The best cure for a hangover!

Whenever you're doing any kind of bird race (any race for that matter) it's always useful to a good start, and today was no exception. After seeing in the New Year with friends and loved ones it was a bit of a miracle that I was out birding at 10:30am.

It wasn't the best of mornings, being overcast and with fresh winds but as I exited the front door a White Wagtail flew over calling - the list had started, and this was then quickly followed by several House Sparrows.

Oliva Beach produced the usual suspects with 50+ Balearic Shearwaters, Audouin's Gull, Gannets, Sanderling and Kentish Plovers being the highlights.

It was then on to Pego Marsh and sadly there was disturbance from the local hunters but added lots of new species, which included a cracking male Bluethroat, Kingfisher, Water Pipits, Tree Sparrows, Southern Grey Shrike (above), Marsh Harriers, Lapwings and lots of herons and egrets.

It was back home for lunch and as the weather had greatly improve I took a walk round Oliva Castle ruins, which surrounded by scrub and Black Pine. This was very productive with a couple of surprises - a small group of Siskin and a couple of Goldcrests. These were amongst the commoner Firecrests, Crested, Coal & Long-tailed Tits plus Little Owl, Sparrowhawk, Blue Rock Thrush, Black Redstart, Blacaps and Sardinian Warblers. I finished the day with a very creditable 53 species, 17% of my target!