Sussexbirders Adventures: Mallorca Trip Report-17th-19th April 2015

The Group left to right.
Pete Denyer, Daniel Booker, Michael Booker (Me), Harry Ramm,
Kevin McCoy & George Kinnard

We Headed to the Island of Mallorca on the 17th-19th April 2015, it was a very cheap trip with some some very good and cheap accomodation only costing us 50 pound per person, we were able to get a flight for 52 pound return and car hire for 35 pound.

were only targeting a few birds the main birds being Balearic Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Audion's Gull and Black Vulture now to the report.

We arrived in pollenca very late on Friday night and after a night cap in a local bar we managed to get 4 hours sleep before we were of to are first birding sight on are very short itinerary .

Boquer Valley, 6:50-11:10

We arrived at the Boquer valley car park at 6.50 .
Hidden by the fog we could hear wrens singing and a whitethroat ,further along and passing between some large rock's we found Whinchat, Stonechats and wild goats that seemed to be in all the bushes around us. Cirl bunting was soon added to the list which show briefly but well then a fleeting view of a Redstart, as the fog started to thin it became evident that there was a good fall of migrants , we saw some nice male Pied Flycatchers, Wood warbler and a few more Redstarts, then as if from no were a pale morph Booted Eagle flew over us and up onto the mountain side where we were able to watch it siting ,key features were noted the pale brown wing patches and square tail, there were a few Crag Matins zipping about the mountain face along with a few swifts.

Balearic Warbler

The fog was almost clear now so down to the business of are target bird . We soon arrived at a small bay ,the scrub hear was low and dense real good habitat for Balearic's, Pete and Harry had a quick scan of the sea to look for Cory/Scopolis Shearwaters wile the rest of us started to walk up through the scrub, me and George flushed an interesting little warbler it was to fast to get much on, we headed further through hoping it would pop up, after a couple of minutes the others had what they suspected to be the target bird and to are surprise it was it flew towards me and George were we had amazing views of this purplish/ blue warbler, it was soon joined by another they seemed to be defending a territory, we watch the male perch up on a small Palm singing noticing some of the key features / orange to the base of the mandible with black tip / white chin / pinkish flanks / and obvious orange legs . We had a total of 4/5 birds in the end before we decided to leave them target endemic In the bag !!!!!!

Boquer Valley

As we headed of the to the car we had another Booted Eagle flying low over the valley, high up on the mountain ridge an Osprey was found along with a Marsh Harrier also hear we saw many more Sardinian warbler a few Redstarts, Pied Flycatchers, Whinchats and a Wheatear, a Peregrine flew along the edge of the valley , and a blue rock thrush was spotted by Harry as it flew by us landed on a rock and gave brief but good views, as we walked back pass the villa a woodchat shrike was found this was the sub endemic Balearic race also hear we added raven /spotted flycatcher / fan tailed warblers calling , this sight was amazing for birds.

After leaving the Boquer valley we headed towards S'albufera nature reserve were we would really hope to see Moustached Warbler !!! But first we made a stop at port de Pollenca were we easily add Audouin,s Gull to the trip we had about 5 birds which were very tame, even managed to hand feed a couple such a striking gull with there deep red bill and dark eye with a red orbital ring, also hear we added the Balearic race of the Shag which were notably longer billed, a Common Sandpiper put in an appearance for a few of us.

Purple Gallinule

S'albufera Nature Reserve, 1:20-5:40
We arrived at S'albufera nature reserve at 1.20 along the the first path towards the visitor center 2 Common Terns were seen along with Cattle Egrets, Cetti's Warblers seemed to be everywhere some showed very well, soon Iberian yellow wagtails, Kentish Plover, Little ringed Plovers, Black Winged Stilts and 3 Marbled Ducks were also seen, From the hide there was a good selection of birds including a good number of Gargney, a couple of Ospreys were over the reserve and the odd Purple Heron was seen flying over, also are first Red Knobbed Coot was found also close views were had of a Purple Swamphen.

We walked further down the track hoping to catch a glimpse of Moustached Warbler but we were unsuccessful here, but the scrapes were buzzing with life we added Curlew Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank in partial summer plumage to the trip list, but the star find on the scrape was a Stone Curlew which was very well hidden in the long grass, whilst scanning the scrapes a flock of 6 Bee Eaters started circling over us giving some really good views for about 2 minutes before being lost to view.

Cube Resevoir

Cube reservoir, 7:25-Till Dusk:
This was our last sight of the day before heading back for some food, as we got out of the van the bird life seemed to be very bleak when i walked down to the water edge i noticed a Common Sandpiper flying across the Reservoir, walking further alon i noted 5 Whinchats, Pied Flycatchers, a pale morph Booted Eagle also Pete picked out a Lesser Black Backed Gull in the Gull roost, whilst walking back to the van Pete then picked out a very distance Black Vulture (well Spotted) it was distant but we were able to get at least one key feature which is the baldness to the base of the neck which gives the effect of a white ring, also the very pale neck was obvious, Harry and George also had a Griffin Vulture aswell but us 4 missed that bird also here was added a Wryneck (H) Scops Owl (H) and a Raven.

Day 2 Sunday 19th April

This was our last day on this beautiful island

S'albufer Nature Reserve Dawn-11:00

Little-Ringed Plover

We were back nice and early as the sun started to rise over the reedbed, they were alive with the sound of warblers, Cettis warbler was the more dominate sound whilst walking up the main track we were able to get our first good views of a Great-reed Warbler such stunning birds but something that was lest stunning was Pete making wet fart noises with his mouth how he does this is still a mystery.

when approaching the first scrape there were birds everywhere, there was a pair of Sardinian Warblers defending there territories and giving some very good views, on the scrape there was a much closer Stone Curlew than yesterday, also there was Iberian Yellow Wagtails, Purple Gallinule, and a few Red-crested Pochards, we walked round to the first hide hoping the target bird.

