Showing posts with label Trees and Flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trees and Flowers. Show all posts

Thursday 2 June 2016

Spain road trip week 3 - Picos de Europa and Cantabria

We're now back in the UK, safe n sound, not as sun kissed as we'd like but that's another road trip under the belt - its been good to check out some familiar locations later in the year and also to check out a few areas neither of us have been before in a birding capacity. Northern Spain and the Picos de Europa is the main focus of this post and I'm pleased to report we had the sun shining for most of it!


For those that are interested in such things we ended up with a grand tally of 216 bird species for the 3 week trip, not too shabby! There's a link at the end of this posting with a full list.




Picos de Europa foothills from Potes

Anyone who's flown to Spain will doubtless have gazed down upon the Picos De Europa and marvelled at those jagged snow topped spurs, I know I have many a time, and often promised myself an explore there. Some of the scenery in and around the 'Picos' is truly jaw dropping with many peaks well over 2,000m and equally impressive gorges and caves. This was just the view from the campsite we stayed at nr Potes (pic right)




The wildlife was non too shabby too with Redstart, Firecrest, Hobby, Northern Bullfinch, Dipper and Wryneck all around the campsite with the last 3 all new species for the trip. I thought I had my first live snake of the trip whilst I was bumbling along a forest trail but it turned out to be one these little fellahs ... a Slow Worm or if you like a Legless Lizard

Slow Worm, Potes, 15/05/16
Cable car, Picos de Europa
By my reckoning those last three new birds took us to 199 species with still 4 or 5  days to go ...get in! Still,  if you want to tick off birds like Wallcreeper, Rock Thrush, Alpine Accentor and Snow Finch you have to get up high and in amongst those snow topped peaks and the only way to do that in the Picos is to take the car!






Snow Finch, Fuente De, 16/05/16




Sadly no Wallcreeper .. it was always gonna be tough on the tourist trail, no Rufous Rock Trush either but we sailed past the 200 mark with another 4 new species for the list .. Water Pipit, Alpine Chough, Alpine Accentor and a 'lifer' for the both of us - Snow Finch. Surprisingly big for a finch, we had a pair immediately we were up there and then Mark was lucky enough to have c25 fly right past him. In flight, the pure white patches in their wings was nothing short of dazzling!

The Alpine Accentors were confiding, relatively numerous and a few were ringed as were some of the Alpine Choughs


Snow Finch, Fuente De, 16/05/16

 


 
Alpine Accentors, Fuente De, 16/05/16

Water Pipit, Fuente De, 16/05/16

Alpine Chough, Fuente De, 16/05/16


Northern Wheatear, Fuente De, 16/05/16
Northern Wheatears have been almost ever present wherever we've been so I shouldn't have been surprised to see a few up here, however incongruous they seemed surrounded by all that snow!

A nice male Black Redstart, one of several, topped off a cracking couple of hours birding above the tree line and up amongst the clouds and, as expected, the landscapes were simply breath taking!


Black Redstart, Fuente De, 16/05/16

 

Fuente De, 16/05/16

Fuente De, 16/05/16

Fuente De (view from), 16/05/16





Long Lipped Tongue Orchid, Cantabria, 17/05/16
From the Picos we headed back towards journey's end and Bilbao, but not before a couple of days chilling out on the Cantabrian coast near the fishing town of Santona. En route there we stopped at a lay by for some lunch and spotted these amazingly shaped orchids in with red clover.

They're 'Long Lipped' Tongue Orchids, fairly widespread around Iberia but a first for me. Weird looking aren't they?






Long Lipped Tongue Orchid, Cantabria, 17/05/16



Peregrine Falcon fledglings, Montehano, 18/05/16
We camped out across the bay from Santona at Montehano, an historical mound, where there's an old quarry and a monestary, La Convento de Montehano. The weather had turned sour again and the bay held precious few of the many wading birds we'd been expecting here but the distinctive shrill 'kee-ark' call of a Peregrine hinted at a nest site and something to look at. Took a wee while but finally we located 3 fledglings high up on a grassy ledge.

Very average 'record' pics in poor light and at distance, but you can clearly see that they're all well developed and I would say almost ready for the off. We watched the site for a couple of hours or so hoping for one of the adults to return with food but it never happened so we withdrew in case they were spooked.

Peregrine Falcon fledglings, Montehano, 18/05/16

A few small flocks of Whimbrel turned up the same day, incredibly our first of the trip, and we also had Ringed Plover, Curlew, Redshank in small numbers plus a Black Necked Grebe on one of the many water courses around the marismas here. I walked around the monastery snapping a few more wild flowers then climbed the Montehano hill and got some landscape pics of the area.

Mountain Kidney Vetch, Montehano, 18/05/16

Fairy Foxglove, Montehano, 18/05/16

Ivy Leafed Toadflax, Montehano, 18/05/16

Santona (from Montehano)
Escalante (from Montehano)



Marismas de Santona (from Montehano)
Convento de Montehano

With a ferry to catch the next day it certainly felt like journey's end but what a journey - from the North to the South of Spain and back again, a distance of appx 2,500 kilometres in 3 weeks and in total 214 bird species recorded. It was non stop, even the ferry back brought us 3 more birds - Guillemot, Turnstone (on the ferry itself!)and Arctic Skua and just off the ferry at Southsea I had a fabulous photographic finale with a summer plumaged adult Mediterranean Gull feeding on the beach with common Black Headed Gulls.
 
 
Mediterranean Gull, Southsea, 20/05/16


Mediterranean Gull, Southsea, 20/05/16
 
Mediterranean Gull (Left), Southsea, 20/05/16

Mediterranean Gull, Southsea, 20/05/16
What a beauty!
 
