EUROPEAN TRIP CONTINUED
SPAIN
Day 20 (S1) – Saturday 8.6.18
Up at 6, Lorraine very kindly drove me sleepily to the airport – then left me at the car in the Set Down Only zone while she ran inside to get coffees……only Lorraine!
Self bag-dropped easily enough (had checked-in on-line as you do with Ryanair or pay $55 at the airport….and headed to my usual (!) bar/café for a coffee.
At the gate at 9.45, boarded and left on time. Typically uneventful flight, we landed at Seville airport at 13.30 (local time, 1 hour ahead of Dublin). It was hot (26 degrees), bright & sunny.
Found my way to the car rental easily enough and picked up my transport from Alamo. Set up the iPad with Mapsme strapped to my right leg and headed south. I stopped a couple of times to have a smoke and check my messages before turning off my roaming data again. The only real thing of interest on the road was a Booted Eagle soaring overhead that I got a quick glimpse of.
Ran into a trail of traffic as a number of tractors towing or carrying what looked like gypsy caravans toiled slowly along the winding mountain road. It was a painful 30 minutes before I turned off and took the very windy mountain road up to Grazalema. It was a stunning mountainside village with craggy peaks as a backdrop and whitewashed houses along narrow winding streets. Very attractive.
Then it all started to go to shit!
The campsite - Tajo Rodillo - just outside the town, where I had planned the next two nights, was closed.
Jesus Christ in a tent.
I sort of panicked for a few minutes then resorted to my MapsMe app and asked it for camping in the area. It picked a number of places and I headed for the closest one, 15kms away, down the other side of the mountains.
Got there and asked to camp for three nights. “No can do” was the response – or something like it, as he didn’t speak English and I don’t speak more than 3 words of Spanish. Turned out I could stay ONE night, but there was a group of school kids coming at midday the next day and he would be closed to everyone else so…..
I retired to the car and again interrogated MapsMe.
It took me to another campsite 6 kms further away near El Bosque where I settled for the night. The owner spoke Spanish (!) and French – but that didn’t help much, but he was very friendly and welcoming.
Anyway it was a nice little campsite and I set up quickly. Next item – food and gas cylinders. I hadn’t seen anywhere along the road for either so far.
I asked Mapsme for the closest supermarket and ended up driving back to the village of the second aborted campsite attempt to find a small supermarket with all the food I could desire. I stocked up.
Now for the gas cylinders.
I figured maybe a service station would have them? So Mapsme took me about 10 kms to a BP station which I thought would be the best option. It wasn’t. It was a one-man show with a hut about the size of a toilet and he wasn’t helpful at all. Looks like cold food for the time being. I returned to camp and had a yogurt. It was so nice I had another one. Then plain white bread and cheese (no butter, it seemed pointless getting any in the heat with no refrigeration) and water to wash it down.
Then I went to the bar in the campsite where a young dude made me a grande café con letche– or large coffee with milk. See? I can speak Spanish when the desperation gets bad enough! It was heaven at E1.20. If I only had gas cylinders my world would be complete – well, today, here, it would be.
I was a bit knackered, but thought I really needed to do some birding. The evening was cooling but there was still a couple of hours of daylight left so I wandered up the road finding that I was, in fact, on the edge of the National Park – Parque Natural – which was great!
Griffon Vultures overhead, Collared Doves, Common Blackbirds and House Sparrows in abundance, but I also had, nearly stood on, a Sardinian Warbler picking up damaged insects off the road like a Robin, a brief view of a White Stork in flight and a new Spanish tick – Spotted Flycatcher.
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| Collared Dove - yeah, I know, but I haven't featured one before! |
So it wasn’t all bad, just not super exciting. But then again I don’t think I could have handled anymore f..........g excitement.
Spanish list – 17 (New – 1)
Day 21 (S2) – Sunday 9.6.19
Another day – another disaster.
Sometimes I wonder why I get up in the morning.
I got up at 6, had a bowl of oats and warm milk and headed out. I got as far as the gate at the front of the campsite to find it closed. Obviously the owner closed it at night – but it was not locked. Just have to open it. A big f…k off metal thing.
I started to open it and found I had stopped the car too close, so walked back, got in the car, took off the handbrake and let the car roll backwards. That was my mistake. I didn’t close the driver’s door and it caught on a rock in a flower bed thing and I didn’t stop the car in time – only being half in it anyway. The door was bent beyond the tolerances built by the manufacture and there was a horrible metallic, squealing, grinding sound as it almost bent straight out.
After I had got over the shock of the thing, I found I could still close the door, but couldn’t close the window – it just wouldn’t go up. That’s no good, thinks I. That means I can’t leave the car anywhere with all my stuff in it.
So – the only option was to go back to Seville and get another one.
First though I drove up to the 1,375 meter col along the Grazelama/Zahara road, the highest point around, reputedly good for Vultures including Egyptian, along with Black Wheatear & Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush.
I got there. It was cold and misty. There was nothing happening apart from a nice flock of ~40 Red-billed Choughs flying overhead. My heart wasn’t really in it but I persevered for an hour or so without anything else showing.
Headed back down stopping at a couple of likely places for nothing either.
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| Grazalemo |
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| Looking south from the col |
Back at the campsite I checked out, explaining myself to the young guy, had a coffee and paid the $16 Euro for the previous night, I was on the road by 10.
100 kms later, having driven the whole way with the window wide open of course, I was in the airport – carpark. I took the wrong turn and was in the public carpark. I now had to PAY to get out.
I found a carpark.
I found a machine.
It told me to pay 72 cents.
I gave it a 10 euro note and that was the last time I saw the 10 euro.
It gave me a receipt and gave me back my ticket, but no change, thanks very much.
It also didn’t validate my ticket so I was still stuck in the fucking car park reversing away from the barrier…..
I found another car park – not easy!
Parked and this time paid the now E1.40 due.
With a 2 euro coin.
I got 60 cents change and a validated ticket and finally got the fuck out of there.
I drove around in circles for a while then finally found my way to the Alamo car return.
(During the drive I did see two Black Kites (new for Spain for me), Cattle Egrets and a Glossy Ibis)
The girls were very nice, gave me a new car and told me they’d have to take the 1,100 euro excess – about $1800 and if it costs less we’ll give you back the balance, she said.
I don’t think I’ll see much of a refund but I’ll try to claim it back from my travel insurance.
I drove back to El Bosque and the campsite - to find no one home and the barrier blocking access.
Jesus CHRIST!!
By now desperate for a coffee, I drove the 18km twisting road to Grazelama and had two in the main square along with loads of tourists and locals enjoying their Sunday afternoon in the sun.
I tried to find gas cylinders too, but the only mountain supply shop in the village was closed.
So, back up to the col again. Several Griffon Vultures and two female Spanish Ibex. I walked a track off the road but saw only a lone Sardinian Warbler. It was very windy and everything was laying low, I guess.
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| Spanish Ibex (female) |
Back down the road to El Bosque again stopping to take photos of butterflies as that was all I could find of interest.
Back at the campsite the young guy was there – I woke him up banging on the front door - and I checked in and set up camp in the same spot.
As I walked back to my site from the toilet I noticed a camp chair abandoned beside the bin – presumably left by the group who had been on site the night before. I checked. It still worked OK, if a little ratty and very low to the ground. I figured it was better than nothing and took it away with me.
By this time I was just exhausted from stress so sat for a while in my new chair, then had a can of meatballs – straight from the can as I couldn’t cook them - and a yoghurt.
It was after 19.30 and so I headed back up the gorge road towards ol’ Grazelama stopping at likely spots for, again, nothing. Oh I did have a pair of Cirl Buntings but that was it. I waited at the top till the sun went down then tried owling at a couple of spots. I did get a response from a Tawny Owl - distant - and another one was calling near the campsite.
That was it – what a day, what a disaster.
Oh well, onwards and upwards!
Spanish list – 33 (New – 2)
Day 22 (S3) – Monday 10.6.19
I didn’t see much point in getting up too early as yesterday had been pretty quiet so it was 7.45 before I headed out after another cold breakfast. I drove straight up to col and walked a track up towards exposed rock hoping for Black Wheatear or Rock Thrush. I saw neither – but did get a family party of Iberian Chiffchaffs and Black Redstarts. I also took photos of a black Bumblebee – similar to the ones I saw in February further north - and a small butterfly that looked interesting.
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| Bumblebee sp dusted with pollen |
I sat for a while on a rock and the vultures started to appear around 9.00 as the thermals picked up.
A number of European Griffin Vultures circled fairly close, then in the distance 2 Egyptian Vultures appeared. Unfortunately they were some distance away and circled lazily before drifting through the pass below.
Back at the carpark I noticed a water filled horse trough thing in the field below and several birds visiting. I sat for an hour and saw European Serins, a female Blackcap, Sardinian Warblers, a Common Linnet, Black Redstart, Great & Blue Tits, a couple of Rock Buntings, Goldfinches and what I believe was a Sub AlpineWarbler. At the time I didn't positively identify the bird but on reflection - and with Mr H's advice - am now convinced it was one.
I saw more birds in that hour than I’d seen in two days.
I saw more birds in that hour than I’d seen in two days.
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| Black Redstart (male) |
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| European Serin |
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| The horse trough |
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| Rock Bunting |
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| Sub Alpine Warbler |
I had to go at 11.15, but the wind had picked up and was getting stronger anyway. Back at the campsite I broke camp and checked out, getting on the road by 12.30.
A two hour drive through the countryside’s winding, twisting roads saw me at my next destination, a caravan park in the area of the corkwoods, Los Alcornocales, just north of the small village of Jimena de la Frontera. It wasn’t the place I had targeted, (I later discovered it was closed, in fact it had been completely abandoned) but it was fine. I checked in, set up my tent and relaxed for a while watching 4 European Bee Eaters on wires across the field.
I still wanted to get the gas cylinders and as it was very windy and quite hot I drove half an hour to a nearby town, Gaucin, and looked there in the garage and a hardware store – no luck. The supermarket was closed till 17.30 so I sat out the hour and a half in a couple of cafes and wandered around the streets until it opened and I picked up some fruit.
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| Campsite in Los Alcornocales |
Back at camp again and the wind was blowing something awful. Had my first Spanish shower and shave then a coffee in the café attached while I sorted my photos ect. I didn’t feel particularly welcome – probably because I only asked for coffee – so retired to the toilet to charge my laptop and type this up.
