Coate Water Contrast

My original intention today was to spend a couple of hours birding around Chilton Foliat. However, in contrast to last Friday in Majorca (38° and sunny compared to 13° and raining) the weather was pretty awful so instead I headed for one of the hides at Coate Water. Having got wet on the walk to the hide I settled down to eat my packed lunch and hopefully get some birds. Chiffchaff and Blackcap had been heard bravely singing in the rain on the way and I was quite surprised to see a few Sand Martins low over the lake. As far as I know none breed close by so maybe they are started to head back south, can’t say I blame them. On the water were sixty plus Mallard and at least twenty Coot along with half-dozen Cormorants. After a few minutes a few Swallows, a couple of House Martins and some Swifts appeared. Swift numbers built up to probably close to a hundred birds. Two Teal flew in and a single female Mandarin appeared as did a couple of Little Grebes. I had been hoping for Kingfisher and Common Sandpiper, both being needed for my Wiltshire year list but neither put in an appearance. As there was plenty going on I stayed for around ninety minutes ending up with thirty-one species on the list.

A Little Bit of Majorca Birding

A ten day family holiday in Majorca based in Puerto Pollensa should have meant another good amount of birds. The reality was that a combination of latish nights, high temperatures, a very inviting pool and beach and sa couple of days of illness amongst us meant that the birds ended up being quite low on the priority list. After an early start we arrived at the hotel late morning and I was pleased with out eighth floor room looking over the town and bay towards the mountains with the start of the path to the Boquer Valley and the first viewpoint on the road to Cap de Formentor both visible. For the above and other reasons I spent very little time watching from here which probably cost me a few good species. Things started well with a walk along the promenade into town getting a couple of Audouin’s Gulls, Yellow-legged Gulls and thirty or so Shags on the rocks just out to sea. The first morning saw me out early to visit the urban reserve of La Gola just a five minute walk away. It was very quiet with three Sardinian Warblers and five Spotted Flycatchers the only birds of note. On the Tuesday morning after collecting our hire car I was going to be dropped off to spend some time at S’Albufera reserve while the family went elsewhere. However we were late collecting the car and then the others decided to stay at the hotel so I drove their myself which meant that I only had a couple of hours birding time. With a one kilometre walk from the car park, the temperature getting towards the mid thirties and the humidity at around eighty percent the conditions weren’t great for racing around but I managed to get a few good birds, the nesting Egrets and Glossy Ibis were impressive as were forty plus Kentish Plovers. Best birds were twenty-four Greater Flamingo’s, a pair of Marbled Duck and best of all a Red-knobbed Coot that showed well although not that close along one of the channels. The next morning my wife and I got up early to walk the Boquer Valley, as we were both going and with needing to be back to go off elsewhere it meant that birding would be restricted to what was easy to see rather than spending time standing and searching. With the conditions underfoot it wasn’t sensible to try and bird while on the move and unfortunately there were very few birds calling or singing. However, despite seeing next to no birds it was a great walk. The Cuber reservoir was going to be visited on our way home from a day in the Soller area but with one of the group being ill plans were changed and I went on my own one morning. With the drive along the challenging road taking the best part of an hour each way this gave me around an hour of actual birding. Having parked I started the walk to the dam and the first bird seen was a Hoopoe, a good start. Then the first raptor appeared and it was a good one, my first ever Bonelli’s Eagle. A small flock of Crossbill were feeding in the Pines and a flock of a couple of hundred gulls on the water all appeared to be Yellow-legged. A few minutes later the gulls all went up and a quick scan around soon found that a low-flying Osprey was the reason. From the dam Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Spotted Flycatcher and Stonechat were added to the list and on the walk back from the car a Griffon Vulture drifted across. There was some fairly good looking habitat around the hotel but I didn’t manage to get up early enough to explore it. I had intended to do an after dark walk to try for Scops Owl but with the music from nearby bars going on well past midnight decided that it wasn’t going to be worth it. My one balcony session of about twenty minutes added Honey Buzzard and Kestrel to the trip list, a bit more time spent doing that would probably could well have been quite productive. The other nice sighting from the balcony was the locally based Canadair CL-215 amphibious plane doing training flights from the bay.

