Halfway there!!!



1st Winter Golden Eagle (Sierra de Andujar)

With still five days left of January yesterday I reached the landmark total of 150 species with a Calandra Lark on the way back to Malaga after yet another very successful Lynx-watching short break (see details HERE). Despite the inclement weather the last couple of weeks have been excellent for boosting the list in the corner of Andalucia, by adding Golden Eagle, Golden Plover, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Skylark and a brilliant displaying male Goshawk - one of my favourite raptor species. Not only did we have these classic birds and lots more but also a Greater Mouse-eared Bat with a young one attached to its body, a brilliant flock of 30+ Mouflon, Wild Boar at point blank range, loads of Red and Fallow Deer and some more great Iberian Lynx sightings. This link HERE is to some of Wayne Atkinson's footage from the first morning - we had just left the hotel 15 minutes earlier!

 

Now for the next 150, which I guess will be a tad tougher!!!

 

SUPER SWAROVSKI - the last few weeks I have been without my trusted 15 year old Swarovski ELs, which had to be sent back to the manufactures in Austria as I had broken them when fell on an Argyle moorland last November. This fabulous company not only make (arguably) the best optics in the business but their after sales service is also second to none.

My battered bins came back like a brand-new pair, which was absolutely incredible. They had not just repaired the damage and re-ground the scratched lens' but also completely recovered the casing, provided a new neck-strap, eyecups and rainguard all for just £200. Here's to the next 15 years with my fabulous binoculars and having many more memorable experiences - THANK YOU. 



Chameleon Karma

For a long time I have been promising myself a serious search for the elusive Mediterranean Chameleon, and when Iberian Lynx in Andalucia guest Wayne Atkinson wanted an addition to this short break, it all possible!

So with just one day we set off from Malaga early Sunday morning and got to the town mid-morning with plenty of time to find our target - or so we thought!

The botanical garden is only small but these gorgeous creatures are canny elusive and it took the lovely Andrea who worked there to point them out, much to our shame!!! In all we saw four individuals including one sizable male, which was fabulous and "thank you so much" to Andrea and the rest of the staff for all their help in finding them.

After this we returned slowly to Malaga and the weather prevented us from finding any Spanish Ibex at El Torcal (hopefully next week), but the last hour at the Rio Guadalhorce NR and beach was superb with Arctic & Great Skuas, Turnstone plus lots of Common Scoter, Gannets etc. However it was Wayne who caused the greatest excitement by finding the first of four Short-eared Owls hunting over the open areas at dusk and my 141st bird of the year!

Not so missing Lynx!

Great start to the Iberian Lynx watching year with multiple sightings on all the full days we were on the Sierra de Andujar. Another personal highlight was watching some interaction between this young male Lynx and a Red Fox as they seemed to travel together for a while before they peeled off in their respective directions - very interesting!

 

Added to that I also moved ny year list forward somewhat with several new birds including Spanish Imperial Eagle, Black Vulture, Black Wheatear, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Common Crane and a surprise Alpine Accentor at Cabo de Gata - I will take them all this year...

 

...So the list stands in the mid-130's and my target for 140+ by the end of the month looks acheivable - fingers crossed. Please keep those pladges rolling in, it is simply awesome.

Money pouring in!

Today I am down in Malaga getting ready to start my first of several visits to the Sierra de Andujar. Not only am I hoping for continued excellent Iberian Lynx sightings but to continue adding to the year list and hopefully achieve 140+ species by the end of the month.

Last Sunday, a couple of events coincided to push forward the sponsorship money for 'Life Lince', which were the counting of the 'Money Pig' and I hosted a quiz in the local bar. Both of these fundraising exercises were great successes with 230 euros being counted out of the Pig and 180 euros from the quiz and raffle.

