More From The Med

Readers will discover that Sue and I are still in the Med. Here are more highlights of Menorca and the birdlife found here in May. Apologies for the lack of commentary but I’m doing this post on a Wi-Fi tablet. The photo captions will reveal where are. Don't forget to click the pics for a tour of Menorca.

Es Grau - Menorca

Little Egret at Es Grau

Viewing screen at Es Grau

Purple Heron at Es Grau

 Turtle Dove at Es Grau

 

Cap de Cavalleria - Menorca

Stonechat - Cap de Cavalleria

Audouin's Gull - Cap de Cavalleria

Corn Bunting - Cap de Cavalleria

Es Mercadal - Menorca 

 

Plato del Dia - Menorca

The Lobster - Fornells, Menorca 

Bee Eater near Es Mercadal

Hoopoe near Es Migjorn, Menorca

Woodchat Shrike near Es Migjorn, Menorca

Sunset at Sant Tomas, Menorca

Scops Owl - Sant Tomas, Menorca

Another Bird Blog is back in the UK soon. Log in then for more birds, birding and bird ringing.

Almost Home

We’re almost at the end of Menorca for 2014. So here are a few more pictures of Menorca life until next year. Enjoy. 

On some evenings the Scops Owl comes for a close look at us just as we're enjoying a glass of wine.

Scops Owl

The common lark in these parts is the crested Thekla Lark. It makes a change from the humble UK Skylark.

 Thekla Lark

Adding a little interest to the sunbathing are regular sightings of ringed Audouin's Gulls. 

Audouin's Gull

Or watching the local Kestrel watching us from on high.

Kestrel

Spring in Menorca is just wonderful for seeing and painting the wild flowers.

 Menorca Poppies

A walk to the local shops even involves a spot of birding.

Spotted Flycatcher

Now that's what I call a Menorca walk.

Menorca

Menorca Horses

Another Bird Blog is back home in the UK any day now and will post new pictures from the last two weeks very soon.

I promise to catch up with all your comments soon.  Apologies if you are still waiting.

I hope everyone enjoyed Menorca as much as we did? Linking today to Anni's Blog, Camera Critters and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Are You Bored Yet?

Definitely not. We are far from bored and time just flies when having fun.

It’s Week Two but there are a multitude of things to see and do in Menorca, lots of ways to fill the day or the evening.

Those Hoopoes keep us amused for ages. And they never ever get stuck in the nest hole.

Hoopoe

It's a steady and interesting route to pretty and colourful Es Migjorn where the sunny walk demands a cooling beer afterwards.

Es Migjorn

  

Bee Eater

Cattle Egrets don't always live up to their descriptive name. 

 

At Es Grau again.

Es Grau- Menorca

At the Nature Reserve near Es Grau there's a chance of seeing Squacco Herons.

Squacco Heron

At Fornells there's shelter of sorts from an often unrelenting sun but from where you can watch the sleepy harbour; or perhaps take out that set of watercolour paints you've been meaning to try?

Fornells - Menorca

Fornells - Menorca

Bee Eaters - a watercolour

Mints after dinner and owl watching time.

Scops Owl

There's even More from Menorca soon on Another Bird Blog. Apologies for not visiting too many blogs and I will catch up with everyone soon.

Mamma Mia!

Readers of a certain age will recognise today’s blog title as the title of a popular song by a  well known Scandinavian group. It is also the title of a not-very-good film starring those should-know-better stars, Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan. It’s a clue to where the blog comes from today - yes Skiathos and nearby Skopelos in Sunny Greece, the islands where the said film was shot in 2008 and where another wedding takes place this week. No folks, I’m not committing bigamy in Greece, it’s the wedding of daughter Joanne to son-in law-to-be Ian with special guests Mums and Dad.

The island of Skiathos is about 12 km long and 6 km wide on average. Despite its small size Skiathos with its many beaches and wooded landscape is a popular tourist destination. It has over 60 mostly sandy beaches scattered around the 44 km coastline. 

Skiathos, Greece

Much of the island is wooded with Aleppo Pine and a small Stone Pine forest at the Koukounaries location where there is a lagoon and a popular beach. 

The island's forests are concentrated on the southwest and northern parts, but the presence of pine trees is prevalent throughout the island. It all adds up to a good birding spot, especially during September when many birds from Northern Europe make their way south through the Mediterranean towards Africa or the Middle East. 

Skiathos Town

Skiathos Town

Birding from the off in the clear skies, the hills alive with overhead Alpine Swifts and a mix of hirundines, Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows, House Martins and Little Swift. Is Hobby the commonest bird here? Could be simply the number heading back to Africa and following the hirundines but today we had 12/15 Hobby sightings with no effort at all. 

 Alpine Swift- Photo credit: ferran pestaña / Foter / CC BY-SA 

Eastern Olivaceous Warblers seem to be everywhere, vying for attention with good numbers of Woodchat Shrikes. Just a short walk from the hotel I found Cirl Buntings, overhead Common Buzzard and Honey Buzzard, and not far away the calls of Bee Eaters - with luck I’ll find them tomorrow. 

Woodchat Shrike - Photo credit: Muchaxo / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Cirl Bunting - Photo credit: Le No / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

In the meantime we must find somewhere to have an evening meal here in Agia Paraskevi, Taverna Town as we call it, where an unseen-by-most Scops Owl calls every evening as we stroll by. 

Scops Owl

I'm not online much, there's relaxing and touristy things to do, not to mention a wedding to attend.

The house-sitter will be updating the blog with comments in between keeping the garden tidy and checking the post, so keep your comments coming in. But I'll catch up with blogging pals soon and there's more from Another Bird Blog in Greece soon.

Soggy Post And Menorca Returns

Two days of solid rain, no birding and no news for Another Bird Blog readers. Unless of course they are interested in photographs of newly painted garden benches drying off in the garage, a précis of a letter to long-lost aunts in Uxbridge, or a recipe for freshly made tomato soup? I thought not. 

So in place of non-existent news and after tidying up picture files in Photoshop here are a few pictures left over from May in Menorca, with minimal comments from me. 

The Bee Eaters in Menorca are difficult to approach, keeping watchers to what seems a measured distance before they fly off, usually close to the usable limits of a 400mm lens. A 1000mm would be ideal. 

Bee Eater

Here’s a Cattle Egret, a species which still hasn’t managed to colonise the UK to any meaningful extent, despite showing all the signs for a good few years. 

Cattle Egret

The European or Common Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) is fairly common around the rocky Balearic coasts. If anyone wants to learn more about this bird, beware of bizarre outcomes if Googling the word “Shag”. 

European Shag

Garden birds from Menorca - Kestrel, Scops Owl, Hoopoe, Yellow-legged Gull and Audouin’s Gull, the latter a bird ringed as a nestling on Illa de L’Aire, an island off the south coast of Menorca, and a different ringed individual to the one I recorded in 2011. 

Kestrel

Scops Owl

Audouin's Gull

Audouin's Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Hoopoe

For more Hoopoe pictures see Another Bird Blog here. For more birds from Menorca, click on the "Menorca" or "Menorca Birds" tags in the right hand lower column of the blog page.

Perhaps strangely to our jaded British palates, Menorcan cheese doesn’t stick your teeth together and the island’s sausages actually taste of meat. 

Menorcan sausage and cheese

My rough translation of the street sign in Es Migjorn would be “If you clean up after your dog the whole environment benefits” 

Street sign - Es Migjorn, Menorca

Alaior - Menorca

Mahon - Menorca 

Fingers crossed for less rain this weekend, but Wimbledon begins on Monday.