GRAN ALACANT TO EL HONDO AGAIN WITH EAGLE SURPRISES

 Friday 7th January was our second trip out for this year. It was a mere 6 degrees when we left San Miguel and there remained a chill in the air even with full sun. We did our usual route from Gran Alacant to El Hondo. 

We checked out every spot and the lagoons provided Six White Egrets - Garceta Grande, distant Great Crested Grebes - Somormujo Lavanco and Spoonbills -Espátula Común with a large number of Flamingos. Wigeon - Silbon Europea were noted, but not near enough to count. One Redshank and one Spotted Redshank fed together. (Archibebe  Común y Oscuro) These two seen together and then flying together were another lesson in species ID. There is so much more to know! We visited El Pinet and although there was ample mud the only birds of note were 25 Dunlin - Correlimos Común  feeding.

At Santa Aguada, now with water,  I had my best ever views of a Green Sandpiper -  Andarrios Grande together with a Bluethroat - Pechiazul. They could be studied in detail and we watched them for over 10 minutes.  

We headed in land there was nothing worth mentioning until we were at ‘the eagle site’. Three Common Kestrels - Cernicalo Común with two perched distant at the left hand end of the line of trees were seen. The winter sun was low and then an eagle flew out of the glare. Fortunately Bryan fired off some shots and with that detail and information from Collins, Bryan deduced it was a juvenile Bonelli’s - Aguila-azor- Perdicera. That was good as one of our thoughts was that it could be a paler morph Booted Eagle - Aguililla Calzada. In the field and without a large lens the identification would not have been known for sure.  

Then up popped a Spotted Eagle - Aguila Moteada, just briefly, but enough for an ID before it disappeared into a very distant palm tree. So Michelle got her first two eagles of the year and what a two they were.

A great ending to our morning and the photos will appear later.

DEFRA CONFUSES WILDLIFE WITH LIVESTOCK

 

BY RAPTOR PERSECUTION UK

DEFRA CONFUSES WILDLIFE WITH LIVESTOCK IN LATEST ITERATION OF GENERAL LICENCES

DEFRA has published its latest General Licences which permit the killing of some bird species for some approved purposes, such as protecting crops, protecting livestock, for public health and for nature conservation.

This time the General Licences (for England only) have been extended to two years instead of one, and DEFRA has applied some dodgy licence conditions that allow the killing of some wild, native bird species in order to protect gamebirds (non-native pheasants and red-legged partridge, of which approx 61 million are released into the countryside every year to be shot). DEFRA reckons that these gamebirds can be classed as ‘livestock’ at certain times (when it suits the shooting industry) and as ‘wildlife’ at other times (also when it suits the shooting industry).

Conservation campaign group Wild Justice has been at the forefront of challenging the lawfulness of General Licences across the UK for the last two years with some success. Today they’ve published a blog (here) about DEFRA’s latest General Licences and Wild Justice’s intention to take legal advice, again, on whether DEFRA’s definition of gamebirds as livestock/wildlife is lawful.

Wild Justice has also produced this helpful flowchart:

WHY SHOOT WOODCOCKS - SCOLOPAX RUSTICOLA - EXCEPT FOR FUN?

Government responded to “Ban the Shooting of Critically Endangered Woodcocks.”

You can read it in full but I will save you time and effort. It’s carry on as before. Why anyone would want to shoot this beautiful woodland bird I can only guess at. Could it be for FUN?

Anyway to day a poem is on the wordsmith’s anvil awaiting a bruising! All in good time

PHOTOGRAPHIC REVIEW OF 2021 BY BRYAN THOMAS

 IT’S ALL ABOUT LOVE AND WITH THE TRUMPETER FINCHES - IT’S TRUE LOVE

IT IS SO EASY TO SEE ON HIS BLOG - BIRDING COSTA BLANCA

ALL THERE FOR YOU TO ENJOY

PHEASANTS DUMPED AGAIN - THE REASONS ARE INTERESTING!

