Where to go for WP rarities right now? (1 Viewer)

[opisska]

I admit I am abusing this forum to provide me with ideas, but I would really appreciate some help here, if you would!

We have planned to go for some exotic destination starting on Friday, but it slowly become clear that my wife can't just bugger off right now as she has too much unfinished work. That doesn't mean we necessarily have to stay home, but we need to go somewhere where she will be able to spend most of her time sitting at her computer, not hiking mountains or paddling in mangroves. The most sensible choice for that seems to go for a place where some interesting rarities are possible, so that she can work and when something great appears, take a break and go for it. Considering our obsession with WP listing, it should preferably be something in WP.

So I looked at Corvo: all accommodation booked to the brim. Normally we would just camp in the public camping, but this time, we need a good place for her to work. Similarly with Flores - everyone has gone mad and left for Azores? So what else is there available? The UK wants a test from us before and after even when we are vaccinated, do I get this right? If yes, then I do not wish to have anything to do with it, so things like Scillies are off. So what is actually promising as a rarity destination for, say 18-28 September? We plan to do Hel later in October because some friends are gonna be there, so we would rather not do that now ... All ideas welcome - and if you suggest a place where you will physically be, I will buy you a pint there!

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Sagres perhaps?

 

[cafe birder]

Baku in Azerbaijan has potential in Sept as it is close to the Eastern goodies and seems very underwatched. A few of us have considered it but I've never been bold enough. Should be plenty of accommodation and you seem happy to trailblaze. Must be a chance of a first for the WP.

Regards Howard

 

[opisska]

What would be a good source for records in Portugal? I found only scarce information about Sagres.

I am indeed happy to go to places where peiple don't go and something "underwatched" yet promising would be cool, but I am not very willing to go to Azerbaijan after I heard experiences of others - the country is corrupt and outright hostile.to an independent traveller.

 

[mummymonkey]

Iceland?

 

[leonardo_simon]

Shetland?

Internet (i.e. 4G reception) mostly good there and all kinds of rare things turn up.

October is the best time I understand. COVID rules about to change to so UK entry easier.

rare bird communication is via a local WhatsApp group which I understand that visitors can join

wouldn’t advise camping due to weather!!! Cost of living very reasonable despite remoteness. Prices are about the same as mainland UK for the kind of things that one would need as a tourist (food, petrol, accomodation) and the roads are good. Inter island ferries are inexpensive (I.e. the ferry to out skerries which is 2hrs was £14 with a car)

 

[opisska]

Hm Iceland, how is it with birds there? From thr occasional news I get the feeling that they get fantastic rarities, but very few, so one would have to live there for months to see anything, am I wrong?

We only have time now, not in October, sadly.

 

[Richard Prior]

Did you make a trip to Brittany Jan? Ouessant would be a good place to base yourselves, at least there if there are no rarities on certain days the seawatching is good.
Edit: Oops, I just found your other thread so Ouessant is probably not a good idea for you after all!

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

There are plenty of good, small, isolated islands around Europe that could be productive e.g. Utsira (Norway), Christianso (Denmark), Helgoland (Germany), Linosa (Italy). I'd be tempted to go to one of those in your situation. It should be really interesting and exciting even if there aren't any major rarities.

 

[Ficedula]

Western Ireland, not sure what covid rules are but at least its EU

 

[opisska]

Western Ireland, not sure what covid rules are but at least its EU

What would be good places in Ireland to get based? I am guessing either some of the SW peninsulas or Mullet? (Yes, Ireland being EU, is accessible.)

In general, this is harder than I thought, mainly because most attractive destinations are in western Europe and western Europe has now insanely expensive accomodations, especially in places where there is not much of a competition, such as all these interesting small islands and such. Normally, we would be solving that by camping, but that's not practical for this particular purpose. Only now I understand how I have been spoiled by Hel, because that's a reasonable rarity destination yet it doesn't cost and arm and a leg to sleep there (but I don't want to to go there now, since I would like to do that in October for a few days).

This is also true for Ireland for example, but at least there, thanks to the large area that makes sense, are some borderline reasonable options. Another thing I am considering is the Netherlands - Texel is pretty famous and there are some acceptable places to stay in the area.

 

[opisska]

OKay, I made a snap decision and we go to Spain. I have NW coast in mind for seawatching (Estaca de Bares probably?) and stuff, but so far I have only tickets to Madrid and a car there, so the peninsula is my oyster Any ideas welcome, as well as any info on how to find rarity info for Spain nowadays when Rare Birds in Spain is basically dead.

 

[Richard Prior]

I found a couple of ornitho sites Jan ( maybe there are more):
ornitho.cat for the Catalonia region
ornitho.eus for Euskadi ( the Basque region)
Good luck!

 

[opisska]

Yeah exactly I know about these two, but what about the remaining 80% of spain? I see a lot of records on ebird, but when checking a specific hotspot, I saw a lot of from the same few big birders and foreigners, so I think there must be something else in use there!!

 

[Richard Prior]

Sadly these days it’s probably a ´locals only’ WhatsApp group.

 

[opisska]

Looks like observation.org (or as they like to call it observado.es) has some good records, that may be useful.

 

[njlarsen]

I have not lived in WP for a long time so maybe I am completely off: how about one of the migration hotspots where rarities sometimes occur? I would for example think about Falsterbo or Ottenby in Sweden for fall observation. Being in such a place sometimes lead to hearing about other nearby subrarities that can be chased. Otherwise, at least for falsterbo, one can wait for the day where the weather is perfect and then the busy person can take that day off to see the big numbers come through. Those are often the same days where one or two rarities appear.

https://www.ottenby.se/en/

https://en.falsterbobirdshow.com/migratory-birds/falsterbo-fagelstation/

Niels

 

[opisska]

In any case, I am bookmarking this thread for future years, because it now has the names of a lot of places I had only a vague idea that they should exist, but didn't really know where they are - especially the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish islands!

 

[opisska]

Btw. this all stays relevant onto October as Scotland refuses to ease the entry procedure (so no improvement for Shetland) and the entire UK still requires a test after entry even for vaccinated people. So even if we decide yo tale another trip in October (when the rarity season is better), it surely won't be to UK.

In the meanwhile someone reported a White-rumped Sandpiper on ebird just a few minutes off the highway between Madrid and Galicia we need to take anyway, so Spain starts to look more and more interesting

 

[kb57]

If you are planning another trip in October, the suggestion upthread of Sagres is a good one. Raptor migration, seabirds offshore with pelagic trips to reach them, and quite a lot of passerine migration too. Only issue with seabirds is its probably a bit late for Wilson's storm-petrel after early October though.