As I stepped out of the toilet two Red-rumped Swallows flew overhead. My first European RRS’s but easily distinguishable despite the lack of bins or camera.
I ended up going to bed around 21.30 cause I was tired, it was windy and there wasn’t much else to do. I watched a downloaded show on my iPad and crashed.
Spanish list – 45 (new – 5) Lifers – 3 New European - 1
Day 23 (S4) – Tuesday 11.6.19
A frustrating day which made me doubt any abilities I may have thought I had as a birder.
It was windy most of the night, but fairly calm come morning. I left the campsite at 8.30 and headed for a couple of sites described in the Where to find birds book.
The first was a location just north of San Roque, about 25 kms south of my starting point.
The problem was the new roads built since the book was written.
I was looking for a road marker KM 86 on the A 405 – but never got above KM 45 and kept getting shunted off the A 405.
After a couple of hours of U-turns, back-tracking, swearing, cursing other drivers for crawling up my ass, screaming at the lovely lady on Maps Me who patiently re-directed me endlessly, but sometimes needlessly. Slight right, slight left, enter the roundabout, take the third exit, slight right, slight left, slight left – all without a breath. While I am driving on the wrong side of the manual car, on the wrong side of the freaking road, with no one to navigate….Jesus F………g Christ!! I mean she even told me about bends in the road when it was obvious there were no side roads and I just had to stay ON the road. I wonder if it would be any different if it was a male voice?
Slight left, slight right – ALL F……..G RIGHT!!!
Like being married really.
Anyway.
I did eventually find a ‘gate’ on the side of the road with minimal pull-in space, managed to park the car and walked in.
By now, of course, the f……..g wind had picked up again and it was hot and glarey…… the heat I could handle – it was only about 22 and dry - but the wind was a nightmare.
With my sight I need to have relatively still conditions otherwise I have no f………g hope of seeing a bird in a leafed tree.
With my hearing I have little or no chance in the wind.
In reality I have little or no chance without the f………g wind, but that’s another story.
Mr H had suggested that I use earpods with my Tascam recorder as the microphones are very sensitive and I would be able to hear birdcalls with that, where normally I would be oblivious. Great idea! And it worked well.
But……..there’s always a ‘but’.
I don’t KNOW what the birds I hear are. And I can’t locate them with the recorder any better than with my ears.
And with the wind? I can’t f………g hear anything ANYWAY!
Jesus – some birder I am.
So, I walked in and found myself in sort of farmland with lots of thistles and scattered bushes and trees. It was supposed to be an area where Red-necked Nightjars could be seen (at dusk mind you – this was a sort of recce) around a stand of Stone Pines - and various other bits and pieces.
I don’t think I was in the right place cause I never found the Stone Pines he talked about.
I did however, at least get a lifer – a pair of Woodchat Shrikes sat up very well for me. I know its not a high level lifer, but a lifer is a lifer and it was one I had looked forward to for a long time, thinking it was a really attractive bird – and it was.
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| Woodchat Shrike (male and a House Sparrow) |
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| Woodchat Shrike (female) |
I took photos of more butterflies, bumbled around in the wind for an hour or so then returned to the car. I had a brief Turtle Dove and a close view of a Short-toed Treecreeper which went somewhat towards mollifying my confidence.
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| Short-toed Treecreeper |
There were also numerous White Storks sitting on their nests built on pylons alongside the road – the area is famous for them apparently.
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| White Storks |
I fired up Ms Maps Me again and headed for another spot, north of Los Barrios. On the way I stopped off and treated myself to a latte and stale chocolate croissant at a MacDonald’s – the first I’ve seen this trip.
Then it was on to The Devil’s Eye or The Cocked Hat Rock (apparently it resembles a bullfighter’s hat).
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| Tree minus cork |
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| Cork minus tree! |
Cutting a lengthy story short. I didn’t see anything worthwhile. By now it was after midday and everything had shut down. Between the wind and the heat it was f…..d, so I headed ‘home’ and had a meal at the café in the caravan park – fresh salad, olives, bread, beer, venison and coffee (x2) and enjoyed every mouthful. I hadn’t realised just how hungry I was until I started eating and then I just hoovered it up without pause. My mother would have had conniptions at the speed of my eating. But God it was good – and all for about 12 euro (20 bucks)?
Afterwards I relaxed in the shade - out of the godammed wind. I’ll bet money that when I get to the coast tomorrow there won’t be a BREATH of wind – just when I want it for seawatching.
Such is birding.
I didn’t do anything for the rest of the day, the wind persisted and the sun was hot. I just sat in the shade in my purloined chair.
Spanish list – 53 (new – 6) Lifers – 4 New European - 1
Day 24 (S5) – Wednesday 12.6.19
I was awake and up before 7, small breakfast and I headed out. The wind had dropped overnight and it was a very pleasant, cool, still, mountain morning.
I drove the upper road, the one I had come in on, towards Puerto de Galis stopping at likely spots and wandering down tracks etc. I saw very little in reality, although, through the recorder/earpiece I could hear birds calling. I did add Long-tailed Tit and Firecrest to the trip list, but I’m sure if Mr H had been there we would have 1. Listed them days ago and 2. Found more of interest than I did. It was a bit disheartening, but, I guess, you work with what you’ve got, my hearing isn’t going to get any better, in fact, it’ll only get worse, so…..move on!!
I stopped at the café at the crossroads at Puerto de Galis and had a coffee. There were about 10 middle-aged guys standing around their touring motorbikes – BMWs & Harleys – and they asked me to take their picture. They looked like they were enjoying themselves and I was sort of envious – riding a good motorbike in these hills, on these roads would be super cool.
I headed the 32 kms back to camp, took some photos of the European Bee Eaters – now 8 in the flock – in the field next door, packed up the tent and paid my way out – E30.
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| European Bee Eater |
It was an easy 2 hour/150km drove down and along the coast to Rio Jara camping just west of Tarifa.
I walked the campsite, chose a site – with an electrical connection @ 3E/night extra – and set up camp again.
I had been wrong yesterday. I would have lost my money.
It was still quite windy on the coast.
Not sure if it’s a good wind or a bad wind - we’ll see.
I drove west – to Bolonia and, eventually, Zahara & Barbate. The cliffs above Bolonia are reputed to be a great site for White-rumped Swifts, apparently they breed in small numbers in the cave/s. I didn’t see any, but did have great views of Griffon Vultures on the cliffs. Zahara & Barbate were a bit of a waste of effort in the afternoon heat. I did see European Spoonbills and dozens if not a hundred or more Cattle Egrets to add to the trip list. I didn’t do a lot of stopping, apart from the Bolonia cliffs.
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| Eurasian Griffon Vulture |
Then back to Tarifa and a quick drive around the town before visiting the Lidl store and picking up some more bread, cheese, olives and yoghurts. Back to camp and ate some as I was starving. Then I did very little for the rest of the day. Just seemed to be knackered.
Spanish list – 60 (new – 7) Lifers – 4 New European - 1
Day 25 (S6) – Thursday 13.6.19
I think I’m definitely getting too old for this shit.
I got up at 7 after a fair nights sleep, had a raw egg with coffee and sugar beaten up in milk for breakfast. Actually it went down surprisingly well! Might not bother ever buying gas again.
Walked the path from the campsite to the beach across a ‘protected area’ that was very well signposted, but very dried out, and contained bugger all apart from a handful of Kentish Plovers and a single Grey Heron on a small patch of water at the rear of the beach itself– the blocked off end of the Rio Jara river. The beach here was about 200 meters wide and the railed ‘path’ continued across half of it to stop people walking around potential beach breeding areas, I guess.
I had read that Audouin’s Gulls were ‘always on the beach’. Well, maybe, but not on 13thof June 2019. A handful of Yellow-legged and one or two Lesser Black-backed Gulls was all.
While I was walking back I noticed a stand of Stone Pines on the other side of the Rio Jara creek that flanks the campsite. I walked through and out of the camping ground and along a narrow track beside the main road to cross the creek on what appeared to be the remains of the old road and thence into the Stone Pines.
Man, they look good for Red-necked Nightjar! Very quiet, a little isolated due to the road changes and although there were a few walking tracks through the woods, little sign of disturbance or human interference. I only saw a couple of Spotted Flycatchers and a handful of European Goldfinches but definitely will revisit tonight at dusk - and bring along my optimism.
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| The purloined chair |
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| Great for updating my notes |
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| and for playing the english tourist....(sorry Mr P) |
I trudged back to the campsite, fired up the transport and headed for the narrow country roads on the other side of the main road.
I drove the roads for about two hours, probably started a bit late at 10.30, but saw plenty of Crested Larks (probably a Thekla’s or two), Corn Buntings, European Bee Eaters, two juv Woodchat Shrikes and a pair of Northern Wheatears.
It’s quite difficult to drive, watch the road and bird at the same time and there were few places, as usual, to pull over. When I DID see the Wheatears, as I came round a corner, by the time I pulled up they had vanished, that was when I found the Shrikes and the Bee Eaters were going off all around me – but I was parked on the road which wasn’t the best scenario, given my recent disaster with a rental. However, the road was very quiet – at one point I stopped and had a fag as a local herded about 80 goats ahead of me from one pasture to another – that’s how quiet it was.
I gave it away around 12.30 and headed back into Tarifa again.
I found my way to the start of the boardwalk that runs through the sandy heath area between the beach and the main road – the same area I had walked straight across from the campsite first thing. I walked for about two thirds of its length, then back. Everything was very dry and I saw almost nothing at all. It had great promise in all the literature but maybe I’m here too late in the season? It doesn’t look like it was ever wet, but maybe it was earlier in the year? Anyway it was a complete waste of effort for me.
I needed some more smokes and by now a hot coffee was needed – preferably by direct injection. I found both – without an intravenous needle, mind you - while I wandered around the old town, tried for Common Bulbul in a car park Mr D had described – need to give it another go – and looked for those f….g A’s Gulls around the harbour, without success.
I had managed to park the 10 ft 6 inch long car in a 10 ft 8 inch parking space between two other cars, without causing anyone any damage, and I managed to get it back out again similarly which I was quite proud of.
The very fact that I managed to find the car again at ALL was a freaking miracle. I have a notorious bad sense of direction generally.
