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Mallorca 2010 (1 Viewer)

Mike Montier

Mike Montier

Well-known member
First bird of the year...Cattle egret in the road. A short walk to the beach at Mondrago in the South-east. Many Sardinian warblers and Crossbills. Audouins gulls struggling against the really high winds so not much else. Will report from Boquer Valley next week and hopefully Albufera. Good birding 2010!
 
Later a seawatch near the lighthouse, Porto Colom. Several Gannet and one Balearic shearwater. Also two Balearic warblers in the scrub and several Sardinian warbler, Stonechat and Thekla lark
 
Happy new year Mike!
Yesterday climbed mount L'Ofre (next to Puig Major) and was met by one lonely Alpine Accentor, so gave it a bit of my ham sandwich ;). Also up there a group of 5 griffon vultures. Apart from this, the mountains seems strangely devoid of birdlife. Must be the cold, the recent snow must have played havoc with the smaller guys....Reports of another snow Bunting between Sineu and Petra. Must keep an eye open for this species!!!

Happy 2010 Mallorca birding!
 
Excellent,thanks. I hope to catch up with Alpine accentor this winter as it they have evaded me so far. I will look out for Snow bunting too. Lots more Gannet this morning at Porto Petro of all places, I have never seen so many in Mallorca before so it must just be a good year for this species. A lovely Firecrest too in the winter sun, a favorite for so many people.
 
I will follow this thread with interest.

Might be revisiting Mallorca this year as I am keen to avoid the cost of a hire car for a change. Not driving too will be a bonus.
 
A short visit to Salobrar de Campos this morning. One Osprey, two Booted eagle and one Marsh harrier. Also about 100 Lapwing and a few Curlew. Just as I was leaving two Barn swallows flew by! Quite a shock. I am not sure if they winter here but I have never seen them before in Dec/Jan. There are reports of about 30 Crane (Grus grus) in the area but I only heard one! Most birders stay,understandably, in the North of the Island but I thoughoughly recommend a visit to Salobrar. It is a brilliant area and produces so many exciting species especially during migration.
 
Depressing news on my visit to Boquer Valley today. The tennant at the finca says that the entrance is soon to close permanently. There is only one other long and difficult way in so it seems like the end. Many birders see Boquer as the highlight of their visit so I can only hope that it does not happen. "Soon" can of course mean a long time here but she seemed to think it was within a couple of months. I hope my understanding of Spanish is wrong but somehow I think it will happen.
 
Sad news, Mike.

When I read this out to my wife, her response was "Well what's the point of going to Puerto Pollensa then? That'll put people off".

I'd have thought it would be in the interests of the many people in the town who rely on letting apartments and hotel rooms to birders and walkers to persuade the tenant of the Finca to relent. I read in the Spanish press (eg Majorca Daily Bulletin) that there is much weeping and wailing on the part of hoteliers and restaurateurs that their bookings are down and the season is getting shorter as visitors find cheaper and more convenient places to spend their devalued pounds.

In my many visits to Mallorca the deciding factor in where to stay had been the Boquer Valley, otherwise it's probably more convenient to stay in Alcudia with S'Albufera on the doorstep.
 
Hi Mike,
Can you comment further? This is news to us. :C
Best regards

Steve

Mike Montier said:
Depressing news on my visit to Boquer Valley today. The tennant at the finca says that the entrance is soon to close permanently. There is only one other long and difficult way in so it seems like the end. Many birders see Boquer as the highlight of their visit so I can only hope that it does not happen. "Soon" can of course mean a long time here but she seemed to think it was within a couple of months. I hope my understanding of Spanish is wrong but somehow I think it will happen.
Click to expand...
 
I've just booked my flights to visit Mallorca for the first week in May so I'll be checking this thread regularly.
The news about Boquer is disturbing, but not totally unexpected. I remember from previous visits that there have been rumours it would happen for a few years. Ternelles suffered the same fate a while ago and the law (as Barred Wobbler points out) is just ignored because the land owners are far more powerful than any pressure groups.
I really like the boquer and hope it's still open when we get there. Please keep us updated.

Cheers
Nick
 
I can´t comment much more but a friend who has lived here 50 years spoke to the tennant who was very clear that if we wanted to come back again we had better be quick as it was soon to close permanently. I cannot think my friend got it wrong. I have heard rumours before but this time he (my friend) said that it was for real. I could not agree more that most birders come to Pollenca specifically to go to Boquer and if the locals want bookings then I am sure they will lose a lot to birders and walkers. It is a very popular walk and very beautiful. I will be going again soon and will try to get more information but I am sadly quite sure of what she said.
 
Sad. After we 'lost' Ternelles as Nick said, and Casas Velles thanks to His Maj, P Pollensa will indeed be scarcely worth going to, shame. But there you are, birders can't amount to much in the Mallorca tourist flood, not compared to golfers and clubbers anyway.
 
Sadly that seems to be true. I did think very carefully before posting the news but I guess my hope was that the more birders who know then the more pressure could be brought to bear on the owners and authorities. I hope that will be the case because I love the place!
 
I will give it a go. The local birders are very helpful and friendly and have obviously lived here longer than me and will therefore have more influence I am sure. I will try to speak to them (in my still dreadful Spanish) and see what they have to say.
 
I have just heard from a local birder who says he thinks they cannot close the access to the valley as it is a public right-of-way. Let´s hope he is right! I will keep posting although I am going back to the uk for two weeks. Looking forward to seeing, treecreeper,nuthatch,rooks and woodpeckers, there are none here!
 
Not sure Alf, I will speak to my friend again as soon as I am back in the UK on the 30th. The tennent is not the owner so I have no idea where the decision to close has come from and I am not sure who the current owners are. I will post asap.
 
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