br />
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We had a brilliant day out with the most beautiful weather - not a cloud all day, not a whiff of wind and the light was just exquisite.<br />
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Dawn and I collect John & Mary on the edge of Gaucin and we all drove down to Casares where we picked up Penny. From there we drove straight to Tarifa to visit Los Lances Beach. What a great start to our birding, the still air produced perfectly calm water giving wonderful reflections of the surrounding mountains in perfect light. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the view from the hide at Los Lances beach</td></tr>
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From the approach track and boardwalk we logged several species such as Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Crested Lark, Corn Bunting, Spotless Starling and Cattle Egret.<br />
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On the beach feeding around the pools we saw a good selection of waders and several species of gull loafed around in the pools. Grey, Ringed and Kentish Plovers, Sanderling, Dunlin and Turnstone made up the wader numbers whilst Audouin's, Black-headed, Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were joined by a single Sandwich Tern. Dozens of Crag Martins dashed above the beach and other species such as Little Egret, Grey Heron, Goldfinch, Linnet and Robin made up the numbers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitN3Sbq4W0j8Sejk1jWxVifC5ixVm4srOOvoevFB6PxT4C38Ta7qBaIGjdnrkvoOy_PCWgifaPO-9-rtAjNRphjYSxGE7xDeREpEi3AKgO0RhJdMhxMr6JMTv1772p-Dy6edMs-ePzzDU/s1600/9th+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitN3Sbq4W0j8Sejk1jWxVifC5ixVm4srOOvoevFB6PxT4C38Ta7qBaIGjdnrkvoOy_PCWgifaPO-9-rtAjNRphjYSxGE7xDeREpEi3AKgO0RhJdMhxMr6JMTv1772p-Dy6edMs-ePzzDU/s320/9th+view.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the calm waters at Los Lances</td></tr>
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At La Janda we were surprised to be enshrouded in a thick mist but this soon burnt off to reveal a flat landscape of rice fields, reed-filled ditches, flat pastures and distant hills, the whole area was brimming with birds.<br />
<br />
Along the first section we noted Great White Egret, Lapwing, Stonechat, Corn Bunting and Common Buzzard, as we reached the central track we stopped for coffee and cake, how nice! From this raised track we had splendid views of our surroundings, the water level in the central 'drain' (canal) was very low creating a reed-fringed muddy environment which was excellent habitat for wintering Bluethroats, which was exactly was we saw next. What a stunner, a perfectly marked male white-spotted Bluethroat, marvellous!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_W64KyxQ6SIvQS9fXv1j7A501qlfnLHX99Uax5x4IRlV6_xXvnMIVziSnxB0DPjBiB1mRetsMTwfHJlvOzllPp86J_n09hpQhEU9A1ytCVIET1rK1ZHEu-1X9tk29w6YJSGv1ElBslsk/s1600/9th+blue+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_W64KyxQ6SIvQS9fXv1j7A501qlfnLHX99Uax5x4IRlV6_xXvnMIVziSnxB0DPjBiB1mRetsMTwfHJlvOzllPp86J_n09hpQhEU9A1ytCVIET1rK1ZHEu-1X9tk29w6YJSGv1ElBslsk/s320/9th+blue+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bluethroat</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIYHdtI4LoZVIFVR4ydZH1gdsVfYVrEU0fBDQ7tuvMiNO5SJCN3FDzDQ05SX_oSuyEqL8FY2q8ZCxbFecdzFEslz5SVTn5CUgbabt3GSgitt1PdmSWPRkrrOiB1VUJEzzyfTWcq3NlzA/s1600/9th+blue+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijIYHdtI4LoZVIFVR4ydZH1gdsVfYVrEU0fBDQ7tuvMiNO5SJCN3FDzDQ05SX_oSuyEqL8FY2q8ZCxbFecdzFEslz5SVTn5CUgbabt3GSgitt1PdmSWPRkrrOiB1VUJEzzyfTWcq3NlzA/s320/9th+blue+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Green Sandpiper, Common Crane, White Stork, Calandra Lark, Zitting Cisticola, Purple Swamphen were seen in the ditches and fields whilst a lovely male Hen Harrier sat preening in a pasture giving lovely scope-views. A flock of some 300 Common Cranes landed in a distant field just as we began our trek along the track.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKclEwFIFli7FDKGemf_CwWjQy_sFKh17viDDyGC1tJdqHwr4Te3yqyjuqdTXUf5UTYAa31OuKkKA9wTz7XEheFpWjHR0gP-aFG68vU6ETX6-SMLsvqPjdhbZ2UALdzlyepN2L8GpnO0/s1600/9th+rice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlKclEwFIFli7FDKGemf_CwWjQy_sFKh17viDDyGC1tJdqHwr4Te3yqyjuqdTXUf5UTYAa31OuKkKA9wTz7XEheFpWjHR0gP-aFG68vU6ETX6-SMLsvqPjdhbZ2UALdzlyepN2L8GpnO0/s320/9th+rice.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">rice fields at La Janda</td></tr>
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As we worked our way along the central track we added more species to the list with Marsh Harriers turning up quite often and good numbers of Little Egrets, Spoonbills, Grey Herons and White Storks lining most of the ditches and rice fields. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ILc8gOjrbfbs4tfb8WXU1m7aGjNR-gRaEBIx3e87FTPi8Kd1jC6J3b64uPxguTbuMWRa0tU6Ne1TbPyd7th3V2F4dNhljtnkg0rV04xpfTJZwX8PQ8OyDA0s4HuGUTuCXoVepXLssa0/s1600/9th+rice+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ILc8gOjrbfbs4tfb8WXU1m7aGjNR-gRaEBIx3e87FTPi8Kd1jC6J3b64uPxguTbuMWRa0tU6Ne1TbPyd7th3V2F4dNhljtnkg0rV04xpfTJZwX8PQ8OyDA0s4HuGUTuCXoVepXLssa0/s320/9th+rice+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">panorama of La Janda </td></tr>
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A few more waders appeared, with Greenshank, Common Snipe and a very surprising Wood Sandpiper (not a bird I would expect to find wintering in Spain). A number of raptors circled on thermals we found a couple of real goodies, first a Bonelli's Eagle and then a Spanish Imperial Eagle joined three Marsh Harriers, wow could it get any better?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFmTwViV5hPujTQXnyWKPiECCwrDDmA9iqRrfbxYZXJ2-Fm6o8Qrqh2-d9iWHLBocsc5PgfA5a_HjXQM67Y0vaPrqsYueV2kKhd8nluL_bzBvExrEsGeSPIKLH4yTkxRzwoVPmsjVY_GA/s1600/9th+storks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFmTwViV5hPujTQXnyWKPiECCwrDDmA9iqRrfbxYZXJ2-Fm6o8Qrqh2-d9iWHLBocsc5PgfA5a_HjXQM67Y0vaPrqsYueV2kKhd8nluL_bzBvExrEsGeSPIKLH4yTkxRzwoVPmsjVY_GA/s320/9th+storks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">these specs are White Storks up on the thermals</td></tr>
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Well, yes it could. Our next sighting was of a Kingfisher and then we found another unexpected migrant when a Wryneck landed in the top of a nearby bush.<br />
<br />
A second Bonelli's Eagle appeared as we stopped for lunch and during lunchtime we saw Cetti's and Sardinian Warblers, Great Tit, Red-legged Partridge, Common Kestrel, Griffon Vulture and a second Kingfisher.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh_bWMgKSX8genosqLTzyrZurVqBn2r_OWRyLaqyALDzyKulEqdCSJXawviLTyAW-F8UmBRZ5yqj1DEfu0421nTwi598eYk9l-OJ4DQjfBnPCkNmf48NHbzDNZpLGE4dSGlWXEE2ypbeg/s1600/9th+channel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh_bWMgKSX8genosqLTzyrZurVqBn2r_OWRyLaqyALDzyKulEqdCSJXawviLTyAW-F8UmBRZ5yqj1DEfu0421nTwi598eYk9l-OJ4DQjfBnPCkNmf48NHbzDNZpLGE4dSGlWXEE2ypbeg/s320/9th+channel.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the central drain - Bluethroat habitat</td></tr>
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We drove off La Janda about 3pm stooping several times to watch even more birds, but we missed sightings of Short-eared Owl, Black Stork and Black Winged Kite which has all been seen recently, never mind you can't see them all.<br />
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A quick stop along the road to Vejer de la Frontera was made to look for an Eagle Owl, which often sits out in the day time, proved fruitless, however we did see Black- Redstart, Raven, Common Buzzard and lots of Jackdaws.<br />
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At Barbate we stopped at the main bridge near the mouth of the river Barbate, the tide was turning and began to ebb as we watched the marshes from a grassy verge. More waders appeared, we saw both Common Redshank and Spotted Redshank standing side by side, also Black-winged Stilt, Grey Plover, Greenshank and a dozen more Sandwich Terns. A Caspian Tern in flight was nice and a closer view of Spoonbill was enjoyed by all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1CUnY9Lh9Pn3S33GoCseQOkKTT305l_PN57YLWLrOWw17hCpNwOHeYoePWSL3OVXOFEofpPiqHFt3J2BWDgro8ucpHuSQ_xFcnLPyMeSy7xE8w0BrGQZ2ovmJGP6rTcjPmxuCwGTm1dc/s1600/9th+spoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1CUnY9Lh9Pn3S33GoCseQOkKTT305l_PN57YLWLrOWw17hCpNwOHeYoePWSL3OVXOFEofpPiqHFt3J2BWDgro8ucpHuSQ_xFcnLPyMeSy7xE8w0BrGQZ2ovmJGP6rTcjPmxuCwGTm1dc/s320/9th+spoon.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eurasian Spoonbill</td></tr>
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On Barbate Marsh Reserve we hoped to finish in flurry but we were disappointed by the lack birds on the lagoons, we discovered why when we saw a powered-paraglider preparing to take off. Nevertheless sightings of more waders, Spoonbills, a couple of Ospreys, 5 Stone Curlews and a bunch of Calandra Larks was very nice to finish off the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfkBgh_XLDYthDeVwToWvihTx91xSDNzUUi-6pQERyRrfkWyEQ_WOq0uYuKi2U3dBrjfpjJOLQB6icszWgC8KFzq4RTHdx3xmJ5NCvb8mtpLfAPcNxxBOW0jb_B0zYE6bH-NKk5GKs9pA/s1600/9th+stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfkBgh_XLDYthDeVwToWvihTx91xSDNzUUi-6pQERyRrfkWyEQ_WOq0uYuKi2U3dBrjfpjJOLQB6icszWgC8KFzq4RTHdx3xmJ5NCvb8mtpLfAPcNxxBOW0jb_B0zYE6bH-NKk5GKs9pA/s320/9th+stone.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">poor record shot of Stone Curlew</td></tr>