Moustached Warbler
Taken by Peter Denyer

When we got in the first hide we were greeted with a stunning Squacco Heron sitting on a log in the middle of the scrape before flying off also there was Little-Ringed Plovers and Common Sandpiper right in front of the hide giving us some amazing photo opportunities, there was plenty of Garganey i counted 8 birds all together but im pretty sure there was much more out there, we also saw from this hide Marbled Teal, Green Sandpiper and Black-Winged Stilts, whilst walking to the end hide we had 2 Hoope's perching on the new bridge that had been built.

when we approached the new bridge there was a Red- Knobbed Coot on the stream, me and dad decided to stay on the bridge as we got news that some one had a Moustached warbler from here the previous morning, whilst the other 4 went on to the hide after a few minutes of us being split into to two groups harry shouted out from the hide door that they had the warbler, me and Dad were in that hide withing seconds, after about a minute or two we were on two Moustchaed Warblers at the back of the lagoon showing well at the bottom of the reeds getting nesting material brilliant the last target bird ticked off.

We walked

S'albufer

back down the track to a hide to view the scrape we were first at but from a different angle we had mostly the same birds the only new birds were a Ruff and Wood Sandpiper to left of the hide, i then scanned the reeds to right and found 2 more Moustached Warbler showing a little better than the previous birds as it was coming very close to the hide, we all headed out to the boardwalk to get better views and hopefully some photos of these stunning little birds, but we were rewarded with 11 Bee Eaters flying over the hide.

Celebrating Moustached Warbler
Pete Denyer

We then walked to the raised viewing area we were seeing the same few bits and bobs around, we had another Purple Gallinule, there was a few Purple Herons flying around the reedbeds we also had another Moustached Warbler sitting on top the reeds singing its heart out, but the best find for me was a very brief view of a Wryneck that sat on top of a small bush in front of the Gallinule, we then decided to call it quits on this site and decided to head to Mortix for Bonnelies Eagle.

Mortix 2:22-5:10

Black Vulture

We parked up on the side of the road and started walking through and olive grove, and had some very nice views of Pied Flycatchers this site was pretty quite whilst walking down to the farmers field we discovered a Firecrest sitting on a next, the farmers field were very quite tho we did have 6 more Black Vultures which showed better than the other ones we saw, there was a few Wood Warblers about aswell giving some very good photo opportunities, whilst walking back the car we had some very good Views of Booted Eagle.

We stopped of at a road side cafe quickly for a refreshment before heading to the airport, we had 6 Griffon Vultures from this cafe (but they don't exist on this island LOL) Dad, George and Harry had another Wryneck but it was only seen briefly before flying up into the olive groves, we didn't have much more birds of note here but whilst driving back towards the airport we had another flock of 11 Bee Eaters.

It was a very very enjoyable trip with great company and some terrific birds.

Trip List.

Audion Gull

1.Shag
2.Yellow Legged Gull.
3.Lesser Blacked Backed Gull.
4,Audions Gull.***
5.Green Sandpiper.
6.Common Sandpiper.
7.Wood Sandpiper.
8.Spotted Redshank.
9.Greenshank.
10.Black-Winged Stilt.
11.Kentish Plover.
12.Little Ringed Plover.
13.Stone Curlew.

14.Curlew Sandpiper.
15.Common Snipe.
16.Purple Gallinule.***
17.Water Rail.
18.Little Bittern
19.Squacco Heron.
20.Night Heron.
21.Grey Heron.
22.Purple Heron.
22.Little Egret.
23.Cattle Egret.
24.Mallard.
25.Red-Crested Pochard.
26.Shovler.

27.Pochard.
28.Garganey.
29.Teal.
30.Marbled Duck.
31.Gadwall.
32.Shelduck
33.Red-Crested Coot.***
34.Common Coot.
35.Moorhen.
36.Little Grebe.
37.Great-Crested Grebe.
38.Common Tern.
39.Peregrine.
40.Kestrel.
41.Booted Eagle.
42.Marsh Harrier.
43.Osprey.
44.Black Vulture.***
45.Scops Owl.

46.Pheasant.
47.Red-Legged Partridge.
48.European Wryneck.
49.Woodpigeon.
50.Collared Dove.
51.Freal Dove.
52.Woodchat Shrike (Balearic Race)
53.Swallow.
54.Crag Martin.
55.House Martin.
56.Swift.
57.Water Pipit.
58.Meadow Pipit.

59.Tree Pipit.
60.Yellow Wagtail.
61.European Bee Eater.
62.Sedge Warbler.
63.Reed Warbler.
64.Moustached Warbler.***
65.Cettis Warbler.
66.Great Reed Warbler.
67.Fan-Tailed Warbler.
68.Garden Warbler.
69.Whitethroat
70.Blackcap.
71.Balearic Warbler.***
72.Willow Warbler.
73.Chiffchaff.

Wood Warbler

74.Wood Warbler.
75.Nightingale.
76.Hoopoe.
78.Spotted Flycather.
79.Pied Flycather.
80.Common Redstart.
81.Firecrest.
82.Goldcrest.
83.Blue Tit
84.Great Tit.

Blue-Rock Thrush
Taken Peter Denyer.

85.Greenfinch.
86.Chaffinch.
87.Linnet.
88.Serin.
89.House Sparrow.
90.Wren
91.Song Thrush.
92.Blackbird.
93.Raven.
94.Blue-Rock Thrush.
95.Stonechat.
97.Whinchat.
98.Cirl Bunting.
99.Reed Bunting.
100.Common Tern.