Monday and Tuesday

A shopping trip to Chichester was a write-off as the shops I had intended to visit were closed due to power outage!!

The Ravens were either silent or still absent from the Bishops Garden but the Peregrines were noisy with the male putting on a nice show before landing on the north-east side of the upper tracery.

After chores on Tuesday a stroll from the Cockleshell carpark to the south end of Swan Lake was quiet despite a flat calm high tide; sadly no divers.

The three Scaup were still asleep as were a couple of Teal; one of the Scaup is a 2cy drake now beginning to moult into its next plumage. Sadly, my phone's camera is very poor.

Tuesday 7th, Thursday 9th

Tuesday saw a brief visit to Arundel which, after some cold weather, was very short of wildfowl, gulls and Snipe. A Kingfisher was very watchable but too far for pictures unlike this egret which was just 5-6 metres away. For the first time in many visits no Cattle Egrets nor Marsh Harriers

Thursday was mostly a lunch visit to GWH with nothing of note.

Felice navidad!! Xmas in Extramadura

Day 1 Saturday Heathrow (Renaissance)

The run up the A3 was pleasant until just after the Ripley Services and the M25 Junction when things slowed. Luckily the inside lane (Heathrow) was slow but moving all the way to J14.

Unfortunately going in via J14 was a nightmare and I got well and truly lost!! In hindsight J15 and the M4 would have been better.

Eventually found the entrance to the hotel, parked up and checked in. A very nice bonus here was a free access to the Executive Lounge with free tea, coffee, cold drinks and snacks and, in the evening, free food and wine - basically as much as you wanted,

A clean comfy room  with a massive television was a nice place to spend the night.

Day 2 Sunday Heathrow to Madrid and on to Casa Rural Las Cantaras

Up early and a taxi to T5, expensive but very nice driver and a smart Mercedes to travel in.

Getting a printed boarding pass and passing  through bag drop and security was painless.

After arriving at the departure gate we were bussed to the aircraft- such a long journey we thought we were flying from Gatwick!!

With a strong tail wind we shaved half an hour off the flight to Madrid.

Again, entry and passage through the airport was painless but a ridiculously long train/tube journey to baggage collection. 

Eventually the group assembled but our half an hour advantage was destroyed when the hire firm only delivered one van. It was probably 50+ minutes waiting in a cold concrete carpark for the second van.

We were soon on our way through a fair bit of Madrid traffic which became much quieter away from the city and stayed light on all main roads for the week. The journey to the hotel was about 250 kilometres.

The sky was sparkling blue and cloudless today and indeed for the whole week other than a thick mist for an hour or so on Boxing Day morning.

A brief comfort stop/lunch at a roadside bar with coffee and a curious frittata sandwich saw our first of many Black Redstarts.

Day 3 Monday Extramadura

Day 4 Tuesday Christmas Eve Extramadura

Day 5 Wednesday Christmas Day Extramadura 

Day 6 Thursday Boxing Day Extramadura 

Below a couple of sunrise shots at Canteras.

Leaving here we quickly drove into heavy fog which threatened the morning's birding. A stop at a supermarket for provisions saw a number of confused Swallows perched up on TV aerials. After some discussion we discounted Plan B and carried on to Saucedilla as intended for some wetland birding, a good choice as the mist quickly burnt off.

Back to base earlier than usual as some of us didn't want to walk around Trujillo.

After dumping gear and taking some pain killers I went for a stroll out to and down the road with the hotel dog for company!!

Tonight's evening meal was taken at Hotel Emilia in Trujillo, a little later than usual and a nice change of venue. (Photos below)

Day 7 Friday Extramadura 

Day 8 Saturday Las Cantaras to Madrid to Heathrow

Up earlier than usual for 7am breakfast and away on time still before any dawn light. An unknown mammal zipped across the road in the headlights; no idea, smaller than a fox. 

Brief comfort stop at a garage before arriving at Madrid airport with just cranes, storks etc on the journey.

Passage through check in etc was swift but there WAS a one hour delay due in part to Heathrow's fog but we made up time and were only half an hour late arriving.

