Recent Highlights

The lack of any news posted here during the last week or so is not because no birds have been seen - quite the opposite in fact!

Although the weather continues to be pretty unfriendly (an understatement), I've been out most days and enjoyed some really good birding at Castro Marim, Ludo/Quinta do Lago, Tavira/Santa Luzia, Vilamoura, Cape St Vincent/Sagres, Castro Verde area and elsewhere. Never a dull moment!

Unfortunately, there have been few opportunities for photography and on several days I have actually left the camera at home.

Recent highlights have been returning migrants (Wood Sandpiper, Red-rumped Swallows, Pallid Swifts, Great Spotted Cuckoo), the re-appearance of the Whooper Swan (first seen in November at Altura, now at Cacela Velha), the continuing Squacco Heron at Vilamoura, the long-staying Sociable Lapwing (still exactly where we found it two months ago at Benviuda) and 11 of those 'rare' Slender-billed Gulls at Santa Luzia.

Add to those the expected Great Bustards, Little Bustards, Common Cranes, Red-billed Choughs, Booted Eagles, Black-winged Kite, Audouin's Gulls, Caspian Terns, Bluethroats and 22 waders species and you will see that I've not been short of birds, just short of time!

Bluethroat

June's return to Portugal is now less than a week away and eagerly awaited but there are plenty of domestic chores and responsibilities to be attended to before that!

Vilamoura & Quinta do Lago

Well that 10-day forecast certainly proved to be right! In fact, we've just experienced probably the worst prolonged spell of weather that we've known during our time here in Portugal. We've had a week of torrential rain, thunderstorms and quite severe gales. Just when people were starting to worry about low water levels in the reservoirs, we've probably had half the year's total rainfall dumped on us in a matter of a few days!

We have managed to get out birding once or twice but until today it's mostly been around Tavira. At last, today was promised to be a day without rain and we set off early to the Parque Ambiental de Vilamoura. As we have commented before, this wonderful wetland area with its extensive reedbeds is an important site for breeding, migrating and wintering birds and is surely deserving of some formal protection. Instead it is threatened by further development of the sort that has already claimed much of the surrounding area and made Vilamoura one of the most unattractive places in the Algarve.

Although the weather has been very wet it has remained quite warm and there is plenty of insect life about so it wasn't a complete surprise to see about two dozen hirundines feeding over one of the pools. Crag Martins we expect, but it was a surprise to see them out-numbered this morning by House Martins. With Barn Swallows also present, it was difficult to get an exact count of each species but House Martins probably made up half the total. As many as seven species of herons and egrets have been seen in the Parque Ambiental recently but today we managed to find only four of them. We did get good views of several Penduline Tits and also in the reeds were a few Yellow-backed (or Black-headed) Weavers.

We spent the afternoon at Quinta do Lago, another area that has been sacrificed to golfing tourism. Fortunately, what remains is still attractive to birds and the lake here is one of the most popular birding sites in the Algarve, known as 'the' place to see Purple Swamp-hen, Glossy Ibis and Little Bittern. Today we managed to see two out of the three.

Although we had no rain, we didn't see the sun either! So it wasn't really a great day for photography. Still we couldn't resist taking a few:

Chiffchaff

Purple Swamp-hen

Grey Plover

White Stork - nesting on camouflaged phone mast

Booted Eagle

Penduline Tit

Common Snipe

Vilamoura

Details of the birds trapped and ringed at Vilamoura last month by Colin McShane's group from the UK are now presented on the website of Brewood Ringers. The total number of birds ringed was more than 1200, a similar total to the last two years, although year on year comparisons are made less meaningful by the variation in ringing effort (i.e. the number of nets used) and by the slight changes in the timing of their visits. This year they were here for a week from 30th September, whereas last year their week was from 14th October and this will no doubt account at least in part for the difference in, for example, the numbers of Blackcaps (258 in 2008, 44 this year) and Willow Warblers (19 in 2008, 116 this year) that were trapped .

Colin's report again emphasises the importance of the Parque Ambiental for migrant and wintering birds from Northern Europe. There were recoveries this year of Reed Warblers that had been ringed in Holland, Bluethroats from Holland and Belgium and a Chiffchaff from the Channel Island of Jersey. In previous years they have trapped Reed Warblers, Blackcaps and a Bluethroat that had been ringed in France, Germany and the UK and these are just a tiny sample of the thousands of birds that rely on this site every year. Vilamoura's extensive reedbeds are also recognised as an important breeding area for species such as Little Bittern, Purple Heron and Purple Swamp-hen.

Purple Heron

Purple Swamp-hen

Unfortunately, all this is now under threat from further huge tourist development. Environmental group Almargem (Association for the Defence of the Algarve’s Cultural and Environmental Heritage) are threatening to submit an official complaint to the European Courts should the country's new Environment Minister approve the construction of a proposed project in Vilamoura named ‘Lacustre City’. While Almargem hopes that the arrival of the new Environment Minister will result in a re-evaluation of the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment, it has warned that failure to do so could ultimately result in legal action against the Government. Like several other sites in the Algarve, what little is left of Vilamoura's wildlife habitat should long ago have been designated a Special Protection Area under the EU Wild Birds Directive. It would be a tragedy to see it buried by yet more hotels and tourist resorts but based on what has gone before, we can't be optimistic.

It's ironic that this week the Algarve Tourism Board has announced its plan to promote the area as a birdwatching destination!

Ringing at Vilamoura

We spent yesterday morning at Vilamoura with a team of ringers from the UK headed by our friend and fellow Avian Adventures tour leader, Colin McShane.

Colin checking one of the mist-nets

We always find these ringing sessions entertaining and educational and it's particularly interesting to have good, close-up views of species that are often difficult to see well in the field such as Grasshopper Warbler.

Grasshopper Warbler

For the ringers it's a great opportunity to get experience of species that they don't often get chance to handle back at home. And it's a further illustration of the importance of the Vilamoura area as a wintering and re-fuelling site for migrant birds.

As well as those species photographed, birds mist-netted while we were there included: Kingfisher, Stonechat, Whinchat, Subalpine Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap, Zitting Cisticola, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Common Waxbill and Yellow-backed Weaver.

Bluethroat

Bluethroat

Melodious Warbler

Hoopoe

Spanish Sparrow

Great Reed Warbler

Ringing at Vilamoura II

We’ve been with the ringers again today at Parque Ambiental Vilamoura, their last full day before they return to the UK tomorrow. As usual, the early morning was busy but the number of birds caught got fewer as the day went on. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were the most numerous species but we were lucky to see the only Reed Bunting that they have had and one of only two Subalpine Warblers.

Subalpine Warbler

Although it will be a while before all their ringing records are collated and a full report prepared, it seems that the number of birds caught during their week was well over 1,000 with about 20% of them being Blackcaps. Some of the Blackcaps we’ve seen today were really fat, as heavy as 25gm, perhaps confirming that although many spend the winter here, some at least are feeding up in preparation for onward migration. The highlights of the week in terms of rarity were six Penduline Tits, although there has been a suggestion that a pair of these birds may have actually bred at Vilamoura this year.

It seems certain that Colin and his team will be back at Vilamoura next year. Wouldn’t it be nice in the meantime if the importance of the Parque Ambiental as a wintering site and staging post for migrants were to be better recognised and the area protected and managed accordingly.