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It was now 5pm the sun was dropping, we were losing the good light and temperature was falling so we called it a day and set off home. It had been a wonderful day, we logged 75 species with some real beauties on the list.WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-61309313507951673082017-01-08T12:16:00.000-08:002017-01-08T12:16:17.063-08:00Gaucin walks 8th Jan 2017weather: mostly sunny with some clouds, light westerly wind, max temp 15C<br />
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Punta Umbria circular walk.<br />
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Dawn and I set off from the village for the walk around the hillside of La Umbria found along the Ronda road. The walk is about 7km in all and takes you through some superb 'ancient' cork oak woodlands with open glades, stands of pine, carob and sweet chestnut. It is because of this diverse woodland habitat that such a good range of woodland bird species can be found there especially in the spring and summer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQAgfRrGzKTFbHVCp19AaWWwHrF64XTIOY3160TjpsdgCa09We1_Z5loTZ7SLG0b-qzGRB5I_CvpYU40Jqz6FTyltxS9abfpRDa4IfLeZpP3Qwf634namjWLVTnNkBySP0KjZ6E5MdpU/s1600/8th+track.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQAgfRrGzKTFbHVCp19AaWWwHrF64XTIOY3160TjpsdgCa09We1_Z5loTZ7SLG0b-qzGRB5I_CvpYU40Jqz6FTyltxS9abfpRDa4IfLeZpP3Qwf634namjWLVTnNkBySP0KjZ6E5MdpU/s320/8th+track.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view of mature oaks </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjwHiuNzvHqizOxU1HaQpnKVnLIzJqbeFi48uhdLXcZTlYjsAWNcniZTsecfMxLlnTCkgaz1EWnJuHNCvi0OuNHF45PO4so08HBsC7w12m0j-kFr1JrV8gKWwHa44DWTQti_j41IFqZA/s1600/8th+hacho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjwHiuNzvHqizOxU1HaQpnKVnLIzJqbeFi48uhdLXcZTlYjsAWNcniZTsecfMxLlnTCkgaz1EWnJuHNCvi0OuNHF45PO4so08HBsC7w12m0j-kFr1JrV8gKWwHa44DWTQti_j41IFqZA/s320/8th+hacho.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">looking back to Gaucin and El Hacho </td></tr>
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We bumped into two Firecrests after just 50 meters into the wood, then a series of sightings included; Robin, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Blue Tit.<br />
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On the south side of the hill a section of much older mature cork oak trees straddle the slopes this where we saw Eurasian Nuthatch, Crested Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit and we heard Great Spotted Woodpecker 'drumming'. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7QGdQd-6ag-WW9vhrmXk1tr0x3CBwMkDM2giutgyXrfn8O41dKh54aNySkCjGAzBhBCJpnebQF0NaSoYGTgYEPH4B4h-tKiF8S8fBsHXbvHlnFAtNrT2MUnHbYcNPXvJUyYrPCX3CGY0/s1600/8th+cortes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7QGdQd-6ag-WW9vhrmXk1tr0x3CBwMkDM2giutgyXrfn8O41dKh54aNySkCjGAzBhBCJpnebQF0NaSoYGTgYEPH4B4h-tKiF8S8fBsHXbvHlnFAtNrT2MUnHbYcNPXvJUyYrPCX3CGY0/s320/8th+cortes.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">view across to Cortes de la Frontera</td></tr>
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As we rounded the last section of the woodland the tree species changed, large areas of sweet chestnut trees stood in silence, bereft of leaves and birds. Another woodpecker drummed as we started the descent back to the village.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8ZajsctoMzFIol8yLg9_X9sevJctMHlvOY34lpeM47ynGs4pLlLiVRoAxShiq5K7rOx5QMTVipiejL903kkeKoTrGpOQgTiYYSewsm22iBK2dWu2hHW6BVlsopogrXvmudC78Os7rT4/s1600/8th+cows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn8ZajsctoMzFIol8yLg9_X9sevJctMHlvOY34lpeM47ynGs4pLlLiVRoAxShiq5K7rOx5QMTVipiejL903kkeKoTrGpOQgTiYYSewsm22iBK2dWu2hHW6BVlsopogrXvmudC78Os7rT4/s320/8th+cows.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fellow walkers!</td></tr>
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A Short-toed Treecreeper was a good find, another species for my year list, Griffon Vultures drifted over all morning heading in all directions with no particular place to go. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSN0t3q3HH_dNtgRPU8LrnFPE9bRgIujWRV5hK24kgmQaIoKmPNxOjN-P1BaqfX6x6RUgmyd5XygGfI2Kd2Er1wnCa_GOQQE31ZEUa0cPr3qdD7yxjDCscZWbkIiN-iiHogPoWOw2hwAY/s1600/8th+lichen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSN0t3q3HH_dNtgRPU8LrnFPE9bRgIujWRV5hK24kgmQaIoKmPNxOjN-P1BaqfX6x6RUgmyd5XygGfI2Kd2Er1wnCa_GOQQE31ZEUa0cPr3qdD7yxjDCscZWbkIiN-iiHogPoWOw2hwAY/s320/8th+lichen.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">plants and lichen growing on the rock - we counted 8 different species in this picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMNuiYMl-ZUxWV9HVLnUf8BifMefr_u3NY-vlT52C8at4cVCFXLeEEdeJIloJBnK4_f5BI7uGFK8kc8zgx6FejVUYJAh1vnvdoQoYqfatJoaGs2OgZsuHi8bp7oC5NuRYrlwYXQzfvOY/s1600/8th+cork+growth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMNuiYMl-ZUxWV9HVLnUf8BifMefr_u3NY-vlT52C8at4cVCFXLeEEdeJIloJBnK4_f5BI7uGFK8kc8zgx6FejVUYJAh1vnvdoQoYqfatJoaGs2OgZsuHi8bp7oC5NuRYrlwYXQzfvOY/s320/8th+cork+growth.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more growth on a cork oak tree-trunk</td></tr>
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A stunning male Black Redstart seen just outside the village gave us a few minutes enjoyment, it really was a corker. Other species seen as we finished were Sardinian Warbler, Crag Martin and Raven.WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-20935167715019350582017-01-08T01:05:00.002-08:002017-01-08T01:18:13.869-08:00Gaucin walks - 7th January 2017Weather: a cloudy, much cooler morning with a stronger, colder south-westerly breeze.<br />
<br />
Castillo del Aguila - (eagle castle) is just a stone's throw from our house and a fairly good spot for birding. During the winter the shrubs and trees provide shelter and food for a number of species, the community park on the west side is often sheltered from cold winds by the castle itself.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbkj2WJyQYmjVX4nr40cOovvIxHeJleFrlC8v2X9eyphs9BFGBjY8LUlUFCj6Wt1xy3o8cqqWRSi8O_NG0PJBgme3yB5rP_op4uGm10VDft23bAPFYhSjB8DElxKWTAqodbXhr-uBNKU/s1600/6th+reddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmbkj2WJyQYmjVX4nr40cOovvIxHeJleFrlC8v2X9eyphs9BFGBjY8LUlUFCj6Wt1xy3o8cqqWRSi8O_NG0PJBgme3yB5rP_op4uGm10VDft23bAPFYhSjB8DElxKWTAqodbXhr-uBNKU/s320/6th+reddy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">yet another picture of a Black Redstart</td></tr>
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That was the case this morning as I walked up to the castle entrance, a good number of Chiffchaffs fed in the bushes with dozens of Blackcaps. A Blue Rock Thrush (a nice blue male) flew up the rock face but disappeared too quickly. Other common garden species seen included: Chaffinch, several Robins and Blackbirds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXVqTfXUdaL2XTjlQO8LkvYveOiVk1-Rx_Z_WjUmi8gQvrmZeKqQiyU2uE0MC9p3gQqbrahbBla7T4HHfcLL8S8xabOB4FHu8B4tIoM6gbnEpjIfBqXl0rrGW1ajDvO0c3vcuYNSM_4U/s1600/6th+castle+gate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYXVqTfXUdaL2XTjlQO8LkvYveOiVk1-Rx_Z_WjUmi8gQvrmZeKqQiyU2uE0MC9p3gQqbrahbBla7T4HHfcLL8S8xabOB4FHu8B4tIoM6gbnEpjIfBqXl0rrGW1ajDvO0c3vcuYNSM_4U/s320/6th+castle+gate.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the path up to the castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sierra Crestellina as seen from Gaucin Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rio Genal snaking its way down the valley to meet the Rio Guadiaro before flowing into the sea at Soto Grande</td></tr>
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We took an afternoon walk below the village leaving from the bottom of Calle Casares and returned via a track up to Calle Arrabalete.<br />
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It was much warmer this afternoon and the cloud had dispersed somewhat so more sunshine warmed us up. Nineteen Griffon Vultures circled high above the Castle, it must be so nice for them to roam freely like that and not have to share their winter air-space with the summer migrants such as Booted and Short-toed Eagles and Black Kites, the latter incidentally, will begin to arrive at the end of this month.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Dl5zCWhYy6dKoOmHIjf8F1EYtyWqAMHYreccL678DVxdOTY44Z-KqkLyvWrQ7Ki0vVmqB5sucdHoC6hPhYEzA3kTao4FkMFJtAyX89FGttAHDhEnBuQ7ovH48XVhquWMMJdiy9-9KPs/s1600/7th+el+hacho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Dl5zCWhYy6dKoOmHIjf8F1EYtyWqAMHYreccL678DVxdOTY44Z-KqkLyvWrQ7Ki0vVmqB5sucdHoC6hPhYEzA3kTao4FkMFJtAyX89FGttAHDhEnBuQ7ovH48XVhquWMMJdiy9-9KPs/s320/7th+el+hacho.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">El Hacho looking from the bottom of Calle Casares</td></tr>
