Avalon Marshes

This week we managed at last to visit the Avalon Marshes for the first time, an area that we used to know as the Somerset Levels.  It was just a day trip so our time was limited and we concentrated on what are probably the two best-known sites, Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserves.

The nearest town to the Avalon Marshes is Glastonbury.  Maybe it was seeing television coverage of Jeremy Corbyn on the Pyramid Stage at the recent music festival that inspired us to visit the area or perhaps it was friends who were down there last month and came back enthusing about the birds, butterflies and dragonflies they had seen.  You can decide which!

Ham Wall with Glastonbury Tor in the distance

As the two reserves are situated only about 10 miles from the M5 and our starting point was near the M6, there was only one practical route for us to get there – 152 miles and motorway almost all the way.  Optimistic as usual, Google Maps suggested the journey might take us 2½ hours.  In fact, it took 3½ hours.  We should never underestimate the ability of the M6 traffic to extend travelling times even when we make an early start.  It’s funny how we never seem to have that problem with the Via do Infante de Sagres!

 Shapwick Heath NNR

Most British birders will know that much of the Avalon Marshes is a landscape formed from peat. In the 1960s huge quantities of peat were removed by machine for horticultural use but subsequently this landscape has been transformed into one of lakes, reed-beds, fens and woodland by the RSPB and by English Nature.  Both Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath have extensive reed-beds created with the particular intention of encouraging Eurasian Bitterns to the area and this has been an amazing success.  Two nests at Ham Wall in 2008 were the first in Somerset for 40 years and since then numbers have increased rapidly with 47 booming males reported in the area in 2016.

 Great Egret

Marsh Harrier

Not surprisingly, other wetland and reed-bed species such as Little Egrets, Marsh Harriers and Bearded Tits, Reed, Sedge & Cetti’s Warblers have also benefited from the provision of what appears to be a perfect habitat.  What probably wasn’t anticipated was the arrival of Great & Cattle Egrets, and Little Bitterns, all of which have bred here in the past few years and Glossy Ibises, which also seem ready to do so.  It’s not difficult to foresee Purple Herons and Spoonbills also colonising.

Black-tailed Skimmer

 Tufted Duck with young

Great Crested Grebe juveniles

Although we had a very enjoyable day, the truth is that we should have been there a month or even two months earlier when there would definitely have been much more breeding bird activity.  We weren’t disappointed as we knew beforehand what to expect and, of course, most of the bird species that have been causing excitement in Somerset are ones that we are used to seeing regularly in the Algarve or in Doñana.  It was simply good to see an area that we have heard so much about and which seems to be an ongoing success story.  Maybe next year we can go there in May!  

St Martin's summer

A severe storm on 1st November brought torrential rain to the Algarve and was followed by more rain the next morning.  The area between Quarteira and Portimão was reported to be the worst affected and there was severe flooding in the popular resort of Albufeira where sadly one person died as a result.  For some of the coverage see here and here (which includes some aerial footage taken over Lagoa dos Salgados).

Since then we have been enjoying a St Martin’s summer - for almost two weeks we have had sunshine, mostly cloudless skies and temperatures reaching a comfortable 23°C or even higher.
During this time we have mostly been visiting our usual haunts along the coast of the Eastern Algarve but there have also been longer excursions to Sagres and Cape St Vincent and inland to the Castro Verde area.

Part of the Castro Verde / Mértola plains

 The coast at Cape St Vincent

In the Baixo Alentejo, Common Cranes have arrived to spend the winter and both Great & Little Bustards are now much easier to find than they were before the rains.  Red Kites and Hen Harriers have now replaced the Black Kites and Montagu’s Harriers that were here for the breeding season.  On one trip up there we were surprised to find four Mute Swans on a reservoir where just a couple of weeks earlier we had seen two of these unexpected visitors.  We were almost as surprised to find four Great Egrets at another lake nearby but at least we could think that they were truly wild birds.

