Bryan and I work hard at our hobby. In fact you could say it is a job especially when Bryan lugs around a camera with a high powered lens. He uses that to tell the story through his photographs. We are concerned about the habitats that the wildlife require for survival and we are worried about the peripheral loss of uncultivated strips on field edges. We are concerned about the continuing use of insecticides.
Today, our early morning efforts, provided us with dawn sightings of:
Sandwich Terns and two species of bats.
A hunting Peregrine Falcon
An active Osprey
And later in the day
Female Marsh Harrier
Male Booted Eagle
Rollers
Zitting Cisticolas
This is our morning in more detail.
That proves it. The early risers get to see those early flying birds. On Thursday 30th August Bryan and I were at our first stop looking over the lagoons opposite the turning for Las Playas de Las Brisas alongside the N332 as the sun came up. This is a favourite stopping point for us and as we arrived there were two species of bat still flying in the dawn light. A Little Bittern called as soon as we got out of the car. Then, in small groups, a total of twenty or so Sandwich Terns flew over heading northwards towards Santa Pola. Little Terns were present too. The water contained the usual inhabitants but we were really looking for returning waders with no result. Bryan thought that he heard a Kingfisher call, but we could not confirm the presence of one. A juvenile Purple Gallinule skulked in the vegetation. There were several flocks of small birds that could have been House Sparrows. They were flying too high and too fast for us to identify properly. We want to know what we see and record. We don't allowing guessing!
Rain was forecast and there were some great cloud formations that hid the sun from us. Two ‘water-spouts’ or maybe I could more accurately described them when we observed a ‘vortex’. Interesting.
Flying over and around us was a Peregrine Falcon and on the third pass we could see that it had prey in its talons. We know that they are around in the marsh, but not always seen.
We moved onto the lay-by next to the Salt Tower and, again with more good fortune, Bryan espied a perched Osprey. We watched it fly over and around three times before settling on a perch on the water. It is still August, just, and where did this bird spend the summer and is perhaps is on way to West Africa?
In the distance we observed several Spoonbill, Great Crested Grebes, and, of course, Flamingoes. Both Greenshank and Redshank called signifying that some waders have returned from their breeding grounds. The lagoons to the east of N332 contained only puddles and no birds.
We decided to check the lagoons at El Pinet and were rewarded with a flying Common Tern and also a Whiskered making four species of Tern for the morning. Then we had clear views of two Redshank and two Greenshank. On the far bank there were about 30 Collared Pratincole of which most seemed juveniles. We were pleased with what we saw, but there were no other species of note.
Moving on we took the caminos in the direction of San Felipe Neri and a Roller surprised us when it was sat on a road sign. It was very obliging; it was photographed and flew to the ground where we watched it with another one. That was our best Roller shot of this summer. In the distance Bee-eaters called.
Further on we saw a female Marsh Harrier fly and perch in a tree only to be joined by a male white morph Booted Eagle. Such good views of both. Also on a fence alongside the road and our car Zitting Cisticolas perched to be photographed. Again an excellent view and what a pretty bird.
in a small road side lagoon a Wood Sandpiper fed and gave us close and clear views of it.
On the edge of a tilled field we saw a tractor being driven and from a big yellow tank the driver was spraying the edge of the reedbed. We can only guess - poison or more benignly called insecticide. It is easy to apply, but what are the consequences? What is the longer term damage to vegetation, insects, birds and animals, and ingested by humans too? I hate it.
San Felipe Neri was not worth our time. Water levels were high and therefore no muddy margins and no waders. We will not visit again until we get some substantial rain! It was now 11.30 and was the right time to head back.
Summing up our morning. I don't record everything that we see and so it is not a list, but intended to be informative as much as possible. It is great to get out there. To be out and seeing the natural world. We had some excellent sightings. It is quality that matters and not just numbers.
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