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Our walk took us to the hugh rock face, where an Eagle Owl was seen by Paul last year, I scanned the nooks and crannies not expecting to see one at this time of the day but you never know, 'stranger things have happened at sea'.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwInbyBfQI5gk2DlNuP0HZShNPMv-o__LN2juWT-g1FCKcvSuDsJwwLzIYscsMBWE3426T73UI1T4BotR_mukUOJrrhZvHAiBp-ZxZh7ZWyRjLNZgrGaepaM-77WMRyBA197GAZN-xv0/s1600/7th+paper+white.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWwInbyBfQI5gk2DlNuP0HZShNPMv-o__LN2juWT-g1FCKcvSuDsJwwLzIYscsMBWE3426T73UI1T4BotR_mukUOJrrhZvHAiBp-ZxZh7ZWyRjLNZgrGaepaM-77WMRyBA197GAZN-xv0/s320/7th+paper+white.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paper-white Narcissi</td></tr>
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We saw our first butterflies of the year when a female Brimstone flew by and we had sightings of two Red Admirals. Bird-wise it was much the same as this morning except that we found larger numbers of Chaffinches and a small flock of Serins that fed in the grasses of an orchard.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsrViMnDCuWYOq7cpwNe8UhDZ8sZLLyS6L5BtCBz5gpCxB90Z375xbAsRUkC6hQ1bFLOj-dZHp-EWZcGHvJiTV9L1SU6NNCdRiyKzujE77U3rmk8mbmpxrJOMFd1c8J2HVWmJF9KzzPuw/s1600/7th+clouds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsrViMnDCuWYOq7cpwNe8UhDZ8sZLLyS6L5BtCBz5gpCxB90Z375xbAsRUkC6hQ1bFLOj-dZHp-EWZcGHvJiTV9L1SU6NNCdRiyKzujE77U3rmk8mbmpxrJOMFd1c8J2HVWmJF9KzzPuw/s320/7th+clouds.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dawn likes taking pictures of clouds</td></tr>
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On the way back up a Common Buzzard drifted over and one or two Crag Martins dashed about the rock face.WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-87979413568419954212017-01-05T09:44:00.002-08:002017-01-05T09:44:30.280-08:00Gaucin, Spain - January 5th 2017Morning walk - 3km to El Colmenar turn-off.<br />
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It was another superb, clear and crisp January morning, an easterly breeze made it feel cold at first but it soon warmed up. Our house in Gaucin is over on the east side beneath the Castle so our proposed walk along the Algeciras road meant we has to walk the entire length of the village to start with. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaF1VYtZM2KbbjNeqg70d-WjTpfZGOKn8fV7W-5Ai1DJ6RpS8VC_LB_J-NgY9HABj-1SV3mbqfQKr5KYxc3OO2txsg2aVLnL-aDLHXqat1cMpQPyeINIW4O2iafrr60Q7lMy4l8fJbP3k/s320/5th+orange.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our street of oranges - Calle Canamaque</td></tr>
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We set out at 10am noting a single Black Redstart in our Street which incidentally has several orange trees bearing masses of fruit (inedible I might add) along one side.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4fMQEi3Cg8dvRPa0c6VM_yXkG7ULtErIO9ppSrqar1LmyiGvms1MEdYjQhTC3LaHEQIS4nRqKc8Gl3cidSyauzMHCkppNgP_nZow_9KVHS3YZtPqdNGoBgyMow8Z9pCd9nEWl_PWYYU/s1600/5th+gaucin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4fMQEi3Cg8dvRPa0c6VM_yXkG7ULtErIO9ppSrqar1LmyiGvms1MEdYjQhTC3LaHEQIS4nRqKc8Gl3cidSyauzMHCkppNgP_nZow_9KVHS3YZtPqdNGoBgyMow8Z9pCd9nEWl_PWYYU/s320/5th+gaucin.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the view back to the village from the Algeciras road</td></tr>
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Once out of the village the roadside verges of scrub and bushes hosted hordes of Blackcaps, I have never seen so many! Robins were quite plentiful too with White Wagtails, Cirl Bunting, Meadow Pipits, Song Thrushes and Sardinian Warblers appearing in much smaller numbers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKjn-2l67ZHgu4DnYbOGAgueQtXVh1pf0bajKq58yrMYyG2bMXL-AcuAK-1rSDa05srGeCZzrhy7_WW8DofuiAterxWbXs35rzxajBlvN04HQiN-JMxl3YdgIbQ93VBlH1agpYTMuqRc/s1600/5th+gib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKjn-2l67ZHgu4DnYbOGAgueQtXVh1pf0bajKq58yrMYyG2bMXL-AcuAK-1rSDa05srGeCZzrhy7_WW8DofuiAterxWbXs35rzxajBlvN04HQiN-JMxl3YdgIbQ93VBlH1agpYTMuqRc/s320/5th+gib.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the view down to the coast with Gibraltar and Morocco to the right of Gib</td></tr>
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Nineteen Griffon Vultures circled over the summit of El Hacho, a male Common Kestrel sat on a power line and I got a brief but obscured view of an accipitor, it flew away from me behind a clump of eucalyptus trees, probably a female Sparrowhawk.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2xpCJAvZUxQv6R8uFeaEh2asJjS_mqC_X-ze9QxOrg2UDVCQv9WK5gaWhbL8GJ6Ti0_sPqt1KsrRZiTAqMg1EbVPl717DEQ_gmJE3NpzOne-hMVHiGLQW-bMm8KyOhCxqa4B16qZyRVo/s1600/5th+griffs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2xpCJAvZUxQv6R8uFeaEh2asJjS_mqC_X-ze9QxOrg2UDVCQv9WK5gaWhbL8GJ6Ti0_sPqt1KsrRZiTAqMg1EbVPl717DEQ_gmJE3NpzOne-hMVHiGLQW-bMm8KyOhCxqa4B16qZyRVo/s320/5th+griffs.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Griffon Vultures</td></tr>
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The bird of the morning appeared as we approached the El Colmenar turning when a light morph BOOTED EAGLE circled over to our left. This is a smashing winter sighting as 99% of this species migrate to Africa for the winter. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64fiLD8oabaTw3tJSWhz-RD8PGtxPAsH3_WDu-5uZmpdXZx27kCfYpL3PPpPXyJdOO0cI2vFI5QbtvAqFXRNYHQvJMqS91shiWX3ZUXhAe4izxZQrGmWmUHdmc0F-iDb7vOZqoOaZJz0/s1600/5th+owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64fiLD8oabaTw3tJSWhz-RD8PGtxPAsH3_WDu-5uZmpdXZx27kCfYpL3PPpPXyJdOO0cI2vFI5QbtvAqFXRNYHQvJMqS91shiWX3ZUXhAe4izxZQrGmWmUHdmc0F-iDb7vOZqoOaZJz0/s320/5th+owl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">an Owl seen on the roof near Paul and Janys's house - do you know which species it is?</td></tr>
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Another group of 7 Griffon Vultures drifted low over us as we were just about to walk back to the village. It was a lovely 2 hour stroll that finished back at the house where our very local Black Redstart sat on our roof.WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-13314788866776819342017-01-04T13:08:00.002-08:002017-01-05T04:38:46.869-08:00Gaucin, Spain - winter visit - January 4th 2017Rio Genal, Gaucin and Rio Guadiaro, Estacion de Cortes<br />
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It was great to be back in the Spanish sunshine leaving a very cold Somerset yesterday! After some heavy winter rain the verdant Andalucia landscape and teamed with life. Blankets of flowering yellow Bermuda Buttercups were broken up by swathes of Paper-white Narcissi.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsbgvjUKv7tN_OqcqfkMpa_oQ0zXC_9qvbXjAkh4iuNcw2lzUHjgd8EttHHUgnNtWpA7GfC8h72PX7Uj-Ab1l_W25GxEP_gL3oM16w1z-C4qKmll2Qhlrebk56GGslPJJ8ZYI9sfw8bw/s1600/blk+red+male.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCsbgvjUKv7tN_OqcqfkMpa_oQ0zXC_9qvbXjAkh4iuNcw2lzUHjgd8EttHHUgnNtWpA7GfC8h72PX7Uj-Ab1l_W25GxEP_gL3oM16w1z-C4qKmll2Qhlrebk56GGslPJJ8ZYI9sfw8bw/s320/blk+red+male.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Redstart - male</td></tr>
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A perfect sunny day, no clouds and no wind greeted us (Dawn was with me) down at the river, we arrived a little late, it was 10am.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmCpnhAf4-TXdTwEFI4ixU_LSf0fhbUpmXK2he2tJTBrmmqDfv6bciF23wvGcKt1aYwgHHIfxPOkR-IHDivqPxo9KynDBsQ7aJBf435SEyXgikzk0GxtjYmxWe867-8uP3PE4SD88FgM/s1600/blk+red+fem+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmCpnhAf4-TXdTwEFI4ixU_LSf0fhbUpmXK2he2tJTBrmmqDfv6bciF23wvGcKt1aYwgHHIfxPOkR-IHDivqPxo9KynDBsQ7aJBf435SEyXgikzk0GxtjYmxWe867-8uP3PE4SD88FgM/s320/blk+red+fem+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Redstart - female</td></tr>
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At the river we first scanned the open pastures finding 6 species in the first field! Black Redstarts were abundant, they were all over the field and fence-line. White Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Goldfinch and Chaffinch were also there. In the bushes along the river a good number of Blackcaps were joined by I assume Common Chiffchaff, also Blue Tits, a Cetti's Warbler and a nice surprise was a Firecrest.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLJiBHjP6WD39XdjUw-r28_XtdRxarJcrcDL2hGQFKTGsnyvl6yd6qmwOFnMe-tYdM0VNcjyhlncl-HkUapptDiOUFcB7H6_ehbT5hqIkvOo96yQ0Qh3FHfbnPZW-uWKmOMD__T-XOZc/s1600/chiffchaff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicLJiBHjP6WD39XdjUw-r28_XtdRxarJcrcDL2hGQFKTGsnyvl6yd6qmwOFnMe-tYdM0VNcjyhlncl-HkUapptDiOUFcB7H6_ehbT5hqIkvOo96yQ0Qh3FHfbnPZW-uWKmOMD__T-XOZc/s320/chiffchaff.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chiffchaff - sp. most probably Common </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Further up river a Kingfisher flew across the track whilst Spotless Starlings called from the tree tops. Even more White Wagtails and Blackcaps filled the paddocks and bushes. Sardinian Warblers, Common Kestrel, Great Cormorant, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Greenfinch and Crag Martin made up the rest of our sightings.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7j70x_PuhiJCHdrNTU4jmXu7iB_cAp2_aRcZmM0ibVt2j7ad6r7yOB-a2nSctj13rXTWBcw1FYuor5xsv3GOUvlvSDDrHoQu9ryCbpstVQM4n1LhcH3b7jCHbjiFl6pM7YwAPQZheI4/s1600/mandarins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7j70x_PuhiJCHdrNTU4jmXu7iB_cAp2_aRcZmM0ibVt2j7ad6r7yOB-a2nSctj13rXTWBcw1FYuor5xsv3GOUvlvSDDrHoQu9ryCbpstVQM4n1LhcH3b7jCHbjiFl6pM7YwAPQZheI4/s320/mandarins.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A huge flock of Griffon Vultures circled above Sierra Crestellina, I counted 71 but I'm sure I missed a few.<br />
