Why did I bother to go to the Iberian Peninsula birding when there’s so much to see in the heart of Somerset? Because it’s a darn sight warmer!
It was very windy, very fresh and with the threat of rain throughout for my morning’s birding on the Somerset Levels at RSPB Ham Wall.
The weather may have been dull but from an excitement point of view it was far from that.
Common craneGreat bitternGlossy ibisMarsh harrier
Glossy ibis, common crane, marsh harriers, great white egrets, a hobby and a bittern in flight were the highlights. However, there were plenty of other birds to see too. Quite a joy.
Great bitternGreat bitternEurasian hobbyEurasian hobbyGreat white egretMarsh harrierTufted ducksCommon pochardEuropean robinEuropean goldfinchGreat crested grebeGreat titBlack capBlue titEurasian cootGreat cormorantSand MartinGreylag geeseCanada goosePlenty else to see too
We have had a very happy week immersed in the nature of a wonderful part of Spain, in the company of a small group of like-minded people.
Our fellow birders clearly had a huge knowledge and experience of nature. They also had great observational skills from which Wendy and I benefited enormously.
During the week I have reflected often about the purpose of my blog. I particularly enjoy the mental stimulus it provides and I feel, at my time of life, that the exercising of the grey cells is good for me. It certainly helps me to reflect on what we have done and seen (or heard) on each sortie and it serves as a very important souvenir for us.
I am happy to share my experiences with others but I do not particularly pretend to inform – there are many people who are much better equipped to do that than me.
In this blog I start with a slideshow of some of the bird highlights of the trip and try to show, through my photos, why we had such a wonderful trip.
I follow with a more detailed personal day-by-day breakdown of the trip with relevant photos. I won’t attempt a tour report per se as that would duplicate what Naturetrek offers and my version would certainly be full of inaccuracies.
As a friend once said to me: “We don’t read all the writing, Martin, we just look at the photos”.
On this trip I have taken photos with a Sony A7R Mark IV camera (with a 200-600 lens), a Sony RX10 Mark IV bridge camera and with the camera of my iPhone 14. I recognise that by spending a lot of my time taking photos I will have seen less than others, but I thank our guides who were very generous with their telescopes and gave us plenty of opportunity to see things out of my range.
For me there were some key elements to the success of the tour and I list them in no particular order:
The choice of travel company:
We chose to travel with Naturetrek as we feel they have a very good reputation in the nature travel market and present themselves very well. The organisation before and throughout the tour was faultless. They responded very quickly and fully to any communication we had with them. The small size of the group was a real bonus.
The guides:
We were very fortunate to have two excellent and very experienced guides: they were fundamental to our enjoyment of this trip. First and foremost they were really nice people and genuinely good company. They both had a huge knowledge of the natural world and were very good at sharing it with us.
Dominic Couzens is a leading nature writer, tour leader and lecturer based in the UK. He has now written 50 books largely based on nature, he writes three regular magazine columns, and to date, has had more than 700 published articles. His nature anecdotes enlightened our day from before breakfast until bedtime and he was excellent at spotting things and pointing them out to us.
Keith Hamilton is a very proud West Cumbrian now based in Spain in la Sierra de Gredos with clearly a good knowledge of Extremadura. As well as sharing his knowledge of birds and all things to do with nature he gave us a great insight into Spain, the Spanish people and their language. His love of Spain seems to match his love of Cumbria. One night he also gave us an interesting practical introduction into “mothing”, one of his many passions.
There was continuous banter between the two of them and their ability to work as a team made for a very harmonious group. I also appreciated that they both drove the comfortable hire minibus and car cautiously and we felt safe at all times. They also gave us plenty of “comfort” breaks.
The picnics they provided were very healthy, tasty and refreshing and were often in lovely surroundings.
The accommodation:
A real highlight of our trip was the accommodation and meals we enjoyed at La Casa Rural Finca Flores Amarillas. Its setting, in the middle of the countryside a few kilometres from the quiet village of Almoharin (an hour south of Trujillo), was stunning. However, the friendly welcome we received from our hosts Paul and Eva even surpassed that. Their Spanish home-cooked food and wine were also always tasty and generous and greatly appreciated by all.
