Mallorca Diary

I have put a trip report of my holiday in October here.

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Gull-fest at Didcot

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Saturday 31st October 2009 I spent an excellent day's 'gulling' with Richard and Andy at Appleford (near Didcot), Oxfordshire on Saturday. The target bird was the adult 'Azorean' Yellow-legged Gull, L. michahellis atlantis, which kept us waiting until mid-afternoon, long enough to become very familiar with the gulls on the pit just next to the level crossing. Gulls of particular interest noted were three Caspian Gulls , a first-winter and two third-winters (the third winters were very distinctive with their white head and, small dark eyes), seven Yellow-legged Gulls , an intermedius Lesser Black-backed Gull (much darker mantle and smaller than the usual graellsii) and a few 'Scandinavian' Herring Gulls , L. argentatus arentatus (much larger than the other Herrings) . A count of other gulls on the produced 180 Black-headed Gulls , 560 Lesser Black-backed Gulls , eight great Black-backed Gulls , 160 Herring Gulls and a Common Gull . Other birds seen wer...
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Gran Canaria

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Saturday 1st - Saturday 8th October 2016 Hoopoe - Maspalomas A week in the hot sunshine of Gran Canaria at the start of October produced some good birds despite this island not getting much representation in the available range of published bird guides. This isn't surprising since it doesn't hold any populations of the endemic Canary pigeon species which can be found on Tenerife and La Gomera, and Blue Chaffich is much easier to find on Tenerife; next to impossible on Gran Canaria.  Based in Maspalomas at the southern tip of the island, my birding was incidental, or confined to the occasional short solo exploration on foot, in between simply being on holiday. A brackish lagoon, La Charca, stretches behind the beach at Maspalomas, cut off the sea by the beach, and with the dunes along one side. La Charca was always interesting to visit and turned up some good birds. The highlights included (no particular order): Canary Island Chiffchaff - common and vocal virtually ever...
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Hawfinch & co.

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Saturday 19th January 2008 On a mild, mainly overcast but bright day with little wind it felt quite warm. The highlight of the day's birding was undoubtedly a female Hawfinch at Cassey Compton, near Withington. It was loosely associating with a Marsh Tit , six Long-tailed Tits and five Great Tits among Hawthorn scrub (SP048146) and perched obligingly to allow photography. Nearby were 30 Redwings , four Fieldfares and a Buzzard . Superb! Sightings from earlier in the day were: WWT Slimbridge, an Oystercatcher (pic. below) , 14 Ruff , two Spotted Redshanks , 39 Redshanks , a Black-tailed Godwit and 16 Curlews . At Cowley there were around 30 Bramblings with Chaffinches near Stockwell, and at least 60 Fieldfares were near Withington. A Bumble-bee sp. was in my garden on the winter-flowering Honeysuckle.
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