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We had lunch back home in Gaucin before driving down to the Rio Guadiaro at Cortes. The weather was even better it must been around 17C as we walked westward along the river. We had many more sightings of Black Redstarts, White Wagtail, Common Chiffchaff, Stonechat, Crag Martin and Goldfinch. A single Green Sandpiper, two Great Cormorants and good views of our second Cetti's Warbler was nice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTLryACoakX2MgVsN6tb_UPNl5lEHwmahXh1uEMnOiCBNv6fifqi64MOicl3vnxBD9_FsW820ddLhmuuMSDhgMqx95YoUk1_o3x6P3Ss8sMngVl54ckmfjr03xO_4z6QRvUnXSmMZL_s/s1600/firecrest+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTLryACoakX2MgVsN6tb_UPNl5lEHwmahXh1uEMnOiCBNv6fifqi64MOicl3vnxBD9_FsW820ddLhmuuMSDhgMqx95YoUk1_o3x6P3Ss8sMngVl54ckmfjr03xO_4z6QRvUnXSmMZL_s/s320/firecrest+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firecrest</td></tr>
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During the walk back to the car we found two more Firecrests, they must have been rivals as both them were quite agitated with crests raised and feathers buffed up, it was quite amazing to watch.<br />
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Final birds added to the day list were Grey Wagtail, Corn Bunting and a Mistle Thrush.<br />
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<br />WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-73160427168328749032017-01-04T12:11:00.000-08:002017-01-04T12:11:02.270-08:00NEW YEAR BIRDING - January 1st 2017<div itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
Today I set out on my traditional New Year's day birding, I try to see 100 species in Dorset, UK in one day. For the third year running I was thwarted by the weather.......................</div>
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WAREHAM FOREST</h2>
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SHERFORD BRIDGE AND MORDEN BOG</h2>
It was 8am and still pretty much dark, thick dark clouds obscured what little light our mighty sun was throwing our way. There was an eerie silence, no traffic, no bird song and little drops of rain pitter-pattered on my coat.<br />
At last a sound, Common Pheasants disturbed from their roost let everyone know it, a Robin bursts into its dirge-like winter song and a Green Woodpecker calls from afar.<br />
My efforts to locate a Dartford Warbler on the Morden Bog Heathland failed miserably but other species start to appear, Stonechat, Goldfinch, Siskin, Blackbird, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jackdaw, Crow, Cormorant and Woodpigeon.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/e54bb9b4ec7589ea8f2a699ccaadd8fd2061a8d2/morden_bog.content.jpg" style="height: 488px; width: 650px;" /><br />
MORDEN BOG<br />
The light improved considerably as I walked back to the car at 9am, it stopped raining too! I saw both Pied and Grey Wagtails near a heap of dung with a Chaffinch. At Sherford Bridge where I had parked the car, a Little Egret and a Grey Heron flew off as my head appeared over the parapet, oops!<br />
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LYTCHETT FIELDS</h2>
The short drive to Lytchett Fields took 10 minutes, I notched Raven and more Pheasants along the way. The long walk to the RSPB ‘ LYTCHETT FIELDS RESERVE’ gave me a few more species, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Black-headed Gull and Rook.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/642790f439115620afe7ae1f6d1494dad8956a35/lychett.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
RSPB LYTCHETT FIELDS<br />
Lytchett Fields has played host to a Lesser Yellowlegs since November, an American wading bird that has decided to over-winter in the UK. The muddy scrapes held lots of birds, Eurasian Teal and Lapwing were the most common with a single Spotted Redshank, Moorhens, Common Shelduck, Common Snipe, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Common Redshank making up the bulk of the other Birds present.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/4bb26b5a54505defab6be6633e8bc65b18159642/lesser.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
record shot of the Lesser Yellowlegs<br />
Three other birders were present and one of them located the Yellowlegs, smashing, a great bird to add to my new year’s list. My long walk back to the car was rewarded with sightings of Goldcrest, Mistle Thrush, Redwing and Common Starling.<br />
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HARTLAND MOOR AND ARNE RSPB (CAR PARK)</h2>
I drove next to RSPB Arne hoping for a few good species coming to the feeders in the car park. Alas nothing new came down but I did find a FIRECREST in the bushes next to my car. I stopped on the heath as I headed towards Corfe and immediately found 3 Dartford Warblers, lovely!<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/47b66a2e78fd79d2f3a6ce612a6f273b25a07fdb/corfe.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></h2>
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Corfe Castle............or what is left of it!</h2>
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STUDLAND BAY</h2>
Next I drove to Studland Bay, parking in the ‘Middle Beach’ car park I scanned the bay from the side of the car. Within minutes I found Razorbill, Shag, Great Northern Diver, Great-crested & Slavonian Grebes and Great Black-backed Gull.<br />
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/19f6af0c43afbc8064170ccf5606e1c945f0140a/old_harry.content.jpg" style="height: 488px; width: 650px;" /></h2>
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Old Harry Rocks in Studland Bay</h2>
<h2>
HOLES BAY</h2>
A little further along the road towards Poole I stopped to view Poole Harbour, from a vantage point on the heath I had great views of Brownsea Island, Round Island and Holes Bay. It was high tide so most of the birds were crowded onto reed-covered islands, several species of duck joined Brent Geese, Canada Geese and lots of waders. Pintail, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Gadwall, Teal, Common Shelduck made up the wildfowl whilst Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank, Grey Plover, Dunlin and Oystercatcher.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/b2c88b0a7fe5a51198989a6aaaff6894d6cd9a04/reedy.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
spot the Reed Bunting!<br />
On the Heath itself I saw Green Woodpecker, Reed Bunting and a Song Thrush before I jumped back into the car and headed for Weymouth. It was now 12 noon, I had notched up 61 species in my quest for the magic 100. However, I knew that bad weather was on its way, I could see more dark clouds in the distance heading my way.<br />
<h2>
WEYMOUTH – LODMORE</h2>
By the time I got to Lodmore it was raining lightly and I had added Collared Dove, Common Buzzard and Lesser Black-backed Gull. At Lodmore I jumped out of the car for approximately 5 minutes, a quick scan from a side road added Shoveler and Common Coot.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0527b1702ad6e354d522d121e3d6d4d701b3c5d1/mistle.content.jpg" /><br />
<h2>
Mistle Thrush</h2>
<h2>
WEYMOUTH – RADIPOLE LAKE</h2>
A similar situation occurred at Radipole Lake, except that I jumped out for a little bit longer. From the visitor’s centre I added Mediterranean Gull, Common Gull and a cup of coffee. The rain came down harder as I reach Portland Harbour.<br />
<h2>
WEYMOUTH – PORTLAND HARBOUR</h2>
Viewing the harbour from the Weymouth Sailing club is usually the best way to see Black-necked Grebes, it took a while until I found two of them. Lots of Red-breasted Mergansers fed nearby also Shag, Cormorant and Great Crested Grebe.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a7044ada2abc096f8e870967c26c2a8bda03fbfe/portland.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /><br />
<h2>
view of Portland Harbour from Weymouth Sailing Club with Portland in the background</h2>
<h2>
FERRYBRIDGE</h2>
I viewed Ferrybridge mudflats from the Weymouth side first, it was now very bleak, the rain came down at 45 degrees and it was wet! I saw more Mergansers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and Brent Geese. Watching from the visitor’s centre car park I added Rock Pipit, Pale-bellied Brent Goose and Ruddy Turnstone, the rain, wet optics and the poor light drove me away.<br />
<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/39b672347c77593789d78b7a3c5bbde4f47c38a0/dunlin.content.jpg" style="height: 488px; width: 650px;" /><br />
<h2>
Dunlin at Ferrybridge</h2>
<h2>
PORTLAND CASTLE</h2>
I made a last-ditch effort to see more water birds from Portland Castle but failed, it was now windy, cold and wet. I gave up and headed for home. It was 3pm I had seen 79 species and was defeated, yet again, by the lovely English weather! Believe it or not, I really enjoyed the day and I’ll try again next year.Happy New Year.<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-59682683586105330502016-12-15T23:15:00.001-08:002016-12-15T23:15:12.140-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR - DAY 11<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