Back to camp and I put up the tarp for the first time for the improved shade and sat in my purloined chair for the rest of the afternoon.
I’m just drained. Maybe a coffee or three will perk me up – and a cold shower. I mean its hot – 24/25 degrees? But its dry heat and I’m used to it. I just wonder how I’ll go doing this for two months in the States later in the year….
I lay around the camp cite until 20.00 then walked alongside the main road and back into the Stone Pines. The wind had dropped by now and it was very quiet and very still. I sat in the forest until 22.00. During my sit a Spotted Flycatcher paid a close visit and a pair of Whitethroats passed by. An Iberian Hare put in a very brief appearance, sitting for a few seconds 50 meters away, but that was it. Dusk sort of slowly arrived around 21.30 and I tried playback for a while without any sign of any nightjars never mind Red-necked.
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
Spanish list – 66 (new – 7) Lifers – 4 New European - 1
Day 26 (S7) – Friday 14.6.19
I was up and out by 7. Breakfast same as yesterday. A cool, grey, cloudy morning – and the wind had picked up again, now 20knots from the south-east.
I drove to a track that wound up the hillside from the main road towards on of the wind farms. Supposed to be a reliable site for Rufous Bush Robin, one of my really, really want targets.
I’m still really, really wanting it.
The track was quite birdy – Corn Buntings, Crested Larks and Common Stonechats a-plenty and millions of Sparrows. Did I mention the Sparrows?
The whole place is knee-deep in Sparrows.
It’s Sparrow heaven.
It’s chock-a-block with Sparrows.
99 out of 100 birds is a Sparrow – and the 100thwas probably a Sparrow, but it flew away too quick to be sure.
If the UK feels their Sparrow population is in danger – come over here and grab some! They wouldn’t be missed.
There are more Sparrows than you could poke a thousand sticks at.
I’m over Sparrows.
Anyway…..
Further up the hill I found some Spanish Sparrows, they seem to be separated from the zillions of House Sparrows lower down – I didn’t blame them. I think there were quite a lot, but every time they flew up in a flock, they just blew away. I also saw a single Zitting Cisticola, my first of this trip and another Whitethroat.
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| Corn Bunting |
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| Spanish Sparrow |
I returned to the car and drove down another track on the opposite side of the road. An unsealed potholed track that ran through some flooded rice paddies and assorted agricultural stuff.
I had a flock of 50 (exactly! Funny how that works) Glossy Ibis – enough to send a UK birder into paroxysms of delight. I find them boring. But I went through them on the off chance there would be a Bald Ibis there. There wasn’t. The only other birds of any interest in the area were a flock of Northern Lapwings and 2 Black-necked Stilts. I was heading for an area for the possibility of Black-winged Kite, but never got there.
The track became progressively worse, even driving under 10 kms an hour and steering around the holes was too fast, until I came to a track-wide, soft-looking, sharp-edged hole and decided enough was enough and turned back.
I tried another track further along but gave it away after 100 meters or so as it deteriorated very quickly.
Jesus.
OK, so I drove to Barbate via coffee in Zahara that cost me 2 euro to park claimed by some dude in a high viz vest and cap. I mean I was parking in the street, not an official carpark – WTF?
He looked like the town’s homeless person, but I paid him anyway – I suppose everyone has to make a buck somehow. The two coffees cost me 2 euro total so I guess it came out even in the end.
On to Barbate looking for the small flock of Bald Ibis that could, reputedly, be seen from the road feeding in the fields – maybe. Got to Barbate still BI-challenged of course and went to Lidl to pick up some milk and bread.
I’d shop in a local supermarket but:
1. they are just so hard to find and
2. parking near them is a f…..g nightmare.
Lidl is just easy.
Back along the road to and past Zahara, still no BIs but I was losing interest fast.
Back along the main road and turn off again, this time back to Bolonia. At the high point in the road a track off to the right went, first, to an official raptor watch-site, then on up the hill through rugged, rocky, thorny, dry habitat. Looked good for Bush Robins.
Yeah, maybe, in another life.
More freaking Sparrows, Stoners and Crested Larks. Oh, and three big dark grey pigs, I kid you not, that trotted up the road ahead of me. They looked like they’d been skinned. Pure grey they were, all over.
On to Bolonia and out to the cave for the Swifts.
Not a freaking Swift in sight. I mean not one, not even a Common Swift. And only one Griffon Vulture that put in a brief appearance before it too lost interest and flew away.
That was it. I was finished. The wind was blowing a gale. The sun was glarey (although it was only 21 degrees) and I was depressed.
I drove home, nearly rear-ending some clown on the main road who decided it was a great idea to turn left at 80 kms a hour without any warning.
I sulked in my tent out of the wind for the rest of the afternoon.
Spanish list – 66 (new – 7) Lifers – 4 New European - 1
Day 27 (S8) – Saturday 15.6.19
I was up, after a restful night, by 7 and quietly had the breakfast of champions – a bowl of oats with cool milk (left out overnight), a cold coffee and a banana.
Drove into Tarifa on the search for the Common Bulbul. I went early to avoid the crowds – and still had trouble finding the car park I had stumbled on the other day. There were a number of young males and females staggering along the road obviously going home from a big night out. I must be getting old cause this surprised me – well, it was 7.00 in the morning after all!
Anyway, I failed to find the carpark in the car, so found a parking place about 10 minutes walk away and worked my way through the old part of town which was being hosed down by the local cleaners.
I did find the parking area and I played for the bird. One appeared pretty quickly – as Mr D had described – so I got my ‘tick’ as the only Bulbul in Europe sat above me wondering where its new partner was.
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| Common Bulbul |
I walked down to the harbour and half way across the causeway to the island checking out the Gulls but they all appeared to be Yellow-legged or Lesser Black-backs so gave it away and grabbed a coffee at the only open café on the harbour front. I did see a few Western Jackdaws – a this-trip-first – and confidently identified Pallid Swifts which I have probably seen already this trip, but wanted to be certain before I listed them - around town as I moved through.
Then back to camp and packed up. Was on the road by 10 on a leisurely drive to Sanlucar – 125 kms further west along the coast. On the way I thought I’d try to find Bald Ibis again near Zahara where they were introduced in the hope they would breed. I couldn’t actually find the exact area but remembered reading in the paperwork of them being seen feeding at a golf club further along the main road. (I did see a Red Kite, another this-trip-first, over the road while I looked for the breeding site).
I didn’t really hold out much hope – I’m generally either not lucky, or just not good enough, to find things like that, but kept my eye open anyway. Surprisingly I found the Montenmedio Golf Club (near KM 42, not 41, as described in the book, but the gateways and signage are impossible to miss) on the main road and drove in to what appeared to be a very select country club with golf attached.
The gen had indicated that the birds fed ‘on the green beside the club house.’ The club house would have housed the population of a small country and the greens were immaculate – apart from the 11 Northern Bald Ibis spoiling the look with their ugly bald heads and scraggly ‘hair’. I was pretty pleased to have found them – but then a blind man could have found them so it wasn’t a particularly profound discovery. However, a lifer is a lifer, even if it is re-introduced. There were only 11 birds there – the same number mentioned in the paperwork that was 5 years old so breeding doesn’t seem to have been very successful.
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| Northern Bald Ibis |
I headed on west, reaching Sanlucar a couple of hours later, passing a small flock of Greater Flamingoes near Cadiz.
The area I wanted to bird was north of Sanlucar and all the camping areas I had researched appeared to be south of the town. So I drove first to the rough area of the birding ponds on the north side and checked via Mapsme for camping there – just in hope, in case I’d missed something. I hadn’t, there were none on that side of town, so I headed for the closest, south of town, 12 ks away. When I eventually got there – the roads were very slow, 30-40 ks/hr for the most part – I didn’t like the look of it. It appeared to be all caravans and open, unshaded sites close together, so I moved on to the second closest – Aquadulce, 22 kms away from the birding site – and checked in there.
I took my time putting up the tent and tarp to maximize the shade as it was pretty hot and I had nothing much else to do right away - and I was enjoying experimenting with the new tarp and its flexibility.
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| Campsite - Sanlucar (Aquadulce caravan site) |
Then I just kind of hung out for the afternoon, as is becoming my habit, preferring to concentrate birding in the morning.
In the evening, when it had cooled down somewhat I walked the 150 meters to the beach – just for something to do. On the way a pair of Monk Parakeets perched up nicely and I saw my first Common Magpies of the trip!
There was nothing to see at sea so I retired to bed early and watched a movie on my laptop.
Spanish list – 80 (new – 7) Lifers – 6 New European - 1
Day 28 (S9) – Sunday 16.6.19
Coto Donana at last.
Up at 6.45 and watched the dawn as I drank a raw egg beaten up with coffee, milk and sugar. Then headed off around Sanlucar to avoid the slow roads and start birding at the Martin Miguel Ponds on the Ave Trebudena. Sounds grand? Actually a narrow, poor quality bitumen road running through dry scrub on the right and small farming plots on the left. The ponds themselves simply plastic lined holes in the ground with nothing on them at all. They are reputed to attract several species of duck and gulls - but not today. However a Black-crowned Night Heron rose up from the ditch on the other side of the road – a new European species for me – and a Red Kite passed by. There were also several Common Moorhens and Eurasian Coots in the ditch but nothing else of interest. I moved on.
And managed to find the access road to the Bonanza Ponds – amazing!
(I mean it was amazing that I found the road with only one wrong turning.)
Bonanza Ponds. I had been conjuring images of reed lined ponds of fresh water full of really interesting stuff. Hmmmmmm. They were in fact wide open, clay-banked salt ponds with a lot of empty water at times. However, two Squacco Herons (new Spanish sp) flew past in the first few minutes and the birds were there in number. Hundreds of Greater Flamingoes, probably at least 50 Pied Avocets, some with chicks, some on the nest, Little Egrets everywhere, Cattle & Great Egrets on occasion, the odd Glossy Ibis, small numbers of Black-winged Stilts, Eurasian Spoonbills and Kentish Plovers.
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| Squacco Heron |
A flock of gulls rose off a pond I hadn’t reached yet and headed lazily towards the river, 500 meters away. I scanned the flock and picked up out a slightly smaller immature gull with a distinct underwing pattern – Audouin’s Gull, at last. To say I was happy would be an overstatement. It wasn’t a long view, it was an immature and it was flying away. Not the way I had hoped to see my first AG, but maybe I’m being too fussy? A lifer anyway to start the day.