Little Bustard

Inevitably, we have made multiple visits to Quinta do Lago where Purple Swamphens and Little Bitterns are so easy to see and sometimes to photograph and there are also opportunities, if you are lucky, to photograph Common Snipe and Kingfisher.  While waiting for these birds to appear, it’s hard to resist filling up the memory card with a variety of duck species!

 Common Snipe

 Northern Pintail

 Purple Swamphen

 Eurasian Teal

Little Bittern

Nearby at Ludo we have been seeing Booted Eagles and Black-winged Kites and this is one of several places we’ve seen Firecrests.

 Booted Eagle

Firecrest

We also had a morning at Rocha da Pena where a long uphill walk to the summit at Talefe (479m) provided marvellous views over the surrounding countryside and a modest selection of birds that included a single Ring Ouzel, which was our main reason for being there.  Ring Ouzels are regular autumn and winter visitors here and Rocha da Pena is always a good bet when it comes to finding them.

 Rocha da Pena

As to be expected, rarities have been fewer but there were several reports of Grey Phalaropes after the storm and a drake Long-tailed Duck near Faro was a good find (by Thijs Valkenburg).  We wonder whether it was the same bird that was briefly at the same site in February.

Long-tailed Duck

In Tavira we have been reading colour-rings, mostly those on Mediterranean Gulls but also on Audouin’s, Lesser Black-backed & Slender-billed Gulls.  There have been as many as 500 Meds on the saltpans by the Estrada das 4 Águas and they have come from Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Spain, Poland and Hungary.  Some of them are birds that we have seen here in previous years.  There have been Lesser Black-backs from Belgium, Iceland and Alderney while the Audouin’s have been from Spain (Ebro Delta and Mallorca) and from the local colony on the Ilha da Barreta in the Ria Formosa.

Mediterranean Gull

 Marsh Harrier ready to be released

Finally, we should mention the visit we made to our friends Fábia and Thijs at RIAS (the Centro de Recuperação e Investigação de Animais Selvagens) at Quinta de Marim.  It is the season for them to be taking into care any Griffon Vultures that are too weak and hungry to continue their migration but we were there to be involved in a happy outcome, the release back to the wild of a Marsh Harrier.  Fortunately, this bird had not been badly injured and was fully recovered after just a short stay.

Tavira - Owls & Raptors

We’re now regularly seeing Short-eared Owls here in Tavira.  We love just to sit and watch them hunting over the saltpans but if we get a chance we also like to try and photograph them.  There are only two of them so far and they range over quite a large area, so it’s not easy!

In past winters photographing Short-eared Owls has also been difficult because the birds haven’t normally been active until quite late in the afternoon.  By that time the light has faded to the point when we need to resort to high ISO settings and our Canon 50D starts to produce some fairly unsatisfactory, grainy images.

Recently, though, we’ve started to see the owls out hunting much earlier and we could even persuade ourselves that they have started to become accustomed to seeing us and our car.  Certainly they seem to be coming closer to us and when they’re perched they haven’t seemed concerned by our presence.

When we’re waiting for the owls to perform there are inevitably a few distractions.  There’s a Little Owl that sits on the roof of one of the buildings.  We’ve seen it so often that we feel we know it personally!  On several occasions recently we’ve seen a Hen Harrier passing through the area which we suspect has been going to roost on the nearby Ilha de Tavira.  It has flown by quickly, staying low and perhaps hoping to surprise an unwary Little Stint or Dunlin.  A couple of weeks ago a Merlin was seen that presumably had the same intention and it isn’t unusual to see a Black-winged Kite hovering or perched on top of a distant tree.

Yesterday, however, was exceptional!  By 2.30pm the two Short-eared Owls had already had a fly round and had found resting places less than 100m apart where we could see them both.  We were watching and waiting to see what they would do next when an Osprey appeared carrying a fish.  It landed on top of a pole about 250m away where it really didn’t look very comfortable, but it didn’t matter as after just a few minutes it was disturbed by a passing cyclist and took flight.  Fortunately, it came towards us and we were able to get a series of flight shots before it disappeared.