This region of Spain is a hidden jewel. At this time of the year the flora is spectacular as is the bird life.
I felt we were a very harmonious group and I thank our fellow travellers for their good company which was genuinely appreciated.
La última cena
What would I have liked to be different? Not a lot really. I would have appreciated being able to “go birding” a bit like I do in the UK, that is to walk a little more and to spend more time just watching and listening.
It might have meant giving up on one of the top aspects of the tour such as the raptor feeding session or looking for sand grouse and bustards. But then again if we had had good views of the latter I might be seeing things very differently!
Please click on links below for fuller details of the trip day by day:
We have spent the last few days in North Devon. It wasn’t a birding trip but on our visit to RHS Garden Rosemoor I did get to see siskins which are not very common where I live in Bristol.
I share a few of the other “garden” birds we saw as well as a few photographs from this wonderful garden in Devon.
RHS Garden RosemoorSiskinDunnockMale chaffinchSiskinsSiskins and female chaffinchThe azaleas were a pictureIt has been very wet and windy but the tulips were survivingFritillariesRobinA lot of colour in the bamboosYou don’t have to go to Japan for cherry blossomA very vocal peacockQuite a scruffy blackbirdFormal and informal gardens at RosemoorFormal sculptures… and informal sculpturesColours starting to appear in most of the treesApples are “big” in DevonCamellias would look better with some sunshineRhododendronsWater features tooMagnoliasMagnolias losing their bloom
En route we stopped off at Tawstock to visit St Peter’s Church. You are most welcome to have a look if you like that sort of thing:
It’s been so wet underfoot that birdwatching has not been my preferred pastime in the last few weeks.
I’ve even been tempted to start a blog of other activities and had a go at a visit to a local church (see St Mary’s Berkeley, further up the Severn Estuary).
However, I am probably on dodgy ground here as I know so little about ecclesiastical architecture and just as little about history.
The only shelduck to come close enough for a photo opportunity
We hit on a walk along the new flood defences along the Severn Estuary near Aust. We were hoping that the new path would not be too muddy, as turned out to be the case. The tide was very high and so there were no waders around but we did have distant views of lots of shelduck and a few Canada geese.
StonechatStonechat
However, we were rewarded in the early part of our walk with a a fairly close-up view of a northern wheatear and a stonechat; skylarks were with us all along the walk and certainly lifted our spirits.
The last day of our holiday in Portugal called for a leisurely walk along the beach at Amação de Pêra. This morning there was some warmth in the sun and it felt even more like spring.
The hottentot fig was out early this morning in the warm sunshine
Carpobrotus edulis is a ground-creeping plant with succulent leaves in the genus Carpobrotus, native to South Africa. Its common names include hottentot-fig, sour fig, ice plant or highway ice plant
We really only expected to see gulls on our walk and so it was a special delight to see some other birds as we made a small diversion to the back of the beach.
The fishermen, who work from this beach, mending their nets
We first came across a small flock of waxbills and I managed to get just one shot before they disappeared.
Waxbills
From a new walkway (which isn’t quite open yet) across the marsh we saw black-wing stilts.
The new walkway across the marshBlack-wing stiltsBlack-wing stiltsBlack-wing stilt
A little further there was a common sandpiper and then a small group of sanderling who didn’t seem at all nervous about our presence.
Common sandpiperCommon sandpiperSanderlingThis tiny bird, a sanderling, came very close
There was just a single crested lark and a white wagtail before we were back on the beach and back in the company of gulls.
Crested larkSanderling
A very pleasant couple of hours to conclude a great holiday on The Algarve.
Well, this is definitely my kind of birding. We spent the morning walking along The Passadiços de Alvor, the series of raised walkways that pass through the protected sand dunes of the Ria de Alvor Nature Reserve west of Portimāo.