Photos from Hungary

The Final Day

Our last day started with a reasonable six a.m start and a drive to a wooded wetland area. This consisted of many small fishing lakes surrounded by scrub and trees. Cuckoos, Golden Oriole and Nightingale were all calling and Icterine, Savi’s and Sedge Warblers were seen. Standing quietly alongside one of the lakes we were treated to the sight of a couple of male Little Bitterns which we saw in flight and clambering around in the lakeside vegetation. A Squacco Heron posed obligingly on the path ahead of us. Lesser, Middle, Great and Green woodpeckers were seen along with Wryneck and there were at least four Spotted Flycatchers and three Red-backed Shrikes. A pretty impressive tally for our last trip out. Then it was back to the lodge for Brunch before spending the last couple of hours wandering around the local area. On the way back to Budapest Airport we were going to stop at a site to look for Souslik which is a European Ground Squirrel. I was really pleased to find that the site was right next to the perimeter fence of Kecskemet Air Base so as well as having the chance to see Ground Squirrels I was able to watch six Hungarian Air force Gripen take off and saw a number of Antonov 26 and some abandoned Mig fighters. And yes I did see some Soslik as well. So a fitting end to a most enjoyable trip that got me a hundred and twenty one species with ten life ticks.

A Lie-in and a Short Boat Trip

Not fancying another early start I had a lie-in and then went exploring in the village again. I headed to the bank of the large oxbow lake which feeds into the wetland. On the walk down at least ten Black Redstarts were seen along with half-a-dozen Serin. At the lake there were a few Night Herons flying around along with Pygmy and Great Cormorants. The hoped for Little Bittern put in an appearance with a fairly close flyby. A Syrian Woodpecker was nesting close by and made several flights across the water. I then heard the call of a Black Woodpecker which then flew onto a bare tree across the water giving fantastic views. Definitely one of the highlights of the week. The afternoon session was spent in a floating hide which was basically a tin shed on floats moored a few metres from the shore. It was reached by a small boat which was pushed out by one of our host. wearing chest waders. To access the hide you had to clamber through a hatch in the side, quite a challenge and certainly a unique experience. From here we had good close views of Whiskered Terns, Night and Squacco Herons along with other various waterbirds.

Birding from up High

Another four a.m start found us heading to the tall tower hide which was well over ten metres high. As with the smaller tower it was located in a small woodland in the middle of the fields. This time there was a watercourse nearby to provide extra habitat. Again there were many nestboxes around and on the hide. AT least ten pairs of Red-footed Falcons were here along with Kestrels, Rollers, Jackdaws and a Little Owl. There was also an Eastern Imperial Eagle nest in the distance and it was possible to see the birds on the nest. The watercourse provided heard only booming Bittern, Great Reeed and Savi’s Warbler and flying Purple Herons and Whiskered Terns. The post Brunch wetland walk added Ferruginous Duck to the lists and this was followed by a forest and wetland walk which started with Middle-spotted Woodpecker, then had good views of a flying Black Woodpecker followed by views of the wetland from a raised hide which found more Fudge Ducks, Little Grebe, Whisjered Terns, various Herons and a White-tailed Eagle. On the waterside walk back to the minibus we got Kingfisher and a couple of Wrynecks.

An Early Start

A feature of the trip was early starts. These were needed as at many of the hides it was best to be settled in either before or at first light. A group of bleary eyed people set of at four a.m, the first couple were dropped at a hide alongside a small salt lake. Black-winged Stilts were flying around and a Bittern was booming. En-route to our first hide at least four Crested Larks and a Tawny Pipit were seen. We arrived a small tower hide that was about twenty feet off the ground in a small area of trees with several nest boxes nearby. After climbing up and settling ourselves in we were able to enjoy the site and sound of nesting Red-footed Falcons just feet away from us. Also nesting here in boxes were a pair of Rollers, a Little Owl along with Kestrels and Jackdaws and close by was another Bee-eater colony. The elevated position gave good views of the surrounding fields with Marsh and Montagu’s Harrier seen along with a distant Eastern Imperial Eagle. We were collected from the hide around half-nine and taken back to the lodge for Brunch. We then had a local walk again where the highlights were two each of White-tailed Eagle and Black Stork and Penduline Tits before heading off to another forest drinking pool hide. From here we had great views of a Great spotted Woodpecker, a pair of Hawfinches, more Nightingales and best of all a pair of Collared Flycatchers although we only had distant views of the male.