I followed the main track out to a T-junction, turned right and drove slowly to the end of that to a sluicegate thing. From there I took a walk to check on flocks of Gulls a few hundred meters away. They were, in the main, Slender-billed Gulls, not new for me, but a very attractive Gull, I think. Some were showing the rosy underside glow of breeding birds. Too far away to get decent shots but great in the scope. Yellow Wagtails were going off – I might have been near a nest – and a single Whiskered Tern among a number of Little Terns (new Spanish sp for me), fished the adjacent channels.
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| Slender-billed Gulls |
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| Yellow Wagtail |
I drove a little more on the same tracks seeing basically the same birds, then reached a point I wasn’t willing to take the car beyond.
I turned back and headed for the Pinar de Monte Algaida – the pine woods at the end of the road through the village of Algaida. There was a pond, Laguna de Tarelo, that seemed worth a visit and I walked to it from the carpark. Along the way a nice beetle showed and I stopped to take photos, then a meter long snake appeared briefly on the track, which was nice.
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Iberian False Smooth Snake Macroprotodon brevis
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The pond itself was not too exciting, although I added several species to my trip list – more Little & Cattle Egrets and Black-crowned Night Herons, 3 Common Pochard, 3 Gadwall, 50+ Little Grebes, 1 Great Crested Grebe and 4 White-headed Ducks. Three Greylag Geese were also there – but not sure if they were really wild birds. I tried to turn the Eurasian Coots into Red-knobbed but they were having none of it.
I drove through the woods at the recommended 20 k/hr limit on the very rough, speed bumped track until I reached the far side and turned onto an even more potholed, crappy bitumen road that circled once again out to the salt pans and ponds.
I was hoping for Marbled Duck and Collared Pratincole, but instead saw more Flamingoes, Spooners, Stilts and Kentish Plovers. I did come across a flock of about 130 Black-tailed Godwits with one Spotted Redshank in the background and two Dunlin in the fore.
By this time the heat haze was causing havoc. I’d been birding for 6 hours and was ready to give it away, so I did.
Drove back along the dusty roads, in and out of potholes, over speedbumps, around rocks, Jesus, it was slow going. Back to camp and a meal in the attached bar/café/restaurant where a lovely young Spanish girl, who spoke a sort of English, helped me decide what to have with a smile to warm your heart. She was probably younger than my daughters but she was just lovely and I’ve spoken to so few people in the last 10 days it was a very pleasant experience.
I had an Aquadulce salad – they only make them for two people, but I had one anyway and ate half. Followed by a ‘pork jaw stew’. Yep, that’s what the English menu said. Basically several very tender chunks of meat, that could have been anything, in a thick gravy with a small portion of fries. Along with a glass of beer it went down very well. Once again, didn’t realise how hungry I was. I charged the laptop while I ate from a power box on a pole designed for the process and finished off with two coffees – total E17.
Then it was time to rest in the shade and write all this shit up.
I waited till 20.30 then headed back to the Pinar de Monte Algaida – a 45 minute drive. Checked the pond again while I waited for dusk to fall @ approx 21.45. Much the same as earlier in the day – a few more Egrets coming in to roost, but other than that it was same same.
I walked down the track into the park when it got to twilight. It was very quiet. There was a two-car-wide, sandy, roughish track – the one I had driven earlier in the day – and a couple of cars headed down it further in to the park.
A movement in a tree nearby attracted my attention and initially I thought it was probably a Collared Dove – there were dozens in the area – settling down for the night. I binned it and found it was a Tawny Owl. Nice! Tried for photos but they were too blurred.
I moved on playing for the Nightjar, Scops Owl (although the habo wasn’t suitable, but what the hell) and Little Owl. I heard the Tawny or one of its mates calling behind me and in the distance a Little Owl.
A while later and I heard exactly what I had hoped for – a Red-necked Nightjar calling. However, cutting a long story a bit shorter – I couldn’t locate it or keep it calling. I gave it the best part of an hour then headed ‘home’.
One of the rules in campsites here appears to be no driving in or out between midnight and, usually, 7am. Not very owl/nightjar-birder-friendly, but I guess it helps security and minimizes disturbance.
I got back to the campsite at 23.15 to find the gates shut. WTF?? I was considering climbing the fence when a dude appeared and opened the gate for me. He said a lot I didn’t understand but he wasn’t rude – probably just explaining that he’d been in the crapper or something. Anyway, I got in, drove quietly to my campsite and crashed.
Spanish list – 103 (new – 12) Lifers – 7 New European – 2
Day 29 (S10) – Monday 17.6.19
Up at 7 – and a phone call from home to make me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Headed confidently now – back to the Martin Miguel Ponds – FA there, then on to find the Bonanza Ponds.
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| White-headed Duck |
Anyway following the directions I had I found them easily – again, I say, amazing!!
These were nice ponds in a shit area with crap all around them and trucks, mopeds, vans and cars passing almost continually. Even Mr H would have difficulty hearing anything calling.
But I did!
And identified a Western Olivaceous (or Isabelline) Warbler after careful scrutiny and comparing the bird with the app. I even compared the song which I could hear in the brief intervals between trucks, mopeds etc. Mind you it was singing so loud, they could probably hear it in Madrid. It’s not a very exciting bird – plain brown, little distinguishing marks – but it did make me feel a bit better about actually finding and identifying a warbler. Mr H and I had an (Eastern) Olivaceous Warbler in Greece and, honestly, if they were both here in Spain I wouldn’t have a chance – but seeing as how there aren’t any Os here……Lovely bird! Beautiful!
Back to the ponds – plenty of White-headed Ducks, doing mostly what they do best – sleep. They never seem to DO anything except preen and sleep. They are so boring - but they are pretty to look at.
Plenty of Eurasian Coots – but, no, no Red-knobbed. I really, really tried as this was a named location, but no luck. I’ve never looked at a Coot before – now I know its facial pattern intimately. Just ask me!
A few Little Grebes, Common Moorhens and 3 Common Pochard – probably the same birds I saw at the pond up the road yesterday – a male and 2 females.
While I surveyed the second pond a single Common Waxbill popped up. Its an introduced species but is on the European list so…
I checked all three ponds and found another couple of Isabelline Warblers at the third – again good views cemented my confidence.
Then I went out on the salt flats again. Much the same as yesterday although the Black-tailed Godwits had moved in to this area this time along with 6 Curlew Sandpipers and 5 Dunlin now. I had just started watching them when a Black Kite flew over, the 300 or so Pied Avocets panicked and everything else went up along with them. F…K! Mind you 300 Avocets in flight is a stunning sight, but I would have enjoyed seeing the Godwits in their summer plumage for a bit longer.
I moved on, as they weren’t coming back anytime soon, and then had to stop as a Kentish Plover stood in front of the car and refused to move. I realised she had two tiny chicks with her and they were wandering around the road. Give her credit for her guts, standing up to the car. I waited while she led them off the track and went on to the sluice gate I was at yesterday. Not as many birds around this time, so I started back stopping for a couple of Spectacled Warblers who tried to evade my camera – and almost did.
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| Pied Avocet - after the other 299 had pissed off. |
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| Where did it go? |
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| Where's that dick with the camera? |
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| Spectacled Warbler |
By now it was after 11, it was stinking hot, I felt I’d done the Bonanza thing and needed to cut my losses and consider where I should go tomorrow.
It was a toss up between the main Coto Donana park area or back to the mountains at El Bosque. The whole option of driving to Portugal had faded and I didn’t really want to hang around here for the next three days.
I was a bit disappointed. Maybe its just me or maybe its too late in the season, but I had expected Collared Pratincoles would be relatively easy, European Rollers and Black-winged Kites would be doable and even Marbled Teal? But I'm just not getting on to any of those, not even a whiff. Warblers have been thin on the ground too, but then again, I admit, maybe I'm just not hearing them. I definitely think we're spoilt in Australia - the birds are so confiding. One thing that I have noticed here is - they're all miles away. it's very hard to get close to most stuff. I find that annoyingly frustrating.
I drove through Sanlucar looking for a shopping area with smokes and possibly take home presents in mind. But it was all too freaking hard.
I have decided I do not like Spanish towns.
Squincy, narrow, little streets, cars parked everywhere, drivers up your ass, more pedestrian crossings than is anyway reasonable, where people simply walk out and expect you to stop – even when you can’t see the bastards behind all the bastard parked cars. Streets that you can’t access, one way streets that don’t appear to be, two way streets that don’t appear to be, signs everywhere, roundabouts that lead you somewhere you weren’t sure you wanted to be, but you’re there now anyway, cause its one way or no way and the guy up your ass is trying to climb into your boot – and, finally, NOWHERE TO PARK. It drives me mad.
I would love to immerse myself in cafés and coffee and meals – but I just get so pissed off trying to negotiate my way around and find a place to leave the car that I just give up and f…k off.
I ended up at MacDonald’s.
Yes, I know. In Spain and you go to Mackers? Tut tut tut shame!
Yep – but the parking is easy, the coffee is plentiful and the air conditioning is good.
And I’ve only down it twice in 10 days after all.
Mind you I’ve only seen 2 MacDonald’s in that time so maybe its not so good…..
Anyway. I enjoyed a large café latte and then went looking for cigarettes.
The only places that sell fags in Spain, it seems, are Tabacs or tobacconists. And they are not on every street corner.
Oh No. Which is surprising, considering the number of Spaniards that smoke.
I walked for about 20 minutes until I found one – by fluke more than design. I bought 4 packets, 2 of which came with a free lighter - go figure – and walked back to Mackers for another latte….
(Incidentally the cigarettes cost a total of 17.80 euro or less than $30)
Then I headed back to camp to have another meal in the attached café and consider my future options.
I had grilled baby cuttlefish, chips and salad which was chewy but nice. Then spent most of the afternoon updating my blog – now that I have discovered wifi is available….
I hung out till 20.30 then headed back towards the Bonanza Ponds in search, once more, of the R-n Nightjar. According to the gen they have been seen in the pine woods adjacent and, as they seem a smaller patch of pines, I thought it’d be easier than the main park.
