A Rocha

When Dave and Sue Smallshire were here recently they gave us two publications that Dave acquired on his last visit to Portugal 17 years ago. They were the A Rocha Observatory Report for the year 1990 and An Atlas of the Wintering Birds in the Western Algarve, published in 1987, also by A Rocha. Both of these have made really interesting reading and it is clear that the status of several species, not surprisingly, has changed significantly over the last 20 years or so.

Anyway, reading these reports prompted us to head west this morning to visit Cruzinha, the base from which A Rocha has been researching and monitoring the wildlife, particularly birds, of Quinta da Rocha and the Ria da Alvor for more than 20 years. Situated midway between Lagos and Portimã o, the Ria de Alvor is one of the most significant coastal wetlands in southern Portugal. It was designated as a RAMSAR site in May 1996 and it is also one of the Natura 2000 network of sites. However, if you thought that these titles implied a degree of protection for the area you would be wrong - this is Portugal! Right from the start A Rocha has been faced with the threat of building development and that threat continues, as does the fight to safeguard the future of an area the importance of which for wildlife has been amply demonstrated. Unfortunately, in these parts the interests of wildlife are considered much less important than those of developers even when internationally recognised and designated sites are involved.

Bird ringing by A Rocha began in 1985 and since then more than 60,000 birds have been ringed. Every Thursday visitors are welcomed to the observatory to watch the ringing activity or indeed, if qualified and licenced to do so, actually help. Marcial Felgueiras had already completed the first net round when we arrived and we watched for an hour or more as the birds were ringed, weighed and measured. The catch comprised mainly of Robins, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs but there was one surprise, a Goldcrest, only the eighth of this species caught here. Slightly concerning was the generally poor condition and low weights of the Chiffchaffs, perhaps an indication that they were recent arrivals. The Blackcaps, on the other hand, seemed to be well fed.

Goldcrest

Later we had a walk around the nearby marsh where we found the expected wader species, plus about 20 Greater Flamingos, a couple of Spoonbills, a Bluethroat and numerous Meadow Pipits and Spanish Sparrows. One of the Spoonbills was colour-ringed (lots of them are) and we have reported the details.

Double Crested!

With an unusually high number of Yellow-browed Warblers occurring this autumn in Britain and other parts of Western Europe it was probably just a matter of time before the species was reported in Portugal. Yesterday afternoon we received word of one in the Algarve, at Barranco Velho. Apparently it was found alongside the main road by a lucky birder who was walking back to his car having stopped in the village to buy a bottle of water. Unfortunately, it has not been seen since but it has put us on notice (as if we needed it!) that treasures can be found amongst all the hundreds of Chiffchaffs.

Yellow-browed Warbler follows Dusky Warbler, Little Bunting and Wallcreeper in a list of recent rarities here in which Goldcrest has gone unmentioned. Although not as rare in Portugal as a whole as the other three, Goldcrest is definitely a scarce bird in the Algarve and several long time birders have been seeing them here for the first time during the last couple of weeks. Today we caught up with Goldcrest at Ludo where we were birding with our friend, Georg Schreier. We had seen three Firecrests before the ‘rare’ Goldcrest appeared!

Firecrest

One of the main reasons for going to Ludo was to try and photograph Penduline Tit, a mission that proved impossible. It wasn’t that we couldn’t find our bird, just that it (or possibly they) showed no signs of wanting to co-operate. Other species of note here before we went off to nearby Faro beach for a cup of coffee were Common Buzzard, Booted Eagle and Iberian Green Woodpecker.

Later we made a rare visit to the ETAR da Zona Noroeste de Faro - the water treatment works by the airport. Access is currently even more difficult than usual as building works are in progress but through the perimeter fence we were able to see that most of the ducks were Shoveler with a few Teal and Gadwall amongst them, plus a few Little Grebes and Eurasian Coots. Our reward for an otherwise unremarkable visit was a Great Egret, a scarce bird in these parts and maybe the same individual we saw in the Ludo area almost three weeks ago.

The temperature today again reached about 70º F. Amongst several butterflies seen was a Wall Brown.