Feet in the Water

The next morning had another pre-dawn start and it was the turn of Simon and i to spend some time at the Salt Pool hides. Wellies were needed to wade out to the single person hides where there was a choice of either lying down or sitting with your feet dangling in the water while your body was behind a mesh screen. We both chose the sitting position and again settled down to see what would come to the pool. Unfortunately it turned out to be very little, just a couple of Stilts and some flyby Whiskered Terns. Most of the action seemed to be a little further away so after a while we decided to go walkabout around the fields and marshy areas. This was more successful with seven species of Heron seen or heard. Great Reed and Savi’s Warbler were seen as were three Bearded Tits. The same pattern was followed today, back to lodge for Brunch followed by a local walk before heading out again mid-afternoon. The local walk started well with several Lesser Purple Emperor butterflies seen and got better with another life tick, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler of which two gave good views. Later on I decided to do some more birding in and around the village with a Syrian Woodpecker nest and really close views of a Red-backed Shrike being the highlights. .

So Many Birds

The place we were staying was set up more for photography then birding with several hides set up for specific species. On our first full day a fairly early start found myself, Simon and two others at a Bee-eater site. This had two hides, one with a general view of the area and the other placed directly in front of the Bee-eater nesting bank. We started in the general one and later on swapped to the nest bank one. It only took the birds a few minutes to settle after we arrived and we were soon getting great views of the Bee-eaters. At least Golden Orioles were calling, three Red-backed Shrikes were seen and a Northern Wheatear was an unexpected sighting. When we moved to the other hide it was just amazing seeing the Bee-eaters coming to their burrows. We saw some actually excavating while others appeared to be bringing food. There were also a few Sand Martins nesting here as well and a Hoopoe gave great views when it landed in front of us. While we were waiting to be collected a Honey Buzzard was soaring above us. Returning to the lodge we had Brunch and then went out for a local walk. Following this we went for a walk through a woodland and across some meadows to a small wetland. Turtle Dove, Cuckoo and Golden Orioles were all seen or heard as were three Red-backed and a single Lesser Grey Shrike. A hoped for River Warbler wasn’t found but an elusive Barred Warbler was eventually seen. On the return walk the River Warbler was seen and a loud drumming turned out to be a Black Woodpecker that was only seen by a couple of the group. Three of us were then dropped off at a hide overlooking a man made drinking pool that had a Hoopoe nest box. We were soon treated to views of a Hoopoe chick poking its head out while waiting for the adults to return with food which they did throughout our stay here. Turtle Dove and Nightingale also came to the pool as did a Warbler which was eventually confirmed from photos as a Marsh Warbler which was another lifer for me. On the drive back to the lodge we saw more two more of each Wheatear and Lesser Grey Shrikes. Our evening meals were had at a local restaurant, while we were walking to it a large falcon flew over which was identified as a Saker, yet another lifer.

Birding in Hungary

I have recently returned from a week long birding trip based at the Oriole Eco Lodge in Tiszaalpár which is situated in the Kiskunság National Park. I flew out a day early and stayed for a night in Budapest. This was just to do a bit of sightseeing but I did manage to start my Hungarian list with amongst others Nightingale and Hooded Crow. The next day I travelled back to the airport to meet up with the rest of the group and ticked Crested Lark on the viewing terrace while watching their plane taxiing in. it then wasn’t long before we were heading south on the 90 minute journey to Tiszaalpár. We arrived mid-afternoon, sorted our rooms and then met up for a local walk. A number of Sparrows in and around the garden were Tree Sparrows which are much more common here then House Sparrows. This started at a viewpoint over the nearby wetlands and then continued into a small wooded area adjacent to a pool and some marshes. Almost straight away I got my first lifer of the trip with a number of Pygmy Cormorants nesting alongside Great Cormorants. Purple, Squacco and Night Heron, nesting Spoonbill and Whiskered and Black Tern were also seen from here along with the first of many Be-eaters. Moving along to the wooded area. One of the first calls heard was the whistle like one of a Penduline Tit, we first saw the amazing nest and then the bird as it flew in and disappeared into it. The loud calls of an Icterine Warbler were then heard and it was soon seen to give me my second lifer. An Eastern Olivaceous Warbler was seen but not heard denying me my third. Golden Orioles were giving their fluting call in the distance and a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker gave good views in a nearby dead tree. An amazing start made better when we found Orioles nesting in the garden of the lodge.