TRANSFER FROM TENDABA TO SENEGAMBIA HOTEL WITH STOPS AT TENDABA 'AIRFIELD' - KIANG WEST BUSH TRACK AND NATURE RESERVE HEADQUARTERS</h3>
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WEATHER: Another scorcher with temps above 35C</div>
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After checking out of the Tendaba Camp for the second time on this tour we stopped a couple of kilometers along the road at the post-war aerodrome site. Our target was the Plain-backed Pipit which failed to show but we enjoyed the early morning temperature and a good number of species too.</div>
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From there we drove to the KIANG WEST Bush track where we had enjoyed good sightings last night. It was equally as good this morning, birds seemed to be everywhere. We relocated the White-shouldered Tit and in the same tree we found Striped Kingfisher, Yellow-fronted Canary, Yellow-breasted Eremomela and Pygmy Sunbird. Further along the track we saw a couple of Black-crowned Tchagras, Four-banded Sandgrouse and our first White-crested Helmet-Shrike. Senegal Batis was a show-stopper, we had much better views of it this morning.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/d6c27794767ba46bb66cc5912eb739d3e4f3dfa8/1_helmet.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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White-crested Helmet-Shrike</div>
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A Bateleur Eagle was a great sighting it flew right over us, smashing! Dark-chanting Goshawk, African Harrier-hawk, Lanner Falcon and Grey Kestrel were some of the other raptors seen.</div>
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For the rest of the morning we drove round to another Bush track a few kilometers further west but still in the reserve, this track led us to the park headquarters and a group of bird-ringers were operating a temporary ringing station. We stayed for an hour or so watching them process a number of species.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/2decd76038f30fc61a08bb0c85354770ebfabd6b/2_lizard_buzz.content.jpg" style="height: 356px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Lizard Buzzard in the hand</div>
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A Lizard Buzzard was a superb catch for them and a little beauty in the hand, the guys pointed out the extraordinary large legs and feet on this species. Grey-backed Cameroptera, Common Bulbul, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu and Vinaceous Dove were some of the birds ringed. Ray Marsh, one of our group was also a ringer and he handled a couple of species too, particularly doves, he loved ringing a Black-billed Wood-Dove.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a45da0e5ebfc55ccaede8819296ef509395485af/2_ray.content.jpg" style="height: 338px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Ray Marsh - doing what he loves best, ringing a bird, in this case a Black-billed Wood Dove</div>
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Well, we had to leave the ringers and continue our drive to Banjul, we stopped a couple more times to look at Long-crested Eagle, Grasshopper Buzzard and Abyssinian Rollers for photographic opportunities and we got out to stretch our legs at a raptor watch-point. We added Booted Eagle and Common Swift to our trip list before setting off again.</div>
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The remainder of the journey was a bit of a nightmare and it reminded me of a 'movie scene'. The election results were in and the current President of 22 years had been toppled! The population were ecstatic and took to the streets in their thousands. Each village we came to had large cheering, gatherings of exuberant youths either in the road or along it, we had to trickle through some very rowdy mobs, the closer we got to Banjul the bigger the mobs, they surrounded the bus bashing on windows and side panels, climbing on the roof!</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/f6a249ff00cc9f0aee9c0a3b3514cf1a9a6f5e06/5_yellow_billed_kite.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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the most common bird of prey in the Gambia - Yellow-billed Kite</div>
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Ali our driver took us through side tracks to avoid the main road areas as we approached KOLOLI where our hotel was, we made it back around 3pm, a little late but all in one piece. We called it day after that and didn't venture out of the hotel grounds for the rest of the day.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/754d76eaccd1c46d9b9a6890b0b7a90dcdb01bc7/1_batis_1.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Senegal Batis</div>
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The bird-log revealed that our total stands at 286 species recorded, we have 3 full days to look for another 30+ species or at least crack the 300 target we have set for ourselves.<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-15493743991625571042016-12-15T23:10:00.003-08:002016-12-15T23:10:44.401-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR - DAY 10<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
TRANSFER FROM GEORGETOWN ISLAND TO TENDABAAMP WITH STOPS AT JAHALLY RICE FIELDS AND KIANG WEST BUSH TRACK</h3>
WEATHER: our hottest day yet, 39C and humid.<br />
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PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION-DAY IN THE GAMBIA<br />
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Our air-conditioned bus was a saviour today and it was hard to get the group off it at times. We set off at 8am and travelled westward back to Tendaba, we crossed onto the south bank of the river from Georgetown on the 'new' bridge and stopped just after to look at a pair of Verreaux's Eagle Owls. The owls were in their usual baobab tree and showed very well, we also found Gabar Goshawk, Marsh Harrier, Senegal Parrot, Mosque Swallow and a few common weaver's.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/d2e0240f4904f6dc5919f5a8d879bf8c8c9252ad/30_verrauxs.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Verreaux's Eagle-Owl</div>
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After another 20km we stopped to look at a colony of Maribou Storks, these huge, ugly birds are holding up well in the Gambia. Modou, our guide, took us to another Verreaux's Eagle Owl site a little further on where we had much better views especially good for photography.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/7e1560a7a5f67e2a82d458d0e8a9312de7af806d/4_rufous.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Rufous-crowned Roller</div>
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It was 10:30am by the time we reached the huge rice fields at Jahally, where hot and humid conditions prevailed. We coaxed the group off the bus with the 'carrot' of Painted Snipe being our best offer! We saw a dozen snipe, mostly Common Snipe but a few were most definitely Painted Snipe, but we only saw them in flight. An hour and a half walking in the heat produced over 30 species which included a European Roller, a rare sighting, as well as Black Crake, dozens of Jacanas, our first Black-faced Quail-finch, also Red-billed Quelea, Purple, Grey, Blacked-headed and Squacco Heron.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/dc85a3a4cb9091af9c0838c5de8b50937cb88870/2_whydahs.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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a number of Norrhern Sahel Whydahs (males are the colourful ones) with Namaqua Dove</div>
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From Jahally we drove through Soma picking up picnic supplies before sitting in the shade of the forest to eat it. From there to Tendaba we stopped several more times to look at raptors high in the sky or perched on roadside trees. We added Tawny Eagle to our trip list and also saw Wahlberg's, Brown Snake-Eagle, Dark Chanting Goshawk, African Harrier-Hawk, Lanner Falcon and Grey Kestrel.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/6e3e75d21e5e239de54ef9a3f347912a1e277c96/2_babboons.content.jpg" style="height: 438px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Baboons - a large troop of about 50 animals crossed the road in front of the bus</div>
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We arrived at Tendaba Camp at 3pm and decided to wait until the heat abated before we went out birding. So it was 5pm when we set off for the 10 minute drive to Kiang West Bush tracks. Our first track was excellent we saw Four-banded Sandgrouse on the track, Black-crowned Tchagra in the bushes then we added several new species in quick succession as Modou whistled the call of the Pearl-spotted Owlet. First we found a Scimitar-bill, then a Brubru, Senegal Batis and the most wanted White-shouldered Tit. It was certainly a great fifteen minutes, we also saw Yellow-breasted Eremomela and a Brown-backed Woodpecker.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/88c770e154a2c9eaa4a19f1071e3bc2760346d48/3_brubru.content.jpg" style="height: 469px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Brubru</div>