I headed confidently along the road passing the Martin Miguel Ponds at about 95 k/hr on the narrow road. I had just passed them when a bird flew straight over the car and I immediately recognized and yelled ‘PRATINCOLE!!’ and reefed on the brakes. Luckily there was 1. No one behind me, and, 2 a pull in spot was just nearby. But by the time I parked and got out there was nothing to be seen. The evening sky was clear. I was cursing my luck when suddenly it appeared again, right overhead and landed about 50 meters away on the other side of the ditch on a raised mud berm. WOW!! Collared bloody Pratincole! An unreal bird and one of my main targets. I managed to get quite close to it and, as I watched it, 3 more flew in and landed around the immediate area. They definitely were NOT there on either of the previous two days. The gen advised that there was a colony right here but I had seen no sign of anything on my two previous visits. Here they were now anyway and my spirits soared. It’s amazing what one good, wanted, bird will do for you.
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| Collared Pratincole |
I left them to it and moved on to the ponds, spending 40 minutes or so, through dusk, waiting, listening and playing feedback for no result. I knew the caravan park closed at midnight, so my time was a little limited, considering dusk was at 22.15. However, I drove down to the Pines area again (where I had heard one the previous night) and drove a couple of Ks in thinking that maybe they’d land in the road. I didn’t find any and stopped several times on my way out to play – but nothing.
I’ll just have to settle for the Prat.
Spanish list – 108 (new – 13) Lifers – 10 New European – 2
Day 31 (S12) – Wednesday 19.6.19
Up at 7 and left the campsite at 8. Very heavy dew and mist, visibility limited to about 80 meters? I left my laptop at reception – a notice said they’d charge it and they did.
I went first to the closest visitor center – La Rocina – and walked in to the hides. I spent the next three hours wandering from hide to hide checking the birds in and around the (only shallow) water available. Added White Wagtail, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer to the trip list, and European Reed Warbler and Little Ringed Plover to my Spanish list. I think I heard a Garden Warbler and definitely heard Turtle Dove, other than those it was much the same as the last few days. Nice birds, but nothing ‘new’.
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| Azure-winged Magpie - loads of them, but the very devil to get good shots of. |
I drove down to the next visitor’s center (Laguna del Acebuche) had a coffee and walked three hides in there. Even less water and less birds – nothing new. I did see a new butterfly (unid), a beetle (also no idea yet) and a Swallowtail Papilio machaon which was very nice.
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| Swallowtail Papilio machaon |
By now it was midday and hot. I decided to go back, pick up my laptop and check for Marbled Duck in E-bird – just to see if there were any recent records anywhere within reach. The overall duck situation was pretty poor – most likely due to the lack of open water.
On the way back I checked the local garage and found a carwash, where for 2 euros, I vaccumed and washed the car using a roll of kitchen paper to wipe it down.
Picked up the laptop and checked E-bird. There were a couple of recent records in the National Park. The ‘closest’ one was 53 kms and 1.5 hours drive away. I had a coffee while I debated the trip. It was pretty obvious, even to me, that I was going to go for it – I just had to feel it was justified.
So, at 2, I headed off. Ms Mapsme took me there – well, sort of. She led me along bitumen most of the way, then down a very, very, rough, stony, track where I sweated on the car getting through without damage or puncture. I ended up overlooking the lake from about a kilometer away which was no good at all, at all. Back along the stones, absolutely shitting it.
Turning and heading back I took another bitumen road that seemed to skirt where I thought the lake would be, ignoring her exhortations to ‘complete a U-turn’- until I turned her off.
Following my nose, I came to a sign that pointed the way to Centre Visitations Dehesa de Abajowhich wasn’t even on the map I had obtained off the park. That was the E-bird location for the last sighting, 7 days ago, of two birds.
I got there, mostly on bitumen again, which was nice - and walked the 10 minute hike down to the first of two hides overlooking the large body of fresh water.
Scanning, scanning – Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Coot, Marbled Duck, Coot….what??Marbled Duck?? Yes, oh yes, Oh YES!! A single bird standing on a half submerged log, 3 or 400 meters away, instantly recognizable. WOW!! Far OUT!! Couldn’t believe I was actually, finally, seeing one!
I took some quick photos and then hurried to the next hide, which seemed to be a bit closer. It was, slightly, but the view was almost obscured by shrubs allowed to grow too high along the bank. However, in the end I saw 5 birds and managed to get very poor record shots and shaky video using the maximum magnification on the camera. I was happy again! See, it doesn’t take much! Just a duck.
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| Marbled Duck - heavily photoshopped |
I also saw a female Red-crested Pochard, but didn’t really pay attention – and a Great Reed Warbler(new Spanish, just ticked recently in Finland) was singing from the reed bed 50 meters in front and I caught a fleeting glimpse of two birds chasing – you can hear him on the video as background.
I spent almost an hour watching and filming the ducks then trudged wearily back up the slope to the center and had two beautiful coffees before heading back ‘home’. I told Ms Maps that if she took me down another dirt road there’d be hell to pay – and she must have listened because it was bitumen all the way.
I hung around camp, had coffee, used the excellent wifi and updated my blog. At 20.00 had a shower and third of a tin of meatballs cold on stale bread. Yeah, I could have had a meal but I didn’t want to eat much and I had to use up some of the food I’d bought.
At 20.45 I drove back down the road to the main visitor center headquarters turn off. I stopped 100 meters inside the gate and spent the next hour watching and listening and playing calls but there was no sign of any RN nightjars. Seemed like perfect habitat – but then so has each of the places I’ve tried on the other three nights. I did see a heap of Azure-winged and Common Magpies heading off to roost and several small insectivorous bats.
I headed home and crashed just after 11.
Spanish list – 119 (new – 19) Lifers – 11 New European – 2
Day 32 (S13) – Thursday 20.6.19
Up at 7, breakfast and then broke camp, packing everything away properly.
At 8.15, I checked out, paid the 32 euros for the two nights camping and went for a coffee in the café.
Then I headed down to the beach. Thought I’d do a bit of a seawatch before heading for the airport as I hadn’t actually done one at all this trip.
I gave it half an hour, but saw only about 12 Gull-billed Terns (new for Spain for me) passing over the edge of the beach – nothing out to sea, not even a Gannet.
I headed for Seville airport at 10 and arrived around 11.30. Dropped off the hire car successfully this time and claimed my 10 euro back from the parking people (remember the machine took it a week ago and didn’t give me any change?)
Then into departures, check-in took for ever, boarding took for ever (mainly due to a 30-strong party of 10-12 year old school kids all travelling together) and we left more or less on time.
Spanish list – 120 (new – 19) Lifers – 11 New European – 2
I spent some time identifying the butterflies I saw over the last 12 days.....
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| Bath White Pontia daplidice |
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| Clouded Yellow Colias crocea |
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| Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus |
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| Large White Pieris brassicae |
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| Long-tailed Blue Lampides boeticus (same sp as Australia) |
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| Marbled White Melanargia galathea |
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| Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus armonicanus |
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| Painted Lady Vanessa cardui |
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| Safflower Skipper Pyrgus casthami |
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| Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas |
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| Wall Brown Lasiommata meters |
and the snake and beetles....
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| Darkling Beetle sp |
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| Iberian False Smooth Snake Macroprotodon brevis (I think?) |
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| Stag Beetle Scarites cyclops |
IRELAND
Day 33 (I8) – Friday 21.6.19
Didn’t do much apart from finishing my washing, taking Mum out for breakfast and going for lunch with Mum & Lorraine.
Day 34 (I9) – Saturday 22.6.19
I hadn’t (once again) planned on doing any birding in between trips, but (once again) the urge took me and I headed down to Kilcoole at 6.15.
Beautiful morning. Dead calm, warm and sunny, the sea almost flat as a tack, the track almost empty, surprisingly given that it was a Saturday morning and it’s a very popular dog walk, stroll for non-birders.
However, it was very quiet and I enjoyed the Reed Buntings, Winter Wrens, Common Linnets, Meadow Pipits, Common Stonechats, European Goldfinches, Common Skylarks ect that popped up quite happily. I had a clear scope view of a European Reed Warbler singing in the reed beds in the actual reserve, but couldn’t hear him. A Sedge Warbler showed briefly too.
Offshore scatteredCommon Guillemots and the occasional Razorbill sat or flew by. A small flock of my favourite Manx Shearwaters glided by distantly and landed temporarily while a small number of Northern Gannets and numbers of Great Cormorants passed by. It was quite ‘busy’ offshore despite the calm conditions.
Moving further along the track I scoped several pairs of Common Shelduck with their young, Northern Lapwings, a single Common Redshank, a heap of European Rabbits, including a completely black one, that I assume was a dumpee – and, strangely, a single Canada Goose. Way out of season and a relatively uncommon bird on the east coast, I think, I assume it too was a reject.
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| Common Shelduck |
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| European Rabbit |
I walked as far as the Little Tern colony and met one of the wardens as he was going on-shift. We chatted and it turned out he had a similar background to me in that he, too, had gone to Australia, met an Australian girl, married and divorced. He is now living back in Ireland and described for me the Hedgehog, Fox and Crow predation of the Tern colony. The weather had been bad, too, and several nests were destroyed by high tides and the cold. However, the Terns were re-laying and the colony was booming at present. I guess there were somewhere between 150 and 200 birds flying in and around the exclusion zone on the beach.
| Day 34 | ||
| Kilcoole, Co Wicklow | ||
| 22.6.19 (6.45 - 8.15) | ||
| 1 | Manx Shearwater | 20 |
| 2 | Northern Gannet | 3 |
| 3 | Great Cormorant | 30 |
| 4 | Little Egret | 2 |
| 5 | Grey Heron | 2 |
| 6 | Canada Goose | 1 |
| 7 | Mute Swan | 3 |
| 8 | Common Shelduck | 8 |
| 9 | Common Pheasant | 1 |
| 10 | Common Ringed Plover | 2 |
| 11 | Eurasian Oystercatcher | 3 |
| 12 | Northern Lapwing | 10 |
| 13 | Common Redshank | 1 |
| 14 | Eurasian Curlew | 8 |
| 15 | European Herring Gull | 1 |
| 16 | Great Black-backed Gull | 1 |
| 17 | Little Tern | 200 |
| 18 | Common Guillemt | 15 |
| 19 | Common Wood Pigeon | 20 |
| 20 | Common Swift | 6 |
| 21 | Common Skylark | 20 |
| 22 | Meadow Pipit | 15 |
| 23 | Pied Wagtail | 6 |
| 24 | Winter Wren | 2 |
| 25 | Dunnock | 1 |
| 26 | Sedge Warbler | 1 |
| 27 | European Reed Warbler | 1 |
| 28 | Common Stonechat | 10 |
| 29 | European Robin | 2 |
| 30 | Common Blackbird | 20 |
| 31 | Common Reed Bunting | 6 |
| 32 | Common Chaffinch | 2 |
| 33 | European Greenfinch | 2 |
| 34 | European Goldfinch | 6 |
| 35 | Common Linnet | 20 |
| 36 | House Sparrow | 5 |
| 37 | Common Starling | 30 |
| 38 | Common Magpie | 1 |
| 39 | Western Jackdaw | 10 |
| 40 | Rook | 50 |
| 41 | Hooded Crow | 5 |
| 42 | European Rabbit | 20 |
I headed back to the car and drove to Newcastle – the East Coast Nature Reserve. It was very quiet walking in, just a few Common Blackbirds and a pair of Reed Buntings. But by the time I’d walked around the two hides and back out again I had added another Sedge Warbler, Blue & Great Tits and Spotted Flycatcher to my morning list, had had a close fly over Common Cuckoo, a more distant, but very acceptable, fly past Common Buzzard and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers chasing through the low trees along the road.
