Balearic Spring Day 3 - Into the Farmlands

Another day of clear blue skies dawned as we packed the kit in to the car to head south towards the centre of island. Our aim was to travel around an extensive area of farmland to see what species could be found next the tracks with the car providing us with a mobile hide. As we arrived you already feel the coolness of the morning burning away under the rapidly ascending sun.

The first species we encountered were a small streaky warbler with an impressive and very apt name, the Zitting Cisticola who seem to have adapted well to a life amongst the arable crops. These are the only representative of a group of African warbler species that are found in Europe.

We did manage a couple of closer encounters that morning. Unusually the lining of the male mouth is pitch black and they look very odd when in full song.

On our journey along another track, we located a pair of Short-toed lark gradually working their way across the sun baked soils.

Another track, another species. This time it was the Iberian race of Yellow Wagtails with their grey heads. Personally I prefer the looks of our yellow headed UK race.

By this point the light was getting harsh and the autofocus crippling heat haze was building. The last species I photographed before we left the farmlands was a Corn Bunting, my first image of this species, and one I was hoping to improve upon before the end of the week.

We decided to stop for a bit of lunch and then headed back up to S'Albufera. The daily outings were starting to take on a bit of a pattern with a trip out exploring a new area in the morning and a return to the Marsh for the mid afternoon and early evening. As I said in my first post you could easily spend a week at S'Albufera Marsh alone.

Another of the S'Albufera conservation efforts was the introduction during the 1990s of the endangered Crested Coot. I remember these birds from when I visited a few years, with each sporting a large identification neck ring. As the numbers have increased so has the chance of finding an unringed bird. A number of birds were present each day around the main bridge that crosses the central canal. Photographing from the raised position of the bridge did not offer the greatest perspective and we located a small area off one path were we could get to water level with the birds. Coots under harsh sunlight is not a photographic pursuit I would recommend for those who do not like an exposure challenge!

It is good to see these birds flourishing in their new home.

Just around the corner from the bridge, the Bishop Hide was in good form with plenty of Black-winged Stilts feeding at very close proximity.

The Stilts were occasionally joined by a Purple Gallinule that would boldly march, between the bordering reedbeds, across the front of the hide to the accompanyment of camera shutters.

The bird shown below was particularly impressive in its colours.

We decided to move to another hide for the end of the day light. Kentish and Little Ringed Plover foraged with their stop and go movements along the lagoon edge.

The only distraction being the very pleasent sight of passing Purple Herons or Marsh Harrier in the softening light. I can think of much worse ways of passing time.

The following day we would be heading to the mountains but that will have to wait until the next post.

'Balearic Spring' Day 1 - Heading South

I was expecting a wake up call from the the alarm at 3 am and so I was somewhat startled by being roused from my slumber by the telephone ringing. Alarm clock failure is not a good way to start a journey when you have a flight to catch. 10 minutes later saw me stumbling out of the house in to the darkness with my bags to meet my friend Steve Round for our week long trip to photograph the birds of Mallorca.

The start of our journey southwards from Liverpool was remarkably uneventful and made easier by the EasyJet hand luggage policy which certainly favours the travelling wildlife photographer. This will certainly be my airline of first choice for future trips around Europe. A couple of hours later and the orange clad plane was sweeping over the south of the sun drenched island for a smooth touch down at Palma airport. We were greeted by warm sunshine and clear blue skies as we crossed the tarmac to the terminal at a time when most people back in the UK would just be starting their working day. Our passage through the airport and collection of the pre-booked hire car passed without difficulty. The Sat Nav was plugged in and we hit the road. Cars flashing their head lights as we headed up the wrong side of the road on existing the airport soon put us on the right track.

One of the good points about Mallorca is that it is relatively quick to travel the length of this small isalnd and so our accommodation in the north, near Pollenca, would only be about 50 minutes drive. As we could not check in to our villa until 3pm the plan was to stop en route and get some photography done. Well there was no point in wasting time. Given the early start and its close proximity to our villa, we decided to plant ourselves for the rest of the day in the S'Albufera Nature Reserve. Here we could quietly sit in one of the numerous hides and let the day bgently pass. I had been to Mallorca several years ago, when I was just starting out in photography, and remembered there being lots of potential photo opportunities during a brief visit to the reserve. This wetland reserve is enormous and you could easily spend many days there and this was the first of several visits made during the week. The walk in to the entrance alone, accompanied by the explosive song of Cetti's Warbler, takes about 20 minutes.

The first day was productive and not quite as relaxing as anticipated and a large number of species were photographed and a selection of these are posted below. The purpose of this first day was to get some images on the memory cards and hopefully refine the photos for different species over the coming days.

We settled down in the first hide and there was plenty of birds on view. However, conditions were not ideal as it was now late morning, the sun was high and harsh and anything at distance was partly obscured by a shimmering heat haze. As you open the hide flap the first birds that are very obvious are the Black-Winged Stilt. Very similar in behaviour to Avocets but with legs which almost border on the ridiculous in their length.