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Back on the main track our sightings continued despite the fading light. We saw two more Eremomelas with a Yellow White-eye and a Brown-rumped Bunting. A Common Redstart was one of the last birds we recorded before the light finally gave way.</div>
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Back at the camp we discovered that 120 British Students had checked in, I am listening to very loud disco music as I write this at 10pm, they have promised to end the disco at midnight!<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-17648833119349980052016-12-15T23:07:00.004-08:002016-12-15T23:07:28.914-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR - DAY 9<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
WASSU AREA AND SAND QUARRY - 'HIPPO' RIVER CRUISE</h3>
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Another fantastic morning in this birding paradise called the Gambia. After a frugal breakfast of bread, jam, cheese-triangles and an omelette we set off to the ferry for our trip back to the north shore. The vehicle queue was quite large so we went across as foot-passengers and birded around the river until the bus came over some 45 minutes later. We saw a good variety of species, the large African Harrier-Hawk flew over carrying a lizard for breakfast, Grey Kestrels dashed passed us, whilst Senegal Coucal, Yellow-billed Shrike and Vinaceous Dove sat in the same bush. We watched Grey-backed Cameroptera, Velliot's Barbet and several other species before boarding the bus.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/8c68e4043492fe387edc01c9734f542e7073be45/23_greyplantain.content.jpg" style="height: 496px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Grey Plantain-eater</div>
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Apart from the large colony of Red-throated Bee-eaters Wassu quarry is a good place to look for Carmine Bee-eaters especially in the morning, our short search of the area produced a number of them within minutes, what a stunning looking beast. We also watched the Red-throated and the Green Bee-eaters along with large numbers of Northern Sahel Whydah, Northern Red Bishops, White Rumped Seedeaters, Cut-throats, Waxbills and weavers.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0c3770c80060ed4d1efe0c8cc07c89c2aa6deda1/29_carmine.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Carmine Bee-eaters, we saw only half a dozen of these beauties</div>
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The sky was full of birds too, a number of raptors began to appear and including Dark Chanting Goshawk & Grasshopper Buzzard, which were seen along the way, we listed ten species this morning.</div>
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First a pair of African Hawk-Eagles showed really well then African Harrier-Hawk came over and Beaudouin's Eagle hovered above us. A Lanner Falcon dive-bombed another Beaudouin's Eagle just before we sighted a Martial Eagle carrying prey (the prey looked like a squirrel), phew, what a purple patch. Also up there with the eagles was Hooded, Ruppell's & White-backed Vultures as well as Sand Martin, Little Swift, Mottled Spintail and both Red-chested & Red-rumped Swallows. Abyssinian Rollers were everywhere with Rufous-crowned Roller seen on the telephone wires.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/35da5618937a9a808c7ca24f8501d89d7e0c240b/29_bush_track.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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The bush track leading to Wassu Quarry</div>
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A short watch at the quarry pools produced even more species as Pin-tailed Whydah, Cuthroat, Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Weaver, Red Bishop, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting joined lots of weaver's and Waxbills coming to drink and Anteater-Chat sat singing from earth mounds.</div>
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It was getting very hot so we gave up and drove back to the ferry, again there was a long delay so we hired a private boat to take us to our camp leaving Ali the driver and the bus in the queue. A long lunch ensued and we met again at 3pm back at the jetty in time to board a boat for our private river cruise, it was still stifling hot at this stage.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/0972a0e222868f94a08acf804119b7dc17692046/2_carmine_single.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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I couldn't resist putting another Carmine picture in</div>
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Out on the river a cool breeze was most welcomed, we relaxed and began to enjoy a series of sightings over the next three hours as we motored down the river hugging the shore on either side. Highlights during the first hour include sightings of an African Fish Eagle which dropped into the water on a fishing expedition, a Palm-nut Vulture, several Night Herons roosting and a number of Swamp Flycatchers feeding from overhanging branches.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/215e36c871e7c3a3ef8a116d8e36a43ecf0b0156/2_hippo_cruise.content.jpg" style="height: 338px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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one of the creeks we drifted into</div>
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We ventured up a side creek where Kingfishers were a prominent feature, Malachite, Woodland, Grey-headed and Blue-breasted all made it onto the list, whilst the main target Shining Blue remained elusive. It was on the return journey from this creek visit that we made our best sighting when we joined another birding boat-party who had just seen an African Finfoot.</div>
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At this stage our engine had some trouble and for fifteen frustrating minutes we drifted away from the sighting whilst the other group were getting occasional views. Eventually we got going and returned to the site just as the other boat left and to our great relief the bird came out from hiding. We had the most fantastic views of it out in the open, what a colourful bird which looks ten times better in real life than its depiction in the field guide.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/11370094fd4ee562b563e20e720a7b1b55be1fc1/2_finfoot_1.content.jpg" style="height: 382px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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African Finfoot - both photos taken by Stephen Berry</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/d688a8147bcd1b0d26118c348acd99f3849e85ed/2_finfoot_2.content.jpg" style="height: 339px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Next we ventured further down river adding more species to the list, Yellow-throated Leaf-love, Little and Red-throated Bee-eaters, Hammerkop, Senegal Thick-knee, Wattled Lapwing and Common Gonolek. We also saw several Monitor Lizards, Red-Colobus Monkeys, Green Vervet Monkeys and a huge Hippopotomus, this beast rose up out of the water and breached like a whale with gaping jaws - I think we got a little too close so we beat a hasty retreat.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/a0624c2464001c6706186ba93b57e14c1a6cc2d5/2_colobus.content.jpg" /></div>
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Red Colobus Monkey</div>
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The light began to fade as we returned upriver but before it was too bad we notched our second most wanted species, the Shining Blue Kingfisher. We had a number of brief views of them as they dashed from perch to perch and we did see it for a short time perched on over-hanging branches but it was difficult and you had to be quick with your bins, we all saw one but not everyone had satisfactory views before bad light thwarted our efforts.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/20776d10388be8ca6fa7e7aa26329aa947cbdbb4/6_monitor.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Monitor Lizard</div>
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A beautiful sunset lit up the sky behind us as we made it back to the jetty behind our camp on Georgetown Island. We logged just over 40 species on the trip with the two main must-see birds in the bag and a scary Hippo on the mammal list!</div>
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Dinner was at 8 pm so we had time to call the log beforehand and enjoy a cold drink at the same time. We now had 275 species on our list, tomorrow we head back to Tendaba along the south bank this time.<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-23271706415005976862016-12-15T11:10:00.004-08:002016-12-15T11:10:35.355-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR - DAY 8<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
TRANSFER FROM TENDABA TO GEORGETOWN ISLAND WITH STOPS AT FARA FENNI PEANUT FIELDS, KAUR MARSHES, ROADSIDE WATERING HOLES - WASSU SAND QUARRY </h3>
Weather: hot, sunny and humid, the hottest day so far 35C+<br />
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Just when you think the birding would ease off a little and finding of new species would reduce we have another excellent day full of great finds and new birds.</div>
