Albufera Short Route Again

I will never understand how a known route can have an extra Km added to it the next time out. Nor can I grasp how a temperature of 29/30C doth feel like one hath descended into the fires 🔥 of hades 🤔. So it came to pass that I didn’t pass out and got some reasonable birds.

A couple of Purple Swamphen. Greater Flamingo now at 4 birds. BW Stilt also 4. One Glossy Ibis showed reasonably well. A Green Sandpiper was  dodging around. A Marsh Harrier did a short flyover. A Kestrel was on pylon wires but not for long.

Got a flock of chirping Serin, 4 Stonechat, c9 Swallow and the previously seen Hoopoe in flight. Cretins Warblers down in numbers today and Sardines less active.

The Mauve Algae bloom is blazing away as it expands across the Waterworks Area. Thirsty Anyone?

Birds here down to Coots and a pr of Marbled Teal 😁.

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.