A special morning within the Ludo NP

   I had the morning to myself and I felt yesterday that I overlooked the boundaries of where a Pine Forest meets a Marsh that flows into the salt ponds along a dusty road that passes the Stork and Heronry . I walked the road Rua Henrique Fernandes Serrão, Faro into the Ludo

7am. The  Azure winged Magpies take you into the Pines, 2 Iberian Woodpecker in the Pine Forest as  graffiti ruined building gave up a nest building pair of Red rumped Swallows, a few Barn Swallows and House Martins.

The Pines 

I got to the area I wanted to be and it turned out to be one of the best days birding I could have asked for, the Morning song of Corn Buntings, Sardinian Warblers, Waxbills, Goldfinch , Zitting Cistacolla and Cettis. A Marsh Harrier was perched at distance.

A drumming and calling along the track was a Lesser spotted Woodpecker that gave unreal views once found, attracting another but it flew of pretty quick 2 unreal,  a noisy Cettis Warbler gave itself up for photos

Take a breath.

I moved along the path 20 Little Egrets were still at roost with Glossy Ibis and a bit away a Purple Heron. The Storks were busy nesting. A few fly over Glossy Ibis and a Booted Eagle stamped a fantastic morning of birding, with more to come.

With mid day approaching and the heat kicking in I walked back getting a few Red Rumped Swallow shots now the light was up.  I caught site of and what turned out to be a female Western Sub Alpine Warbler as it moved through the leaves of nearbye tree

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Sao Lourenco Bird Hide , Quito de Lago, Portugal

 Me made our destination  to Sao Lourenco birdhide after a 26C  2 hour walk across the top of the Ludo.

Famous for its Little Bitterns which I've seen here before but not today. 

Today Black headed Weavers were stealing the show with nesting colonies through the reed beds of the pond and just out from the Hide. Great to watch such specialist builders at work.

A Swamphen , Little Grebes, Red Crested Pochard, Pochard and Gadwall were on the lake.

Hoopoe, Azure winged Magpie and House Sparrows were mulling about

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.

Red crested Pochard - Lahinch Marsh

 A very windy stormy NW blast onto the coast blew a female Red crested pochard into the Ballyellery corner of Lahinch marsh, which sharp eyed Geoff Pearson picked up heading for cover in the rushes. The storm squall only allowed short views as we and the duck took cover, luckily the RCP drifted out of the channel and toward the corner when it took off back to cover or gone 

2 Arctic Terns passed through the marsh in the wind and 10 minutes later a surprise Little Tern also came to the corner

Ruff with Purple Sandpipers

 After mugging around lough Donnell trying to catch up with better views of the Black winged Stilt which we didnt see,, a call into Seafield produced a Ruff with 30 Purple Sandpipers and a 50 flock of Turnstone. Lots of Easter disturbance moving the birds along the beach 

Red legged Partridge - Willbrook

 I was trolling my way back home from Corofin through Willbrook , I slowed at the Pine forest to the sound of Finches in the trees as I did  a colorless small game bird, to small for a female Pheasant was walking away from me along the roadside grasses. The Red legged Partridge jumped and showed its colorful side and skulked under the brush not to be seen

Black winged Stilt - lough donnell

 A Black winged Stilt was found at Lough Donnell by JNMurf on Wednesday, I was at the location within the hour but did not get to see the Stilt or the Garganey in 4 hours. I left Tormented.

I arrived back at Lough Donnell Thursday morning early. It took a while ,a few Teal to go through , 1st Swallow of spring, a Wheatear and thent the Stilt slowly came to the edge of the reeds where it gave absolutely awful views from opposite side of the Lough.

Fulmars - Masters of the updraft

 For many years I've shared the Ocean with the Fulmar Petrel. They can be curious toward lone Surfers , venturing close fast on the wing using the updraft across the waves or slowly approaching out of the mist tapping their feet on the water.

An early morning high tide along the cliffs at Clahane, a fine aerial display by the masters of updraft is taking place right now as other sea-going birds such as Kittiwake pass by heading to the Cliffs of Moher

5 Ring necked Duck

 5 Ring necked Ducks had been on the Kilkee reservoir for a few days and I got down after 4pm the light wasn't on my side and distant views only from the roads but still offering good scope views

3 Drakes and 2 females had joined a handful of Tufted Ducks an Teal and were great to see performing on the Pond. 

The weather was well cold in  a NE wind.

White tailed Eagles at Muchanangh

 These tagged White tailed Eagles have been wandering around the Burren loughs all week.

Ive seen plenty of these Eagles over the years and most of the time they dont do much. but never have I seen a show as this day. Even at a distance it was quite a wonderful display in the air, on the trees and on the ground

Tree Sparrows at the Horse fields Seafield

 Its so worth a stop and to walk the Seafield to Clonahinchy road and watch to see what birds are coming into feed with the Rabbits on grain around the Horse fields.

Rock Doves, Skylarks , Reed Bunting, Curlew, Chough , Redwings, Linnets , Chaffinch, House Sparrows and a highlight of 14 Tree Sparrows that were all using the fields for winter food sourse.

Marsh Harriers on the Burren lowland Loughs

 There have been regular sightings this winter of Marsh Harriers within County Clare and Limerick. Last winter was very simular.

Marsh Harriers have a massive area of vagrancy so its hard to say how many we have , sure they follow the water coarses with good established reedbeds and are well able to travel distance with British tagged birds showing up north of Scotland and  far south as Senegal.

All I know is that its great that we have them and be able to get good observations of a wonderful Raptor that has chose to inhabit our Loughs around the Burren.

Forsters Tern - Kinvarra

 Iv been lucky enough to have seen the Forsters Tern in a few different locations along Galway bay but this was the 1st time that I found it within Kinvarra bay. This seems to be its favorite wintering grounds over the years so Im glad to have finally caught up with it here.