Madeira 2009 ~ The Best Day for a Birthday!!

There was little to report from the Tuesday, but Wednesday 24th June was my Dad's 65th Birthday (the reason for the holiday, my brother, Mandy & myself had joined my parents to Madeira to celebrate my Dad's 65th!!)...

The Santa Maria de Columa ~ our vessel for the day & a replica of Christopher Columbus's boat....

It was this day that we'd booked a boat trip from the harbour at Funchal, departing at 3pm on a 3hr cruise, I was hopeful for a few 'ticks', but this trip proved even more eventful than any of us could have imagined!!!An old sea dog, you might say?... Arrrharghh me hearties!!!... Er, okay... naff joke, I know!!

My first new bird came in the harbour itself with 2 adult summer Roseate Tern flying around the harbour, along with Arctic & Common Tern's (although the latter 2 species were slightly further out at sea, favouring the coastline).

The view over Funchal harbour as we depart on our sea voyage....


A distant 'brown blob', one off 100's, that soon became apparently clear as Cory's Shearwater!!

It was possibly around half hour into the cruise when I picked up on a flock of birds sat on the water, they were large & brownish in colour, I had a pretty good idea what they were, & soon a few got up & flew confirming my belief, 100's of Cory's Shearwater!!! The birds soon came within feet of the boat giving excellent views & the odd photo opportunity - however, excitement soon moved to some comotion off the front of the boat!!...



A couple of marginaly better pics of Cory's, the birds were fast & flighty, but we all had great views...

A pod of around 30-40 Dolphin's were breaking the surface of the sea & soon the boat was moved into a better viewing position, the dolphin's then put on an excellent display, leaping & swimming around our boat for a good 15 minutes, they seemed to lap up everyone's excitement, certainly showing off their amazing beauty & grace in the water. There were also clearly a few young dolphin's present, of which I tried to get pictures of!! (Oh yeah, after the excitement that followed all this I forgot to ask what species of dolphin these were, any one know? I'd be grateful if you could let me know!)...

A selection of many photo's we took of the pod of Dolphin's, sorry I know not what species they are?... Maybe you can help?

We then pushed on & what initially appeared to be a large leaf on the water surface was in fact a Terrapin!!! Through my bin's I could see clearly it had a 'spined' shell that was red & yellow in colour, with a light brown shell... no idea what type of Terrapin this was?...

Then my Mum noticed a shape over to the right of the boat, around 200 metres away, I got the distant shape in my bins, a distinct dorsal fin broke the water, followed by at least 20-30 ft. of body!!! A WHALE!!!!... I yelled to everyone on the boat, people immediately moved over to view this awesome animal... The boat was moved closer... I watched as this huge animal broke the water surface again, around 20 ft. of 'head' end, the very distinct dorsal fin, follwed by the huge rear body... Then a spout of water was blown & the animal vanished from view!!.... We had just watched a FIN WHALE!!! The second largest animal on the planet (second only to Blue Whale, which it closely resembles), this one I estimated had to be no less than 60 ft. in length!!!


The huge, ominous shape under the water that my Mum first observed... gradualy it neared our boat....

Best shot we managed of the Fin Whale... around 60+ ft. in length & a good pic here of the dorsal fin... What an awesome animal!!!

The Fin Whale did appear again, far behind us, at least 500 metres or so, I watched it through my bins as it continued to show, surfacing again & again, for around 5 minutes or so....

Wow!!! My first ever whale sp. & I was ecstatic!!! What an awesome animal & it was while we were all still marveling over this beheamoth from the deep when another giant swam past - a huge Sea Turtle!!! Sadly I was too slow with the camera, as it dived again after only a brief view!! But it had to be the size of your average patio table!!!

Sadly, the trip had to come to an end, but what a trip it was & an amazing birthday treat for my Dad!! We celebrated that night with expensive wine & posh italian food ~ what a day, & one I shall never forget!!!

I couldn't see how this could possibly be topped....

But it was.... You'll have to wait 'til later to find out how!!...

Madeira 2009.

Hello all... not long arrived back from Madeira, so thought I'd do a quick intro-write-up-type-thingy, as Mand is currently catching up on a weeks worth of 'Come Dine With Me'!!...

Basically I knew that Madeira wouldn't give me many bird species (I'd had a chat with a few of my worldly knowledgeable birding buds!), however the island does hold a few endemics & hard to find birds elsewhere in Europe... Wether I'd see them or not was another thing entirely...

Arrival at our 5 star complex (£5 a pint!! in other words) did reward me with an instant lifer - Canary!! There was a flock of 60+ that would visit the garden area outside our condo...

Couple of shot's of the group of 'daily' Canary's that were ever present outside out condo....

Again, not a birding holiday, but I was hoping to find a good bird or two.... Madeira however held a surprise for me!!... More about that later....

Plain Swift was my 2nd lifer on day 1, not very numerous, biggest flock I saw was only 9 or 10 strong, but they're widespread across most of Funchal.

My main hope's for a tick were due on Wednesday where we'd got ourselves booked onto a boat trip out to sea... This trip would prove waaaay better than we would ever have dreamed of!!! Again, more about that to come later...

For now, I'll leave you with a jammy tick that I cant have!!.... Late evening I was seawatching when I saw a what I first thought to be a shearwater, quite dark on the back, but the flight seemed different to me, quite regular, fast wing beats, the bird turned & I could see dark undrwing, white belly & a fairly obvious all-pale head - a Fea's/Zino's Petrel!!!! Sadly, no possible way to def. ID which one it was, although a local guy I spoke to did tell me that Zino's was more likely... But as no positive ID can be made, no tick can be had!!! Oh well....