I was quite surprised by the variation in colouration of the Stilts, particularly the heads which ranged from the black markings above to the pure white in this following photo.

A bird coming in to land, after being put to flight by a Booted Eagle soaring overhead.

Close to the hide there were some low sparse rushes with half a dozen Snipe probing the muds in the shallow water. They are lovely little birds and thinking back it has been a while since I managed to put some before the lens.

Also feeding around in the mud at the edge of the reeds was a lone Spotted Redshank which was in transition between its pale winter and dark summer plumage.

Purple Gallinule were introduced in to the reserve as a conservation measure back in the 1990s and appear to have subsequently flourished. Regular readers will recall I photographed a persumed escaped bird in Chester not so long ago. These Mallorcan birds were quite different in colour and dwarfed any nearby coots or moorhens. Every so often a bird would appear out of the reeds.

These beautifully coloured birds would then stride across the open water in front of the hide to the sound of whirring camera shutters.

While all this activity was going on close to the hide an eye was kept on birds that were appearing at distance. Marsh Harrier fluttering in hunting flight across the shimmering reeds at distance. One of these 'birds' turned and started flying towards the hide and it was only as it approach we realised it was a Purple Heron. This is a bird I have longed to photograph and the close fly-by of a very well coloured bird was very welcome.

The other bird I was closely watching was a Spoonbill that was feeding at the back of the lagoon alongside some Little Egrets. This is a bird I have never photographed , except in a zoo, and I was hoping it would make its way over towards the hide. My patience was eventually rewarded.

It was interesting to watch these birds feeding as they scythe their partly open bill in broad sweeps back and forth through the water.

We decided we would have a quick look around at the other hides nearby to see what they had to offer before the reserve closed in the early evening.
The lagoon in front of the next hide was deserted but adjacent was an Egret colony. The gurgling noises from an Egret colony were bizarre and unfamilar.
A Cattle Egret in fine breeding colours perched in one the trees.

Numerous birds were flying in with sticks for nest building. We decided that we would return to these Egrets when the wind was hopefully in better direction and so just took a few photos of the in-coming birds. I will post some more of these flying Egrets in subsequent posts.

We wandered over to another hide which looked to be in a good direction for the late afternoon sun. It was fairly quiet here but it did provide us some opportunities to photograph both Little Ringed Plover, a scarce bird in the UK, and Kentish Plover at very close range.

I must admit I was quite taken by the Kentish Plover, which I have not seen before, and the males looked very smart with their rust coloured caps.

A great start to our trip although towards the end my energy levels were certainly flagging after the early start to the day. After leaving the reserve, we swung past Pollenca beach to check for Audouins Gull, a bird we would return to photograph later in the week. After a quick call in to the supermarket for some supplies we eventually arrived at the villa after a very, very long day.

I had no trouble falling asleep that night whilst being serenaded by the distant repetitive monotone hoot of a Scops Owl and occasional call of Stone Curlew. I was already looking forward to the early morning start the next day.

The Curious Incident of the Purple Swamphen

Back at the beginning of August a Purple Gallinule or Swamphen was being reported as being sighted in ditch near Chester. I must admit I do not usually go to rare bird sightings as I prefer to avoid the crowds. However, given the close proximity I thought I would go and take a look and hoped to avoid the birdwatchers by arriving at first light on a Sunday morning. The bird was quickly located and it had taken up temporary residence in a small steeply sided heavily overgrown ditch.

A dogwalker passed me and told me that the bird had been there for around 3 weeks and the unusual technicolour 'moorhen' had become well know to the locals. The birdwatchers soon started arriving and there was great debate over the origins of the birds which was un-ringed and free flying. Checks had been made with zoos and bird collections and none had reported any loses.

The bird was the grey headed race from Asia which is known to be highly migratory but it seemed unlikely that such a bird would undertake such an epic voyage. To me the origin (escapee or a lost wild bird) was irrelevant as the bird was free flying and in the wild. Such a beautifully coloured bird certainly brightened up a fairly dull Sunday morning.

It was a difficult bird to photograph given the situation and abundance of vegetation. The bird seemed to be very settled and was happily stripping off grass seed heads.

I stay for around 3 hours and decided by that time I had got enough photographs and the numbers of bird spotting scopes was rapidly increasing in to a mini forest of metal and glass.

Apparently after I left two looking locals arrived claiming the bird belonged to them and it had escaped from the back garden where they were kept as pets. This seems somewhat unlikely but you never know what is kept in back gardens of the UK! The report has it that they then went to considerable effort charging up and down the ditch with nets but were unsuccessful in capturing the bird. Subsequently I have heard that the bird flew off and is now residing on a fishing lake about 15 miles away where it is happily living with its diet supplemented by free handouts of sweetcorn from the anglers.