Wood You Believe It?

Wednesday morning was too windy for ringing so I grabbed the camera bag and set off birding. 

Conder Green provided a good selection of species and some very good counts, much better than my last visits. I guess the “star” bird of the morning was a single Wood Sandpiper, a species best described as “uncommon” in these parts. In most years I would see them in their teens on the annual visit to Menorca in May, but not this, 2020 The Year of the Virus. 

The Wood Sandpiper breeds in subarctic wetlands from the Scottish Highlands across Europe and then east across the Palearctic. They mostly nest on the ground but also use an abandoned old tree nest of another bird, such as the Fieldfare. The one this morning didn’t come terribly close as can be gleaned from the record shot below. 

On a couple of occasions it fed with both Redshank and Common Sandpiper when the comparative sizes of each became more marked. In fact, the common Redshank (Tringa totanus) is the closest relative of the Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola). 

Wood Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper 

Common Sandpiper 

Other waders this morning - 21 Redshank, 7 Dunlin, 6 Greenshank, 5 Common Sandpiper, 3 Curlew and 4 Avocet – two adults and two half- grown chicks. Not to mention the 200+ Lapwings roosting when I arrived on site but which dispersed out to the estuary in bundles of tens and twenties. 

Lapwing

Avocet 

Many birds were drawn into the early morning’s hatch of flying insects, such a swarm of both insects and birds that it proved hard to estimate numbers. Let’s try 65 Pied Wagtail, 60+ Swallows, 40 Sand Martin, 8 House Martin and 10 Swift. The wagtails brought along a single Meadow Pipit that joined in a feeding frenzy that had all but subsided just an hour later. 

What’s that about the early bird? The Robin joined in too.

Robin

For students of moult, here’s a picture of a Starling from which to sort out the new feathers from the old ones. 

Starling 

Wildfowl and Odds & Sods – 4 Common Tern, 2 Little Egret,4 Little Grebe, 6 Tufted Duck, 2 Stock Dove. 

I just looked at the forecast for tomorrow morning’s pencilled in ringing. Would you believe it? Yes, more rain is likely between 0700 and 1000.

A Few Days Away

We counted. This is our fifteenth time in Menorca. And yes, Menorca is that special. But it does get less quiet, much busier and more popular each year, and that's why this may be our last.

We left Joanne in charge of the house; well she is over 21. There’s very little blogging while Sue and I are away so I posted a few pictures from Menorca, both birds and photos of special places.

Don’t forget – “click the pics” for a trip to sunny Menorca.

Fornells, Menorca

Mahon, Menorca

Es Migjorn, Menorca

Coffee Time, Menorca

Fornells village, Menorca

Cattle Egret

Turtle Dove

Egyptian Vulture

Wood Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper

Menorcan Panda

Hoopoe

Es Grau, Menorca

Black-winged Stilt

Cattle Egret

Greater Short-toed Lark

Punta Nati- Menorca

Bee-eater

Audouin's Gull

Red-footed Falcon

Ciutadella - Menorca

Ciutadella - Menorca

Serrano Jamon

 Hoopoe

 Red Kite

Bee-eater

Menorcan Friends

Ensaimada and Coffee - Menorca Style

 Back soon with more news, views and photographs home and away on Another Bird Blog.

Where There's Muck

Two weeks today we returned from our Menorcan holiday. Since then I’ve barely got out birding due to a combination of domestics and dreary, windy and often wet weather. To put the record straight, Another Bird Blog is very much alive and well and will soon be back to normal. In the meantime, here are yet more pictures from Menorca. 

Hoopoes seemed rather scarce this year. Even the ones which feed in the hotel grounds without fail were not seen on their usual daily basis. Mostly we caught glimpses of roadside birds or heard their unmistakeable “hoop-hoop” calls from the countryside. Like lots of Menorcan birds, the Hoopoe isn't especially easy to see.