Female stonechatThe Passadiços de AlvorThe Passadiços de Alvor
We heard and then saw linnets, crested lark, zitting cisticolas, goldfinch and both male and female stonechats amongst the dunes. On the estuary we could see lots of cormorants, oystercatchers, whimbrel and curlew, common sandpiper and greenshank. I believe I could also make out an osprey feeding on its prey on the sand bank.
A really splendid morning. However, my recollection might have been influenced by the delicious lunch we had in a typical Portuguese restaurant next to the pretty fishing port of Alvor in the company of two other birders from our group who joined us on the trip.
Oystercatchers in the foreground with an osprey on the sandbankThe view across the Ria AlvorLinnetZitting cisticola (were once known as fantail warblers)The pretty port of AlvorFascinating flora amongst the dunes – marsh butterfly lilly A greenshank on the edges of the dunesLots of cormorants with Lagos in the backgroundZitting cisticolaGoldfinchMale stonechatClose up of the male stonechatCrested larkAnother obliging zitting cisticolaLocals playing pétanque on wasteland outside the village… whilst others worked
The spring flowers are already quite abundant along the coast of The Algarve but you can’t help feeling that with a little more warmth of spring there will soon be a riot of colour.
Yesterday afternoon ,as we walked a little from our clifftop hotel in Porches-Armação de Pêra,in the Algarve, up above the Senhora da Rocha beach, we saw lots of examples of the local flora.
Senhora da Rocha beach.Speckled wood butterflyThe Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha perched on the cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean
Again this morning we walked another short section of the coast from Algar Seco to the pretty coastal village of Carvoeiro.
The fascinating clifftop formations carved from the limestone bedrock at Algarve SecoPart of the boardwalk from Algar Seco to CarvoeiroCarvoeiro in the distance There were lots of rock dove on the cliffsBlack redstartBlack redstartA greenfinch welcomed us into CarvoeiroThe approaches to CarvoeiroA different boat for each postCarvoeiroThe beach at CarvoeiroHoopoe at last!House Martins busy nest building in CarvoeiroHouse Martin
This morning we returned to the same area we had visited on our first day on our birding holiday in Portugal. Today was a very different experience. We made no lists, probably saw fewer birds and certainly took fewer photographs. Yet, we really enjoyed meandering around the site and taking in the various aspects of nature.
A simple chiiffchaff gave us as much joy as seeing a rarer purple swamphen. I would have loved to see a bluethroat again but we just had to make do with hearing them.
Common chiffchaff amongst the broom… and awayThe white wagtails look a lot cleaner than our pied wagtailsThe bees love the local flora… and so do we.The Iberian magpies are fairly special tooWe could here Zitting Cisticolas and Bluethroats hereCormorants came the closest… but there were still reasonable views of marsh harriersCattle egretThe water on the lake was higher today and there seemed to be fewer birds but common pochard and a little grebe were just about in range for meThe godwits were not particularly spectacular here but I could make out a Caspian tern and some pied avocet amongst themThe best moments came when the black-tailed godwits took to the airThey were just as amazing as they came backCaspian ternMoorhenCootBlack-headed gull
A bit like being at home really, except in Bristol it was snowing this morning!
Our five day birdwatching tour has now finished and we have been enjoying the slower pace by discovering the locality around our hotel at Praia Senhora da Rocha along the coast from Armação de Pêra. There continue to be opportunities for more nature photographs .
Along the coastal path we had close encounters with a black redstart, a blackbird, house sparrows and chiffchaffs.
Black redstartBlackbirdHouse sparrowCommon chiffchaffCommon chiffchaffBlack redstart
On our visit to the famous Benagil caves there were cormorants and, of course, yellow legged and lesser black-backed gulls.
Cormorants near the caves of BenagilThe caves of BenagilMaybe you can see a crocodile here…or maybe an elephant
The flora near the church at Praia da Rocha is quite amazing too.
The iconic chapel at Praia da RochaA lovely coastal pathThis euphorbia grows in our garden tooBirds of paradise?
On our fifth and final day of our birding trip in Portugal we travelled 2 hours north to Castro Verde. The landscape here, on the edges of the steppes, was totally different to what we had seen in The Algarve. It was a different birding experience too when the telescope really came into its own and photographs of birds were rarer because of the great distances at which we observed birds.