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We ate breakfast early and was on the road by 7:15am, our ferry crossing timing was important and we needed to get there as early as possible. We crossed the river with a little delay and drove northwards on the northern shore to Fara Fenni where we bought lunch before driving a few kilometres out of town to walk in the peanut fields.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/6937659fa78620b35e1926d21d56e4ad0e18be35/29_b_h_plover.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Black-headed Lapwing</div>
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It was hot already at 9am as we started our walk, the peanut harvest was well under way so many local people we out in the fields, this made our job a little harder because of the disturbance factor. We notched up quite a few local species and few migrants during the first hour such as; Northern Wheatear, Whinchat, Tree Pipit, Red-throated Pipit, Crested Lark and Greater Short-toed Lark.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/dc172224e9e314a1f1ef2b62375e87d5385a15df/30_thick_knee.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Spotted Thick-knee</div>
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As we crossed into some knee-high scrub we inadvertently flushed a few parties of Bustards, both Black-bellied and Savile's were identified, great birds for the list. We also saw Double-spurred Francolin and a Little Buttonquail.</div>
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Just after the Bustard excitement we heard the call of our main target species the Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill, it seemed extraordinary that we had walked passed this huge bird but the call came from just behind us. We repositioned ourselves and sure enough the bird came into view but as soon as it saw us it flew off. We tracked it with our bins and managed to follow it until it landed, but then it ran with an awkward and comical gait until we lost sight of it, an amazing bird.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/e5c3731f3208f8e4a9910c69257ee22da149b444/30_abyss.content.jpg" /></div>
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so photogenic the Abyssinian Roller</div>
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After another search of the fields for Temminck's Courser, which failed to show, we walked back to the bus noting several Dark Chanting Goshawks, African Harrier-Hawk, Red-necked Falcon and groups of vultures which included both Ruppell's and White-backed Vultures.</div>
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It was now getting on for midday so we drove a little further and stopped at a roadside pool to eat lunch and watch flocks of birds coming to drink.</div>
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Again we were amazed by the number of species listed there in just one hour. Apart from large flocks of weavers, bishops, queleas and doves we saw Bush Petronia, Cinnamon-breasted Bunting, Northen Sahel Whydah, Yellow-fronted Canary, Little Swift, Dark Chanting Goshawk, Black-rumped and Lavander Waxbills, Namaqua Dove and Green Bee-eater.</div>
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From the pools we drove another 20km to Kaur Marshes a very large area of reed fringed pools, mudflats and scrub. The road forms a raised causeway through the centre of the marsh which is ideal for viewing from. We found Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark just before we located our major target species of the tour, the Crocodile Bird or Egyptian Plover, what a stunner we notched up three of them in quick succession, amazing!</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/86fec4d4836c501367573dec34756f70eadc84f8/1_egypt.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Egyptian Plover</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/4809e8f2751642ded0fd702d4028d95e5fd44283/28_egypt.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Kaur Marsh is also excellent for waders especially over-wintering Collared Pratincoles of which there were about 500 in view. The Kittlitz's Plover is also a feature there, we saw about a dozen with Ringed & Little-Ringed Plover, Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper and a Single Painted Snipe. Three Knot-billed Ducks landed in the reeds but were only seen by a couple of the group and many common water birds were present including Hammercop, Jacana, lots of egrets, herons and cormorants.</div>
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We left the area and continued towards Georgetown making a few stops to photograph perched raptors, rollers and we saw our first Wahlberg's Eagle circling high up.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/563ad29711e8fffd8d68f67bdd99e6b0e9f8ff4f/29_anteater.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Northern Anteater-Chat</div>
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One last stop was made at Wassu Sand Quarry, where a colony of Red-throated Bee-eaters have bred for Donkey's years, the numbers have steadily been increasing. Today over 100 pairs were present, in my opinion they are the most beautiful and photogenic of all the Bee-eater species found in the Gambia, they posed well for us.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/158fb26f128fa3be1ceaf9dd1cd495ad6fa96b92/28_red_throated.content.jpg" style="height: 467px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Red-throated Bee-eater</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/9a62075e508ee316964068648818745218c36ac9/28_red_throated_1.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Green Bee-eater is another beauty which was also present along with a dozen or so other species including; Northern Anteater-Chat, White-rumped Seedeater, Northern Sahel Whydah and lots of weaver species.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/9d4d37a7a77ae08e8bc6a3ff0f96e89839ad1b57/28_green_bee.content.jpg" style="height: 460px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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A short ferry ride took us onto Georgetown, which is an Island in the middle of the Gambian River, we are now some 300km upriver from Banjul and the river is still very wide and tidal! We settled into our rooms in the Boabolong Camp after a cold drink. A nice relaxed break was enjoyed before dinner at 8. Our list for today was the biggest of the tour so far with 119 species recorded!<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-26226281860602482202016-12-15T10:00:00.000-08:002016-12-15T10:00:06.178-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR - DAY 7<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
Tendaba Creek Crawl - Tendaba Camp birding - Kiang West Forest</h3>
Weather: overcast until 11am, then bright sunshine and high temp. 30C+<br />
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My absolute favourite part of this tour is the Creek Crawl into the mangroves at Tendaba. A tranquil, very enjoyable trip into the heart of the swamps with so many species to look for in superb weather condition and idyllic habitat. Previous records for this trip have topped the 70 species mark with 77 being a WINGSPAN record count.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/ac32b76956050298fb5232d3829d5749641ea9e5/29_river_at_dawn.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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The river at dawn this morning</div>
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We set out just after 8am and headed up river for a short distance before turning across the river and entering the mangroves. Within minutes we had logged 10 species with African Spoonbill and Pink -backed Pelican showing the best. It's difficult to describe the calming effect you feel when you drift into the mangroves as though you are entering a green open-topped tunnel, a deep silence pervades, broken only by bird song and the odd splash as Darters drop from their perches into the water.</div>
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Blue-breasted Kingfishers call out their monotonous song whilst higher pitched sounds come from Mouse-Brown Sunbirds and African Blue Flycatchers. We saw all three of those species along with a multitude of others. Our boat drifted onwards to open areas of marsh where egrets, herons and a few waders were listed.</div>
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African Fish Eagle</div>
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The strange looking Hammertoe is common there, it builds a huge nest, a domed-mound of sticks with a large entrance hole at its base. Every bend we rounded a new sighting would appear, a Martial Eagle's nest had a sitting bird but it was difficult to see it, a Dideric Cuckoo dashed across the boat and perched briefly showing well, the same happened with Malachite and Grey-headed Kingfishers.</div>
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At the turning point we caught sight of a pair of Black-crowned Cranes, Gambia's emblemic, national bird, which is now very rare. We then hit a purple patch when a number of new sightings came thick and fast. Marsh Harrier, Yellow-billed Stork, Woolly-necked Stork, African Fish Eagle, Mosque Swallow, Montagu's Harrier, Grest-spotted Cuckoo and 3 more Fish Eagles.</div>
