Mallorca 29th April - 6th May
Well now that the dust has settled on our now annual spring week based at PP, thought id provide a brief summary of the trip. Birding was again excellent and though my efforts were a bit more leisurely this year I still managed to add two new sp to my Island list - the excellent Collared Fly at the Albufera ( I missed the Torrent de Saint Jordi bird in 2013 ) and an Adult Gannet flying south off Son Real. I also managed to come to grips with the recently split Mediterranean Flycatcher ( M. Tyrrhenica ) often seen nearby to M.Striata providing a useful comparison.
Below are some of the daily highlights, I've posted some pics on my twitter site for those interested - Chris Knox...@NTynesidebirder.
Saturday 29th : A late afternoon walk to Postage Stamp Wood / Boquer, seeing much as expected inc a noisy pair of Peregrine. The Avenue of Pines / Park to the south of the Boquer Roundabout was lively and remained so all week, today was 10+ Pied Fly, Wood Warbler, Redstart and lots of Willow Warbler.
Sunday 30th : Wryneck heard and eventually seen well early doors in the Boquer. A visit to Can Cuarassa Track failed to provide any Roller, but 5 Spotless Starling showed well as did several Snipe.
Monday 1st May : A fruitful morning at the Albufereta Tower, Red Kite, Osprey and 50+ Bee-eater over, a nice male Golden Oriole showed well in a nearby tamarisk and my only 2 Turtle Doves of the week.
Tuesday 2nd May : Albufera - a showy Collared Flycatcher at back of Visitor Centre was a welcome Mallorcan tick, Little Bittern was seen well on main channel and among the usual suspects a Collared Pratincole was genuine despite several observers leaving the hides claiming Cream-Coloured Courser :eek!: 3 Marbled Duck were seen and a Sacred Ibis flew high south. The PP Park nr the Boquer in the evening again produced good counts of common migrants inc 12+ Pied Fly.
Wednesday 3rd May : Found a nice Roller at the base of the Boquer, and the walk to the end produced a male Western Subalpine Warbler (confirmed on call ), over head sev Tree Pipit, Bee-eaters (12), Osprey, and Marsh Harrier flew north. Balearic Warbler heard near the split in path before beach. A visit to Postage Stamp Wood late afternoon produced 30 + Willow Warbler, great views of Firecrest and sev Wood & Garden Warbler.
Thursday 4th May : Embasse de Cuber - two displaying Male Moltoni's Warblers were nice to see and easily tracked via their Wren -like churr. Black, and Griffon Vultures were omnipresent above and were joined by 8 Red kite at one stage. Failed to find any Spectacled warblers - are they still there :h?: Crossbills were heard singing and seen well, and migrants around Lake included 4 Whinchat, and 5+ Pied Flycatcher.
Friday 5th May : A morning visit to Son Real produced singing Thekla Larks, and Tawny Pipits, I found a pair of Balearic Warbler in my usual spot but no Dartford's - has the hard winter had an impact ? A quick scan of the sea produced a Sandwich Tern and an unexpected Gannet, a scarce migrant / winterer to the island.
Saturday 6th May : Last day and a pre pick -up walk around the Boquer added Whitethroat and sev Garden warbler, last notebook entry was 5 Bee-eater north - a fitting bird to say farewell till next year.
All in all an enjoyable trip.
CGK