We are on holiday so I thought it obligatory to photograph a sunrise/sunset – here a sunrise photographed from the balcony of our hotel roomA white stork taking offA typical landscape from this part of PortugalA sign of what we are looking forThis time I listened to Maria, our guide, and how to tell the difference between the crested lark and Thekla’s lark – the habitat is the clue hereLooking for bustardsMore signs – here we saw a juvenile Spanish Imperial EagleWith a telescope we could see a male Hen Harrier on the ground with its prey and a small group of black-bellied sandgrouseRed kite close enough to photographA view of a female hen harrier from the back of the coachHen harrierThe hen harrier disappears over the horizonA solitary over wintering Common Crane – clearly the rest have departedThese signs were going to be the best views we were going to getThe dehesaA. common buzzard below our picnic spot high on a hilltopOur picnic spotA lesser kestrel – unlike the common kestrel these kestrels were moving about in large groups which were quite impressive to seeWe made a detour into Castro Verde to see this over wintering long-eared owlOn this pond we could see (through a telescope) ferruginous ducks and a stonechat in the foregroundHere we had great views through the telescope of a flock of little bustards wandering around, jumping up and taking to flightThe little bustards can just be made out in this photoFinal view of the little bustards (the male standing out with its black head) before we set off back to the hotel
57 species observed:
Gadwall; Mallard; Ferruginous Duck; Little Grebe; Common Woodpigeon; Collared Dove ; Black-bellied Sandgrouse; Great Bustard; Little Bustard; Eurasian Coot; Common Crane; European Golden Plover; Northern Lapwing; Yellow-legged Gull; White Stork; Little Egret ; Western Cattle Egret; Eurasian Spoonbill; Spanish Eagle; Western Marsh Harrier ; Hen Harrier; Red Kite ; Black Kite; Common Buzzard; Long-eared Owl (in the village of Castro Verde); Eurasian Hoopoe; Lesser Kestrel ; Common Kestrel ; Iberian Grey Shrike; Iberian Magpie; Common Magpie; Eurasian Jackdaw; Carrion Crow; Common Raven; Eurasian Blue Tit (heard); Calandra Lark; Eurasian Skylark; Thekla’s Lark; Crested Lark; Zitting Cisticola (heard); Barn Swallow; Western House Martin; Common Chiffchaff; Iberian Chiffchaff; Sardinian Warbler; Short-toed Treecreeper; Spotless Starling; Eurasian Blackbird; European Stonechat; House Sparrow; Spanish Sparrow; Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail; Meadow Pipit; Common Linnet; European Goldfinch; European Serin; Corn Bunting.
Throughout the holiday we saw a total of 130 species:
Common Shelduck; Northern Shoveler; Gadwall; Eurasian Wigeon; Mallard; Northern Pintail; Eurasian Teal; Red-crested Pochard; Common Pochard; Ferruginous Duck; Red-legged Partridge;Greater Flamingo; Little Grebe; Rock Dove; Common Woodpigeon; Collared Dove; Black-bellied Sandgrouse; Great Bustard; Little Bustard; Common Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Western Swamphen; Common Crane; Stone-curlew; Black-winged Stilt; Pied Avocet; Eurasian Oystercatcher; Grey Plover; European Golden Plover; Common Ringed Plover; Northern Lapwing; Kentish Plover; Whimbrel; Eurasian Curlew; Bar-tailed Godwit; Black-tailed Godwit; Common Snipe; Common Sandpiper; Common Redshank; Spotted Redshank; Common Greenshank; Ruddy Turnstone; Ruff; Curlew Sandpiper; Sanderling; Dunlin; Purple Sandpiper; Little Stint; Black-headed Gull; Audouin’s Gull; Yellow-legged Gull; Lesser Black-backed Gull; Caspian Tern; Sandwich Tern; Northern Gannet; Great Cormorant; European Shag; Little Egret; Western Cattle Egret; Great White Egret; Grey Heron; Glossy Ibis; Eurasian Spoonbill; Osprey; Black-winged Kite; Short-toed Eagle; Booted Eagle; Spanish Eagle; Western Marsh Harrier; Hen Harrier; Red Kite; Common Buzzard; Little Owl; Long-eared Owl; Eurasian Hoopoe; Common Kingfisher; Eurasian