Weekends That Were - January 2019

The Irish/UK/Spanish Trip 2018 - 2019 (continued)

Day 10 – 1.1.19 New Years Day (Tuesday)

It rained most of the day – a typically misty Irish rain which doesn’t really get you wet, but is there all the same. I took Mum to Dalkey via Dun Laoghaire to have soup & homemade bread in a pub for lunch. When we walked out a man sitting outside with his dog laconically told us ‘it was the wettest day yet this year’……….only in Ireland.

Then we drove via Killiney to Vico rd (a traditional family drive and stop off). But the misty rain obscured everything beyond 300 meters so we continued on and stopped for tea and coffee at an old stone gatehouse converted to a café on Killiney Hill Rd before heading home again.

I spent the afternoon and evening watching Netflix while Mum alternately slept and watched TV at maximum volume…….

Day 11 - 2.1.19 (Wednesday)

I left Dale Rd at 9.45 and headed to the airport. I had to return the VW Up! I had had for the last 10 days.

I dropped it off and picked up the next car from the same company (Budget) – all because it worked out cheaper to split the hire period across two cars rather than have the one car for the whole 15 days…

I got the new car – a Nissan Juke – a weird looking crossbreed of a car that made me feel I was guiding an alien spaceship, however, it went well, had more boot space than the VW and was generally a bigger car, without being too big for Irish roads.

I met Mr H at Dundalk railway station where he had just arrived from Belfast and we set off immediately to the muddy banks of the Castletown Riverthat runs through Dundalk town.

Almost the first bird we picked up was a Ruff and there were, we estimated, at least 8 scattered along the river banks.

Ruff

There were heaps of other birds, but nothing remarkable – Black-tailed Godwits, Common Red andGreen Shanks, Common Snipe, Northern Mallard &Lapwing, Eurasian Curlews, Common Gullsect.

We tried the port area for nothing more exciting – adding Grey Plover &Dunlinto the list. Then to Soldier’s Ptand Common Shelducks, Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Goldeneye and Red-breasted Mergansers.

A short drive including sandwiches and coffee before we stopped at Lurgan Green– another muddy foreshore area. Here a flock of (approx) 4000 European Golden Ploverput on a flight display as they wheeled around in the grey sky – pretty spectacular. Three Common Greenfincheswere nice to see – not always easy due to a bill disease of recent years that has decimated the population. Several hundred Brent Geeseand a pair of Northern Shoveleradded to the day’s totals. Further along the main road we found hundreds more Brent Geeseand about 100 Greylag Geesein fields beside the road.

On now to look for sea ducks off Salterstown. We did manage to find a small number of Common Scoter, but little else. And a long drive around to the far side of the bay produced no more of interest.

We headed for Mr H’s place as evening descended – at 15.30…..

We had dinner – some vegetarian concoction with rice Mr H devised - then went to the airport to collect his son, Jack, on his return from Glasgow. Crashed around 22.30.

Day 12 – 3.1.19

We headed out at 8 for the upper end of Strangford Lough and spent the first part of the day moving along the shore scanning for waders, ducks, divers & grebes. It was a very dull, still day and I didn’t take any photos. 

First up of note was a Eurasian Spoonbill. Probably only my second record for Ireland, this one had been hanging around most of the winter and presumably is the same one seen here in previous years.  It slept with its head under its wing through our long distant visit – as Spoonbills are wont to do.  Nearby a Peregrine Falcon sat up on a rock. 

We continued along the shoreline – by car – pulling into potential scanning spots and finding quite a few Common Eiders, Slavonian Grebes, Red-throated, Great Northern and one Black-throated Diver, Common and Black Guillemots (a long distance from the open ocean surprisingly – to me anyway). In the fields we found a small covey of Red-legged Partridge, several Common Pheasants, Tree Sparrows, Yellowhammers, Gold and Green Finches, Reed Buntings and large flocks of migrating Common Skylarks. The only other raptor of the day was a single Eurasian Sparrowhawk. 

We ended up walking out to, across (looking for Short-eared Owl) and around a low headland near the mouth of the Lough on the Ards Peninsula, finishing up finding a male Black Redstart, worthy of inclusion on the NI bird report.

In all it was a good birding day, even though we saw nothing overly exciting or new.

Day 13 - 4.1.19 (Friday)

Awake at 6.30 as usual, made my early morning phone call then joined Mr H for breakfast. As he was flying to the UK to see his daughter we concentrated our birding activities in a northerly direction. We stopped at several locations seeing more of the same birds we had seen over the previous two days. 

We picked up a Common Buzzard on a fence post beside the motorway – my first for this trip. 

At Whitehead we watched a handful of Twites – the same location (and possibly the same birds!) I had seen last year with Mr H and just along the esplanade we met two other (local) birders and saw a female Black Redstart Mr H had seen a few days ago.

Another stop produced a small flock of 9 Common Redpolls. Our final destination gave us a White-throated Dipper and then I dropped Mr H off for his flight.

He had described the road south to Dublin from the airport as bypassing Belfast – Take the road to Moira, he said.

OK, says I, and waved him goodbye.

I only ever saw one signpost for ‘Moira’ before I got lost in the outer suburbs of Belfast.

I followed my nose and, after crawling down main streets behind buses and other very slow drivers, found myself starting to head north - back towards the international airport……however, a sign for Dublin finally appeared and I got onto the M1 heading south.

I had planned to stop off along the way to look for Scoter flocks off the coast, and, after I filled up with fuel with euros in Ireland, I turned off and headed towards the sea.

Unfortunately the delay I had got myself into around Belfast now came into effect as it was after 15.00 and the light was going. I hammered down to the Julianstown area and tried to find access to the coastline through the fields and suburbs. The tide appeared to be a fair way out and it seemed pointless to look for Scoters when the exposed beach took up the first 500 meters. The sea was flat calm - I mean FLAT calm and anything could be seen miles away. I drove down the coast to Balbriggan and eventually just north of Skerries picked up a flock of about 15 Scoters. A quick scan proved them all to be Common – I was looking for reported Velvet and/or Surf Scoters, but there were obviously none in this group.

I reached the ‘headland’ at Skerries and sat for a smoke. By this time it was 16.00 and the light was very low. There was nothing out on the ocean, so I packed up and headed home to Dale Rd.

Day 14 - 5.1.19 (Saturday)

Another quiet day. Woke to find a heavy frost on the grass – and car. Had to de-ice the windscreen and side windows before taking Mum for breakfast in a local café attached to a GAA sports club. Happily the roads were dry so no ice to worry about.

Apart from that did nothing.

Day 15 - 6.1.19

Mum was going to church – I wasn’t going again so I headed off for the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire.

It was a brighter morning, dead still, not a breath of wind, very mild (11 degrees) and very pleasant - but pretty shit for birding. However, for want of anything better to do, and needing to get some exercise, I walked the pier. 

Bugger all birds, although I did see the Black Redstart that had, finally, been reported at the base of the pier. This made it my third BR for this trip and continued the long standing tradition of seeing a BR at this site ‘every’ winter – starting with my very first of the species back in the hazy memory days of the late 60’s…..