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<img alt="" src="https://wingspan-bird-tours.s3.amazonaws.com/assets/837efb465f569705d8f34d0e8b08f578f5317d7a/28_abyss.content.jpg" style="height: 450px; width: 600px;" /></div>
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Abyssinian Roller</div>
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Our journey ended as we broke cover from the mangroves and hit the open water of the River Gambia, we crossed the river and returned to the camp at noon. It had been another fantastic trip with a superb list of 68 species, 22 of which were new for our list.</div>
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After a long lunch break we went for two more birding excursions, the first was a walk from the camp to a new site where a hide and a watering pool had been installed. It was now hot and very humid so the going was a little slow.</div>
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Village Indigobird</div>
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We found several species in the area with Village Indigobird, Brubru, Bush Petronia, Yellow-fronted Canary, Long-tailed Exclamatory Whydah, Scimitar-Bill (heard) and Northern Red Bishop forming the best part of our list.</div>
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At 4pm we jumped onto our bus and drove the short distance to Kiang West Bird Reserve where we took a Bush track and also walked across open peanut fields. Again many species were seen with several new species added to our list. A couple of migrant bird species were found in the form of Yellow Wagtail and Woodchat Shrike, we also saw Pygmy Sunbird, Violet-chested Sunbird, Spotted Thick-knee, Black-headed Lapwing and Senegal Parrot but we just missed a sighting of Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill as another group of birders saw two of them five minutes before we arrived.</div>
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Senegal Parrot</div>
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As the Sun dropped quickly over the horizon we got back on the bus only to stop after 10 minutes to look at Nightjars, we saw a couple of Standard-winged Nightjars, the male showing off its wing-pennants as it dashed through the night sky. It was a lovely ending to another bird-filled day, we had seen 115 species and our total now stands at 232, wow, still 7 days to go!<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-44098773637461332742016-12-15T09:52:00.000-08:002016-12-15T09:52:09.674-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR DAY 6<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
TRANSFER FROM COASTAL REGION TO TENDABA CAMP IN THE MIDDLE RIVER SECTION, CALLING AT PIRANG FOREST, FARABA BUSH TRACK AND TENDABA 'AIRFIELD'</h3>
Weather: overcast all day, lower temperature around 25C<br />
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Although we left the hotel at 7:45am we didn't actually set off for Tendaba until 3pm, this was because we spent all morning walking the tracks in the Pirang Forest, then we ate lunch and spent a couple hours birding the Bush Track at FARABA.</div>
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Pirang forest is a fine example of primary forest with some impressive 'ancient' stands of trees. We didn't arrived until 9:30am but the birding was excellent. Modou was now our guide for the rest of the trip and he led us through the forest with a local guide.</div>
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Blue-bellied Rollers seen on route to Pirang</div>
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It took a while to find our first birds but a Northern White-faced Owl showed really well before we 'chased' an African Goshawk which showed very briefly and to only a few of us. This was the pattern for the few species such as Yellowbill Coucal, Green Crombec, Green Hylia and Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat, they all put in brief appearances.</div>
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Two prized birds came next, the first is making this piece of forest quite famous after its discovery in 2013. A pair of White-spotted Flufftails are seen regularly at a particular spot in the forest and today was no exception, what a cracker!</div>
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White-spotted Flufftail</div>
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We then had better views of Green Crombec and Green Hylia before being shown a Verraux's Eagle Owl, our second most prized bird.</div>
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Back at the entrance we sat drinking cold fantas whilst watching a drinking pool where a nice selection of birds were coming to drink. We added our first Black-rumped Waxbill to the list and enjoyed a good number of other species including a Pygmy Kingfisher.</div>
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From Pirang we continued our easterly journey before turning off at Faraba to explore the open forest along a Bush Track.</div>
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It was midday, hot and humid but still overcast, a hour long walk produced very little with Dark Chanting Goshawk being the most remarkable. We ate lunch in the shade of a large tree before spending an hour in a bird 'photography' hide where a selection of birds came to drink but nothing new for us.</div>
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Bruce's Green Pigeon</div>
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Our journey to Tendaba started in earnest at 3pm! We set off with no more stops planned, but of course we stopped a dozen times to look at perched raptors and other interesting species.</div>
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Both Lizard and Grasshopper Buzzards were seen on a number of occasions, as was Long-crested Eagle, Dark Chanting Goshawk and Grey Kestrel, We also stopped to look at Abyssinian Roller, Rufous Crowned Roller, both African and Bruce's Green Pigeons, Red-billed Oxpecker and an African Cuckoo!</div>
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African Cuckoo</div>
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At Tendaba we stopped for a walk on the old 'airfield' site looking for Ground-Hornbills without success but we did see a good number of species including the African Hobby, Pink-backed Pelican, Senegal Parrot, Gull-billed Tern, Hammerkop and a good deal more.</div>
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We arrived at the camp just before dark and dinner was taken at eight in the large covered terrace. I am please to report that the camp is going through a much needed renovation programme and the road from Banjul is tarmac all the way to Tendaba now!<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460304157686887221.post-30810086943862196812016-12-15T05:26:00.000-08:002016-12-15T05:26:19.922-08:00GAMBIA - 14-DAY TOUR DAY 5<h3 itemprop="child" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Breadcrumb">
Tujering open woodland - Tanji Bird Reserve</h3>
Weather: hot, dry, sunny, humid. 30C+<br />
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Tujering was our destination for this morning's outing, we arrived at 8:30am after another lovely breakfast on the outside terrace.<br />
The flat landscape of Tujering borders the beach area and consists mainly of dense scrub up to a meter high with small stands of trees. As usual many birds called or sang from the scrub and/or trees we quickly amassed a nice list. Striped Kingfisher was one of the first with Whistling & Singing Cisticolas coming close second.<br />
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Brown-backed Woodpecker<br />
Deeper into the scrub we found both Brown-backed & Fine-spotted Woodpeckers and a Wryneck all in the same tree! Yellow-fronted Canary, Willow Warbler, Velliot's & Bearded Barbets, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird and Red-necked Falcon were further finds in the trees, whilst Osprey, African Harrier-Hawk, Black-winged Kite and Pink-backed Pelican were seen as fly-overs.<br />
Along a track near some cultivated plots we added Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler, Northern Wheatear, Wattle Lapwing, Four-banded Sandgrouse, Viarable & Scarlet-chested Sunbirds, Levaillant's Cuckoo and Red-winged Warbler, they just kept on coming.<br />
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Wryneck<br />
The return walk back produced a few more new species for the list including yet another western Europe migrant, the Whinchat along with Wire-tailed & Red-chested Swallow, Palm Swifts and Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Weaver.<br />
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Beared Barbet<br />
After nearly four hours of walking in the hot Sun we were flagging a bit so we stopped and drove to nearby Tangi Bird Reserve for a long lunch where we sat in the gardens watching birds coming to drink and bathe in two small pools. Even more European migrants were seen in the shape of Garden Warblers and Blackcaps. A nice couple of hours drifted by with many sightings of local common species listed, at 4:30pm we finished for the day and set off back to the hotel.<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>WINGSPANNERhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704008804734146687noreply@blogger.com0