As promised then here's the final species list for the whole trip - just click on the link 
 


Thursday 7 April 2016

Chiffchaffs & Sand Martins arrive, Fieldfares depart, Lapwing landscapes and other choice waders

Been a bit stop start but Spring is now well underway and even up here in Yorkshire we have plenty of early returning migrants including Sand Martins, Chiffchaff, Wheatear, Avocet, Little Ringed Plover and Ospreys all recorded in good numbers over the past week or so.

I've not been lucky enough to see an Osprey but I usually manage at least 1 every spring so here's hoping I get a decent pic sometime soon. The most obvious of course has to be the humble Chiffchaff - no mistaking their rather monotonous 'squeaky wheelbarrow' song click here if you've never heard one but now is the time for pics with hardly any leaves on the trees.


Chiffchaff, Givendale 30/03/16
This was my first photo opportunity - up on Givendale last week in the teeth of a howling gale he wasn't singing much!

I say 'he' because its generally the males that return a good 2 or 3 weeks before the females to set up territories.










My second opportunity was in altogether different circumstances, a day later in warm sunshine at Askham Bog and he was 'chiff chaffing' with much enthusiasm as you can plainly see!

Singing Chiffchaff, Askham Bog, 31/03/16

Singing Chiffchaff, Askham Bog, 31/03/16

Less than a week later they're now fairly widespread and with well over 2 million individuals in the UK every summer you can be sure that there'll be one in a wood near you by now.


Fieldfares, Fangfoss, 31/03/16

In contrast, Fieldfares and Redwings are departing, most have gone, heading for breeding grounds in Northern Europe, but some are still here. I had a small flock of Redwings in flooded fields today (4th April) and these Fieldfares the other evening looked like they were massing and ready to go. Not brilliant pics - last rays of the evening sun, but quite atmospheric!



Fieldfares, Fangfoss, 31/03/16

Fieldfares, Fangfoss, 31/03/16

...and another one hits the long road north!
Fieldfare, Fangfoss, 31/03/16
 


When I was a kid I remember hanging about on the edge of our housing estate in suburban York and seeing scores of Lapwings in the fields and sometimes stumbling across eggs; the memory plays tricks of course but I know there were more than I could count. Nowadays, with breeding pairs down by 60% since the mid 80s, the Spring sky dance of the 'Peewhit' across our fields is much less witnessed. There's maybe 6 pairs currently displaying around my immediate patch here in Fangfoss and just as with many of our iconic ground nesting birds such as Skylarks and Grey Partridge, they'll be lucky to rear young in the face of ever more intensive farming methods and increasingly 'dogs off leads' during the breeding season.


Lapwing aerial display, Fangfoss, 30/03/16
Common Snipe, Fangfoss, 30/03/16

Its not often these days that I get a new bird on my local list but this one had been coming. Been 18 months since I've resided at Fangfoss Park and never seen a Common Snipe! On the same good weather for migration day I photographed my first Chiffchaffs I flushed not 1 but 9 of the things out of flooded field nr the Spittal Beck. Not great pics but at least I got em!


Common Snipe, Fangfoss, 30/03/16
Common Snipe, Fangfoss, 30/03/16


















Sand Martin, Tophill Low, 05/04/16
I bagged my first few Sand Martins (c10) of the year at North Cave Wetlands on the 29th along with Little Ringed Plover (2), a single Ruff and Avocet (28). A week later at Tophill Low the sky was positively full of Sand Martins with maybe up to 100 over the various lagoons and reservoirs there. They move so quick that unless one has the very best camera equipment they're a real challenge to snap them in flight but I had a go...


Sand Martin, Tophill Low, 05/04/16


Sand Martin, Tophill Low, 05/04/16



Little Ringed Plover, Tophill Low, 05/04/16
2 newly arrived Little Ringed Plovers conveniently right in front of South Marsh hide were rather easier to photograph. Spending the winter months in Africa, like Avocets, LRP's are a real and welcome success story in the UK largely due to the creation of wader friendly gravel pits on many of our nature reserves.

In amongst the many Sand Martins there was 1 Swallow (my first of the year) and I also bagged my first singing Blackcap and Willow Warbler

Little Ringed Plover, Tophill Low, 05/04/16

 
Breeding male Ruff (anon)
Ruff, that most scarce of UK breeding waders are on the move too. The vast majority of these variously plumaged birds will pass straight through en route to northern Europe and its a rare sight indeed to see a male in full breeding regalia like this splendid individual ... not my pic obviously!





Ruff, North Cave, 29/03/16



Alas, most Ruff seen on passage or wintering in the UK are much less exotic looking than that splendid looking bird. These individuals at North Cave Wetlands and Tophill Low are far more typical, unless of course you're lucky enough to happen upon the handful of birds that do breed in this country!
















Ruff (left) with Oystercatchers, Tophill Low, 05/04/16



Green Sandpiper, Sutton on Forest, 28/03/16

Here's another wader species one might see on passage at this time of the year, its a Green Sandpiper, relatively common and they love flooded fields and wet ditches - so plenty of scope there!











So that's my early Spring so far, no mega rarities or even anything particularly unusual but hey its great to out and about at this time of year, nature awakening, birds on the move, flowers blooming and so many daylight hours in which to witness and photograph it all! Here's a few more miscellaneous pics from my Spring walkabouts .....
Little Grebe, Tophill Low, 05/04/16


Short Eared Owl on the move, Strensall Common, 02/04/16


Marsh Marigolds, Askham Bog, 31/03/16
Displaying Sparrowhawk, Givendale, 30/03/16
 
Oystercatcher, Tophill Low, 05/04/16