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Apr 28 2015
Mallorca Holiday 28th April 2015 : S’ Albufera,Son Bosc and Depuradora de S’Illot
Mallorca Holiday 28th April 2015 : Son Bosc, Depuradora de S’Illot and S’ Albufera
Our destination this day was to the S’ Albufera nature reserve near C’an Picafort, a huge reserve that always impresses with its huge range of habitats and species. We also had another target, though, and that was to try to see Bee Eaters. A couple we had met at the Casa Boquer had shown us pictures of Bee Eaters on the power lines at the Son Bosc site just outside the edge of the S’Albufera reserve. They told us that if we couldn’t see them there the we wouldn’t see them anywhere! Gosney also says that this is the best site for this species so heartened by this we set out with the idea that we would get there by walking through the S’Albefura reserve.
Apr 27 2015
Mallorca Holiday 27th April 2015 : La Gola, Boquer Valley and Pollenca Environs
Mallorca Holiday 27th April 2015 : La Gola, Boquer Valley and Pollenca Environs
We woke up to find that it had been raining in the night and that there was a 25% chance of rain during the day. This meant that a possible plan to go to S’ Albufera was put on hold in favour of doing a couple of smaller things within easy reach of cover if it rained. As it happened it didn’t rain at all but we have plenty of time and plenty of options so it didn’t really matter which itinerary we followed on any given day. So we thought we would do our usual walk through the La GOla reserve, on to the by-pass and then up to Casa Boquer and through the valley to the other side.
Apr 26 2015
Mallorca Holiday 26th April 2015 : Port de Pollenca and La Gola
Mallorca Holiday 26th April 2015 : Port de Pollenca and La Gola.
With friends from Palma visiting us at noon we had just enough time for a spin around La Gola before they arrived. The general area held the usual Greenshank and Common Sandpiper and a Yellow-legged Gull. There were numerous Mallard chicks and one creche held around 20 of them. In the shrubbery there were several Stonechats and we heard a Sardinian Warbler. The Greenfinch was again the dominant bird numerically. We decided to take a bit of a diversion through the woods. It was one of the best decisions we could have made and gave us the “tick of the fortnight” and although not a “life tick” it was a most splendid sighting.
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Apr 25 2015
Mallorca Holiday 25th April 2015 : Port de Pollenca, La Gola and the Boquer Valley
Mallorca Holiday 25th April 2015 : Port de Pollenca, La Gola and the Boquer Valley
After yesterday’s exertions we decided to have a quieter day today taking in some of the sites close to our hotel. Yesterday had been scorching hot so we wanted to be nearer to some refreshments if needed. We took in the La Gola mini-reserve, the fields next to the Port de Pollenca by-pass, the approach to the Boquer Valley and the “pine tree avenue” mentioned by Gosney. We had a bit of a late lunch and returned along the sea front to our hotel. In the process we managed to get another “life tick”, though.
Apr 24 2015
Mallorca Holiday 24th April 2015 : “Pollenca Back Lanes”
Mallorca Holiday 24th April 2015 : “Pollenca Back Lanes”
We decided to do a bit of local birding as a warm up for the more distant sites that we meant to do later in our holiday. We plumped for the “Pollenca Back Lanes” tour mentioned in Dave Gosney’s book ““Finding Birds in Mallorca”. The walk didn’t let us down and we got a good list of species during the day including three “life ticks”
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Apr 23 2015
Mallorca Holiday 23rd April 2015 : La Gola and Port de Pollenca
Mallorca Holiday 23rd April 2015 : La Gola and Port de Pollenca
We had visited Mallorca in October of 2014 (see here for summary of that trip) and were so impressed with the birding that we decided we just had to return for the spring migration when it is supposed to be inundated with birds. I have to say that this spring was somewhat different, which was confirmed by many birders we spoke to who had been to Mallorca in the spring before, and the huge masses of birds on migration were not to be seen. This didn’t mean that we didn’t see any birds, though, because we saw many fantastic birds and visited many wonderful natural locations in and around Port de Pollenca racking up a good number of species and some great “life ticks” while we were there.
Apr 21 2015
Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate : 21 April 2015
Burton Mere Wetlands and Parkgate : 21 April 2015
We missed the first birding group outing of this term as a result of heavy colds and building work on the house so we were particularly pleased to eventually get out of the house and into the country. We had missed the birding group visit to Moore the previous week but here we had a gloriously sunny day in which to catch up on all those spring migrants we had not been able to catch up with until now. We could not have picked a better day to catch up on these birds because the warmth and sun seemed to have brought them all out singing and displaying.
Apr 08 2015
Birding Group Schedule April – June 2015
Birding Group Schedule April – June 2015
- 14-Apr-15 Moore Nature Reserve
- 21-Apr-15 RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands
- 28-Apr-15 Pennington Flash
- 05-May-15 RSPB Leighton Moss
- 12-May-15 Macclesfield Forest
- 19-May-15 Goyt Valley
- 26-May-15 Neumann’s & Haydn’s Flashes
- 02-Jun-15 Brockholes
- 09-Jun-15 WWT Martin Mere
- 16-Jun-15 Rutland Water / Bridlington
- 23-Jun-15 Ethrow Country Park
- 30-Jun-15 TBC ( NB high tide Liverpool : 10.40am)
Mar 31 2015
Summary : March 2015
Summary : March 2015
New Species added to 2015 Year List in March = 7
Running Total for the 2015 UK So Far = 101
New UK Life List Birds In March = 0
Our Garden
March saw the garden alive with birds. A pair of Dunnocks and at least one pair of Robins are seen frequently. With the foliage in the garden still a bit sparse, a Wren has been showing well. Blackbirds are busy and the Blue, Great and Coal Tits have been plentiful. Well, one Blue Tit was seen by a neighbour in the talons of a Sparrowhawk so we have lost one at least. On the fifth we had two Mistle Thrushes on the bird table and on the lawn. These two birds visited daily for the rest of the month. Another neighbour saw a pair of Bullfinches in the rose bush at the bottom of the garden. On the 22nd we discovered a large number of grey feathers under the Fuscia bush – the Sparrowhawk by the look of it.
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Mar 31 2015
Birding Group Visit to RSPB Marshside : 31st March 2015
Birding Group Visit to RSPB Marshside : 31st March 2015
The last birding group day of the month – indeed of the term – was to RSPB Marshside. As usual it was blowing a gale so hard that it was hard not to get blown over. Although it wasn’t raining when we got out of the car, it didn’t take long before it started. Happily we were inside the Sandgrousers Hide by then. The weather was having a dramatic effect on the numbers of birds to be seen but we did at least get one year tick there.