Saturday 24th March 2012

Cabo de Palos lighthouse garden

Weather: Sky 8/8 cloud,  wind NE F3-4, temp.15ºC.  08:45 – 09:35.

Still nothing much to see (but maybe the wind was causing the birds to keep their heads down).  Best birds, a group of 5 White Wagtails heading out to sea, and a Chiff/Willow heard!

Species seen

Yellow Legged Gull (Larus michahellis)

Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii)

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba)

Chiff/Willow (Phylloscopus collybita/trochilus)

Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis)

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Marchamalo Salinas, La Manga

Weather: Sky 1/8 cloud,  wind NE F2, temp. 11ºC.  09:10 – 09:45.

On the way back from Cabo de Palos, I called in at the La Manga side of the Marchamalo Salinas, where the group of Avocets remained, together with a good number of Shelduck, a couple of Grey Heron and a Greenshank.

 Part of the group of Avocets currently at the salinas

Species seen

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

Rambla de Albujon

Weather: Sky 8/8 cloud, wind NE F1, temp. 13ºC.  18:00 – 19:15.

This afternoon I took a walk along the rambla, past the motorway bridge and as far as the next bridge (I don’t normally go this far when I’m at the rambla, but thought I’d check to see if there was anything further upstream).  At the mouth of the rambla, close to the Mar Menor I heard my first local Reed Warbler singing (although I didn’t see it), and just beyond the motorway bridge I saw a Purple Gallinule (Swamphen) out in the open for a few seconds.  Apart from that, thing were pretty much as normal, other birds of note being Common and Jack Snipes, the Spotted Crake, Water Pipit, Hoopoes ‘singing’ and a couple of pairs of Black Winged Stilt (presumably breeding pairs), and a group of 13 Turnstone on the small beach area where the rambla meets the Mar Menor.

The pair of Black-winged Stilts which have arrived at the rambla

Species seen

Moorhen (Gallinua chloropus)

Coot (Fulica atra)

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Serin (Serinus serinus)

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Jack Snipe (Lymnocryptes minimus)

Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana)

Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio porphyrio)

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

Spotless Starling (Sturnus unicolor)

Stone Curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus) (heard only)

Hoopoe (Upupa epops) (heard only)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Chiff/Willow (Phylloscopus collybita/trochilus) – heard only

Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)

Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Black Winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa)

Reed Warbler (Acrocephalusscirpaceus) – heard only

Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)

Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti)

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Los Urrutias Club Nautico

Weather: Sky 8/8 cloud, wind NE F1, temp. 12ºC.  19:25 – 19:19:30.

On the way home from the rambla, I called in briefly at the club nautico area on the Mar Menor, as I’d heard that the Great White Egret which had spent most of January there, had returned.  And indeed, there it was, together with 4 Little Egrets and a group of 8 Greenshank.

And lastly, on the roof of an old abandoned farm building along the road to Los Nietos, I saw a pair of Little Owl as I returned home.

Species seen

Great White Egret (Egretta alba)

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)

Little Owl (Athene noctua)