Hoopoe

Bee Eaters were scarce too. Perhaps with the fine weather the island had enjoyed for weeks beforehand we’d missed many migrant birds which pass through our regular viewing spot. Then a day or two later when we looked again there were workmen digging up the road, laying pipes alongside the breeding colony and very few Bee Eaters using the fence where they sit between feeding forays. Maybe Bee Eaters don’t have the same degree of protection as they do in the UK but even so to be undertaking major highway work adjacent to breeding Bee Eaters would seem to very irresponsible. 

Bee Eater

Happier times were had at Es Grau where a single Whiskered Tern fed over the water and Black-winged Stilts had good sized juveniles. One or two late adults were still sitting closely on eggs. 

Es Grau

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Whiskered tern

Es Grau is a good place to find Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Sardinian Warblers, Cetti's Warblers  and Turtle Doves. Our botanist and birding companions for the day, Jane and Alan were hugely excited by their find of three specimens of Sawfly orchid Ophrys tenthredinifera. “A terrible photograph - stick to birds Phil” 

Turtle Dove

 Sawfly orchid

We stopped at picturesque Fornells for the mandatory coffee where from the outdoor café we watched an Osprey circle over the shallow waters. The Osprey drifted off to look elsewhere and we set off for Addaia. 

Fornells - Menorca

Amongst the Shelduck, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Greenshanks, Ringed Plovers and Little Ringed Plovers at Addaia there was a single unexciting juvenile and un-pink Flamingo. 

Greater Flamingo

The (Greater) Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in parts of Africa, southern Asia, Israel, and southern Europe. Although the species doesn’t breed in Menorca the ones that appear on the island during the winter and into Spring are probably short-distance migrants from the breeding populations of Southern Spain and the French Camargue. 

As usual there were one or two very flighty Wood Sandpipers about Addaia. But the not too good pictures below were taken at the local sewage works at Es Migjorn where a Common Sandpiper gave good comparison views. Yes folks, even on a Menorca holiday a birder must visit the sewage works. 

It’s rather like the old Northern expression “Where there’s muck there's brass” but slightly adapted to read “Where there’s muck there’s birds”. 

Wood Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Tomorrow is news and views from Oakenclough when I meet up with Andy for a peek into the nest boxes. Let’s hope the news isn’t too bad although by all accounts so far from other regions, the early season has been poor.

Linking today to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blog.

It’s A Fluke

There was a change of scene on Wednesday with a short visit to bird the area around Fluke Hall and Pilling Water so a couple of hours birding to recount. 

Historically Fluke Hall would have been a desirable residence, a grand estate of lawned garden and woodland, the large ornamental pool with captive wildfowl a plaything for the wealthy Lord of the Manor. In recent years the fine old buildings have been split into various dwellings, the pool has become overgrown and neglected but the areas of shore, woodland and farmland remain a pleasant and often fruitful place to bird. “Fluke” is an old English word for flatfish, flounder or plaice, fish commonly found in local tidal waters in the summer months, especially where the sandy shores are flat as they are here. 

There were Buzzards in the trees, at least two, possibly three or four and young birds calling to be fed and it looks like the Buzzards bred close by. 

Buzzard

Fluke Hall

I walked east towards Broadfleet (Pilling Water to locals) a major drainage dyke that feeds into Morecambe Bay. Along the hedgerow a Whitethroat scolded me but carried on collecting food for youngsters, almost certainly out of the nest and a second brood by now. The path to the sea wall produced 5 Skylarks, several Linnets and 10 Goldfinch. 

After the rain of recent days there’s water in the wildfowler’s pools at last, with a couple of Redshanks and from the ditch beyond 3 Grey Herons, a Little Egret and a single Teal. At Pilling Water there was a Kestrel feeding along the edge of the ditch, the bird intermittently hovering, circling and then hovering again in a new place. Over the fields and in amongst the sheep at least 300 Swallows fed and good numbers of House Martins but feeding higher. 

Kestrel

There was a Common Sandpiper and 3 Redshanks on the seaward side of Pilling Water, with a couple more Little Egrets and a Grey Heron. A Redshank and a smaller wader flew towards me heading inland and towards the pools. I reckoned the smaller bird would be a Green Sandpiper, the pools here one of the most regular and reliable spots for finding a “green sand”. As soon as the wader called I recognised it as a Wood Sandpiper, a species that is rather scarcer than a Green Sandpiper. My first and possibly only Wood Sandpiper of the autumn and the first of the year if I discount the thirty or more seen in Menorca in early May. 