A quick departure from the airport and back to the Renaissance on the Hoppa Bus (H5X).

The restaurant was closed due to Xmas staff shortage but a couple of beers (£6.50 each!) and a burger and chips in the bar was a nice end to the day and, as before, all the hotel staff were very pleasant and helpful.

Day 9 Renaissance to home.

An as-much-as-you-can-eat breakfast for £15 was really nice and made more palatable by the free overnight parking; effectively a free brekkie. Easy drive home albeit foggy at times, roads quiet and back soon after 10am with just a single Red Kite overhead.

Highlights:-

Number of Cranes, White Storks, Great Bustards, Calandra Larks and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. Great views of  Bluethroat, Rock Bunting, Thekla Lark, vultures, Booted Eagle and Golden Eagle.

Good leaders.

Good group.

Lowlights:-

No Bonellis nor BWK 

For next time:-

Take scope and tripod, leave camera behind!!

The first frost of winter

Gone pishin'...

A local walk with some warmth still in the sun and virtually no wind found a few insects still on the wing. Several quite fresh Speckled Woods, quite a few Yellow Dung Flies and soldierflies which I assume were Sargus bipunctatus but no late Common Darters nor Red Admirals.

Birdwise a birdtrack list of 34 species in 30 minutes or so saw several species missing- Great Tit, Pied Wagtail and Dunnock - but made up for by the very noisy Water Rail, the first Cettis for a while and, best of all, a Firecrest along 'butterfly alley', my first ever on Portsea Island. Luckily, it came out of thick scrub, enticed by my pishing and gave good views.

Raptors have been a bit thin but a Common Buzzard went west and then came back eastwards but much lower annoying all the gulls and feral doves.

A nice 'first'....

 

This Death's-head Hawkmoth caterpillar was picked up by Ed, brought on over 7 weeks or thereabouts, and then displayed for one day in a container on the TH reception desk - a first for me and, I guess, a few others.

A Pulborough day with 8 raptor species - no eagles but Merlin and a late(ish) Hobby.

At Titchfield a flyover Woodlark and the three Ibises which arrived from the north and conveniently perched up in the dead tree adjacent to the river nicely coloured by strong sunny conditions.

This Green Shieldbug (below) , three Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk, a roosting Little Egret and ones and two of Chiffchaffs still - all local.

Not rare but a highlight

 

A Tuesday visit to Pulborough, rather than the usual Wednesday, was a good choice with AA mentioning a sat-out Nightjar over the previous two days.  Within minutes she stopped me just before buying a coffee with word that the 'Tuesday crew' had it all scoped-up in the conifers at Fattengates. Mostly still but occasionally gaping, shuffling around and wing and tail stretching before settling back down for another nap. This was present all day until dusk but didn't reappear on Wednesday for PW et al. A quick look through notes showed this to be my first Nightjar in seven years -  where does the time go!! Further checking showed the only other daytime perched up Nightjars were in Bulgaria (2010) and at Obedska Bara (1978), then in Yugoslavia but now in Serbia.

Four Cattle Egrets, four Stonechats and two Reed Buntings feeding amongst a mass of Goldfinches and a perched up Kingfisher were the best of the rest An eagle was apparently hiding in the vegetation of its 'usual tree' but invisible to me and everyone else in the hide without a scope. 

Later, at WWT six Cattle Egrets and increasingly noisy and active youngsters in the hidden nests. Another Kingfisher, a brief flyby, and a Great White Egret constantly striding away from a typically irate Mute Swan.

A brief coffee outing Thursday produced a dashing Hobby chasing a passerine south over Hilliers but it seemed to lose interest and slipped off westwards.

And Friday saw pulses of Swallows heading north into the wind as the rain eased with birds over the house,  more over the harbour and even birds over Warblington whilst stopped at the railroad crossing.

Plenty of these Garden Spiders locally along with a few paired migrant Hawkers, a couple of Green Woodpeckers and the first Jay of the autumn. Last Thursday saw the first returning Brent Geese, a tight group of ten, whilst waiting at the Farlington traffic light.