Counting the Cost(a) part 2

Sorry for the delay in posting part 2 of my epic family holiday to Spains coastal strip - Im working like a dog at the moment! Anyway - on with the story.

Day 2 had us heading into the mountains of mid Alicante (roughly inland from Benidorm). We were heading to a town called Alcoy which is sat in a gorge between two mountains which we were hoping to investigate. Heading out of La Siesta the first Hoopoe of the trip was inflight (several more were noted!) and on the Lemon Tree Road we had a flyover Cattle Egret. Not so common this far from El Hondo but ten a penny only a few miles to the north. The drive past Santa Pola salinas also revealed the first Osprey, Flamingo and Black-winged Stilts of the sojorn. Nothing earth shattering but nice to see.

A 45 minute run had us at Font Roja, a beautiful mountain south of Alcoy and my wife was very impressed. A baby related false start meant we were hanging about a little while but soon we were scrambling through the woodland tracks and investigating caves. Robins were wid spread as were seemingly Rock Buntings judging by the calls but I failed to lay my bins on any as I was carrying the baby and entertaining Isabelle who found a pretty cool little cave. With that duly investigated a Sparrowhawk drifted by. A party of tits passed through, mostly Coal and Great Tits but tagged on the back of the flock were three Short-toed Treecreepers. A lifer no less after missing them in the spring. Suitably underwhelmed as they cleared off calling but refusing to give bins views I went back to playing with the kids.

Back at the car park I looked along the spine of the mountain and I noticed 3 raptors circling distantly. These were big and as I raised the bins they resolved into Griffon Vultures. A bit more searching and 11 of these hulking brutes were found in total. They must have come from the colony the other side of the valley.

We descended the mountain hoping to catch lunch in the cafe on the cliffs close to the Vultures home but sadly this was closed as the season ended the day before (All Saint's Day) so I took solace in the impending number of Vultures and the male Stonechat that was sat on a plant stem beside the road. Arriving at the colony initially nothing but slowly up to 25 birds were seen from this vantage point. They were joined by my first Spanish Peregrine which was bothering them.

The kids were asleep but we needed feeding and my wife wanted McDonald's and I duly obliged by descending back into Alcoy and giving my best impression of Spanish to the obviously bored attendent. Once we had had our fill of junk food I glanced up at the Sierra behind and up to 50 vultures were circling over it. A remarkable sight for someone who hasnt been to South west Spain (yet!).

We headed back to La Siesta so the kids could have a nap and at a wee stop en route I noticed an Iberian Grey Shrike on wires. Expected but I didnt see many on the trip. The rarest bird of the trip was noted after we got back when two calling crests in scrub turned out to be Goldcrests. They hung around the whole trip and Im not sure if there have been any documented records for the province (rumours of 3-4 prior records but nothing firm). I finally got some record shots of them on the Friday before we left thankfully.

Counting the Cost(a)

So I am returned from another visit to Alicante province. November is not a time I have visited before so I was intrigued as to what I would see but this was weighed against the presence of our lovely new baby, Abigail who was three months old whilst we were away, and as such my birding time was cut in half. Despite this it was a successful trip with 93 species recorded including a couple of lifers and a number of Spanish ticks plus some local raritiesbrought down by the chilly weather.

View from the balcony

We arrived at La Siesta, Torrevieja at around 1am on the 1st November and the lack of any denizens of the night aside from several species of bat meant for a quiet start. The next morning and I watched from my balcony in 20 degree heat and sun whilst calming the baby. A Common Buzzard lifted off from the pines and headed south west whilst many Crag Martins hawked over the lake with a single House Martin amongst them. A single Slender-billed Gull over the apartment was the only one of the trip. It was also evident that the winter infestation of Black Redstarts had begun with a juvenile male holding territory on our elderly relatives roof. A few Robins were already in as well.

We headed into the town centre of Torrevieja to Potato City Park (park of nations) and a Swallow was alone amongst its Crag Martin brethren. A mixed flock of Spotless and Common Starlings were flycatching amongst the hirundines and the best find of the day was a late Subalpine Warbler enjoying the unseasonal warmth. I had to put the aircon on in the car...

Barmston Blackys

This guy was one of hundreds of Blackbirds that arrived at Barmston on Monday morning along with smaller numbers of Robins, Fieldfares, Redwings, Song & Mistle Thrushes. I also managed to find a phyllosc tastic sycamore stand (sans birds but it was a light SWer). My main aim was to find Little Auk due to decent numbers passing over the weekend. In the end I failed but a couple of brief seawatches interspersed with a bush bash turned up about 200 Common Scoter bombing around the bay, a single Greylag south and 4 Twite south. By far the best bird of the day was a Red-necked Grebe south at 11.30.