More to come later in part 2!!...

A Change in Luck??....

I must admit, recently after two pretty annoying dips, I was becoming quite disheartened!! A day off this Thursday I hope to grip one back, the other one hopefully on Friday... but I'm not feeling too hopeful...
However, after my major luck this evening maybe I stand a chance now?...

Last thing on my mind today was a year tick (except maybe a Little Owl en route home from work!...), I arrived home from work around 21:50hrs to a barking dog!! She was in the garden, head down in my shrubbery, tail wagging... she'd obviously found something!! Indeed she had, a hedgehog!! (a first for the garden, had badger in the past!!). I went & fetched Mand from the front room to show her this prickly customer... As we were stood in the garden my ears suddenly pricked up to a very recognisable bird call.... 'wet-my-lips, wet-my-lips'....!!! "Thats a Quail!!!" I yelled to Mand!! She looked up at my slightly confused.... "No love, it's a hedgehog!!"... "Not that... THAT!!"... Again, 'wet-my-lips, wet-my-lips'.... I've heard Quail in the fields close to my house a few years back, but no way could I possibly hear one from my garden... The call then seemed very close indeed... I looked up to see a small bird bombing across the sky, around maybe 30ft-40ft up, with fast wing-beats, showing well against the setting sun-red sky!!! WOW!!! Only the 2nd time I've ever seen Quail in my life!!! What an amazing stroke of luck, and a fantastic year tick to boot!!!
I must admit I wasn't aware that Quail did this call whilst in flight, but no question of the call & the small bird flying overhead was making the call.... so, obviously, they do!!!
Hopefully.... this will be a change to my recent streak of dire luck... I do hope so!!! The next few days shall tell!!...
I'm off to Mediera on Monday for a week, be great to add a couple more ticks before I go!!!

Another Dipped Gropper!!!

It's getting on my tits now!!! After recieving a reliable report of a Gropper reeling at Wildmoor pool, I set off there yesterday evening. After over 2 hours of waiting, 2 hours of boredom, 2 hours of nothing more interesting than Reed Buntings & Meadow Pipits for company, 2 hours of wondering why I bother?... I gave up on this f***in' species as a 'tick' for 2009, as this is now my THIRD!!! Gropper I've dipped this year - Long Mynd bird (twice!!!), the Rednall bird & now this one!!! I'm totally pissed off with this species now, & I shant be wasting one more second this year trying to see one.... That's how f***ed off I am!!!

A very minor consolation came from a brief visit to Handless woodland area prior to wasting my time at Wildmoor... where I picked up a brief Spotted Flycatcher that perched on a bush beside the road, before flying into the opposite woodland area.
Again, only a brief view of Redstart (again a female!!), however, en route to Wildmoor I did see Redstart on 2 occaisions in the heavily hedgerowed area!!...
Not too happy at the mo, which you may have gathered!!! I dont get much spare time at the moment, & the time I do get I really despise wasting on dipping!!!
Anyway.... my bad mood shall shift soon, I promise.... ;~)

Blackwit finally nailed!!!

I was so pissed off yesterday, even though I'd had a great tick with 'Yvonne's' Wood Sandpiper at Chelmarsh, it was so frustrating to keep missing the Blackwit at VP!!! Okay, I wasn't too concerned about this species, but when every sod & his dog was seeing it except me, I was getting some flash-backs to the Long Mynd Gropper!!!
So, after work today I decided to give VP another go.... I arrived at 06:45am & there, smack bang between the main island & stump island feeding along with 3 Redshank, was the Black-tailed Godwit!!! Species No.155 on my county year list & still a few 'gimme's' to nail... Greenshank, Ruff, Spotted Flycatcher, Mandarin, Little Owl & Crossbill... All these species are easily gettable throughout the remainder of the year, and as long as I see all 6, it will push my list to a new personal best!! Of course, I still need to see them all!!!... Still a chance to grip Black Tern back, maybe we'll get a Little Stint, another Avocet?... I'll be relying on at least 7 good county birds to hit my target of 170!! If only I hadn't dipped White Stork, Crane & Gropper!!!

Chelmarsh for a Woodie!!!

Well, thing's seem to be improving, the weather is certainly helping I think?... Despite dipping 2 Blackwits in as many days (one at Mire, the other today at VP), a very good tick came in the shape of a Wood Sandpiper at Chelmarsh Res. Last year I had my latest Wood Sand, in November at Mire, this year I've had my earliest!

End of the Birding Doldrums?!!...

Indeed, to quote Jim, Shropshire has been well & truly in the 'Birding Doldrums' for the last few weeks!! Several VP visits, plus the odd venture to other local sites not only resulted in nothing, but I couldn't even make a worthwhile blog entry!! (Dont fret, I'm still here!!)

Today however, Andy found a true county gem in the shape of a full summer pl. Curlew Sandpiper!!! Only the 3rd time I've seen Curlew Sand in the county & the first one I've seen in a couple of years!!
Let's hope that this is the start of a few decent things dropping in!! With some weather moving through now, maybe they're will be?.... We'll see.... But I aint too hopeful!!
Still need to go and get a Spotted Flycatcher & search for a Mandarin on Borle Brook...
Up to 153 species now though.... which is more than I saw by the end of 2007!!! So, not too bad despite the recent quiet spell...