 

Thank you very much to the few who participated in the free competition and the winner will be notified very soon - apparently their guess was 231, which is amazing. Very well done and £50 will be deducted from your next JSW holiday or short break. Also I would like to very much thank Jane for her  invaluable assistance on the quiz night,  Lucy (and Tara) of Bar Amigos for letting me utilise their establishment and to everyone who contributed on the night either with participation or with some of the generous raffle prizes - it is greatly appreciated.

 

So as it stands at the moment with the money I have been pledged for the annual bird race, we are currently in excess of 2000 euros, which is absolutely phenomenal!!!

Ton Up!!!

On the evening of January 7th I drove down to my friends Rob & Kathy Dowsett's home in Murcia, seeing a Stone Curlew fly across the road. We had a plan to do a full day's birdwatching in Alicante Province which proved most fruitful. 

So as we set off the next morning I needed 20 new species to achieve my target of getting to 100 birds for the year. We started at the pine forest of Maigmo where an initail slow start resulted in adding Common Crossbill, Mistle Thrush, Jay, Red-legged Partridge and Short-toed Treecreeper. This was then followed by visit to the mountain village of Monnegre for Black Wheatear, but sadly not but we did see a cracking male Dartford Warbler and Thekla Lark.

Things were generally quite so we decided to head for the coast and the ever reliable Santa Pola Salinas. On the way we did stop off at the lagoon adjacent to the Museo de Sal, which added Black-necked Grebe and Water Rail to the list before arriving at the salinas. We started to find some new waders with Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Snipe, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and Curlew. Kathy then did incredibly well finding a Purple Gallinule in the far reeds - species no. 195

It was now lunch time so we headed for the beach on this lovely warm day and sat watching the sea in the sunshine. There wasn't much happening but persistance paid as I found 3 female/1st winter Common Scoter loafing on the water - brilliant.

El Hondo natural reserve now beckoned so we first visited the Vista Bella Road and the first new bird here was a Green Sandpiper, followed by a Booted Eagle high over the reserve - 199!!! We then walked down to the hide and as we entered the first birds I saw was a flock of 21 White-headed Duck, my 100th bird of the year and also quite appropriate. However it didn't stop there as we continued to add wildfowl such as Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon, Common Pochard and a female Tufted Duck. In the reeds there was a Moustached Warbler singing and a Zitting Cisticola bounced around above. As we left the hide and made our way back to the car a couple of Penduline Tits called from the phragmites bed.

It was now getting towards late afternoon but we still had time for a quick detour to the visitor centre, which produced the biggest surprise of the day. We only had time to check the little pool behind the centre but what a decision by Rob as we found a pair of Red-knobbed Coots amongst their commoner cousins - only the second time ever I've seen this species here - brilliant.

Our final destination was our friends Jane and Colin at Finca Bonelli's Eagle for their eagles and a warm beverage after a long day. The sun was low in the sky when we got there and sadly there was no sign of the eagles. However they are very reliable and 20 minutes later a gorgeous pair of adult Bonelli's Eagles flew over the ridge and into the canyon, where they nest and roost. It was a brilliant end to the day watching them fly round and eventually land on the crag opposite where we were. However we had one last species of the day as it got dusk a pair of Eagle Owls started singing to each other - a great end to a fabulous day.

Thank you very much Rob & Kathy for all your sponsorship, help and driving - it's very appreciated and see you next month in India!  

January continues...

...the 2nd resulted in a failed attempt to see Eagle Owl locally bu I did manage to add Kestrel, Grey Wagtail and Wren.

However the following day I was meeting Jane at Alicante Airport so got there a couple of hours early and visited the nearby Santa Pola Salinas. This was superb in just a very short time I had added quite a few new species including an Osprey, Great White Egret, several Spoonbills, Little Stints and Dunlin plus lots of Greater Flamingos, Slender-billed & Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Shelduck & Great Crested Grebes.

Today while playing backgammon on the roof terrace I added my 76th bird of year with an over-flying Common Buzzard - things seem to be going well! Please continue sending your pledges of sponsorship, my new target of 2000 euros is getting ever closer.

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!