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| Common Linnet (Male) |
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| Common Reed Bunting (female) |
All in all it was a very pleasant, enjoyable, Irish morning’s birding with a total of 51 species.
Irish List (this trip) - 62
NORWAY
Day 35 (N1) – Sunday 23.6.19
I left the house at 11.45, intending to get the midday Aircoach. Once again, one arrived at the stop as I did, probably the 11.45 running a little late. I hopped aboard anyway, paid my 16 euro return and settled in for the 60 minute ride to the airport.
So the next adventure begins.
Due to potential baggage restrictions and the fact that I expected to be rough camping, i.e. have no access to mains supply to charge the laptop – I had left it at home and was working off paper…hence the blog was not updated till after my return from Norway.
Grabbed a coffee and danish at the airport at 12.45 and then waited for Mr H. His planned Aircoach from Belfast had been full when it came to his stop, so he’d had to get a Bus Eireann down. It ran a little later than the Aircoach, but he finally arrived at 13.50 and we proceeded straight away to the Norwegian Air check-in. The Norwegian airlines check-in was in Terminal 2, however, when we checked in our bags they told us we would board in Terminal 1. It wasn’t a long walk and all under cover so it wasn’t a big deal.
When we got to gate 306, it was clear our flight wasn’t leaving from 306, but had been changed to 301. We boarded and left on time anyway.
An uneventful 2 hour flight saw us arrive in Oslo 3 hours later, due to the time difference. Oslo airport was typically Scandinavian - efficient, clean, organised, quiet, calm, wooden, minimalistic, expensive.Everything was well signposted and the staff we encountered very helpful and polite.
Mr H’s bags were going straight through to Tromso, but, due to ticketing arrangements, I had to collect mine and re check them in.
Easy enough, then through security and coffee – only one, at 30 Kroner (Norway doesn’t use euros) which is $5 Aus for a very small machine coffee.
Our flight had a 20 minute delay so it was a quarter to ten before we took off. Still broad daylight of course, although the sun wasn’t really visible.
We landed in Tromso, north of the Arctic circle at 23.30, got our bags and then waited in the queue for a taxi to our Air BnB for the first night. (Saw a Western Jackdawat the airport as our first Norwegian bird) It was really weird – being broad daylight at midnight - kind of hard to get your head around, but once we got to the Air BnB, made our beds and lay down we crashed despite the light.
Norway List – 1
Day 36 (N2) – Monday 24.6.19
Up by 8, had a very basic breakfast then walked down to the center of town to a large hotel on the waterfront where we got on a bus back to the airport to pick up our hire car. Heaps of Common & European Herring Gulls with the odd Great Black-backed Gull. A Red-throated Diver flew overhead while we waited for the bus.
Picked up the car from Europcar – which I would have avoided after my January experience, but Himself had booked - and headed off to the nearest supermarket place to stock up on food and gas cylinders. Then back to the AirBnB to collect our bags and head north. We were on the road by eleven.
We drove most of the day noting birds along the way. During the ‘drive’ we used two car ferries to cross two fjords, instead of driving all the way round – and it was a nicer way to go. The scenery was quite spectacular – and in fact was the most dramatic scenery we were to see in Norway.
At the first ferry point we had to wait an hour or so and in the estuary beside the road we had 3 Arctic Skuas, Common Eiders, Common Goosanders, Red-breasted Mergansers, Arctic Terns and the ever-present Common, Great and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Eurasian Oystercatchers and Common Redshanks.
Birding off the ferries, as you do, we saw Common Guillemots, Black Guillemots, Razorbills and one flock of 8 Atlantic Puffins.
At one random roadside stop – for the necessary ablutions and cigarette – we heard several Redwings singing and an all dark Lemming sp ran across the forest track in front of us – we believe it was a Wood Lemming Myopus schisticolor.
At one point we stopped for a Golden Eagle– the only one of the trip – and shortly afterwards two Common Buzzards. We didn’t expect them here, the range maps don’t show them as being along the coast, but it was a good view and they were definitely Common and not Rough-legged. This difference was to become clearer to us in subsequent days.
Mr H spotted a Short-eared Owl in a field beside the road, but as I was driving I missed it - we didn’t stop, expecting to see more along the way….. we had better.
We drove about 220 kms and then decided to find a camp site, which we did at the head of a fjord beside a river with a nice view.
We set up and went for a walk – or a ‘dander’ as Mr H put it.
Common Sandpiper, Common Redshank (in breeding plumage of course), Common Eider, Red-breasted Mergansers, Sedge Warbler seen and Garden Warbler heard, Great Tits and a Pied Flycatcher.
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| Common Redshank |
We had dinner, then went for a short drive up a nearby mountain road without any success. Crashed by 9.
Norway List – 42
Day 37 (N3) – Tuesday 25.6.19
We were up, fed and away by 7.45. Cool morning, rain showers and windy – as it was to be most of the rest of the trip. Mr H started driving – until 11 – when we stopped to look for Geese at a reserve along a fjord. We had very distant Grey Lag Geese (some with goslings) and a small flock of Bean Geese (not sure if they were Taiga or Tundra as both co-exist and sometime interbreed), but none of the hoped for Lesser White-fronts - we were probably a little late for them.
We were driving across a tundra area when Mr H spotted a single Red-necked Phalarope in a roadside pond. We got crippling views and I managed to get some video but the light was pretty shit, grey and overcast, again, as it was to be for most of the rest of the trip. It was, surprising to me, a lifer for him. I’ve only seen one before – in Australia – in winter plumage. This female was a little beauty, whirling away unconcernedly in her cold, arctic pond.
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| Red-necked Phalarope |
Heading on we arrived at a fjord with steep cliffs set back along the roadside – a large raptor flew up and we, immediately, recognized it as our first Rough-legged Buzzard. Really distinct from Common leaving us in no doubt about yesterday’s birds. Had great flight and soaring views overhead as it flew along the cliff face to a nest site. We moved down the road for better views, but it had departed before we got there. During the day we were to see another 7 birds along the road.
We continued on with me driving until 5pm stopping occasionally, where appropriate, picking up stuff like Slavonian Grebes, Common Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Smew, Common Raven etc.
We reached Tana Bru around 16.30, filled up with fuel and coffee then headed down along Tana Fjorden to check the cliffs for Gyrfalcon. We saw a couple more Rough-legged Buzzards but no falcon. We’d driven 500 ks or so, so decided it was time to stop.
It’s possible to rough camp anywhere in Norway. The difficult is in finding a flat, dry spot. It’s either very boggy or bare rock and stony ground, but below the cliffs beside the estuary we found a spot and set up camp in a grassy dell surrounded by birch trees. As we did the European Herring Gulls on the cliffs set up a clamor and we spotted a Peregrine Falcon (definitely NOT a Gyr), soaring overhead – again the only one we would see on the trip.
We had dinner, then Mr H, while taking photos of flowers, 10 meters away from me, flushed a Bluetail. It flew across a stretch of water and disappeared into undergrowth. We sat and watched the area for 30 minutes but it didn’t re-appear. He’d seen them before, I hadn’t, so hopefully we’ll pick up more along the way.
We crashed around 21.00.
Norway List – 62 New European – 1
Day 38 (N4) – Wednesday 26.6.19
Mr H woke me, a little unexpectedly, at 4.30 after a poor night’s sleep and we ate, broke camp and hit the road again by 5.45.
Out along the fjord towards Berlevag we stopped at various sites in the tundra. Exposed, rocky, boggy, windy, scattered (small) lakes, cold. The birds were few in number, but, amazingly, once one started to walk across the land good things started to appear – apparently out of nowhere.
Our first stop at a nearby estuary, we had 5 White-tailed Eagles harassing a small Harbour Seal pup that seemed to be injured in some way. There were a large number of adult seals lounging on the sand bars of the estuary nearby. We also found a Eurasian Oystercatcher’s nest right beside the track.
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| Eurasian Oystercatcher's next |
Before we reached the higher ground we found a sidetrack through the small willow and birch scrub and thought it might be worth a look. There were several holiday homes along the track but they all seemed to be deserted. Anyway, we pulled up and Mr H started hearing Redpolls straight away. Eventually, after a hard bit of birding – Redpolls are difficult to pin down – we had good views of a definite Arctic Redpoll and a group of 4 more that were more elusive, but almost definitely the same species. There were a number of Common Redpolls to compare with. There was no chance of photographs despite the birds being fairly close, they were just too flighty.
Our next stop, on the tundra itself, we had a nice Red-throated Diver in a small lake – close views as it swam up and down.
We walked out onto the tundra at this point and found Lapland Buntings, European Golden Plover, and Northern Wheatears. Not many of each but they were pretty confiding and one thing about a small number of birds is you really concentrate on enjoying them! They were all in full breeding plumage too, so looked extra smart. We flushed several Pipits but were confident they were Meadow Pipits, not something more exotic.
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| European Golden Plover |
At another stop we had Tufted Ducks, 3 Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Greater Scaup and a couple of Red-necked Phalaropes in roadside ponds.
