Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Tag: europe

  • 10th October 2024 – Salinas de Olhão, The Algarve, Portugal

    10th October 2024 – Salinas de Olhão, The Algarve, Portugal

    We are enjoying a short stay based in Faro on the Algarve in Portugal.

    It’s not really a ‘birding’ holiday but we have come equipped with walking boots, binoculars and, in my case, a bridge camera. 

    Our second ‘birding’ opportunity was to the east of Faro along some of the disused salt pans to the west of Olhão. Here we were lucky to have fairly close up views of waders (although not fantastic light) on the estuary and especially good views of spoonbills, little egrets, greater flamingos and other waders on the salt pans. 

    Black-tailed godwit
    Flyover spoonbills

    Selection of waders

    Spoonbills preening
    Dunlin
    Little egret

    Common ringed plover

    Sanderling
    Turnstone

    Black-winged stilt

    Caspian tern

    Slender-billed gull

    Zitting cisticola
    Greater flamingos

    Greenshank

    Las salinas de Olhāo

    After our birding session we behaved more like normal tourists and visited the food market at Olhāo and had another lovely lunch in a back street alley restaurant away from the main tourist area. This time our walking gear didn’t look too out of place.

    The back alleys of Ohāo

    The rest of our stay we have been doing cultural things and just wandering around Faro enjoying the local flora.

    Faro Town Hall at night

    The cathedral at Faro

    Faro old city walls at night

  • 8th October 2024 – Ria Formosa Nature Park, The Algarve, Portugal

    8th October 2024 – Ria Formosa Nature Park, The Algarve, Portugal

    We are enjoying a short stay based in Faro on the Algarve in Portugal.

    It’s not really a ‘birding’ holiday but we have come equipped with walking boots, binoculars and, in my case, a bridge camera. 

    Our first ‘birding’ opportunity was in the Ria Formosa Nature Park to the west of Faro, along the São Lourenço trail which winds its way between the Ria Formosa and the Sāo Lourenço golf course. There were a few bird hides along the way but we didn’t spend any time in them as we were able to enjoy the bird life as we walked the trail and benefited fully from the pleasant weather.

    Along the estuary there were lots of waders, spoonbills, little egrets and storks. On the edges of the golf course we saw hoopoe, Iberian magpies, glossy ibis and lots of waterfowl on the golf course lakes.

    My first photo of the day was a speckled wood butterfly

    Glossy ibis and yellow-bellied terrapin

    Iberian magpie

    Gadwall

    A flyover hoopoe

    Whimbrel devouring crab

    Spoonbill

    Greenshank

    Common stork

    Greater flamingo

    Shoveler

    Purple swamphen

    The lake on the Sāo Laurenço golf course

    A wooden bridge crosses the Ria Formosa to the beach and Gigí’s restaurant

    It was warm enough to be on the beach but everyone was walking, running, cycling and birdwatching

    We had a fantastic seafood lunch in Gigi’s beach restaurant at Quinta do Lago, which our taxi driver told us sometimes has a 6 month waiting list.  The restaurant was quite rustic but the same could not be said of the clientele – that is until we arrived.