Right now I should be packing as I am away to Spain this afternoon. Spotted Eagles here we come...

Cumbrian Period

Last week I was working in Cumbria and largely saw the inside of an office during the day but I managed to squeeze half hour birding in the morning and evening in St Bee's.

On arriving for the first time a party of 5 Whooper Swans sailed over head travelling north and calling away as they did. Not long after another group of 21 swans flew south over the sea and were likely of this species.

Tuesday morning provided views of an adult Mediterranean Gull which hung around all week. A few Rock and Meadow Pipits bobbed about as well. The evening walk provided little new but Wednesday morning provided a Peregrine & Sparrowhawk. The evening highlight was an Arctic Skua bombing south whilst Thursday morning gave us further views of the med, small parties of Redwings overhead plus a few Gannets and a Grey Seal. The last meander on Thursday evening provided Linnets and a few passerine migrants in the form of Robins, Blackbirds, 2 Redwing and a Goldcrest.

Tomorrow I am off to Barmston for some Little Auks and Poms (please!) and then it is off to Spain for 10 days. Huzzah!

No Dick's on the Head

Sadly Isabelle & myself failed in our Richard's Pipit quest late this afternoon after the bird flew inland as we walked up. It was very warm and pleasant and a steady stream of Mipits kept the spirits up but little else of note. Izzy loved it and just spending time with her made it all the more fun. Dip - nah, just a nice walk with my girl.

Injection of pace

The autumn seems to be hotting up with plenty of American passerines in Ireland and Scilly and a small number of rare mainland Locustellas (in fact a friend found his second Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler on his patch at Whitburn today and they are in addition to one he found on Fair Isle). For me frustration is the key at the moment as inevitably the baby comes between me and ideal birding times. The prosaic nature of the birding largely has led to somewhat prosaic posts on here. I apologise - I guess this is my annual, must do better post. I will redouble my efforts to make this a worthwhile blog to read and thus the injection of pace referred to in the title will include my postings.

In order to keep your mind vital I am posting links to some blogs with prose that is a bit, well, springier. First up is my ornithological mentor and friend, Graham Scott, a lecturer at the University of Hull. He is a geek like myself but importantly he writes nice flowery rubbish that draws you in. This I imagine helps with the teaching side of things. His blog, Bioedstuff is a jamboree of his interests which include natural history, ringing, birding and sloe gin as well as the unsurprising bio-education. He has a keen eye for interesting animal behaviours as does the second blog I am linking to by Africa Gomez - Bugblog. This beautifully presented blog looks at the natural history of the back garden bugs and especially their behaviours. Watch out for the white bowl treatment as well. It renders excellent results!

If I manage to escape the clutches of Casa Spencer over the weekend then I will ensure that I marry up crap stories and crap images in a new and entertaining manner. Or try and put words in the title that will at least draw some hits ;).

Hmm

On Tuesday I gave Flamborough Head a thorough thrashing but as it has taken me 2 days to get around to blogging about it I'm sure you can draw from that it wasnt an epic success. Indeed migration seemed to be none existant largely until late knockings. The weather was fine and sunny with a light northerly breeze, not exactly ideal conditions for grounding scarce migrants but I decided to go ahead anyway - it only takes one bird to brighten the day up after all.

First up I was at Holmes Gut, the ravine between Thornwick Bay & North Landing. Here I bumped into the local ringers who gave me the news that quiet wasnt quite the word for it. I carried on cheery as you like but inside I died a little. Until that point the non-logical part of me continued to hope there was to be a scattering of migrants drifted south from rare covered Shetland. At the time what seemed like pretty lean pickings on reflection seems quite reasonable. 1 Goldcrest, 1 Blackcap & 2 Stonechats. Rather frustratingly as the ringers drove a hedge to catch a couple of Robins a long, warm warbler shot into the bottom of the next ditch. Very acro-esque and probably a Reed Warbler but I had ammo to allow me to string in my head all day...

I bid farewell to the ringers as the continued with their lean pickings. Next I went to old fall. In 2 hours I managed 3 Goldcrests, 1 Willow Warbler & 4 Swallows. Rubbish. That took in the hedge, the plantation, the gullys, the gorse field, the motorway, headland gardens, bay brambles, bay willows and all the way back to old fall steps. Apparently I missed a Lesser Whitethroat. This does not upset me.

My final destination was to be South Landing. Here it all seemed a bit more promising when a roving tit flock held 3 Goldcrests and a juvenile Common Buzzard was flushed by the local maggies. All quiet for the next hour but as I got to the bottom of the ravine a few thrushes were about including 4 Redwing. And that was it. No scarce, hardly any common. It was all pretty quiet. Originally I had planned to do something similar yesterday but instead I went for a wander round the village and found 2 Snipe in a stubble field next to a flash.