 

This is posted but Raptor Persecution UK of pheasants dumped near Liverpool

It’s that time of year again, when pheasants and red-legged partridges have been released into the countryside in their millions (approx 60 million of these non-native species, in fact), they’re then shot for a bit of a laugh and then some of them are simply dumped.

Unfortunately for the game shooting industry, this is an ongoing, criminal and widespread problem, much like illegal raptor persecution is, and it’s drawing even more attention to an industry already under intense pressure to clean up its act.

Previous examples include dumped gamebirds in Cheshire, Scottish borders (here), Norfolk (here), Perthshire (here), Berkshire (here), North York Moors National Park (here) and some more in North York Moors National Park (here) and even more in North Yorkshire (here), Co. Derry (here), West Yorkshire (here), and again in West Yorkshire (here), N Wales (here), mid-Wales (here), Leicestershire (here), Lincolnshire (here), Somerset (here), Derbyshire’s Peak District National Park (here), Suffolk (here) and Leicestershire again (here).

Yesterday this photograph of shot and dumped pheasants in a field near Oglet, Liverpool, was posted on social media by the Hunt Saboteurs:

This obscene behaviour will continue to receive attention on this blog for as long as the gamebird shooting industry demands licences to kill protected birds of prey for the purpose of ‘saving’ gamebirds.

BAD APPLES BY WILL DEAN - THE FOURTH IN THE LIFE OF THE JOURNALIST TUVA MOODYSON

 Book Review

Title                      Bad Apples - A Tuva Moodyson Thriller

Author                  Will Dean

Published by.        A Point Blank Book

                                        of

                            One world Publications

‘Wow’ and what a read from start to finish. Will Dean has excelled himself with this story set in  Sweden’s forestlands.

This is the fourth in the series where Tuva’s journalism takes her to some very special places. If you pick ‘Bad Apples’ from off the rack then don’t put it back but buy the three previous ones as well.. Will Dean started Tuva’s journey with ‘Dark Pines’, then came ‘Red Snow’ and ‘Black River’ which takes the reader through the frightening forests of pines and into and out of some very dark, traumatic and unworldly places. He introduces characters in ‘Dark Pines’ and they crop up again with the three books that followed. It makes sense really to meet them and to try and figure out who they are and why they are here and are they real? 

It is set initially in a place called Gavrik where Tuva works for their local paper, but the way these stories are told I think the reverse is true and added to that she has a strong bond with the Police Department. It all helps and keeps this one moving fast and furious.  She is now deputy editor and she covers Visberg. Simply referred to as a hill town. In my mind it’s on the edge of everywhere and nowhere! A strange place with strange people, but I won’t spoil it for they will introduce themselves when you read it. 

There is no way I would give any of the plot away and there are three pages of plaudits if you don’t take my word for this one is a must read. Thriller as proclaimed on the cover and one that can take one beyond the edge of reason! It is excellent

.  And I suspect there will be more to follow in the life of Tuva Moodyson

THE MOUNTAINS NORTH OF ALICANTE - MONNEGRE

 This morning we decided to see what Monnegre could offer two inquisitive birders. This mountain of deep cuts, odd shapes and different coloured rocks has fascinated me for sometime, but that is not why we go there. We go for the BirdLife, of course. It was 9 degrees when we left Gran Alacant and it felt like summer by mid-morning. 

We checked out the usual spots. Hardly anything and hardly a sound. Okay there were one or two of the usual inhabitants. Rock Thrushes perched and a Dartford Warbler popped up. We did this trip to prove one thing and the result was not a surprise. It was enjoyable and that’s about it! We will await  ‘spring’ and the emergence of wildflowers and butterflies. We had some beauties last year. 

We called in at Clot de Galvany and went to the two small lagoons. On a log was a preening male Gadwall, fully out of the water, with all its plumage to see. Beautiful. Male Shovelers were very active and that could be an indicator of a change in the season. Of course at this time of the year it was good to see all those young potential birders in the hides and maybe some one is not so keen on becoming a primary school teacher!

We will stick to our usual route next time