Wood Sandpiper

A nice but not without precedent find for early August and when I looked online there's loads in the country. 

But now the rain started to give me a good soaking before I could reach Fluke Hall. 

There are more birding flukes from Another Bird Blog soon.

Linking this post to   Anni's Birding Blog.

Mostly Menorca

Today was rather quiet with little to report from the local patch except for an unlikely twosome - a retreating-to-the-barn Barn Owl and a fly-over Ring-necked Parakeet at Conder Green. There are still 26 Black-tailed Godwits and the usual wildfowl, waders and brown-jobs singing from the roadside and the hedgerows. 

Barn Owl

You can’t win them all, so today I’m posting more pictures from our recent Menorca holiday. "Click the pics" to see Menorca in a colourful slide show.

In addition to birds this post features a number of photos from the historic and picturesque town of Alaior, just a mile or two inland from some of the holiday resorts frequented by large numbers of visitors to Menorca. It is such a pity that towns like Alaior, Es Mercadal, Ferreries and Sant Lluis remain unexplored by many tourists. These charming and lovely municipalities remain true to the unspoilt nature of the island; within their quiet streets there is much to discover and appreciate. 

A number of long abandoned salt workings/sea inlets of the northern coast of Menorca hold a good variety of waders in the right seasons. Our wader list from the two sites Ses Salines and Addaia included Black-winged Stilt, Greenshank, Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ruff, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Avocet and Greater Flamingo. Add in a few specials like Blue-headed Wagtail and Ospreys, plus the everyday Nightingale, Cetti’s Warbler, Tawny Pipit, Sardinian Warbler, Woodchat Shrike and Turtle Dove and there are enough birds to satisfy the most demanding of bird watchers. 

Ringed Plover and Little Stint

 Little Ringed Plover

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Addaia

Wood Sandpiper

Unlike most places where the species occurs in Northern Europe, the five pairs of Menorcan Ospreys are residents and do not migrate to and from Africa. At Addaia salt pans we saw two Ospreys hunting close together.

Osprey

The route to and from these localities provides a picturesque and untroubled route on quiet roads, plus a reason to stop for lunch on the way back to our south coast hotel. When necessary we would stop to note roadside shrikes, Turtle Doves and Red Kites.

Woodchat Shrike

Turtle Dove

Alaior, the home of the famous Mahon Cheese, is Menorca’s third largest town after Mahon and Ciutadella. With its narrow streets and white washed houses Alaior is a simply beautiful historic town, founded in 1304 by King Jaume 11 of Mallorca. Its church Santa Eulàlia was rebuilt in the 17th century and remains a wonderful example of Menorca’s historic past.

Alaior - Menorca

Alaior - Menorca

Alaior - Menorca

 Alaior - Menorca

 Alaior - Menorca

Potential visitors to the island should note that the need for siesta is respected in all of the inland towns and the two major cities, Mahon and Ciutadella. The sacrosanct hours are usually between approximately 1330 and 1730 hours. There’s much to be said for taking an early afternoon nap in the heat of the day and then enjoying the warmth of a Menorcan late afternoon and evening with a glass of Cava to hand. 

Alaior - Menorca

Alaior - Menorca

We're on our way south through the island now where Egyptian Vultures cruise overhead all day long and can be seen almost anywhere, often at a good height, occasionally dropping into the fields to search for food on foot. In most cases the cream and black adults seem to be in the majority with just occasional sightings of younger birds like the one below.

 Egyptian Vulture

A whistle stop less than a mile from the main road north to south and it’s those Bee-eaters again, this time with a Menorcan snail thrown in. 

Bee-eater

I will try and do some local birding tomorrow but the forecast is rather poor with heavy rain predicted.

Be sure to log in soon anyway as there will always be new birds to see on Another Bird Blog. In the meantime you can see more blue skys at Sky Watch Friday or birds on fences at Theresa's Run A Round Ranch.