After a few glorious weeks of wall to wall blue skies (but with fresh winds) in England we have arrived in the eastern end of the Algarve in Portugal where it is much warmer but the skies are a little greyish and the forecast is unsettled.
From a birding perspective it was very exciting yesterday evening to sit having our first beer on the front at Olhão (where we are staying) and to see a 100 plus swifts soaring overhead. Their screeching was quite a din but it made us feel that summer had arrived.
Today we took a taxi to the birding area of the Salinas da Fuzeta, a complex of salt pans just north of the town of Fuzeta, to the east of Olhão. The salt pans are part of the Parque Natural Ria Formosa.
It was quite an exciting start as the first bird we saw was a bee-eater; a beautiful bird that we have only seen on a few occasions.
Along the salt pans there were plenty of waders but no greater flamingos which we had hoped to see here.
The flora around here was also very attractive.
As we walked into town there were hirondines everywhere.
After a wonderful seafood lunch on the front at À do Rui (a top recommendation from a friend) we had little appetite for any more birdwatching and all we saw was a common sandpiper on the shores of the Ria Formosa.
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 
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