The sea was flat calm and there was nothing on it. A pair of Grey Seals patrolling along the wall were the most exciting observation. I did take pictures of a Eurasian Oystercatcher and the (same?) Mediterranean Gull I saw here last week. There was a second one today.

For a bit of local colour I'll include the photos......

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Mediterranean Gull

I picked up a coffee from the coffee van on the sidewalk and headed along the coast to Booterstown Marsh. I checked it out from the railway station car park. 

A large flock of Black-tailed Godwits, a large number (100+) Common Redshanks, a much smaller number of Greenshanks, a few Eurasian Teal and a handful of Dunlin. I did flush a Common Snipe from the water’s edge below me and then picked up another 7 along the edge of the reed beds, which was interesting. But, apart from that, nothing of note. I headed home.

When Mum got home we went down to 3Qs in Greystones for lunch. Our grilled chicken salads took a while to come, but were well worth the wait and my warm sticky toffee pudding set me up for the rest of the week….

On the way home I topped up the car with fuel and paid the tolls in anticipation of an early start tomorrow morning.

Day 16 – 7.1.19 (Monday) 

Awake at 4.45, had breakfast and was on my way to the airport at 5.30. A cold blustery morning – the first real wind since arriving.

I dropped the car off, shuttle bused it to the terminal, went through a surprisingly polite security screening by 6.20, to find the gate for my flight would not be available till 7.15. So it was a coffee, a smoke and a phone call for my heart, before boarding at 7.45 and taking off, on time, with Ryan Air at 8.15. 

We must have had a tailwind ‘cause we landed at Luton 20 minutes earlier than scheduled and I found my way, with plenty of time, to the pick-up zone to wait for Mr W to arrive.

We set off immediately and a couple of ks down the road a Red Kite drifted over the car. We saw another 4 (at least) during the day.

Mr W had a plan and we followed it, visiting several sites during the cold, windy, cloudy day with mixed success. No Jack Snipe, no Short-eared Owls, no Cranes, but we did have scope views of a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard, which were much better than the view I had had 6 years ago, and a good range of commoner species to add to my trip list – Redwing, Long-tailed Tit, Goosander, Stock Dove, Western Marsh Harrier and even Common Kestrel! 

Again, for a bit of 'colour' - bear in mind, the light was shit.....

Goldeneye

Goosander

We drove a lot of miles and had Mackers for lunch – as we do - but the light was gone by 15.30 and we headed home to his place for a catch-up with Mrs W and a late dinner.

Day 17 – 8.1.19 (Tuesday)

Up at 5.45, on the road at 6.30. We dropped Mrs W at the local railway station for her day in London and headed northeast.

Three hours later, we dropped anchor in Holkham, Norfolk and a flock of (approx) 100 Pink-footed Geese. The wind was hammering in from the northeast and was bitter. 

Our target here, apart from the geese, were Shore Larks. I figured they were going to be difficult in such a horrific wind, but Mr W was confident. We trudged out to the shoreline and power walked along the back of the dunes until we reached the rough area we believed them to be.

Sure enough within a few seconds Mr W had them in the scope at a range of about 150 meters. Good views in the scope - but difficult to photograph. I gave it a go anyway and reproduce the heavily photo-shopped results here as a matter of interest, not particularly, pride.

Shore Lark

We had very distant views of a flock of twenty or so Snow Buntings flying away over un-crossable channels and ditto with a flock of about 30 Twite.

On the way back to the car we stopped for a coffee at The Outlook – the on-site café with views over the wetlands, then jumped into the car and got out quick before the traffic warden could question our 2 pound/1 hour parking ticket that we had exceeded by 40 minutes. Leaving him and his yellow jacket in a cloud of freezing dust we headed south along the coast checking at different spots for reported findings.

We didn’t see much, but Mr W did show me the building Nancy’s café had been in at Cley – where the great British twitching phenomenon started back in the 60’s. An historical site that should be in every birder's heart.

Shortly afterwards Mr W rang an old friend – Lee Evans - for info on an upcoming site. I know the name won’t mean much to a lot of you – but those who recognize it, would know he was – and still is – a well known character on the UK birding scene, having gained a certain dubious notoriety over the years.

Be that as it may, his info was spot-on and we arrived on-site at Cantley, west of Norwich, an hour later and found approx 12 Taiga Bean Geese (lifer for me) among a mixed flock of Pink-footed and Greater White-fronted Geese. Unfortunately they were about 300 meters across a field and way beyond any hope of photography, even if I could have held the camera steady in the howling gale.

As we got back to the car it started to rain and we headed off on the 2 hour trip home in the gathering darkness.

We also had a couple of Egyptian Geese and Chinese Water Deer. We had, in fact, seen both of these yesterday  - but I forgot to mention them. They are both introduced species in the UK, which have established feral populations and I am including them as ‘lifers’ on my lists.

Day 18 - 9.1.19 (Wednesday)

We had a later get up time so I had time to satisfy my heart’s desire with a lengthy, positive phone call. Then it was breakfast with an entertaining Grey Squirrel in the back garden and getting on the road by 9am. 

Grey Squirrel

It was 10 before we drew up at a car park on the shores of Rutland Waters – the biggest inland body of water in England, apparently. 

The car park expected payment but we managed to squeeze a quick scan of the water before jumping back into the car and getting out before the ‘first 15 minutes free’ expired. It was a close run thing but we got out without paying the expected 1Pound 70p for the first hour. 

What bullshit!

Driving around the lake we found another spot, parked up and walked down a side road marked ‘Private Road’ – which the other 20 or so birders seemed to be ignoring anyway – to another scan point. It was pretty cold, a bitter breeze blowing from the northwest froze any exposed skin, but it was bright and ‘sunny’ – in UK terms anyway.

We quickly got onto the target birds – a pair of Slavonian Grebes which showed well a couple of hundred meters offshore. It took a while but Mr W – aka Sir Stuart or, if you like, Stud Muffin (I told YOU I’d put it in the blog!) - found the targeted pair of Black-necked Grebes.

They were way over on the opposite side of the lake so we headed back to the car to drive around to a side road for better views. While we were looking for them I found my first european Great White Egret on the far shoreline.

On the way back to the vehicle a Red Kite soared overhead – our first non-driving individual - and a few minutes later a Peregrine Falcon went past and scared up the ducks for fun.

Red Kite

We drove around the ring road and found the side road down to the lake where we had excellent views of the Black-necked.

Then it was on to yet another access point where we walked in a couple of hundred meters along a manicured walking track and grassed area to find our last Rutland Waters target – 2 Red-necked Grebes which showed incredibly well a short distance of the shoreline. Crippling views.

Sir S then found an unexpected female Bufflehead. Most likely an escape of course, he believed it has been hanging around the area for ages. Add it to my european/UK list? Might as well – everyone else probably does, even if they consider it a probable ‘plastic’. 

Coffee seemed a necessity at that stage so we stopped in a nearby village and found a Costas’ for coffee and toasties.

We discussed the options. 

I refused to pay the 5 Pounds per head entry fee to another spot on Rutland Waters where an American Wigeon was on display, so we decided to head to the RSPB headquarters and look for Crossbills. 

That took another hour of driving during which we saw a soaring ‘kettle’, sort of, of about 40 Red Kites. Apparently a local farmer puts out meat for them. 

At RSPB HQ near Sandy in Beds. we parked up and walked a track where Crossbills had been seen recently. 

By now it was approaching 15.00 and the light was going. We weren’t successful in our Crossbill search, seeing few birds apart from a flock of Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Goldcrests, but we did see a Reeves or Chinese Muntjac Muntiacus reevesi running up a hillside – another introduced feral deer species, about the size of a large dog with a cute face.

The DEER had the cute face, this is just Sir S and me

Then it was back to the car, home to Sir S’s place and coffee, before he took me to Luton for my flight back to Dublin.

I was through security by18.10. Once again I had to wait an hour for the gate to be displayed so holed up in Starbucks with yet another coffee.

19.15 arrived and Gate 3 was my destination. Marched down there along with half the population of Dublin and stood queued in a non-seating area for 15 minutes. Then they opened the doors and we started to board. 

Started was the operative word – we got out the door then stood in the cold wind for another 10 minutes before they allowed us to get on to the plane. No idea why they pushed us out of the terminal into the cold when they weren’t ready for us, however, I suppose I should just be happy the plane was on time, the flight wasn’t cancelled and I guess, once again, you only get what you pay for!

The 55 minute flight was uneventful and we landed in Dublin at 21.00.

Through customs and passport security to the Europcar desk, then on the shuttlebus to the car pickup. I was booked through ‘Keddy’ a subsidiary, it appeared, of Europcar. When I mentioned that to the rep, he said ‘we’re all the same, it just gives the illusion of choice!’ – only in Ireland.

He asked me if I was going to go to Northern Ireland. 

I said ‘Maybe?’ 

He said “Then MAYBE we’ll charge you the 34 euro fee, cause if we don’t we’ll have to charge you a million euro if we find out you went there!’

I paid the fee.

A Nissan Pulsar, I tried to drive out of the compound with no lights on, but the security guard stopped me and told me….

All good – got to Mum’s at 22.30.

Trip Total – 117          Lifers – 2          New European – 3           (New UK – 7)

Day 19 – 10.1.19 (Thursday)

After breakfast I took Aisling to work, then Mum food shopping – a wet, dreary type of day.

I left Dale Rd at 12.30 and headed north to arrive in Derry (if you’re a Catholic) or Londonderry (if you’re a protestant) at 16.00, crossing the ‘international’ border. 

I picked Mr H up at the bus station where he had travelled from Belfast and we crossed the border again, back into Ireland, to finish the day’s driving in Culdaff, a small village in Co Donegal. It was the same house we had stayed in several years ago on a similar adventure, a friend’s holiday home. Unfortunately there was no Wifi, but other than that it was very comfortable.

Day 20 – 11.1.19 (Friday)

It was a dull damp morning when we left the house at 9.30 and it rained not long afterwards – but it was only a light shower and the day brightened up a bit as it progressed.

We birded the general area within about 20 kms of the house – Moovill harbour, the Malin Head area ect. 

Nothing outstanding, but I added 6 new birds to my trip list, all quality, including things like Red-billed Chough, Brambling, Barnacle Goose (1500+) & (genuine, non of your mickey mouse feral jobbies here!) Rock Dove.

I had forgotten to bring a towel from Mum’s so we went looking to buy one. 

We couldn’t find any towel-selling shops in the village of Carndonagh, so I resorted to purchasing two dish towels @ 1 Euro 60 each – I’m sure they’ll work just fine.

We were home by 16.00 – as usual the light was gone - and sat twiddling our thumbs looking down the barrel of a long quiet night. There was no internet at the house, nowhere, apart from the library 15 kms away, that had wifi and no TV. 

We resorted to watching John Wick Chapter 1 on my laptop - where I had fortuitously downloaded a few movies some time ago - then had takeaway fish and chips for dinner.

No wonder people drink.

So we went for a pint – just walked into the village and back again. Crashed around 11.

Trip Total – 123          Lifers – 2          New European – 3

Day 21 – 12 .1.19 (Saturday)

Up to a wet, dull cloudy day. After breakfast we packed up and headed towards Donegal town.  We spent the day birding potential spots like Inch lake where we had been 3 years ago on my last visit to the area. Then we had a drake Smew. This time we had nothing out of the ordinary. 

In one area of fields on the southern side of the lake we did have approx 500 Whooper Swans feeding on the short grass with about 100 Grey Lag Geese among them – I’ve never seen so many Whoopers in one place, in fact, I doubt I've seen that many Whooper Swans in total.

We also visited a nearby prehistoric hill fort.

An interesting relic of ancient times, impressive in its construction and location – thick hand built stone walls set on the highest point around providing perfect views of the estuary below and the river Foyle cutting through the landscape below.

We stopped off at a coffee shop at random and were surprised by excellent coffee and free wi-fi, which gave us the opportunity to catch up with family & friends and reassure them we were still in the land of the living. It’s surprising how out of touch one can feel when one doesn’t have easy access to the internet – pathetic really, but there you have it, as the locals here would say.

Our final area of interest was Donegal Bay where we had numerous Great Northern and a few Red-throated Divers, a few flocks of Common Scoter and the only new addition today to the trip list – a pair of distant Long-tailed Ducks.

Then it was into a Supa Valu for more food – and re-heat-and-eat dinners for tonight – and up a narrow winding road to another friend-of-Mr H’s-house where, again, we had stayed three years ago. Once again, no wifi or TV, but a real coal fire was lovely to sit in front of while the wind whistled around the walls. 

Trip Total – 124          Lifers – 2          New European – 3

Day 22 – 13.1.19 (Sunday)

We woke to a cold westerly wind, sheets of thin rain and scudding clouds. The perfect day to curl up with the one you love and practice making babies. 

As Mr H and I weren’t of that sort we had breakfast and went birding.

Back down to Donegal Bay at Mountcharles again and heaps of Great Northern Divers. A handful of scattered Common Scoters produced nothing extra so we headed for the Gull Capital of Ireland – Killybegs.

Thousands, literally, of European Herring, Great Black-backed and Common Gulls scanned and only a single Iceland Gull found - a nice clean adult bird. This winter, so far, has been a poor one for white-winged Gulls in the UK and Ireland.

The continuing weather conditions and howling wind encouraged us to head to the Bay View Hotel for coffee before heading back down the bay and around to the south side.

We tried to look for Scoter flocks from the sandy shoreline and did have some success, but the wind was right in our face, the sea was choppy and white-horsed and the birds were bobbing up and down so dramatically and spending so little time on the surface – before diving – it was next to impossible to get long, clear views at our low elevation.

We tried several locations without any surprises, apart from an Irish Hare on the road ahead of us and added Mistle Thrush and Sanderling to the trip list.

We investigated a few boggy areas, where Mr H donned his wellies and trudged through the mud in search of Jack Snipe – he only flushed one Common Snipe – and a coastal lake where the birds all pissed off really quickly, we assume because there is a lot of shooting. Even the Whooper Swans there looked nervous, which is a little unusual.

We decided to give it away around 14.30 and drove back to Donegal town where Mr H looked for, but didn’t buy, a Donegal-made woolen sweater. At potentially 150 Euro, I wasn’t even trying one on….

We bought two more re-heat meals for dinner, 2 bags of coal and one bag of peat and headed home to while away the long evening with the coal fire, CDs, newspapers and a book.

Trip Total – 127          Lifers – 2          New European – 3

Day 23 – 14.1.19 (Monday)

The wind died away overnight and the morning dawned calm, brighter and, dare I say it, warmer – or at least very mild. We packed up and left the house at 9.

There wasn’t anywhere new to bird in the area so we went down to Mountcharles again on the northern shore of Donegal Bay and scoped the Divers and Scoters.

Donegal Bay 

Much easier to see them all today, the bay was flat calm, but we still didn’t manage to pull anything new out of the scoter flocks. There were only 20 or 30 birds in scattered flocks, instead of the usual thousands so it was not overly surprising. 

We did see at least 25 Great Northern Divers, which was impressive, and 5 Long-tailed Ducks mainly in flight, a little bit closer than we’d had them to date. 

Great Northern Diver (very flat light)

Further back along the estuary a pair of Slavonian Grebes showed at some distance.

At that point we decided to head for ‘home’ – via the border town of Enniskillen, to drop Mr H off for the Belfast bus, while I continued on to Dublin. 

To get to Enniskillen we left 'Ireland' - aka as The Free State - and crossed the 'border', in the town of Pettigoe, into Northern Ireland. The 'border' was literally a line on the road, where the tarmac changed slightly, on a small bridge, right in the middle of town. The road INTO town (in The Free State) had been a bit rough and 'buckled' due to the underlying peat deposits. In contrast it was obvious the UK had made a special effort to show how much better the roads in NI were - the first few kilometres after the border crossing, were, it must be admitted, perfect - flat, smooth, wide, well maintained. However, after that initial distance, the road reverted to basically the same condition as everywhere else.

We stopped off at a lake near Enniskillen where we had found a male Smew three years ago. No luck today though – 15 Whooper Swans, Goldeneye and Tufted Ducks were all present.

I left Mr H at the depot for the midday bus and headed south, once again crossing the International Border that is causing such controversy. Dependent on the vote in the UK Parliament tomorrow the border may not be so easy to cross in the near future. No one, apart from the DUP, seems to want a 'hard' border, but the on-going political wrangling and petty politics in evidence in London in recent weeks would seem to make that reality a real possibility. Either way, unless an agreement is reached, the Free State/Northern Ireland border is likely to change in some shape or other.
Regarding the roads....... crossing the border again, south of Enniskillen back into The Free State, the european money Ireland has benefited from was apparent. Before long I was on a motorway at 120 kms/hr and relaxing with the cruise control doing all the work. I did have two toll booths @ 1 Euro 40 cents (~$2.20) each, at one of which I fumbled the money drop and had to scramble around the car to find the two 20 cent pieces I'd dropped..........Christ on a bike........

Arrived at Dale Rd at 14.30.

Trip Total – 127          Lifers – 2          New European – 3

Day 25 – 16.1.19 (Wednesday)

Well, we all know now – the inevitable happened and ‘The Deal’ was rejected. More chaos.

So, another quiet day. I needed some exercise so, after the phone call for my heart, (a call a day keeps the blues away!) I walked to and from Dundrum shopping center to pick up a few bits and pieces I needed. It was cold, but not freezing, clear blue skies and sunny conditions, rain developed, as promised, in the afternoon and the temperatures are predicted to fall tonight.

After lunch Mum and I went to visit my Uncle Gerry. He has not been well for the last several months and is currently in a rehabilitation center. I don’t think he’ll be going home, certainly no time soon and most likely never. Jesus if I ever get to that stage – just put a pillow over my head.

19.30 So Mrs May has again survived – this time a no confidence motion. It doesn’t really help matters, but at least it doesn’t make them any worse. 

                                   Trip Total – 127          Lifers – 2          New European – 3

Day 26 - 17.1.19 (Thursday)
Another quiet, VERY cold day. My phone told me it was 3 degrees, 'But Feels like -1' It felt like -10....
The Occupational Therapist came to assess Mum for a stairlift and handles here and there through the house - all good. Now we just have to choose a company to install the stairlift, apply for a council grant, apply for a reimbursement of the VAT we have to pay on the stairlift, apply for a reimbursement of the OT's fees, get Mum on the list for the installation of grab handles (free) via another local service..........
I didn't do anything much the rest of the day. It was almost too cold to go outside for a smoke.....almost.

Day 27 - 18.1.19 (Friday)
A 'warmer', wet morning. Took Mum and Aisling for breakfast at the local GAA - a full Irish for me, toast, egg, bacon, mushrooms, tomato and white pudding.
I went into the city for a bit of take-home shopping, then I met up Lorraine & Aisling and we went to a Brian Eno exhibition which was weird but interesting, only as one would imagine for Brian Eno....
We had something to eat somewhere in Temple Bar, in a Mexican restaurant, fish tacos and a Corona, then Lorraine & I went to see The Favourite at the Irish Film Festival cinema in Temple Bar. I had flagged it as a potential go-to and wasn't disappointed. A period piece about Queen Anne, it's bawdy, irreverent and funny, the language is outrageous!
Afterwards we met Aisling and her boyfriend, John, and started drinking...............much Guinness and Jamiesons later and L and I power-walked/staggered back to St Stephen's Green and the Luas, getting home by 1am.
I decided my t-shirt needed to go in the wash, took it off, walked over to the front loading washing machine and opened the door.....to be met by a flood of water across my bare feet and the floor. Not recommended at 1am, 2 degrees and several drinks taken......

Day 28 - 19.1.19 (Saturday)
Yawn, borrrring. I know.
Another day, nothing exciting, did f..k all except take Mum out for her first Thai restaurant experience for dinner. She doesn't like spicy food and chose chicken and chips off the kid's menu while Lorraine and I had Pad Thai and curry. 
Mum is an avid bird feeder - like a lot of people in Ireland/UK. Her feeder with its peanuts and fat balls attracts Blue, Great and a single Coal Tit, House Sparrows, Starlings and the occasional Goldfinch. This morning a Grey Squirrel climbed up and got at the peanuts - much to her annoyance. She also has two resident Robins who come in almost to your feet to get the seed she throws out for them every morning. If we throw bread on the lawn we get Black-headed, Herring and even a Common Gull came down the other day, Magpies, Wood Pigeons, Blackbirds and Dunnocks are an hourly sighting. I've seen small flocks of Oystercatchers fly over and once, last week, a flock of about 6 Brent Geese.
That's it for birding in Dale Rd. Roll on Spain......

Day 29 - 20.1.19 (Sunday)
Mum went to church, Lorraine went to meet a friend, Aisling stayed in bed, Colin did nothing.
Until lunch time when we all went out to lunch with (Auntie) Audrey & (Uncle) Derek and (Auntie) Thelma. Nice classy restaurant, nice expensive food, nice family time. Two of Thelma's daughters, Susan and Jacqueline, turned up, unexpectedly, to see us, which was lovely. I hadn't seen them for yonks - wouldn't have known them if I fell over them.
After lunch we went home again and I watched the World Masters Snooker finals.

Day 30 - 21.1.19 (Monday)
At last - birding with purpose again.
Up at 6.15, breakfasted and quietly left the house in the pitch dark, freezing morning at 7.00.
Found the car completely iced up. Tried to get back into the house to get the keys for Mum's car to get the de-icer....couldn't open the front door because the key was still in the lock inside so....
scratched off the ice on the windscreen with my credit card - ingenuity! Worked well, no damage to the card.
Got to Mr C's place (aka Richard, aka RHC) and headed for Wexford.
First stop Ferrybank in Wexford Harbour - it took us a while, but we eventually picked up the long-staying, juvenile Spotted Sandpiper which was a new European & Irish tick for me. Good scope views as it pottered along the rocky foreshore.
Then it was on to Tacumshin - a large expanse of wetlands just behind the sand dunes on the southern coast. Lotsa duck, flocks of waders and swans. Our target - Pied Avocet and Bewick's Swan, both been seen here lately. 
We found the former almost immediately near the 'Hidden Corner' - but only distant scope views - classy bird though and only my second Irish record, the first being sometime before 1978.
We scoped through dozens of Mute Swans without any Bewick success, but spotted a large flock of Whoopers in nearby fields. We waded along a channel through a reed bed in our wellies and overpants and looked for Water Pipits and a reported Little Stint, again without success, but we did flush a Jack Snipe to add to the trip list - my first in many a long year. I also added (a single juvenile male) Common Pochard and, beautiful, Northern Pintail to my trip list. 

Mr C in the wellie channel

We had lunch, then drove along rough, muddy, farm tracks trying to find access to the fields of Whooper Swans, eventually getting medium range scope views, but no Bewick's.
Heading on to Carnsore Pt - I just wanted to go there, not expecting much - in a howling south-southwesterly straight-off-the-sea gale. We saw little apart from passing flocks of (presumably) Common Guillemots and a few Northern Gannets.
OK, now it was after 14.00, the threatened front from the west had definitely caught up with us so we headed for the North Slob and got into the tower hide just as the rain started.
Hundreds of (Greenland) White-fronted Geese, a small flock of Barnacle Geese, a couple of hundred Whooper Swans and........at least 4 Bewick Swans feeding in the fields within good scope range. 
Bewick's have become much less common in Ireland in recent years as warmer winters reduce their southerly migration. It's been a few years since I have seen any and Mr C didn't see any at all last year.
The light was going rapidly and the rain was pissing down so we packed up and headed home.
I dropped Mr C of at his place then picked up Aisling from the bus in Wicklow before settling in Blainroe, at Lorraine's, for the night.

                        Trip Total – 134          Lifers – 2          New European – 4

Day 31 – 22.1.19 (Tuesday)

The day started off with a lovely, long phone call that left me feeling warm and happy, and a video from Kara back in Brisbane showing me how brittle the grass has become in the super dry heat of late.

Suck it up! I thought – then I went outside…..

It was really lovely – to look at from inside. Blue skies, puffy white clouds, bright sunshine and, sure, in the sun out of the wind it was an almost balmy 5 degrees. However, in the north-westerly wind it felt about minus 2. It was BRUTAL cold. 

Walking down the beach at Kilcoole with that wind coming down off the Wicklow Mountains any exposed skin was just icy. I was warm enough in my thermals, t-shirt, heavy long-sleeved shirt, Berghaus jacket, beanie, two pairs of gloves and muff……but my ears and fingers, when unshielded, just froze. 

Mind you – as far as the weather is concerned – I’d rather be here than sweating through 32/34 degree heat with 80%+ humidity and 22-24 degrees overnight. Give me a hot water bottle and a dooner and I’m happy!

So, anyway, onto the birding.

Well, it wasn’t that exciting, most of the usual stuff – Eurasian Wigeon and Teal, Northern Mallard, Brent Geese, Little Grebes, Grey Herons, Northern Lapwings, Common Redshanks. The additional interesting birds for here, (not the trip), were about 50 Northern Shoveler, the only duck actively feeding, all the rest were huddled under the mud banks sheltering from the wind, and a Peregrine Falcon on the ground that seemed to be catching something in the short grass.

The tide was pouring in through the Breaches so there was no exposed mud, hence virtually no waders. 5 Whooper Swans (2 ads & 3 juvs) were in a distant field and a flock of approx 60 Grey Lag Geese were also recent site additions.

I had almost given up hope of seeing anything offshore, but a couple of Northern Gannets passing by changed that, then a single Common Guillemot sitting on the calm water, and, finally, a pair of Red-throated Divers drifted south on the current, one coming in pretty close to shore providing an opportunity for me to take off my gloves and get the camera out…

Red-throated Diver - note the classic 'upturned' bill

I picked up a coffee and croissant in a servo then headed back into Wicklow checking the harbour in passing – nothing of any interest - before getting back to Lorraine’s and thawing out in front of the fire.

After dinner Lorraine took me to her yoga class. She has been practicing for a long time and takes classes herself. Once or twice a week she attends a class in Wicklow town and invited me tonight.

I was interested, always being open to new experiences and, having done Pilates for the last 6 months, had wondered what was different about yoga. I enjoyed the 90 minute class and found it challenging at times – I’ll consider taking it up at home, we’ll see.

Trip Total – 134          Lifers – 2          New European – 4

Day 32 - 23.1.19 (Wednesday)
Another non-birding day. 
Following another early morning heart call, I drove back to Dale Rd with my niece then went to get my hair cut (13 euro), my passport photo taken (8 euro) to renew my Irish passport - which you can now do on-line - and more credit on my Irish phone number so I can use my phone in Spain much like I use it here - i.e. there are no 'roaming' charges when I use it there, that's been removed throughout the EEC.
Then a few phone calls to get info for different things for Mum and packing in preparation for departure Friday morning.
That was basically it for the day.

Day 33 - 24.1.19 (Thursday)
Ditto above - apart from the garden birds, Blue & Great Tit, Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnock etc.
Rang the district nurse - she said Mum would be 'on the list' and they'd get to her at some future stage to re-assess for extra home help.

The guy came to give us another quote on a stairlift. Mum liked him so we'll probably go with his quote which is within the boundaries of the grant.

Apart from that I did virtually nothing all day except pack for Spain tomorrow.

At last.

Day 34 - 25.1.19 (Friday) Spain at last - but no birding yet!

Started the morning with another great phone call, then, basically, hung around, finishing packing, drinking coffee, until midday when I headed off.

Stopped off at a servo to fill up with fuel and pay the 4 tolls for the M50 (E12), then on to the airport.

I got to the drop off point for rental cars and pulled into the Europcar area. As usual a rep came over to check the car back in. He went round the car examining everything in close detail – I have never had anyone inspect a return so closely. Eventually he called me over and pointed out a minor rusty scrape on the front left alloy rim and a small piece of rubber missing from the tyre. I mean it was minimal and appeared to me to have been there for some time. Anyway – he wasn’t happy about it and advised that they were holding E500 against my credit card and the manager would be in touch ‘in a few days’. I assured him I hadn’t hit anything, that I was used to driving on the left and that the scrape could have been there before I picked up the car.

I wasn’t happy and will argue the point, needless to say, however, I now have to wait to hear from ‘the manager’.

Mr H was getting the bus from Belfast and we connected at the airport, checked in quickly for our Vueling flight. Apparently it’s the ‘cheap’ version of Iberian Air – the national Spanish airline. Much the same as Jetstar and Ryanair – basic, no frills, but 23 kg check-in luggage, 10 kg carry-on + a ‘small bag’ which was all good for 99 euro (A$157) return (each) – and it left half an hour late.

Non-eventful flight and arrival, found our way to the Budget desk and then to the car pick-up in the adjoining garage. The car was, of course, left hand drive, diesel, and manual – a Citreon. 

I drove. 

I only got on the wrong side of the road three times.

Luckily there was little traffic, but very narrow streets around our first two night’s accommodation in the suburb of Gava, on the coast, made for cautious driving – only 15 minutes, but a slightly traumatic 15 minutes…….

We met Laura, our ‘host’, outside - late twenties with great English – and dumped our gear in the ground floor, modern-style apartment, before heading out to a nearby supermarket and stocking up on the basics for breakfast and lunch.

Then we went looking for a place to eat. We drove along the seafront taking a while to find parking then walked into the only restaurant in sight – El Txoko, a Basque style joint apparently. It wasn’t really as cheap as it looked. We had a fish dish served up by the waiter, a bit of bread, a beer for Mr H and a bottle of water for me - E48 (=A$76). At E2.35 a bottle, next time I’ll ask for tap water…….Anyway, the fish was tasty and, probably best at this time of night (21.30), light.

We returned to the apartment – safely – unpacked the gear and planned for tomorrow.

Day 35 - 26.1.19 (Saturday)

We were up and out just after 8. Daylight was just done and we arrived on site at Espais Naturals del Delta del Llobregat before it ‘opened’ at 9. 

Yeah, well, I don’t really know where it was either, but it was the noisiest place we have ever birded being right under the end of the runway for the main airport. The low overhead aircraft didn’t seem to worry the birds any, but it did make it difficult for Mr H to hear things and completely impossible for me.

W parked up outside and walked in. As it turned out the road in was never opened to the general public. Maybe because it was a Saturday? We never did find out but the 30 minute walk in wasn’t too bad early on. 

Virtually our first bird out of the car was a lifer for me – Spotless Starling. We saw a number of ‘Starlings’ during the morning, some of which looked more spotty than others, but we were confident with most of them.

Our walk in took us along the side of a canal/dyke/river lined with reed beds – very tall phragmite style reeds. We picked up a number of common european birds plus a couple of Marsh Harriers, Green Woodpeckers, Serins (poor views) and lots of Northern Shoveler.

(I include a photo only because I can and they were very close)

Northern Shoveler

The area is fairly compact with a number of good quality hides overlooking areas of open water, so we had a few Eurasian Teal and Wigeon, Common Coots (couldn’t find any Red-knobbed), Dabchicks, Northern Mallard, Gadwall and, from one hide, a small flock of Grey Lag Geese(14) probably feral, but what the hell, and 2 Common Snipe. Nearby a local birder pointed out a Purple Swamphen – my first European PS. At another hide 2 Black-necked Grebes showed really well and a couple of Common Pochard snoozed in the corner.

Grey Lag Geese

On the way back to the main junction Common Chiffchaffs started to appear in number and we must have seen 50 in the end, all madly flycatching. Mr H heard a Firecrest and we eventually had poor back-lit views – my first, I think, since the 70s.

A Green Sandpiper flew over-head about then and that was it for the waders. Down at the beach we scanned the ocean, but only had half a dozen distant Northern Gannets and fly-by Yellow-legged Gulls.

In the scrubby dunes behind the beach – a flock of Serins appeared and disappeared, Crested Larks did much the same, being bloody hard to find on the ground, and 2 Hoopoes butterflied into the distance. A single male Black Redstart also put in an appearance.

Mr H had been hearing Cetti’s and Sardinian Warblers all morning and had seen one Cetti’s, briefly. I hadn’t. As we walked back to the car a Sardinian put in a brief fly-across-the-track-and-disappear-into-a-tree-never-to-be-seen-again appearance – as they do. We also had one butterfly – a Wall Brown Lasiommata megera.

Wall Brown

We were pretty knackered by the time we got back to the car at 12.30, so decided a coffee was required and headed for a village not too far away. We got what we needed and really good it was too – I could live on this!

As we felt we had exhausted the birding possibilities for the day – it had now, incredibly, reached 18 degrees and was quite warm in the sun – we decided to get a train into Barcelona and do the tourist thing for the afternoon.

So we did. Walking for ages around the old town, visiting (or at least seeing from the outside) Gaudi’s crazy creation – spectacular in fact – the Barcelona gothic Cathedral and walked up Las Ramblas, the famous shopping street that, sadly, was the site for a terrorist car attack a couple of years ago.

Here are some photos of those things……

Arc the Triumph (?) 

Barcelona gothic Cathedral

Las Ramblas - & Mr H

All Gaudi buildings - mainly the cathedral from different angles

We also found some parakeets – Monk Parakeet (seen previously in Athens) and Mitre Parakeet (Lifer) screeching and arguing in the trees in some street or other. 

Monk Parakeet

Mitre Parakeet

Along the way, to save Mr H dying of malnutrition, we chose, at random, a small side street restaurant and had an amazing meal for E13 each. I had a seafood paella (look at me eating seafood!) and, for second course, baked chicken, all washed down with a carafe of local rough red wine, followed by another excellent coffee. Soooo much better than last night’s expensive effort. The people were lovely and the food served almost immediately – and really good. This is the way to go!

We eventually made it back to a train station, back to the car in Viladecans and home by 18.45.

                  Trip Total – 145          Lifers – 4          New European – 5          Spanish - 53

Day 36 - 27.1.19 (Sunday)

Breakfasted, packed up and out we had decided to bird another part of the wetlands south of Barcelona before heading north.

This wetland (El Prat de Llobregat) was more productive, but was the at the other end of the airport runway and we had a multitude of jets passing very low overhead coming into land – I mean, very low…..

Once again it didn’t seem to worry the birds, just made conversation impossible.

We had a Black Redstart in the carpark before we even got out of the car and, as we walked towards the entrance to the reserve we were looking at Starling sp on the roof of a farmhouse when I spotted a Little Owl sitting out in the open. It sat up well for scope views, but as soon as I pulled out the camera – pissed off.

Mr H was scanning the field beside the farmhouse  and I said ‘Stone Curlew would be nice?’ and he said ‘Well, there’s one there’ There were in fact 3 and I got my one and only lifer for the day. - a bird I had wanted to see for a long time. Rather distant, but OK in the scope, doing the usual SC thing – standing in the open assuming they couldn’t be seen.

Stone Curlew

We headed down the wrong track to start with along with dozens of cyclists and joggers. Realising our mistake, we headed back and down the right track and, although there were quite a few non-birding walkers, it was much quieter.

There were a lot of the same birds as yesterday, but this time I did manage to get good views of European Serin. We added Greater Flamingo (14), Mediterranean Gull, Short-toed Treecreeper (2),Tawny Pipit (1), Little Stint (1), Common Kingfisher, Spotted Redshank( 3) and Eurasian Tree Sparrow to our Spanish trip list among other, more common species.

European Serin

Spotted Redshank

We also had average views of Sardinian Warbler, good views of a Cetti’s Warbler, for a limited time, and distant views of a Water Rail, another of which we heard in the huge reed beds.

Unfortunately our targets – Audouin’s Gull and  Moustached Warbler did not figure.

By the time we were heading back it had got really, really busy with hundreds of people walking - families, couples, singles, groups, unbelievable - but it was a Sunday afternoon, after all. Back at the car we found some dickhead had parked so close to the driver’s side I had to get in the passenger side – not happy jack. However, we headed off after something to eat and found a place for a quick coffee in the nearby town.

Then it was onto the motorway and heading north along the coast. Tolls = E13.20 (A$21) for the 170 km drive, about as much as we expected.

Barcelona to Pau

E

We arrived without any incident in the Cap de Creus region, a headland just south of the French border, at 16.30 and found our way to Pau where we had our next AirBnB stay organised. A quaint little village set on the side of the headland, all narrow streets and old houses and our stay was in one, renovated of course. A one bedroomed self-contained apartment – with a sofa bed for me (I volunteered).

As soon as we’d checked in we headed off towards the coast round the north side of the headland, ending up at the end of a short road just south of Llanca, north of the actual headland, looking back across the bay. Immediately we saw shearwaters. 

Jumping out of the car and setting up the scopes we soon had half a dozen Eastern Mediterranean/Yelkouan Shearwaters heading north (so to speak) at a few hundred meters distance. We’d had a single, very distant, bird off the Peloponnese in Greece in 2017, but these were much more satisfying views. There was a ferocious northwest wind howling down the coast and it was a struggle to stand up. We did however, have a bit of cover, and the shearwaters were loving it as they sheared by, their white bellies and underwing – fringed by black leading and trailing edge – contrasting with their dark upperparts, reminiscent of my favourite Manx.

Pretty happy with that we drove ‘home’ the long way round, then went looking for somewhere to eat. Almost dipped! Nothing open in Pau on a Sunday night so we drove to a nearby village and tried there. One bar/restaurant wasn’t serving food tonight at all, one had only opened for lunch and the pizzeria didn’t open till 20.00 – an hour and a half away. We decided to head home and just eat whatever we had, but as I drove up through the village to find somewhere to turn, we came across a small café/restaurant that had a menu operating ‘in 5 minutes time!’ (at 19.00) and parked our asses there. I had a burger (minus the bun?), a fried egg and chips and Mr H had an omelet and salad. Plus a beer and two coffees the bill was E19 (A$30), cheap by Spanish standards, all in a warm, friendly, cute (?) little bar – really could eat like this every day.

            Trip Total – 156          Lifers – 5          New European – 6          Spanish - 70

Day 37 - 28.1.19 (Monday)

The wind died down overnight so we decided to start at the high ground and work down.

Our first destination therefore was at a monastery high on the Cape – Conjunt monumental de Sant Pere de Rodes. Our (hopeful) target here was Alpine Accentor down for their holidays from the real mountains.

There weren’t any vacationers. In fact we saw f-all apart from a female Sardinian Warbler and a Short-toed Treecreeper. As we walked back to the car it started to snow – but turned to sleet very quickly, causing no issues.

We dropped down to the lowlands/coast and spent the rest of the day dodging showers in the hides around Del Cortalet wetlands.

A word on the wetlands so far seen – brilliant! The Spanish have done themselves proud building sturdy, user-friendly hides with easy to use viewing points, situated in positions that take full advantage of the environments, solid, safe tracks and boardwalks and maps that are easy to follow and clearly descriptive.  We have been impressed.

Anyway – the first part of the Del Cortalet wetlands required us to enter through a barrier and pay E5 for a ticket to get out. Given the amount of infrastructure and work to control the water levels it’s a fair price to pay – and you know how I hate paying for anything.

The first bird we saw was a White Stork standing on its nest right beside the car park. The only other WS’s I have seen were 3 flying away from us in Greece in 2017 – so this was a pleasure. We reckoned at least 170 were present through the wetlands – and there were probably more.

We also had a lot of the previously seen and common species of Duck, hundreds of Grey lag Geeseand about 20 Greater Flamingos. We added two new trip birds – European Spoonbill and Northern Goshawk– which took us a while to work out, it being perched on the ground on an island. 

White Stork

Gadwall

Common Snipe

(I know not very exciting, but its the closest I've been to Gadwall and Snipe in the open)

It was lunch time by the time we got back to the car and we were hanging out for coffee – or at least I was – so we went to a nearby village and had same. Then it was back to the other half of the wetland – no charge this time and the birding was good. 

A flooded field provided habitat for hundreds of Dunlin and Common Snipe– feeding out in the open - and among them, at least 5 Little Stints, a heap of Water Pipits and Kentish Plovers.

We walked for quite a distance stopping off at the various hides and seeing more of the same birds we saw at the first place. We ended up at the beach – nothing of interest there and the sea was empty. Re-tracing our steps we spotted a flock of 28 Common Cranes flying in to land somewhere distantly – probably, again, the first place we had visited.

It was now 15.30 and we decided to head to the Cape itself as Mr H had some information regarding Wallcreepers on the sea cliffs. It seemed unlikely but what the hell do you do? It took us ages to get there via an unsealed, rough road that wound around the south side of the headland and eventually petered out, despite the map’s description. We did walk in to one area and scanned the cliffs in the setting sun, but nooooo Wallcreepers.

The sea was still empty and very calm, so it was back to first and second gear for another half an hour to get out before dark. 

On the way home we stopped off and stocked up on food, including two pizzas and salad for dinner – and a E1.56 bottle of Spanish wine…….it really was quite nice, is quite nice…..

FUP Note. In an earlier post I mentioned the issue I had with the rental Europcar I returned to Dublin airport last Friday? Well, today, I received an email from Europcar claiming I was responsible and deducting E230 (A$366) from my credit card excess.

Not happy.

The representative went over the car with a fine tooth-comb – even opened the boot and checked I hadn’t stolen the spare tyre! When has anyone done that?? My argument is that a previous driver caused the problem, the rep then didn’t exam the car with a hand lens and missed the damaged wheel. Now I am paying for their mistake. I am absolutely CERTAIN I did not cause the damage.

I don’t really expect to win, but refuse to bend over and take it up the ass without an argument so – I have emailed them back, requesting details of their appeal process, explaining why and ‘expecting’ they do not take money until this is settled.

Watch this space and, if you DO hire a car from Europcar, examine it in minute detail before driving away – that’s my advice!

            Trip Total – 165         Lifers – 5          New European – 7          Spanish total - 90

Day 38 - 29.1.19 (Tuesday)

Time to move on to new pastures. 

Our Air BnB for the last two nights

Our hire car (obviously)

We packed up and left by 9, headed for the Cap de Creus headland again – this time to the lighthouse side. We drove right up to the lighthouse (on bitumen), parked up and looked around. 

Then we walked back down the road a bit and looked around. 

Then we drove back along the road, parked up and looked around.

Not much to see anywhere! (We did add Common Linnet to the trip list)

We had still being hoping for an easy Wallcreeper – but were not to get off that lightly. A few birds around, but nothing worth reporting here.

Gave it away and headed west. Mr H took over the driving and I sat and enjoyed the scenery for a change. Only one toll – E20 after we went through a 5km tunnel.

We stopped for coffee a couple of times, and filled up with fuel, and once again just 7 kms short of our destination for a circling flock? kettle? group? of Griffon Vultures high above the gorge we were in. A lone Peregrine accompanied them.

We had hit our first snow on the way as we climbed into the lower Pyrenees, crossing a couple of passes on the way; thick snow on the fields and trees, but the road was completely clear and dry and no issue.

Our destination was a small village – Figoles– close to the slightly larger ‘town’ of Organya. We checked in with our host and then decided to walk the ‘500 meters’ to the bigger village in the hopes of something to eat. It was, in fact, closer to 2 kms each way and we found everything was closed on a Tuesday. WTF?? But we did have a pair of Rock Buntings on the road and a White-throated Dipper on the river to add to our trip list.

Anyway, we bought meatballs, rice & a capsicum in the supermarket and Mr H rustled a tasty little meal to go with the beer.

Our Air BnB for the next three nights

           Trip Total – 158               Lifers – 5          New European – 6            Spanish - 99

Day 39 - 30.1.19 (Wednesday)

It was a cold, frosty morning, but no extra snow, no wind and clear blue sunny skies.

We had done a bit of research overnight re reports of Wallcreeper, Lammergier and Snow Finch on E bird and had identified a gorge in the next valley with recent (this year, 10 days ago) reports of the creeper and the vulture so we were headed there over the intervening mountain.

The roads were completely cleared but the snow was thick in the fields and trees. We think Mr H was flashed speeding but we will have to wait and see.

We got to the gorge (Congost de Collegats), about 20 kms south of Sort, on the main road. There were two tunnels in the gorge, but the original road had been left open to walkers, climbers and bike riders. We parked up at the second gorge and walked this side road with cliffs on both sides and a river below us. 

To us it appeared absolutely perfect creeper habitat. The cliffs were a couple of hundred meters high, with vertical slabs and crevices and holes which one would imagine would be heaven to a wintering creeper. Above us Griffon Vultures lazily circling – we counted 45-50 at one point during the morning.

A half an hour or so in and I thought one of the vultures looked a little different – it was it was a Lammergier. Brilliant. We had relatively good views of it before it disappeared over the crest and re-appeared a couple of times high above the other vultures before drifting south out of sight.

We carried on walking slowly, scanning the cliffs but seeing nothing apart from the occasional Blackbird or Robin. When we reached the end of this section – we walked back repeating the exercise. No luck.

Lunch time - so we drove a few ks down the road to the nearest village and had coffee, discussing our next move. 

Then it was back to the first tunnel (the ‘Sector Nord’ described in the report, we think) and a similar set up re the old road. Again we walked it slowly, continually scanning the cliffs getting what is now recognized as a rare affliction affecting only ageing, idiot birders – wallcreeper-neck.

Having done the road twice we stopped a hundred meters short of the car and I had a smoke while we, again, reviewed our options. I’d love to tell you this was when a Wallcreeper magically appeared – but I’d be lying….. We did have 3 Lammergiers glide smoothly over us giving me time to get a couple of shit shots, but it was a great view.

Lammergier

Other birds encountered in the gorge were few and far between – a couple of Alpine Choughs and Common Ravens and a small handful of small stuff as noted above plus a couple of Great Tits. Oh, we had White-throated Dippers on the river and one Short-toed Treecreeper as well.

Other than that it was a tough day and as we left the area after 3 and headed back over the mountain road we planned what we would try next…

We’re sharing our Air BnB with an Australian guy from Sydney and his German wife. They live in Germany near the Luxembourg border and are on a climbing holiday. Mr H and I have one bedroom with single beds and share the bathroom and kitchen with the other guests. It’s a really cool house with narrow staircases, low ceilings and polished wooden floors. 

          Trip Total – 160              Lifers – 6          New European – 7            Spanish - 101

Day 40 - 31.1.19 (Thursday)

Up and out again by 8.30 (daylight at about 8). Today we were heading for the highest peak we could get to – a ski resort at Porte del Comte. 

It took us the best part of an hour to get to the bottom of the ski lift and we joined a queue of eager skiers to buy tickets for the chair lift. We were determined to get as high as we could in search of White-winged Snow Finch. The snow was crispy and dry, it was cold, but not bitter, the sun was shining, the sky was clear and we purchased our lift tickets with high hopes. E15 saw us both sitting pretty as the chair lift carried us up the slopes.

On the chairlift

At the top there was a howling wind blowing all before it. The chances of any small bird staying on the ground were remote - we were nearly blown away. However, we persevered and staggered around the area seeking the partial protection of the small pine trees that dotted the frozen landscape. We did see two Common Crossbills to add to the trip lists, but other than that nothing. (We were at about 2,000 meters)

(A video of us and the wind and the scenery)

https://youtu.be/EbX2Xbxu_vs

Back down the chair lift again and into the après ski lodge for pretty shitty coffee before venturing out again in the more comfortable conditions to wander around the carpark looking for stuff. We found a few Crested Tits which eluded successful photo capture – again, my first since the ‘70s - brilliant little bird though. I also made an effort to build a small snowman to show my grandson in Australia - it wasn't a photographic success either.

We then drove further up the hill to the top of the resort where snow-shoeing was the thing, but only saw a few more Crossbills in flight.

The rest of the morning was spent driving around narrow roads – all clear – surrounded by snow covered mountains and fields, past quaint villages – stone houses, wooden doors, narrow streets, snow covered roofs – all very picturesque, but few birds. We stopped at random intervals where it looked good and did pick up a few new birds for the list – Cirl Bunting, Golden Eagle and a couple of Dunnocks that we tried, unsuccessfully, to string into Alpine Accentors. 

Girl Bunting - pretty crappy, I know

We ended up in La Seu d’Urgell where we decided to eat now (at 14.30) rather than risk another disappointment tonight. I had pig’s cheeks which came with an interesting physical description by the waitress as she said ‘pork’ and slapped her own face. They were very nice. I also had a small carafe of red wine which affected my concentration for a while afterwards.

Discussing our options we thought we’d maintain our tradition of seeing border areas (think the Turkish, Bulgarian and Albanian borders in Greece 2017 & Mexican in the USA last year) and headed for the Andoran border – just for the hell of it.

We didn’t see any interesting birds up that way. 

Heading back down to Organya – my head now clearing – we decided another gorge walk would give us another go at that bloody pink creeper and so stopped off at a similar tunnel/closed side road scenario as described yesterday.

We didn’t see any creepers, but we did have a European Wild Pig dash across the quiet side road just in front of us which made us both jump - our first wild Spanish mammal.

Gorge walking pre Wild Pig encounter

Closer to ‘home’ Mr H suggested a short walk along the river bank in the last of the daylight and we found another flock of Rock Buntings, of which I made poor effort photographing. We also had a flock of Crag Martins overhead – we’ve had them at several locations over the past few days, but I keep forgetting to mention them.

Rock Bunting - also pretty crappy

Organya

Then it was back to the comfort and warmth of our Air BnB, having it all to ourselves as the climbing couple had departed back to Germany this morning.

         Trip Total – 164              Lifers – 6          New European – 7            Spanish - 108