Spring at last

 

 

Things appear to be realising Spring may just be here after all, and unusually the bank holiday was fine and warm. Today the Lympne heronry needed counting again, just to confirm the first count on 27 April of 12 nests. There was then little by way of flowers. Today I was pleased to find Bluebells and Early Purple Orchids in flower having struggled to find anything other than small rosettes of leaves. The orchids in particular must have grown like express trains in the 9 days since 

 

 

See what I mean compared with my binoculars - amazingly large specimens 

 

I couldnt resist the light on these 3 spikes

 

The Heron nests are often difficult to make out up in the Ivy and among the Rook's nests

 

It's also important to me to reduce disturbance to a minimum, so I try and keep my distance - even so I am watched all the time!

 

Today's visit failed to discover any new late nesters. In fact I was only able to find 11 nests, and I'm fairly certain I double counted one at the first visit

 

Back home to the Swallows. A single male turned up here on the 28th - 8 days ago - much to our delight after last year's disaster. (You may remember they didn't breed, indeed we didnt see them at all after about the middle of April, remember how horrible the weather was?) Since then he's been coming and going, displaying and singing without much luck. During lunch today I noticed 2 birds in (or rather over) the yard. Hooray and much rejoicing, he's found a girlfriend at last, and boy, was he putting on a show. They've been dashing in and out of the garage all afternoon ans she has been down in the garden picking up bits to line the nest. When I sneaked down the lane to take a photo after getting back from Lympne they were copulating. He doesn't waste time, does he? Good luck to them both

 

 

The Shadow of the Black Kite - part 2

 

 

A selection of my photos from the trip, starting with this Red Rumped Swallow on a radio aerial

 

 

 

 

No apology for Bee Eater pictures, fabulous birds

 

 

 

and a Cattle Egret which don't know the difference between a cattle and a horse!

 

 

on the subject of Horses, there were several large groups out in the rough fields

 

 

We were very taken with the colours in a seemingly plain black Glossy Ibis, lovely birds

 

 

and enjoyed the way this Purple Heron could twist it's neck, wish I could

 

 

 

While we were stooging through this pine wood, a shadow passed over us, a Black Kite close overhead and gone before we could get a photo - quipped Phil " the shadow of the black kite - sounds like a mystery drama" and hence the title of this blog

 

 

 

The Palacio del Acebuche,  a bit of a folly built in the 60's, abandoned a few years later and recently restored as a visitor centre about life in the Donana

 

 

and home to hundreds of House Martins

 

 

While out with Peter Warham he found us this Penduline Tit nest, I believe Phil may have some photos of the occupant

 

 

More Bee Eaters I'm afraid - well, no I'm not, they're just too good to ignore

 

 

 

 

A pensive Black Winged Stilt

 

 

and some evening woodland where we went to see what we could find as night fell

 

 

 

 unfortunately we found millions of avaricious mosquios, so came away a bit smartly, to find a roost in the gloaming of about 40 Black Kites

 

 

 

as we drove away this Hoopoe was dust bathing in  a pothole in the road in the near darkness

 

 

a typical wet area, home to lots of  Dragonflies as well as birds

 

 

 

 

more Glossy Ibis pics, can't resist these either

 

 

 

and out at the Jose Valverde visitor centre, the colony of Herons allowed these pics

 

 

 

including this punk Cattle Egret

 

 

It was out here that we found what we thought was an Imperial Eagle, 'cos it was HUGE, but in the event it was a Short-Toed Eagle, which, in spite of it's short toes, was still enormous

 

 

we wondered where this migrating Whinchat might end up to breed

 

 

and that's all, except to refer you to Phil's blog when he uploads some of his excellent pics from the trip, we now look forward to a trip to the Brandenberg area of Germany in a couple of weeks

 

 

 

 

 

The Shadow of the Black Kite - part 1

This blog is supposed to be about a trip me and Phil Smith made to the Coto Donana last week. However the pics won't load this evening, altho suprisingly this panorama of the lagoon at El Rocio did. I've now lost the will to live waiting for the upload and will try again tomorrow, when I shall  explain the title - in the meantime enjoy the view, and imagine the 33 degree temperature 

 

 OK, folks, it's Monday afternoon, and the upload is working, so here goes :-

 

This is our second trip to the Donana, the first is recounted on my old website

http://www.forewood.co.uk/cotodonana.htm

 

Our base this time was the small town of Villamanrique de la Contessa, where we stayed at the Alojamientos Tartessos, a small and very pleasant hotel recommended by Peter Warham of Donana Birdtours. It proved difficult for us to find and after 4 goes round the village we parked and headed for the bar in the square

 

 Here, and whilst asking directions, we discovered few if any of the locals speak much English, but whilst we enjoyed a small beer, our hostess kindly phoned the hotel and the owner soon appeared to guide us there, after another beer! Villamanrique is a very pleasant little town and is to be recommended

 

 

 The church is an important staging post for the annual pilgrimage of devoted worshipers en route to El Rocio, mostly on horseback and in horse and ox driven carriages apparently  

 

Sat at another bar later in the evening  (I said it is a pleasant town!) there were Swifts and House Martins careering round the tower in fine style  

 

Earlier, en route to Villamanrique after arriving from Faro airport we took in the sights at El Rocio, famous for the beautiful Church beside the lagoon, the subject of the panorama at the start of this blog

 

 

The lagoon, this year very full following more than usual rain and cold (we know that feeling) is also famous as a very very good place to see lots of super birds such as Red Crested Pochard, Whiskered Tern, Spoonbill, White Stork, Collared Pratincoles flying over, Pied Flycatcher, Black Winged Stilt, Hoopoe and Red Rumped Swallow 

 

 

The place is also famous for the bare sandy streets, complete lack of traffic management, and it's horse-friendliness. I expected John Wayne to come swaggering down the street, six-guns at the ready

 

 

Instead, there was Phil with his camera, about to be run over

 

 

Notice the sign and the hitching rails outside this hotel, I said it is horse-friendly

 

 

From the promenade by the lagoon, this White Stork was easy to photograph

 

 

so were these House Martins gathering mud for nest-building - there were hundreds of them

 

 

Out back of the hotel, on the evening walk route there was this fine cockerell to admire

 

 

and a real Ass!

 

 

Day 2 saw us out in the Corredor Verde once again, a super nature reserve, typical of this view

 

 

Woodchat Shrikes were everywhere we went, beautiful birds we almost began to take for granted

 

 

and this small bird flitting into a bush turned out to be a HUGE Grasshopper, it was about 4" long

 

 

Cattle Egrets were plentiful too, more so than Little Egrets

 

 

and finally for part 1, this Short Toed Eagle sat on a pylon had us bemused as another appeared from some distance away and after stooging around a bit displayed to it, and us. Phil has some pics of this, I hope, but my weedy bridge camera just wasn't up to the task. Trying to get it to focus on a bird, even as big as an Eagle, in the sky is like trying to plait sawdust 

 

 

 

the blog title?? You'll have to wait for part 2 which includes more birds