Summary October 2015
New Species added to 2015 Year List in October = 2
Running Total for the 2015 UK So Far = 162
New UK Life List Birds In August = 0
October 2015 archive
Oct 29 2015
Hoylake, Parkgate & Burton Mere : 29th October 2015
Hoylake, Parkgate & Burton Mere : 29th October 2015
After we got back from our Mallorca holiday, I was checking up on recent sightings closer to home and I ame across the monthly news at the Deeside Birding Website and it showed a high tide of 10m at around 1pm on the 29th so I suggested that we went up there as high tides are not too frequent this year – or, at least, not at a time of day that was feasible for us. A weekday high tide at mid-day couldn’t be better but I thought that 10m was perhaps not quite high enough for Parkgate so I suggested we go to Parkgate. As it happened it turned out to be a better tide and the day took a course I wasn’t expecting, ending up much better than I had expected.
Oct 24 2015
Mallorca Summary : 11th – 24th October 2015
Mallorca Summary : 11th – 24th October 2015
We set out for Mallorca in the (horribly) early hours of the morning of the 11th October. En route to the hotel we got our first bird of prey – a Red Kite. This was just the start of a good tally of birds of prey but we also got much, much more and ended the holiday with a holiday list of ninety species including some impressive “life ticks”. See below for a day by day summary of our birding.
Oct 22 2015
Mallorca : 22nd October 2015 : C’an Curassa and the Boquer Valley
Mallorca : 22nd October 2015 : C’an Curassa and the Boquer Valley
Although the day started with rain, that eventually stopped and the clouds also started to dissipate so that some sun started to show for the first time in three days. There was, however, still a lot of wind and this meant our little bit of birding today was poor. We paid a tourist visit to Calle Bona over on the east coast in the morning and in the afternoon we stopped of at C’an Curassa where, apart from a single Moorhen there was nothing on the pools. In keeping with recent birding the birds sighted were either Robin, Stonechats or Black Redstart.
Oct 21 2015
Mallorca : 21st October 2015 : Punta de Capdepera, Depuradora de S’Illiot and S’Albufereta
Mallorca : 21st October 2015 : Punta de Capdepera, Depuradora de S’Illiot and S’Albufereta.
Today was mainly a drive around with birding as a bit of an add on. Since we had been to the southernmost point of the island yesterday, today we decided to go to the easternmost point. We drove to Capdepera making the mistake of driving through the picturesque but impossibly narrow streets of the old town of Arte.
A little bit traumatised by the maze we emerged eventually onto the by-pass and drove on to Capdepera and then to the coast. Like yesterday, there were gale force winds and heavy cloud.
Oct 20 2015
Mallorca : 20th October 2015 : Salobrar de Campos, Cap de Ses Salines and Portocolom
Mallorca : 20th October 2015 : Salobrar de Campos, Cap de Ses Salines and Portocolom
We hired a car for three days with the intention of visiting some of the birding sites in the south of the island. We had planned on driving straight down to Cap de Ses Salines on the south coast of the island but we reckoned that we might as well take a second look at the other pools at Salobrar de Campos which was on our way anyway. When we had been here before with Cristina on our day of guided birding, we had parked up next to the hotel and taken “Eddie ‘s Track” down to the pools there. This time we went past the turning and drove down the road that leads to the salt works. We turned left at the salt world and drove along the road that runs along the edge of the Salinas.
Oct 19 2015
Mallorca : 19th October 2015 : La Gola & Boquer Valley
Mallorca : 19th October 2015 : La Gola & Boquer Valley
We decided on another walk up the Boquer Valley taking in La Gola and the ring road to the Boquer roundabout. As we walked through La Gola we heard what we took for thr sound of running water but then decided it must be wind in the trees. As we found out when we looked back at La Gola from the main path it was a flock of at least a thousand Starlings all in a clump of trees. They were flushed by a dog walker but we hoped that they would return so we could get a closer view of them but when we walked back in their direction they had gone. Still a spectacular sight though.
Oct 18 2015
Mallorca : 18th October 2015 : La Gola
Mallorca : 18th October 2015 : La Gola
The 18th was a bit of a chill-out day and, as Anne went over to Pollenca town for the market, I stayed at home and caught up on my birding notes, doing some laundry and tracking down more, badly needed, mosquito spray. I just managed to fit in a brief visit to La Gola where I got the usual birds but had a nice slow walk around the reserve and still managed seventeen species.
Bird Sightings : La Gola
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Egyptian Goose | 1 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Common Moorhen | 2 |
| Common Coot | 2 |
| Black-headed Gull | 1 |
| Yellow-legged Gull | 1 |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 10 |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | 2 |
| Blackcap | 1 |
| Sardinian Warbler | 2 |
| European Robin | 1 |
| European Stonechat | 1 |
| European Greenfinch | 1 |
| European Goldfinch | 24 |
| House Sparrow | 20 |
Oct 17 2015
Mallorca : 17th October 2015 : S’Albefura Bird Ringing
Mallorca : 17th October 2015 : S’Albefura Bird Ringing
Surprising ourselves after a very long day the day before, we did get up in time to get to S’albufera for the bird ringing that Cristina had told us she was leading even though we missed the first quarter of an hour or so. As we arrived Cristina, our guide from the previous day, was explaining to the family groups the purpose of ringing, the scientific methods used for sexing and aging birds, the measuring and weighing of them etc. Not surprisingly the first two birds were Robins but even though they are very familiar birds to us, it is fascinating to see them in the hand. There was a lot more to come including a “life tick” “in the hand”.
Oct 16 2015
Mallorca : 16th October 2015 : Mortixt, Cuber and Salobrar de Campos
Mallorca : 16th October 2015 : Guided Birding Day at Mortixt, Cuber and Salobrar de Campos.
The 16th was our planned guided birding day so it was an early start. We were to be driven to various sites by Cristina Fiol from BalearsWildlife who turned out to be a great guide. We had to get up really early though to take full advantage of the day and a great day it turned out to be with lots of birds of prey, waders and woodland birds – we covered it all getting forty-five species in all with some special birds, including two “life-ticks”.
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