A great birding afternoon today: our friend Loriano called before lunch to say that he had a Dotterel on the summit of Monte Labbro (a traditional, if not frequent stopping place for them), exactly where we had seen one two years ago.
We packed a few sandwiches and set off almost immediately, with a reluctant little girl in tow (school starts next week here). Before getting to the car park at the end of the dirt road we crossed a German car coming down with an enormous dog in the back and we thought "that's it: it's gone". We scrambled to the top under the blazing midday sun and G nearly stumbled on it crouching low in the dead grass!
We spent the whole afternoon on the summit (I may post some photos tomorrow), and when we left at 6.30pm it was still there.
Other interesting sightings: 3 Kestrels mobbing a lone Sparrowhawk, 2 Spotted flycatchers, 3 Red-backed shrikes, several Black redstarts, Cirl buntings, one Red kite and last but not least a juvenile Rock Thrush as we were getting back into the car.
Oh, and the formerly reluctant little girl found a fantastic Ladybird spider Eresus cinnaberinus, too.
Edit:
a few photos here: http://3-birders.tumblr.com/post/60347132679/yesterday-we-spent-a-fantastic-afternoon-at-monte
We packed a few sandwiches and set off almost immediately, with a reluctant little girl in tow (school starts next week here). Before getting to the car park at the end of the dirt road we crossed a German car coming down with an enormous dog in the back and we thought "that's it: it's gone". We scrambled to the top under the blazing midday sun and G nearly stumbled on it crouching low in the dead grass!
We spent the whole afternoon on the summit (I may post some photos tomorrow), and when we left at 6.30pm it was still there.
Other interesting sightings: 3 Kestrels mobbing a lone Sparrowhawk, 2 Spotted flycatchers, 3 Red-backed shrikes, several Black redstarts, Cirl buntings, one Red kite and last but not least a juvenile Rock Thrush as we were getting back into the car.
Oh, and the formerly reluctant little girl found a fantastic Ladybird spider Eresus cinnaberinus, too.
Edit:
a few photos here: http://3-birders.tumblr.com/post/60347132679/yesterday-we-spent-a-fantastic-afternoon-at-monte
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