The flock of Curlew Sandpipers at Seafield

The arrival of a flock of Curlew Sandpipers that increased during the day to around 80 birds was not to be missed and was a delight to see at high tide in good light during the late afternoon. 

I`ve never seen such a flock and for once Seafield was peaceful and I was able to enjoy a great bit of birdwatching with my kids 

 

Curlew Sandpipers arriving

 The Sanderling and Dunlin arrive first at Seafield and as September rolls in I look forward to a few Curlew Sandpiper coming to join them on  the shoreline. 

This bird being my first of autumn and hopefully not the last.

The Ludo hiking Trail . Ria Formosa NP Faro Portugal

The Ludo hiking trail is located in Ria Formosa National park in the Algarve region of Portugal next to Faro airport. Ria Formosa is special due to its Wetlands, sandbanks and islands, great beaches, Golf coarse ponds, ruins and Pine Forests but most of all because of its birdlife.

If your a keen bird enthusiast then this place is a must to visit and have expectations in any season.

7-10 km guaranteeing over 50 species if bird in 4 hours if  you where to stop and watch. 

My wife and I started our walk from our guest house  at 9am , at the north entrance to the Ludo, through the Pine forest road , past the Stork and Heronry that offside of a marsh. circle the Ludo salt ponds for Flamingo, Avocet and Stilt, down the scrub side of the Golf coarse where we got Iberian Yellow Wagtail and onto to the Bird hide ( another blog post ) and  along the wetland hiking trail back along the boardwalk to the beach at Priaha de Faro at 4pm for food and beers

The Ludo from the Plane

Black winged Stilt are very common around the salt pools

 Early morning Singing songs of Thekla Larks Corn Buntings, Cettis Warblers and Sardinian Warblers
 Two birds of choice finding was that of an Iberian Yellow Wagtail on the Golf coarse flipping bugs from under the leaf litter caught the eye and an elusive Woodchat Shrike was  in the scrub land around the bird hide looking for Chameleon and Lizards in the dry arid zone. 

A target bird finally in the bag was this Purple Heron that floated in just to watch the planes arrive overhead.
A Curlew Sandpiper was with Dunlin and Sanderling in a shallow mud pool.
 Whimbrel, Turnstone, Grey Plover, Common Sandpiper 2 Avocets and Yellow legged Gulls were on the flood marsh
A few Little Terns were coming across the  south trail to the ponds but the Caspian Terns were passing along the waterways at distance.

Curlew Sandpipers

Curlew Sandpipers have been frequenting Seafield beach and have been consistant for over a week with numbers as high as 7 birds. Today 4 birds were in the mix with good numbers of Sanderling, Dunlin, &Ringed Plover 

 

Wilsons Phalarope, SemiP & Pectoral Sandpiper

With not much movement of birds out west here in Clare and with a day off and the promise of good weather I Twithed and hit the road at 4am and headed across country to Tacumshin Wexford , not long after 7am I was wading through the swamp.
I caught up with two local lads KG & AMcM who were looking at a Pectoral Sandpiper on the east side and we headed out past the Patches to find the Wilsons Phalarope up in the Forgotten corner. A Marsh Harrier past over the reeds
On my way back I got good views of the Semipalmated Sandpiper and easy 10 Curlew Sandpiper.
And that was just up to 10;30 am

Pectoral Sandpiper

Star of the show the Wilsons Phalarope

SemiP in with Dunlin

Curlew Sandpipers a little deeper than the Dunlin

Ruff

After mid day I did a short spell along the eastside,came back and headed over to The Forgotten corner from the other side,
I easily approached looked over the reeds to see the Wilsons Phalarope on a small mud patch with a stack of Redshank and Knot, not exactly what you want due to Redshank panic attacks, add the back light and WaterRails pig squeeling around me and Peregrine Bombs it was some challenge to obtain shots.

Curlew Sandpiper at Quilty Beach

Not many small waders have come to the Clare shores yet and numbers have felt low for the month, but the weather has changed this week, Sanderling, Dunlin , Ringed Plover and Turnstone and now turning up, this Curlew Sandpiper was among the shorebirds at Quilty beach.

A Stint in the rain

I was at Seafield early in the morning at high tide , Before light I sat near the seaweed watching the shorebirds in the rain.

3 Little Stints and 4 Curlew Sandpipers were mixing with the 60+ Dunlin flock

Little Stints

Curlew Sandpiper