Full Albufera Slog in The Sun

Did more mileage than desirable but that’s what goes down in this mega marshscape.

1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Kestrel, pr Buzzard.

Got another Hoopoe but this one couldn’t fly off as it was a recent roadkill 😢.

The photo below shows 2 Shelduck with a YLG below them. I’ve looked at that top Gull and Caspian won’t leave my mind in peace. It has long legs and that head shape is doing mine in 😳.

The lagoons, salinas and scrapes here have really been screwed by the heatwaves. I estimate a 50% loss of operating juice for the poor waterfowl victims 😒. Oddly enough the canals appear to be full of H2O.

1 Redshank, a Kentish Plover or three. 1 Black-crowned Night Heron 👍. 1 Grey Heron ditto Greater Flamingo. A crew of YLGs. The sun in my eyes stopped me from confirming a potential Marbled Teal 😏.

3 Stonechat. 2 Zitbags, 4/5 Sardines.

Good to see 2 Spotted Flycatcher busy.

Short Visit To Albufeira

Actually the marshland is so vast the term short isn’t suitable but I’m glad I didn’t choose a longer visit. The Salinas have lost about 30% water and one was wearing a coat of mauve algae 🫣.

3 Glossy Ibis, 1 juvenile Greater Flamingo 🦩.

1 distant Green Sandpiper. Several Kentish and a couple of LRP.

BW Stilts down to 2 and Avocet down to 0 or even lower 🤓.

1 each Turnstone and Little Grebe. 1 Hoopoe that waited patiently as I got the camera pointing. It then flew off no doubt wearing a shit eating grin. Couple Sardines and a Zitbag.

Cretins Warblers were all over the shop singing their heads off. One dropped a big clanger, it actually showed in flight for about 2.4 seconds 😳

Swallows thinly spread throughout.

Autumn Heat In Can Picafort

Owing to old age and bright hot sunshine this after lunch time I had to shorten my quest for a Dunnock 😒

However all was not lost in the dunes scrublands and adjacent woods.

A Red-backed Shrike chose to ignore my slavering as I desperately scraped my camera from the rucksack. This is my first tick for one in possibly 8 years 😁.

No Dunnock followed this sadly but yer can’t have it all.

1 Blackbird 🐦‍⬛, Couple Great Tit ditto Goldfinch. 2 perhaps 3 Sardinian Warblers 

Not Calderdale For Once

Warm and Sunny in Can Picafort and not too many birds around which is good cos I’m cheesed off with having wasted a lifetime on them.

c9 Audouins Gulls. 6 Turnstone. 1 elusive sneaky rotten Shag. 2 almost sociable Sedge Warblers. 3 Red rumped Swallows.

c22  Coot (thank goodness) couple Moorhen. Best of the bunch plenty of  House Sparrows 🤓 👍.

Queensbury South

Been a while since I did Littlemoor Park and the wider adjacent fields so off I trekked this morning.

The park wasn’t too interesting but a fair few Robin were singing.

The fields and the huge quarry area at Cross Lane fared better. Several Meadow Pipit ditto Linnet. Plenty of BHG & a Common Gull.

A Wheatear was reluctant to leave the post it was perched upon. 1 Kestrel & a small number of Goldfinch also present.

Ogden Water To Mixenden Rubbish

Talk about gash! Best pick at Ogden was WW, Buzzard and a Comma Butterfly. I dug out my old camera just to see if it worked. Don't look any further cos the photos are non avian.

Cold Edge Dams Downer

I have always suspected I am certifiable and today convinced me even more 🤨. I mean who would go to Wainstalls on a wet Saturday knowing the fresh gusty wind was blowing from the SW? Look no further ‘twas I ☹️.

1 Cormorant, c20 BHG, 11 Canadas, 4 Pheasant (3 of em in a garden).

Small numbers of Meadow Pipit and Starling. A flock of Linnet, 1 WW, 1 Swallow & a Blackbird.