Mick Sway
Well-known member
WESTERN ALGARVE – 04 OCT TO 17OCT 2010
Logistics and Location:
Flying via Thomas Cook from Birmingham Airport on Sunday 3rd October, Tina and I arrived at Faro about mid day in time for a stop off at Choela Beach for a Piri Piri lunch, some shopping at the local Aldi and a very quick twitch at Salgados/Pera Marsh for views of little owl, spoonbill, godwits, common tern, sanderling and other common waders, before making the journey west to our accommodation.
Villa Kimbo is situated in rural countryside just out of Espiche, about 15 minutes from Largos (booked through Simply Travel – private off season bookings are available from the owners).
It provides an excellent base for Western Algarve bird watching being a 30 minute drive to both the raptor watchpoint at Capo St. Vincent and the nature reserve at Alvor. Pera Marsh/Salgados and Foia, are a 40 minute drive away, whilst Quinta du Lago is approximately an hours drive.
In spring Bocha da Rio is also worth a visit and is also only a very short drive away.
The Villa Kimbo lies in a small private complex with its own pool, four bedrooms and bathrooms
Hoopoes called outside in the morning, foraging on the lawn whilst little owls called after dark.
The surrounding countryside is a mixture of grazing, scrub and woodland, which can provide some interesting local birding.
As mentioned hoopoes and azure winged magpies are present most of the year, wheatears and black redstarts are common in fall.
In autumn robin and black caps are present, along with the proverbial cattle and little egrets.
A good selection of raptors can turn up at any time, both kestrel and buzzard show regularly with a chance
of black shouldered kite also turning up.
The return flight on Sunday 17 October was on time. However luggage collection at Birmingham was inefficient, being at least
double our normal 20 minute wait at Manchester Airport.
The promised £1 taxi shuttle from the airport to the hotel and the long stay car park, failed to turn up Although it worked on the way out, it cost us a tenner for a taxi on the way back (please note that this was a private booking and nothing to do with Simply Travel, who were excellent throughout the holiday).
The holiday booking included a hire car for the two weeks.
Weather:
We arrived to grey skies and temperatures in the low 20’s.
Over the two weeks the weather was mixed with extremely wet and windy conditions prevailing from
08 Oct to 10 Oct, thereafter it was breezy with plenty of warm sunshine.
Sites Visited :
Espiche
*Capo St.Vincent 04/10; 09/10; 11/10; 14/10
Quinta du Lago 06/10; 10/10; 15/10
Alvor 07/10; 08/10; 13/10; 16/10
Pera 08/10
Foia 10/10; 12/10; 16/10
Silves 12/10
*Important re Capo St.Vincent raptor watch point.
Although most of the sandy track from the coast road is drivable, at this time of year following heavy rain, it can be subject to turning to mud in a couple of places. I know of two cases where experienced birders got stuck axle deep, having helped one party out of it myself.
The Birding Part 1:
The visit gave us a number of “lifers” including: griffon vulture; crested tit; rock bunting; storm petrol
Reports by other people:
Danny Isle of White had good pictures of mystery falcon, that better men than my self could not identify.
The guys at the raptor watch point report regular views of black stork, vultures, black kite and bonelli’s eagle. Little bustard and dotterel were reported off the Cape – Bispo track, however despite several attempts we failed to connect. A party of a dozen ring ouzel were reported as seen at Foia during the first week of October also a buff bellied sand piper at Alvor. A juvenile Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) was near Tavira on 03-10-10 ( 2nd for Portugal).
Useful websites for Algarve updates are :
http://jupiterbirding.blogspot.com/
http://algarvebirder.blogspot.com/
Since quite a number of birds are common in the Algarve at this time of year, I propose to list only our more interesting sightings here, hopefully however I will be able to include a full listing in due course.
Raptors:
Cape St.Vincent Raptor Watchpoint (Kestrel vary common);
The moorland area surrounding the Cape St.Vincent to Vale du Bispo gave us the best and most frequent views of raptors with as many as 20 booted eagle of various phases being seen in a single afternoon.
04 Oct : Short Toed Eagle x 1;Honey Buzzard x 1;Hobby x1;
09 Oct : Booted Eagle x 20;
11 Oct Booted Eagle x 15; Egyptian Vulture x 2;Montagu’s Harrier x1;
Short Toed Eagle x 2; Common Buzzard x 2
14 Oct : Griffon Vulture x 3, Egyptian Vulture x 2;
Short Toed Eagle x3;Common Buzzard x 3;Booted Eagle x 6
Note: 14 October was hot and sunny, with views of vultures mostly confined to high soaring birds.
consequently a quite few unidentifiable raptors also passed over.
Alvor:
07 Oct & 08: Oct Black winged Kite x1 ;
13 Oct: Marsh Harrier x1;Booted Eagle x1
15 Oct: Osprey x1; Peragrine x2;
Quinta du Lago
15Oct : Booted Eagle x 1
Logistics and Location:
Flying via Thomas Cook from Birmingham Airport on Sunday 3rd October, Tina and I arrived at Faro about mid day in time for a stop off at Choela Beach for a Piri Piri lunch, some shopping at the local Aldi and a very quick twitch at Salgados/Pera Marsh for views of little owl, spoonbill, godwits, common tern, sanderling and other common waders, before making the journey west to our accommodation.
Villa Kimbo is situated in rural countryside just out of Espiche, about 15 minutes from Largos (booked through Simply Travel – private off season bookings are available from the owners).
It provides an excellent base for Western Algarve bird watching being a 30 minute drive to both the raptor watchpoint at Capo St. Vincent and the nature reserve at Alvor. Pera Marsh/Salgados and Foia, are a 40 minute drive away, whilst Quinta du Lago is approximately an hours drive.
In spring Bocha da Rio is also worth a visit and is also only a very short drive away.
The Villa Kimbo lies in a small private complex with its own pool, four bedrooms and bathrooms
Hoopoes called outside in the morning, foraging on the lawn whilst little owls called after dark.
The surrounding countryside is a mixture of grazing, scrub and woodland, which can provide some interesting local birding.
As mentioned hoopoes and azure winged magpies are present most of the year, wheatears and black redstarts are common in fall.
In autumn robin and black caps are present, along with the proverbial cattle and little egrets.
A good selection of raptors can turn up at any time, both kestrel and buzzard show regularly with a chance
of black shouldered kite also turning up.
The return flight on Sunday 17 October was on time. However luggage collection at Birmingham was inefficient, being at least
double our normal 20 minute wait at Manchester Airport.
The promised £1 taxi shuttle from the airport to the hotel and the long stay car park, failed to turn up Although it worked on the way out, it cost us a tenner for a taxi on the way back (please note that this was a private booking and nothing to do with Simply Travel, who were excellent throughout the holiday).
The holiday booking included a hire car for the two weeks.
Weather:
We arrived to grey skies and temperatures in the low 20’s.
Over the two weeks the weather was mixed with extremely wet and windy conditions prevailing from
08 Oct to 10 Oct, thereafter it was breezy with plenty of warm sunshine.
Sites Visited :
Espiche
*Capo St.Vincent 04/10; 09/10; 11/10; 14/10
Quinta du Lago 06/10; 10/10; 15/10
Alvor 07/10; 08/10; 13/10; 16/10
Pera 08/10
Foia 10/10; 12/10; 16/10
Silves 12/10
*Important re Capo St.Vincent raptor watch point.
Although most of the sandy track from the coast road is drivable, at this time of year following heavy rain, it can be subject to turning to mud in a couple of places. I know of two cases where experienced birders got stuck axle deep, having helped one party out of it myself.
The Birding Part 1:
The visit gave us a number of “lifers” including: griffon vulture; crested tit; rock bunting; storm petrol
Reports by other people:
Danny Isle of White had good pictures of mystery falcon, that better men than my self could not identify.
The guys at the raptor watch point report regular views of black stork, vultures, black kite and bonelli’s eagle. Little bustard and dotterel were reported off the Cape – Bispo track, however despite several attempts we failed to connect. A party of a dozen ring ouzel were reported as seen at Foia during the first week of October also a buff bellied sand piper at Alvor. A juvenile Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda) was near Tavira on 03-10-10 ( 2nd for Portugal).
Useful websites for Algarve updates are :
http://jupiterbirding.blogspot.com/
http://algarvebirder.blogspot.com/
Since quite a number of birds are common in the Algarve at this time of year, I propose to list only our more interesting sightings here, hopefully however I will be able to include a full listing in due course.
Raptors:
Cape St.Vincent Raptor Watchpoint (Kestrel vary common);
The moorland area surrounding the Cape St.Vincent to Vale du Bispo gave us the best and most frequent views of raptors with as many as 20 booted eagle of various phases being seen in a single afternoon.
04 Oct : Short Toed Eagle x 1;Honey Buzzard x 1;Hobby x1;
09 Oct : Booted Eagle x 20;
11 Oct Booted Eagle x 15; Egyptian Vulture x 2;Montagu’s Harrier x1;
Short Toed Eagle x 2; Common Buzzard x 2
14 Oct : Griffon Vulture x 3, Egyptian Vulture x 2;
Short Toed Eagle x3;Common Buzzard x 3;Booted Eagle x 6
Note: 14 October was hot and sunny, with views of vultures mostly confined to high soaring birds.
consequently a quite few unidentifiable raptors also passed over.
Alvor:
07 Oct & 08: Oct Black winged Kite x1 ;
13 Oct: Marsh Harrier x1;Booted Eagle x1
15 Oct: Osprey x1; Peragrine x2;
Quinta du Lago
15Oct : Booted Eagle x 1
Attachments
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x1Raptors Booted Eagle Light Phase 1 Cape St Vincent 1110101.jpg74 KB · Views: 135
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x1Raptors Kite Black Shouldered Alvor Portugal 0810101.jpg192.4 KB · Views: 136
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x1Raptors Osprey Alvor Portugal 1610101.jpg306.9 KB · Views: 148
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x1Raptors Vulture Egypitan 1 Cape St Vincent 1110101.jpg60.5 KB · Views: 124
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x1Raptors Vulture Griffon & Buzzard Cape St.Vincent 1410101.jpg76 KB · Views: 185
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