We had just started again after that when we found our first Long-tailed Skua washing in a small pool within 5 meters of the road. It very calmly flew up to a nearby ridge and stood preening while we watched from the car. Beautiful!
We drove out along the peninsula ending up at a lighthouse at Kjolnes where we sat, had lunch and seawatched the Arctic Ocean for the first time.
It was very benign, the sea was very calm and, although it was cold in the wind, in the weak sun it was pleasant.
There were Arctic and Long-tailed Skuas, thousands, literally, of European Herring Gulls, Common and Great-black-backed Gulls, dozens of Black Guillemots, hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers and thousands of Common Goosanders. The latter two species seemed to be flightless, maybe they were in moult, but there were just so many all swimming around together in massive flocks – an amazing sight. Common Guillemots, Razorbills and a fewAtlantic Puffins flew past and we saw the only Great Skua or Bonxie of the trip. At one point a White-tailed Eagle made a lazy, casual appearance and all the gulls rose as one – phenomenal.
We headed back and turned off another road towards Batsfjord, but only for a few ks, then parked up and walked the tundra looking for Ptarmigan and/or Snowy Owl.
It was pretty bleak, the wind not strong, but just continual, cold, but not freezing, rain spotting, the landscape rocky and hard.
We found a pair of Shore Larks, briefly, two excellent pairs of Snow Buntings beside patches of snow and, once again, got great views.
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| Snow Bunting |
More European Golden Plover and on one soak of snow melt - where the ground was obviously softer and boggy and it was a little sheltered from the wind – half a dozen Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Ruddy Turnstone and a Stint sp that evacuated the area before we got to grips with it. Most likely Temminck’s but might have been Little.
No Ptarmigan or Owl.
Back at the car we were feeling pretty knackered, but decided to try a side track that headed off over the tundra, it was drivable so it made it a lot easier physically.
We had got about 2 ks along the rough track when Mr H said ‘stop and check this out’. About 250 meters away, a shape suggested something good – and it was. A female Eurasian Dotterel. One of my target birds. We scoped it and watched it for a while, then I thought I’d give it a go and see how far I got.
After crouch-walking 200 meters, crawling on hands and knees 50 meters and belly crawling another 20, I ended up very close. It was just spectacular and I enjoyed her immensely.
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| Eurasian Dotterel |
We were properly ‘done’ now so drove the 90 ks back to Tana Bru, bought some more groceries, filled up with fuel again and drove another 20 ks to an official campsite.
We set up camp, cooked dinner in the campsite kitchen, had beautiful hot showers and saw our second (my trip-first) Short-eared Owl hunting over the grassland and estuary beside the campsite. It was to become a feature of our stay there.
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| Short-eared Owl |
Norway List – 87 New European – 2 Lifer - 2
https://youtu.be/StFKt2P5gTs
Day 39 (N5) – Thursday 27.6.19
We had now reached our destination – Varangerfjord. It was actually a lot less dramatic than I had imagined. It looked more like Co Donegal than somewhere in Norway with rounded slopes set well back from the fjord waters and lusty, green fields along the roadside.
Our first stop of the morning was at a small village, Nesseby, on the shoreline with a church on a peninsula behind which was a fresh water pond that might be ‘teeming with Phalaropes’. It wasn’t. There were only two Herring Gulls and a Meadow Pipit. Just offshore and along the sandy foreshore were Common Eiders, Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Lag Geese.
We headed on out the peninsula. Our second planned stop – another village, Vadso, with an island offshore connected by a bridge. The left hand end of the island was a reserve that we walked through.
We did find a pool ‘teeming with Phalaropes’ here, 28 of them, and walked the rough ground looking for Red-throated Pipit and finding only Meadow Pipits galore. At one point we came across 5 Ruffs sporting different coloured ruffs – they were pretty cool looking – a white one, a black one and a ginger one.
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| Ruff (Male) |
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| Ruff (Male) https://youtu.be/ITHWhw7Uaf0 |
Near the Birder’s Hotel – their name, not ours – we walked a dry patch of waste ground, once again, no RT Pipits but a number of Mountain Hares self-herded ahead of us into a car park.
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| Mountain Hares |
We were looking for a seabird colony – there was one on an island off Vardo at the end of the peninsula but we thought maybe we’d find one on the way? So we turned off at Ekkerray and walked half a k across bog and ankle deep heather stuff to the cliff where there was supposed to be a colony – to find no sign of one at all, at all. It didn’t look like there had been anything there for a number of years…so we trudged back to the car and moved on.
We had targeted our arrival at the end of the peninsula at Vardo, reached from the mainland via a tunnel, to coincide with a boat trip to a seabird colony on another island 10 minutes offshore at 11.30. We got there just after 11, to find the boat just returning and the next trip now scheduled for 12.
We hung out, saw a few Common Terns and the first Barn Swallow of the trip, paid the 400 Kroner ($66 Aus) each and then headed out at 12.
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| Boat to Seabird colony |
A full-on seabird colony greeted us on arrival, thousands and thousands of birds and the accompanying guano smell. We were restricted to a narrow section at the bottom of the cliffs but the view, noise and movement was incredible. Thousands of Common Guillemots, hundreds of them of the Bridled form, Razorbills, Atlantic Puffins and Black-legged Kittiwakes flew around, stood on and argued over the narrow ledges and European Shags occupied nests literally at our feet, clacking their bills if we came too close.
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| Black-legged Kittiwake |
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| Bridled Guillemot |
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| Razorbill |
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| Atlantic Puffin |
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| Mr H & his Shag mates |
We scanned the cliffs and found our target – a group of Brunnich’s Guillemots. Eventually we saw about 100 scattered across the cliffs in little groups. When seen close up and in close proximity to Common Guillemots the differences were clear.
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| Brunnich's Guillemot |
The only birds, apart from the Shags at our feet, that seemed to be breeding were the Kittiwakes – and even they didn’t seem too focused. We did find a few semi-demolished Auk eggs on the ground – showing recent predation – but there were few if any on the ledges above. The birds still seemed to be deciding on nest locations and there was little evidence of mating or nest preparation.
The Atlantic Puffins stole the show for me really. Getting this close to these stunning little birds was a real pleasure.
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| Atlantic Puffin |
We were on the island for 3 hours – much longer than we had planned, but the boat was ‘busy’ so we didn’t have a lot of choice. 90 minutes would have been adequate, luckily Mr H had thought ahead and brought lunch stuff so we ate while we watched and were watched while we ate.
Back on the mainland again I was in dire need of a coffee, but we couldn’t find any open coffee shops – it was a bit of a dead end port town. Ended up getting a crap coffee at a service station with a lazy, smartass girl behind the counter, then we headed out to try to find some tundra to walk across – still hoping for the Pipit, the Ptarmigan or the Owl.
We took the road to Hamnimberg around the top of the peninsula and turned off a stony track up to a quarry where we had to abandon the car and proceed on foot.
In the distance I spotted an Owl. It was a Short-eared Owl which we confirmed after a further kilometer walk up this track.
Then we spotted Skuas on a flat area on the other side of a wide, shallow stream and decided to head that way. We stayed dry across the creek and scrambled up onto the plateau. European Golden Plovers called and flew around agitated, a Ruddy Turnstone (weird to see them on dry land) and another pair of Lapland Buntings.
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| Lapland Bunting (Male) |
Moving on I approached a couple of standing Long-tailed Skuas. They did look like they were nesting but there was no evidence and they weren’t stressed by our presence. One of them sat tight as I walked towards it and, when I stopped, it walked towards me which gave me a great opportunity to film it. Absolutely stunning birds.
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| Long-tailed Skua |
We walked back to the car without further excitement – apart from re-crossing the river which we both accomplished, more or less dry-footed.
We were a bit stuffed by now, so I drove the 120 ks back to our campsite of the night before - it was easy, we didn’t see anywhere else along the way and the showers were excellent.
We saw the Short-eared Owl doing its rounds before we crashed.
Norway List – 92 New European – 2 Lifer - 3
Day 40 (N6) – Friday 28.6.19
I got up just after 6 feeling pretty good. Mr H slumbered on until 8 – obviously needing the sleep. It had been pretty tiring and the lack of darkness was…….weird, even though we slept well, I don’t think we were sleeping very deeply? Or maybe its just cause we’re old farts, I don’t know. Anyway, I had a lovely hot shower and shave and several coffees while I waited to have breakfast with The Man when he eventually dragged his sorry ass outta his tent.
We broke camp and were on the road just after 9.
We had reviewed our position and decided there wasn’t much else for us to do on the Varangerfjord. One option was to drive back to the other side of the peninsula and try the tundra back there again, but we had limited time now, so decided we’d have to just write off the ‘Tundra birds’ (Ptarmigan and Snowy Owl) and move on to different pastures.
We kept hoping to see some accessible tundra along the way but we weren’t optimistic having reviewed the road on Google Earth. We didn’t, as it turned out, but it was a nice drive with some good scenery along the way.
Mr H had read a reference to a location for Arctic Warbler behind a church (is this a Norwegian thing or what?) in a small village called Nyden. So we stopped off there, found the church and eventually, at the end of the cemetery, heard an Arctic Warbler singing. For the life of us we couldn’t see the thing in the leafy willows, at about 50 meters range – though even I could hear it singing – but it did fly out and away providing us with a visible tickline. Although neither of us ‘needed’ it as a lifer, it was a good addition to my European List.
We saw a few Rough-legged Buzzards along the way:
Hard to get good photos.....
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| Rough-legged Buzzard |
We headed on, reaching the town we had been talking about for 6 months – Kerkenes (pronounced Cur-kin-S) – around 11.30, the last major town before the Russian border, some of the signs included Russian translations.
We stocked up on food and fuel and headed down into a part of Norway that, strangely, runs down between Finland and Russia for almost 100 kms, ending in the Ovre Pavsik National Park.
The road was incredibly twisted and warped in places, creating a bumpy, jerky ride, sometimes as slow as 60 k/hr just to avoid putting your head through the roof or ripping the car apart.
Anyway we reached the end safely and parked up at the start of an advertised 20 km dirt road. We walked in a few hundred meters but it was all very quiet.
I mean dead quiet.
I mean almost nothing at all – apart from the ubiquitous singing Willow Warblers and occasional calling Brambling.