Wryneck; Great Spotted Woodpecker; Lesser Kestrel; Common Kestrel; Peregrine Falcon; Iberian Grey Shrike; Iberian Magpie; Common Magpie; Red-billed Chough; Eurasian Jackdaw; Carrion Crow; Common Raven; Crested Tit; Eurasian Blue Tit; Great Tit; Calandra Lark; Eurasian Skylark; Thekla’s Lark; Crested Lark; Zitting Cisticola; Eurasian Crag Martin; Barn Swallow; Western House Martin; Common Chiffchaff; Iberian Chiffchaff; Cetti’s Warbler; Long-tailed Tit; Eurasian Blackcap; Sardinian Warbler; Goldcrest; Short-toed Treecreeper; Common Starling; Spotless Starling; Eurasian Blackbird; Ring Ouzel; European Robin; Bluethroat; Black Redstart; Blue Rock Thrush; European Stonechat; Black-headed Weaver; Common Waxbill; House Sparrow; Spanish Sparrow; Western Yellow Wagtail; Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail; Meadow Pipit; Water Pipit; Common Chaffinch; European Greenfinch; Common Linnet; European Goldfinch; European Serin; Eurasian Siskin; Corn Bunting.
For our fourth day of birding we travelled close to the border with Spain. We started birding at Castro Marim and visited the Castro Marim Nature Reserve visitors centre. The highlights here were a Spanish Imperial eagle and a short-toed snake eagle. There were more saltpans at Santa Luzia and then a study in gulls as we ate our picnic lunch beside the river ar Santa Luzia near Tavira.
On the way home we stopped off near Vilamoura to search for small birds in the pine forests which border the Atlantic coast.
Greater flamingosGreat white egretGreater flamingos in flightGreater flamingosGreater flamingosYellow wagtail and house MartinWater pipitA charm of goldfinches Black-tailed godwits and a spotted redshankSpring has definitely arrived in the AlgarveCommon kestrelThe bridge linking Portugal and SpainThe ubiquitous stonechatA weavers’s nest or a simply caterpillars?More greater flamingosLesser black-backed gull and ruddy turnstones as we ate our picnic lunch at Santa Luzia near TaviraMore saltpansRedshankPied avocets and godwitsGreater flamingos again
In the pine forests near Vilamoura, as well as views of the golf course, we saw siskins, more marsh harriers across the marshes and a glimpse of the beautiful beaches here.
SiskinPine forests bordering the Atlantic coastThe golf course at VilamouraThe Atlantic coast
A black-winged kite from the coach near the hotel neatly finished off our day
Black-winged kite taken from the coach
Another very full day and again a very rewarding one.
72 species observed
Greater Flamingo; Little Grebe; Common Woodpigeon; Collared Dove; Common Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Stone-curlew ; Black-winged Stilt; Pied Avocet; Eurasian Oystercatcher ; Grey Plover; Common Ringed Plover; Northern Lapwing; Kentish Plover; Whimbrel; Black-tailed Godwit; Common Redshank; Spotted Redshank; Common Greenshank ; Ruddy Turnstone; Ruff; Sanderling; Dunlin; Little Stint ; Black-headed Gull; Audouin’s Gull; Yellow-legged Gull; Lesser Black-backed Gull ; Caspian Tern; Sandwich Tern ; White Stork; Great Cormorant; Little Egret; Western Cattle Egret ; Great White Egret ; Grey Heron ; Glossy Ibis; Eurasian Spoonbill, Osprey; Black-winged Kites; Short-toed Eagle; Booted Eagle; Western Marsh Harrier; Common Buzzard; Eurasian Hoopoe ; Common Kestrel ; Iberian Magpie; Common Magpie; Crested Tit; Great Tit; Crested Lark; Zitting Cisticola; Barn Swallow; Western House Martin; Common Chiffchaff; Sardinian Warbler ; Short-toed Treecreeper; Spotless Starling; Eurasian Blackbird; European Stonechat; House Sparrow; Spanish Sparrow; Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail; Yellow wagtail; Water Pipit; Common Chaffinch; European Greenfinch; Common Linnet; European Goldfinch; European Serin ; Eurasian Siskin; Corn Bunting
We spent our third day of birding in Portugal east of Faro. We started in the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa near to some disused salt pans.