Very soon after that we were hoping for repeat success when a Marsh Harrier came into view.  It was quartering the saltpans in typical fashion and just for a minute it threatened to come within camera range.  Soon, however, it was like all the other Marsh Harriers we see here and heading off into the distance!

Then, suddenly, the Marsh Harrier was forgotten as we became aware of two large birds having some sort of skirmish high above us.  As we have seen it happen before, our immediate thought was that the two owls were having a territorial dispute but we quickly realised that only one of the birds was an owl.  So, what was the other?  The Osprey returned?  No, it was a Booted Eagle!  Their disagreement didn’t last long and the eagle quickly went on its way but it rounded off a remarkable couple of hours for us and we were left reminding ourselves that this is December in the Eastern Algarve!
 

Woodland Targets

We had arranged to be at Faro airport at lunchtime and needed no more excuse than that for spending the morning at Ludo. Much of our birding here in the Algarve concentrates on wetlands, particularly saltpans so we decided today to have a change and look for a few woodland species that we don't see very often.

Within no more than ten minutes of leaving the car two of our target birds had been found: Crested Tit and Short-toed Treecreeper. This was actually not too difficult but photographing them was a different matter and we came away with just this one image that we're willing to share!

Crested Tit

Chiffchaffs have become more plentiful in the last week and were a distraction when looking for other small birds. Blackcaps, too, were in evidence but the most numerous migrants were European Robins, as often heard as seen. Eventually we found our third target, a Firecrest, but unfortunately that proved to be even more camera-shy. Azure-winged Magpies, Eurasian Jays, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Green Woodpecker all followed before we resumed our usual walk towards the farm.

An unusual sight on the saltpans was a group of five Greylag Geese. We are used to seeing a few as winter visitors at Castro Marim but these are our first ever at Ludo. Last year we saw our first on 30th September so we've been expecting them. They looked rather out of place and didn't stay around very long.

Greylag Geese

By now it was mid morning and we were looking directly into sun when viewing the saltpans. A few of the usual wader species were present and, of course, a bunch of Flamingos. On the river, the ducks all seemed to be Gadwall and Wigeon with a few Great Crested and Little Grebes, Cormorants, Moorhens and Eurasian Coots. Raptors this morning were a single Marsh Harrier, an Osprey and a Common Buzzard plus two distant specks in the sky which we believe were probably Peregrine Falcons.

And that was that - we had a plane to meet...

Sunday morning

After a couple of days of much cooler weather with not too much sun and more than enough rain, it was pleasant to be out this morning in bright sunshine. There was quite a strong wind at times, which meant that it was never really very warm but it was a definite improvement on Friday and Saturday and better than the forecast. Unfortunately, the rain had made the trail at Castro Marim rather muddy but this gave us a rare opportunity to wear our wellie boots, brought from the UK for just such days.

From a birding point of view it was an unremarkable morning that yielded just over 70 species, none of them unexpected, but when they include Greater Flamingo, Spoonbill, Little Bustard, Audouin’s Gull, Hoopoe, Crag Martin, Southern Grey Shrike, Azure-winged Magpie, Spanish Sparrow, Serin, Spotless Starling, Sardinian Warbler and 16 different waders it’s impossible not to be impressed.

The numbers were also impressive. On the saltpans there were hundreds of Flamingos, Northern Shovelers, Pied Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits, Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls and on the river we counted almost 400 Eurasian Coots as we searched through them looking in vain for a Red-knobbed. On the surrounding farmland, Golden Plover numbered around 150 and there were big flocks of Skylarks, Goldfinches, Linnets, House Sparrows and European Starlings.

Marsh Harriers are common here but we never tire of seeing them and they often help us by disturbing the wildfowl and waders from the far side of the marsh to which we have no access. There were two of them this morning, struggling to cope with the wind. Eurasian Teal and Northern Pintail rose from the water as they passed over but the small handful of Greylag Geese remained unconcerned.

Marsh Harrier

We stayed until lunch time and then made a brief visit to Altura tank before returning to Tavira for a welcome bowl of hot soup!