Mr H suggested I play Siberian Tit and within a minute or two we had one respond well, providing opportunities for excellent views and photos – although the light was a bit low. Just the one bird but that was enough and we felt really pleased with ourselves at being such great birders.
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| Siberian Tit |
Walking a bit further we found a pair of breeding Yellow Wagtails– weird seeing THEM in a forest - and then met a Norwegian birder passing in a car who gave us some info on the local birding scene, which was very helpful.
We walked back to the car and headed for a campsite 10 ks back up the road. As we checked in a pair of Siberian Tits fluttered around the feeder and the nearby trees making us feel a little less pleased with how smart we were…..
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| Fieldfare nest with young - behind tents. |
We set up camp and discussed our options.
We decided we would go to bed now @ 18.30 – sleep till 21.30, get up, have dinner and then go looking for Bears and Owls. The national park was, reputedly, THE place to see Brown Bear in Norway and, according to the woman who owned the campsite, several had been seen recently at various points in the locale.
So we did that – sleeping fairly well for the three hours, waking hungry enough to eat, then heading off to drive the track through the forest. Of course it was still full daylight – well, a sort of dull daylight, not sunny, but nowhere near dark.
Cutting a long story short we didn’t see any Bears. We did see 4 Elk standing and lying in a marsh at an open section of the track.
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| Elk |
We did have a Short-eared Owl over the road and trees, briefly. On the way back, on the bitumen road, we had a single Willow Grouse run along quite close on the road edge and a Northern Hawk Owl broke cover and flew away as we approached in the car.
It seemed like a non-event, but I guess when you add 2 owl species, a large mammal and a game bird it wasn’t too bad. Mind you we’d have traded them all for just one Bear.
Back at camp we crashed at 00.30, then got up at 3am because the Norwegian birder had said the birds were most active then. Yeah, devil’s for punishment!
Norway List – 99 New European – 3 Lifer - 4
Day 41 (N7) – Saturday 29.6.19
We woke to rain spattering the tents, heavier showers at times, and dragged ourselves out into the cold, damp, early morning. We just had coffee and set ourselves up in a mosquito proof tent thing that had a clear view of the feeder. Our target? Pine Grosbeak. The woman had told us they had been at the feeder half an hour before our arrival the day before so we were optimistic.
There were House Sparrows, European Siskins, Bramblings, Great Tits, European Greenfinches and the odd Common Chaffinch and Siberian Tit feeding despite the rain and we sat, hardly talking, making regular cups of coffee, just trying to stay warm.
At 5.00 Mr H trudged to his tent and went back to bed.
I sat on till 6, with nothing happening apart from a brief flyover of a Merlin.
Then I too went back to bed – to find my tent had leaked somehow – I think underflow had come through the floor. I dried it off as much as possible then crashed.
We were both up again at 10 – still raining - so we returned to the lookout point and sat again watching the bloody feeder.
We sat till 15.30.
Now almost 12 hours watching this feeder, without result. The rain finally eased and then stopped and we decided we’d follow up at another location for Pine Grosbeak the birder yesterday had described.
It was a relatively hard decision to make. We had invested so much in this bird we were almost afraid to leave this site, afraid that as soon as we drove off the bird would appear. The bird had become our reason for living. Our sole target. A desperate need now. Akin to a heroin addict looking for a fix. It had become dominant over sleeping, eating – well, almost, Mr H never went hungry for long…..
Anyway, we bit the bullet and drove back towards Kerkenes, along the buckled road, for 48 kms to a place that provided cabin accommodation and huskies in the winter season. The guy there charged us 50 Kroner to ‘look around’ and 50 Kroner more for two coffees.
We set up and sat watching two feeders. Plenty of Siskins, Sparrows and Greenfinches and a pair of European Bullfinches. A small Red Squirrel stopped briefly to nibble on some fallen seed then disappeared. A Eurasian Sparrowhawk put in a couple of appearances – possibly nesting in a nearby tree - but 40 minutes and no PG.
I was getting cold so walked back to the car to get my jacket. As I returned Mr H quietly called and told me there was a male Pine Grosbeak feeding on the ground in front of him. I thought he was taking the piss, of course, and called him on it, but no, he was serious. I moved forward quietly and then I too could see the bird. Wow!! A big bright red finch – as Grosbeaks generally are – stuffing its face with seed a mere 3 meters or so away. It stayed for a few minutes then took off voluntarily and disappeared.
We both breathed a sigh of relief I think. The guy at this site had mentioned another location ‘just up the road’ so we got directions and headed off there. It turned out to be 3 ks up the road and a further 12 ks along a pitted, potholed track to a lonely cabin in the forest with…..another feeder. However, our efforts were rewarded as within a couple of minutes another male Pine Grosbeakflew in and spent quite a while feeding from the feeder. He went off and a female arrived providing excellent full body views – also on the feeder.
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| Pine Grosbeak (Male) |
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| Pine Grosbeak (Female) |
We drove back to camp, had dinner and I talked Mr H into going out again on a bear hunt. We were out from 21.30 till just after 23.00 but saw nothing of real significance apart from a couple of Common Cranes beside the lake and a Wood Sandpiper and heard a Common Cuckoo.
We crashed at 23.30.
Norway List – 109 New European – 3 Lifer - 5
Day 42 (N8) – Sunday 30.6.19
We got up again at 5, had breakfast and went woodpecker hunting. It was a nice morning, clear, cold, sunny. We had been given a rough guide to a location where a Three-toed Woodpecker had been seen recently and this, like the Pine Grosbeak, was a bird we had looked for in Finland without success.
We drove down the dirt forest track to the Noatun area from where we could see Russia just the other side of the lake. We parked and walked and walked and parked at several points along the track but the only birds we saw were, literally, 3 Siberian Jays that came out of the forest to have a look at us. They really are a cute bird and very confiding. You just can’t help taking photos of them.
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| Siberian Jay |
The trees in the forest was fairly short (20-30 feet) pines in a, seemingly, endless forest. Typically Taiga and difficult to imagine the same scene going on all across northern Russia for endless miles. An incredible thought.
When we returned to the car another car of three (German) birders had just shown up and we chatted to them for a few minutes. It was a partial relief to me when one of them said he’d been in the Varangenfjord area 4 times and not seen Snowy Owl. It was still irking me that we’d dipped – it had been a very high target species and I had felt very optimistic.
Back at camp we packed up and headed back to Kerkenes. Along the way we saw our first Norwegian Common Wood Pigeons! We also had our second Fox. This one pounced on something in the roadside grass, then jumped the fence and stood in the field briefly watching us watching it. We were pretty sure it was an Arctic Fox – the legs looked too short and it was a smaller size than the familiar Red Fox. It was also quite pale and just looked different.
We also came across a couple of Reindeer on the road. They seemed pretty wild, but its hard to tell. This one however had a nice spread, although he was a bit mouldy looking - due to shedding his winter coat I guess.
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| Reindeer |
We arrived in Kerkenes at 11.30 and picked up Mr H’s son, Jack, from the airport. I was leaving them the next day and they were going to spend the next 4 days driving back to Tromso.
We drove out the eastern side of the fjord towards Jakobsnes and found a rough campsite among the low birches overlooking the fjord. It was a very comfy campsite with the tents perched on the low, sweet-smelling, heather-like ground cover.
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| Campsite near Kerkenes |
We decided to walk up a nearby mountain track on the on-going search for Red-throated Pipit. Everyone we’d met said they’d seen them – ‘they were everywhere’ apparently. We had searched really, really hard and seen nothing but heaps of Meadow Pipits – each and every one visibly identified as a Meadow despite the difference in call and song, heard for the most part as well. No one had been able to define the specific environment and the book was a little generic in its description. So we pounded up hill, not too steep, across wooden boardwalked boggy ground, over open rock, through tussocky grass, past acres of what seemed to us to be perfect habo, but no RTPs.
We did have a pair of Bluethroats though, which made me very happy. Crippling views of both parents carrying food for young and, as a result a nest found! Brilliant! After missing the only one that Mr H had seen I had more or less given it away, but here they were – and what a stunner.
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| Bluethroat (Male) |
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| Bluethroat nest |
We stopped at the top of a hillside and sat for a while, then headed back down to camp.
We were a little short of food for dinner due to the supermarkets being closed on Sunday so I suggested we go for a meal instead. Unfortunately the only restaurant open in Kerkenes on a Sunday night was a Chinese so we had come all the way to the extreme north of Europe to have a Chinese meal, go figure.
However, it was a good meal and the waiter was quite amusing – mind you he needed to be. We had three small starters, 3 average mains, 3 beers and one coffee and it was 108 Kroner or $180 Aus. The food was nice and good quality Chinese, but at that price? Wow.
Back to camp in a slight haze and we crashed for my final night in Norway.
Norway List – 111 New European – 3 Lifer - 6
Day 43 (N9) – Monday 1.7.19
Mr H and I were up at 6 and drove down to the end of the dirt road to walk a track over more RTP habitat. We woke up 30 or 40 Huskies in their kennels beside the track and started them all howling and yapping as we passed by.
We walked across more perfect habo, about 2 ks I reckon, and back again without seeing any sign of our quarry. We did see another male Bluethroat, 2 Common Redpolls, a Northern Wheatear and 2 Whooper Swans, 2 fly-by Red-necked Phalaropes and a Red-throated Diver on a lake.
Back at camp we encouraged Jack to get up, had breakfast and packed up the camp, while I packed up my bag.
Then we drove to a couple of spots around Kerkenes itself where we had found previous reports of the bloody RTP on E-bird. It was becoming a mission. An obsession. A fantasy maybe?
And so it continued to be. No sign anywhere of anything but Meadow Pipits. We did have a last addition to our trip list – a Temminck’s Stint - in a shallow estuary, that gave us enough time to ascertain ID before flying off into the morning. A last addition to my European list.
We went to the airport and I checked my bag and waited with coffee and the boys as they wanted to add Jack to the rental agreement to share the drive back to Tromso over the coming 4 days.
Eventually I said goodbye and went through security and at 12.00 my plane took off for the 100 minute flight to Oslo.
I had a four and a half hour wait in Oslo that turned into 5 when the plane was delayed leaving, but leave it did (@ 19.00) and I arrived back in Dublin at 20.45. I got the Aircoach home and carried my bags the last 500 meters to Dale Rd.
So the third and final adventure - for this trip - ended.
Norway List – 112 New European – 4 Lifer - 6