Disused salt pans in the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa
The day started well with good views of two booted eagles.
Booted eagle
As we walked along the pathway we soon saw a marsh harrier. Further in the distance through the telescope we also had reasonable views of an osprey.
Marsh harrierWhite storks
Throughout our trip we have seen white storks perched on nests on lamp posts and low trees. But here there was a colony of white storks building nests quite high up in tall trees.
White storks collecting building materials for their nestsWhite stork with building materials
The highlight of this part of the trip was seeing several crested tits darting through the woods near the end of our walk.
Although my photos of the crested tit are poor we did get good views through binoculars
Our next stop was at the salt pans of Ludo. Here we had great views of numerous waders.
Black-tailed godwit starting to get its breeding plumageWe could really appreciate the length of the godwits’ billsPied avocet with black-tailed godwitSurely this must be black-winged stilts displayingThey reached enormous heights The first of the greater flamingosIt was useful to see different waders near to each other to make comparisons – here a sanderling, a dunlin and a little stint (I think)Black-winged stilt and meadow pipit (in the bushes)DunlinI must try to find out the provenance of this ringed black-winged stilt as its tag is quite clear
We then moved on to some more salt pans at Olhão where there was an old tidal mill.
Tidal mill
Here most of the birds were further away but we did get views of Kentish plover, common ringed plover, common sandpiper, greenshank and greater flamingos.
Our next stage of our birding day was based around the golf course at Quinta do Lobo. The golf course were very impressive but not as impressive as the houses built around them which are owned by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Madonna (didn’t know she played golf).
Quinta da Lago Country Club
We had some great birding here especially seeing some very colourful birds such as the black-headed weavers, a kingfisher and a red-crested pochard.
Black-header weaverRed-crested pochardIn this area we heard a wryneck There were terrapins (two sorts) in abundance The flora was pretty amazing tooDefinitely my favourite bird of the day = the black-headed weaver
Fabulous day’s birding – just wish I had started this when I was a bit younger!
70 species observed:
Common Shelduck; Gadwall; Mallard; Red-crested Pochard; Greater Flamingo; Little Grebe; Common Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Western Swamphen; Black-winged Stilt; Pied Avocet; Grey Plover;Common Ringed Plover; Kentish Plover; Whimbrel; Eurasian Curlew; Bar-tailed Godwit; Black-tailed Godwit; Common Redshank; Common Greenshank; Ruddy Turnstone; Curlew Sandpiper; Dunlin; Purple Sandpiper; Little Stint; Black-headed Gull; Audouin’s Gull; Yellow-legged Gull ; Lesser Black-backed Gull; Sandwich Tern; White Stork ; Great Cormorant; Little Egret; Western Cattle Egret; Grey Heron; Glossy Ibis; Eurasian Spoonbill; Osprey; Booted Eagle; Western Marsh Harrier; Common Buzzard; Eurasian Hoopoe; Common Kingfisher; Eurasian Wryneck (Heard); Common Kestrel; Iberian Magpie; Common Magpie ; Crested Tit; Zitting Cisticola; Eurasian Crag Martin; Barn Swallow; Western House Martin; Common Chiffchaff; Cetti’s Warbler (Heard); Long-tailed Tit (Heard); Sardinian Warbler; Short-toed Treecreeper (Heard); Spotless Starling; Eurasian Blackbird; European Stonechat; Black-headed Weaver; House Sparrow; Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail; Meadow Pipit; Common Chaffinch; European Greenfinch; Common Linnet; European Serin; Eurasian Siskin; Corn Bunting.
Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos 