A local walk up the road into Ballyea forest plantation would be a regular spring birdwatch for me to take , one of those places that no others sort of visit.
Lesser Redpoll and Siskin are regular feature, as are Whitethroat, Grasshopper warbler, Sedgys and Willow warbler.
Handfuls of Cuckoo can be seen and heard.
Over my couple of days birding in the Ludo I got to see 2 Purple Herons that were a target bird for me to see
My 1st dropped in to a grassy area and seemed to have an eye on airplanes ✈️ approaching the airport and just stayed.
Number 2 was at the early morning roosting near the Stork Heron rookery with Glossy Ibis and Egrets
A Woodchat Shrike .
I was in the scrub behind the Sao Lorenco bird hide, Faro looking for Chameleon that inhabit the area, I'd love to find one but I found this Woodchat Shrike which was probably also looking for Chameleons, a wary bird that could stand out but I never got on the right side of the light and it gave me the slip.
My first ever chance you get to take views of l Lesser spotted Woodpeckers
I had knowledge of LsW could be seen within this area of the Algarve but not common. An hour previously to finding this drumming bird I was tracking down Iberian Green Woodpecker which were calling in a Pine wood 🌲 I got to see two but they were always aware of me.
This little fella came out onto a dead tree to drum and call and was still hard to see and find.
As it hammered away another LsW came to an adjacent tree to check out the noise but didn't stay and flew off. This was all happening as Cettis Warbler bombed me with calls only a few feet away
After catching up with the Yellow Wagtail (Flava) on my home patch this week at Clahane and what a stunning bird it was I Felt compelled to put out this post of a Yellow Wagtail (iberiae) that I found on a Golf coarse in Faro, Portugal the week previous. Two sub species of Yellow Wagtail within the week
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
